A JURY took just two hours to find a man unanimously guilty of manipulating his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children over a six-year period.

James Barr, formerly of Askam-in-Furness, was on trial at Preston Crown Court charged with controlling and coercing behaviour his ex-girlfriend.

Prosecutor Megan Cox told the jury when outlining the facts of the case at the start of the trial that the offending took place in Barrow and Millom. She said the complainant began a relationship with the defendant when she was 19 years old.

“Perhaps naively she thought their relationship was fine at the start but she realised things were far from fine,” Ms Cox said.

READ MORE: TRIAL: Man accused of controlling and coercing ex-girlfriend in Barrow

The jury heard Barr demeaned her, controlled which family members their two children could see and that he would also prevent her from seeing her family.

Barr also made remarks about her weight and that he said she should have surgery to her body so she could look a particular way, the court was told.

Giving evidence behind a screen earlier in the trial to conceal her appearance from the defendant, his ex-girlfriend told the jury: “He would tell me that I needed to lose weight and that I was not dressing the way he liked.

“He stopped me from taking the children to the park because he was embarrassed about how I looked. On one occasion he described me as looking like a ‘bin lady’ and said that I was wearing ‘old lady clothes’.

“He would compare me to other young women on dating applications that he wanted me to look like.”

READ MORE: Alleged victim gives evidence in controlling and coercive trial

Ms Cox said the defendant was ‘extremely jealous’ of his former partner and that he needed to know who she was speaking to.

“He would make her feel worthless,” she told the jury.

“He would check through her phone and bombard her with calls and messages when she was out of the house.

“She was in a trapped, abusive relationship and isolated from her friends and family.”

Barr will be sentenced on January 27 next year.