A FORMER girlfriend of Jayden Parkinson's killer has told a jury he threatened to cut her up in a bath.

The murder trial has heard Ben Blakeley throttled the girl and punched her in the head during their two-year relationship.

Jayden, who was pregnant when Blakeley killed her and buried her in his uncle's grave, died from pressure to the neck last December.

Blakeley, of Christchurch Road in Reading, denies murder but admits manslaughter.

The court also heard Jayden, 17, had told a supprt worker she wanted to keep his baby.

Katie Gale, 21, told the jury she dated Blakeley, 22, for about two years before the relationship ended in 2012.

She said he had told her he was "obessive, controlling and jealous" and went on to beat her about every fornight and strangled her up to 10 times.

She said he had bitten her face and punched and kicked her back so the injuries would not show up.

The young woman said in August 2012 Blakeley put two hands around her throat and squeezed after he saw her talk to another man.

She said she felt "frozen" and the blood vessels in her face came to the surface.

She said: "He said he would cut me up in the bath.

"I thought I was going to die."

After the attack Blakeley told her to get naked and go to bed, she said adding: "He acted like nothing had happened."

But when asked why she did not leave Blakeley, she said she loved him but also feared he would hurt her even more.

She also said she told people the bruises on her neck were love bites.

The witness told the jury Blakeley, who had been unemployed, would take her money and her mobile phone.

The jury also heard he told her he had stabbed her missing cat to upset her.

Julian Meade, a support worker at the One Foot Forward hostel, told the jury Jayden had told him she wanted to keep the baby.

Blakeley has admitted perverting the course of justice, as has a fellow defendant, who is 17. The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, denies preventing a lawful burial of Jayden.

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