Jake Price (Image: South Wales Police)
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A rugby player has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after carrying out a campaign of harassment against two women – including breaking into one victim’s home in the middle of the night.
The harassment
Jake Andrew Price, 31, of Harvey Crescent, Sandfields, Port Talbot, had been in what was described as a “tumultuous” relationship with the first complainant, which ended in November 2024.
Swansea Crown Court heard that Price then began repeatedly calling the woman from a series of different phone numbers, leading to a two-year restraining order being imposed in February 2025.
Ryan Bowen, prosecuting, told the court that Price left the woman alone until January this year, when the pair crossed paths at a Morrisons store in Port Talbot. Outside the shop, a “tearful” Price approached his former partner and told her he missed her – she told him to “**** off”.
In the hours and days that followed, Price repeatedly rang her from different numbers and approached one of her friends to pass on a message asking his ex to call him.
The second victim
The court heard Price was also subject to a separate seven-year restraining order banning him from contacting a second woman. That order had been imposed after a lengthy campaign of harassment and abuse involving a bombardment of calls and messages, repeated visits to her home, following her when she went out, and abusive comments about her weight. The woman had even been forced to move house to get away from him.
On 5 February this year, Price contacted the second complainant. She took a taxi to Aberavon Liberal Club where Price was socialising, and after accepting a drink from him, he snatched her phone and began going through her messages before striking her to the face.
The pair later went to Murphy’s bar in Port Talbot before going their separate ways.
The break-in
Later that night, the woman was woken by Price jumping onto her bed and shouting at her. He then left the property.
The following day, Price called her repeatedly telling her he loved her. During one call, he told her he had carried out a sex act on himself in her bedroom while watching her sleep. Over the following days he continued to call and text her using a number of different phones, including his mother’s.
Price was arrested on 10 February and gave officers a prepared statement denying all allegations.
Sentencing
Price had previously pleaded guilty to six counts of breaching a restraining order. He has 10 previous convictions for 13 offences.
Jon Tarrant, defending, said there had to be underlying reasons for what was clearly “repetitive, obsessive behaviour” on the part of his client. He said Price was struggling with his mental health but acknowledged that drugs and alcohol also played their parts, and that Price wanted the court to know he realised his behaviour had been intolerable.
Judge Paul Thomas KC described Price’s behaviour towards both women as “spiteful, calculating, and immature”, and said the phrase that came to mind to describe the 31-year-old was “man child”.
He told the defendant: “Women, Mr Price – as you should have learnt over the last nine years – are entitled to see or not see whoever they want. That is not your decision to make.”
The judge said a “particularly sinister” aspect of the case was that Price had entered the second complainant’s home in the dead of night and later told her about the sex act while she slept. He said it might be that Price was fortunate not to have been charged with burglary with intent to commit a sexual offence – an offence carrying a prison sentence “measuring many years”.
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas, Price was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He will serve up to half in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
Judge Thomas warned that if Price continued to offend, he would face further custodial sentences and the curtailment of his sporting career.
