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A policeman who savagely beat his ex-girlfriend in an “evil” attempt to make her miscarry was today jailed for 10 years.

PC Matthew Cherry, 35, burst into six months pregnant Caroline Craft’s flat wearing a mask, black leather gloves and speaking in a fake foreign accent.

He then pushed her to the floor and kicked and punched her repeatedly in the face, stomach, side and back before trying to smother her.

At the time both were serving police officers – his ex-girlfriend was an acting sergeant.

Yesterday, Cherry broke down in tears as a jury unanimously found him guilty of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

Judge Keith Cutler described the attack as “appalling”.

He said: “This was a ­pernicious and evil act on your part.

“The emotional scarring you caused Miss Craft will no doubt be there for life.

"Every day as she looks at her healthy, lovely young son she will no doubt be reminded of his father.”

Outside Winchester crown court, Miss Craft said: “The actions of Matthew Cherry on that day were callous, cold-hearted and utterly selfish.

"I will never forgive him for what he did to me and what he could have done to my baby.

"I thank God that despite Matthew Cherry’s efforts, my ­beautiful son, Archie, was born healthy and unharmed by his actions.”

The two-week trial heard how Cherry and Miss Craft met while working for Dorset Police in May 2010.

They broke up after she found out she was pregnant in October that year.

Cherry claimed she had “ruined his life” after her contraceptive pill failed.

He refused to look at a scan of the baby and encouraged her to abort it for financial reasons.

Miss Craft said: “He did not want the baby. To him it was money and that is all he lives for. He said we could not afford it.”

While they were still together, he told Miss Craft he had considered punching her in the stomach in a bid to induce a miscarriage.

She was so scared she slept with her arms wrapped around her bump and with her back turned to Cherry.

Miss Craft was left “bloodied and bruised” by the frenzied attack in ­Bournemouth last March.

She told jurors how she ­desperately tried to shield her baby from Cherry’s blows.

“I remember him kneeling beside me and punching me – starting with my face and moving down to my stomach, side and back,” she said.

“I automatically curled into a ball …I was protecting my bump to stop him from getting to the baby.”

Cherry, who resigned from Dorset Police last November, will be “vulnerable” to other inmates in prison because of his old job, the court was told.