Former policeman jailed for attacking pregnant girlfriend

A FORMER police constable who repeatedly punched his pregnant ex-girlfriend to try to bring on a miscarriage has been jailed for 10 years.

Matthew Cherry, 35, used a balaclava and a fake foreign accent to launch the “savage attack” at Caroline Craft’s ground-floor flat in Bournemouth, Dorset.

He punched her in the stomach and back, targeting her unborn child and leaving her “bloodied and bruised”, but she was not seriously harmed and gave birth to a boy – now 15 months old.

Cherry was angry and upset that Miss Craft, 27, also a police officer, would not have an abortion and the pair split up, Winchester Crown Court heard during the eight-day trial.

Cherry, now living in Southampton, denied attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent in March last year in the “well-planned” attack.

But the jury convicted him, rejecting his claim that he was not the attacker.

Cherry, who resigned from Dorset Police in November last year, was “forensically aware” and used his police experience to try to avoid detection, the court heard.