A violent brute who subjected his pregnant girlfriend to months of sickening abuse grinned as he was marched from the dock to the cells.

Sol Philpott, 27, strangled, punched and terrorised the young woman in a reign of fear that lasted more than a year. 

She told how she saw ‘evil’ in his eyes as he throttled her, describing the campaign of ‘torture, control and manipulation’ that nearly cost her life.

In one attack in the street, Philpott sneered that he ‘did not mind’ going to prison – while passersby ignored the terrified victim’s screams.

On Friday, she sat just feet away from him at Canterbury Crown Court to see his twisted prophecy fulfilled. 

But as the judge jailed him for three years and two months, Philpott could be seen smiling as he left the dock for the cells.

The bully – who also brutally beat two previous girlfriends – is likely to be out within a year due to time served on remand.

It is not the first time that Philpott, formerly of Canterbury, has landed himself behind bars for domestic violence.

One former partner was beaten unconscious with a marble chopping board, while the other had her cheek bitten in the back of a taxi.

In the latest case, the court heard that the verbal, physical and psychological abuse spanned 14 months of their year-and-a-half relationship.

Sol Philpott, 27, strangled, punched and terrorised the young woman in a reign of fear that lasted more than a year

It included Philpott twice strangling the victim – once to the extent her lips turned blue – deliberately trapping her wrist in a door, biting her face and repeatedly striking her with a shoe.

He even told her by doing so, it would ‘look better in court’.

The devastating effect of his brutality led to her dropping out of university, suffering a miscarriage and believing she would be killed.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said: ‘It never started as violence. It started when he began to tell me what to think, what to believe, how to feel.

‘Saying something just to be corrected, expressing a thought just to be shut down. Sadly, my reality wasn’t my own and that’s how it started, slowly doubting myself.’

The woman, who was recovering from illness, said Philpott also took advantage of her vulnerabilities in terms of physical and mental health.

She said: ‘Sol trained me to walk on eggshells around him. I used to rehearse things before saying them so it didn’t set him off. Even honesty felt dangerous around him.

‘My boundaries slowly disappeared – little pieces of myself gone. I’m mentally exhausted… I was tortured, controlled and manipulated.’

The woman also described how she could no longer visit places where she had been abused by him, and has been left with ‘anxiety that no medication can ever cure and memories I can’t forget’.

‘I still remember looking into Sol’s eyes as he strangled me and saw evil,’ she added.

‘I can never explain the gut-wrenching feeling of being terrified by the hands of the man I loved.’

The victim told how she saw ‘evil’ in his eyes as he throttled her, describing the campaign of ‘torture, control and manipulation’ that nearly cost her life

She added: ‘I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognise myself anymore. He would go to extreme lengths to cause me pain and watch me suffer.

‘The more he lost control, the more desperate he became. I truly believe if I had stayed any longer he would have killed me.’

Philpott, formerly from Canterbury but of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to five offences of assault causing actual bodily harm, two of intentional strangulation and one of criminal damage, committed between November 2023 and January this year.

Some of the assaults occurred while they were staying with his father in Canterbury, the court heard.

During one in July last year, Philpott punched her in the face before pulling her by her hair and locking the door.

Following his arrest on February 8 this year, Philpott, who has 11 previous convictions for 20 offences, gave a ‘no comment’ interview and did not plead guilty until three months before his trial was due to start.

An assessment by the probation service ahead of sentencing concluded he posed a very high risk of serious harm to intimate partners and medium risk to the public generally.

On passing sentence, Judge Edmund Fowler remarked it was ‘regrettable’ that the help Philpott ‘so desperately needed’ was lacking within custody.

He also commended him for his behaviour while on remand and ‘using the time impressively’.

But concluding that only immediate imprisonment could be justified for his ‘impulsive and reactionary’ violence and the risk posed, Judge Fowler jailed him for 38 months.

As the judge jailed him for three years and two months, Philpott could be seen smiling as he left the dock for the cells

Philpott was also made subject to a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting his ex-girlfriend and her mother, and excluding him from areas of Broadstairs and Ramsgate.

Both of his previous jail terms in 2019 and 2022 for attacking partners were for 16 months and, due to time already served, he is likely to be released from his current sentence within a year.

Speaking after the hearing, his most recent victim said the length of sentence he received is ‘not a true reflection of the things he did to me’.

The young woman added: ‘I am worried that Sol will attack his next partner. I believe he will end up killing someone.’