Millionaire businessman, 51, who killed his ex-wife's £10,000 carp by turning off the power to the garden pond is jailed for 16 months

• Anthony Haines, 51, broke into 52-year-old Jane's home in Wales, a court heard
• Recycling company boss shut off house's electricity supply, causing fish to die
• Prosecutor said CCTV captured him going into property where Jane was living 
• He was jailed for 16 months and made the subject of a 10-year restraining order

A millionaire businessman was jailed today for killing his ex-wife's £10,000 carp by turning off the power to the garden pond.

Recycling company boss Anthony Haines, 51, broke into 52-year-old Jane's home in Caerphilly, Wales, and shut off the property's electricity supply, a court heard.  

Haines was a 'successful' and 'self-made' businessman who had been married to Jane for 32 years, Newport Crown Court was told.

But he has now been jailed for 16 months and made the subject of a 10-year restraining order after admitting burglary with intent and criminal damage.

Prosecutor Laurence Jones said CCTV captured him going into the house where Jane was living.

He said: 'Once inside, Haines turned off electricity which disabled the camera. 

'Cutting the power supply also led to fish being killed in the garden pond as well as in a tank inside the property.

'He went upstairs to their bedroom and took out a number of intimate objects from a bedside table and placed them deliberately on the bed.

'He slashed a canvass photograph of the couple across the face area. A knife had been stabbed into a chopping board and kitchen cupboard.

'Mrs Haines suspected her husband immediately. She said he was jealous that she was happy and had moved on with her life.'

Haines, of Risca, was previously jailed after threatening his ex and her new boyfriend with a large kitchen knife and breaching a restraining order, the court heard. 

Reading her victim personal statement, Mr Jones said: 'Since they split up, she said her husband has been making her life hell.

'Being threatened makes her fearful for her life and she believes he has the capacity to harm her.

'She said her anxiety has gone through the roof. She says once the divorce is finalised, she will put the house on the market and leave the area.' 

Marian Lewis, representing Haines, said: 'He bitterly regrets what he did. The incident was fuelled by alcohol.

'He would not have behaved in such a manner if he had not been drinking. He had made a massive, massive mistake.'

Ms Lewis added how her client's daughter had written a reference to say he was a 'loving father and grandfather'.

Haines had built up a successful business and provided his family with a 'high standard of living'.

Recorder Duncan Bould said: 'You allowed yourself in and committed acts of gratuitous criminal damage by deliberately targeting them. Fortunately, they were not at home.

'You planted a cleaver and a knife in a kitchen cupboard and board. 

'Your wife says in her victim personal statement that in the last two and a half years you have made her life hell.

'You've not only threatened her but you've defiled her home, ransacked her home and been abusive to her.

'You deliberately wanted to send out a message of aggression.'