A CWMBRAN male model has been jailed after trying to run over a love rival - before battering him with a metal pole.

Rapper and model Rommel Alleyne, 25, flew into a rage after spotting the man hand in hand with a former girlfriend.

Alleyne - known as 'Rome' - swerved his gold Peugeot at night when he spotted Thomas Chaney walking with his former girlfriend.

A court heard Mr Chaney leapt our of the way of the car driven by the rapper, whose music videos have racked up thousands of views online.

Prosecutor Jason Howells told Cardiff Crown Court: "The car stopped and Alleyne got out. The two men then entered into a fight.

"Alleyne was punched to the floor three times but got back up each time. He got into his car and drove off at speed."

Alleyne parked in a nearby B&Q car park and waited - with a metal pole in his hands - for Mr Chaney to walk by.

Alleyne then hit him across the head with the pole, causing Mr Chaney's head to begin bleeding, before another scuffle broke out and Alleyne fled in his car.

Mr Chaney was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, where a 3cm wound to his head needed gluing together.

When police questioned Alleyne about the attack his jeans were torn and covered in blood, and claimed it was he who had been attacked, pointing to scratches on his face.

Officers smelled cannabis coming from his car, and a quick search found small amounts of the drug as well as cannabis grinders.

This led to police raiding his home in Cwmbran, Gwent, where they found £180-worth of packaged cannabis and 10 cannabis wraps which he denied were for selling on the street.

Alleyne pleaded guilty to possessing a controlled drug with intent at a hearing last month, and pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding on the morning of his trial yesterday.

Hugh Wallace, defending, said Alleyne hadn't been in trouble since the assault in September last year, and had "changed his ways" after learning his girlfriend is due to give birth to his second child in December.

Mr Wallace said: "The whole thing appears to have been born out of a Facebook comment which was deemed by the complainant to be a threat. Punches were thrown.

"He is a young man who a year has gone by and there's been no further offending.

"He had a bad car accident and cannabis was a way of helping with the pain of his injuries. He takes some at night before he goes to bed."

Judge Thomas Crowther said Alleyne was a "enthusiastic drug dealer", who had swerved at his love rival before waiting to attack him with his weapon.

Judge Crowther said: "You approached the couple in your car and swerved towards them. There was then a fight which you comprehensively lost.

"You parked your car and ran at him and hit him with an implement to the side of his head.

"These offences are so serious only a custodial sentence can be justified."

Alleyne was sentenced to two years in prison. A Proceeds of Crime hearing to work out how much money he had made from his drug dealing was arranged for January.