A "manipulative" church pastor who left his wife battered and bleeding from a violent assault has been jailed.

Joshua Jimbel, who until his arrest preached daily via his social media accounts to followers of the Heavenly Jerusalem Assembly, launched his brutal attack on his spouse after locking her in their bedroom at their Ramsgate home.

Canterbury Crown Court heard he repeatedly punched her to the head, pulled her hair and tried to strangle her.

But as soon as she managed to escape, she bravely grabbed her phone to film herself screaming for help as blood oozed from her wound.

The distressing footage, which also captured her husband of 16 years putting his hand over her mouth and nose, was then sent to a friend and police were alerted.

But before officers had arrived, Jimbel sinisterly warned his injured wife that if he lost his job with the NHS they would be sent back to Nigeria and he would "deal with her in the most severe way".

Even his arrest did little to deter him as, while on remand in prison, he contacted his wife and speaking in their native Igbo language, tried to persuade her to tell police she did not want him prosecuted.

Jimbel, 43, initially denied charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice but changed his pleas to guilty during his trial.

However, on sentencing Judge Mark Weekes remarked that the pastor had maintained his innocence until after his wife had given evidence and been cross-examined.

"As a man of God you ought to know all too well the ninth commandment and the need to not bear false witness," he told Jimbel, who was ordained 16 years ago in a church with worldwide followers.

Jurors heard the couple had moved to the UK in September 2022 so his 41-year-old partner could do a masters degree while he worked.

Violence flared however on July 25 last year after she returned home from being at the QEQM Hospital in Margate.

Jimbel, who is listed on social media as being a medical support worker, took offence at her being given a lift home and brought dinner by a friend from church, accusing his wife of involving the woman in "family business".

Prosecutor Kieran Brand said he started verbally insulting his spouse and threatened they would no longer attend church before dragging his wife to the bedroom.

Having been pushed and pinned down, she eventually managed to leave by persuading her husband she needed the toilet.

However, after a few minutes he dragged her back upstairs and locked the door.

"This time he hit her multiple times to the head with his fists, causing a lump to her right eye as well as a laceration on her forehead, which was bleeding," Mr Brand told the jury.

"He was pulling her hair. He strangled her. She struggled to defend herself and started calling for help.

"She was eventually able to unbolt the door and get out of the room, at which point she retrieved her phone and started recording what was happening.

"When the defendant saw this he started to try to wipe the blood from her face and stop her from recording.

"But she continued to record and then sent that video to her friend. At that point the defendant left the address rather quickly."

Her recording, which was played in court, showed her in a highly distressed state with blood pouring down her face as she screamed at the camera: "Somebody help me. He is killing me. He wants to kill me, somebody help me.

"He has broken my head with his hand. My husband wants to kill me."

It ended with Jimbel seen standing behind his wife and placing his hand over her face to stop her talking more.

Once her husband had left the house, she contacted her friend and called an ambulance. But as she prepared to go to hospital, Jimbel came home.

He denied punching his wife, telling her he "only touched her and she started bleeding". He then tried to persuade her not to go to hospital, the court heard.

"He kept saying that they would be sent back to Nigeria and then he would deal with her in the most severe way," said Mr Brand.

Police arrived and Jimbel was arrested. When interviewed, he said he had pushed his wife in self-defence and did not know how she had injured her head.

Less than a month later and while Jimbel was on remand in Sheppey's Elmley Prison, he arranged for his cellmate to contact a third party to go round to her home.

When she answered the knock at the door to a woman she did not know, she was handed a phone - and immediately recognised her husband's voice on the line.

"He spoke to her in their language of Igbo. He told her it was him. She told him he shouldn't be contacting her. He started pleading with her to drop the charges against him," explained Mr Brand.

"He told her to write to the police to tell them that she didn't want the matter to come to court. The call then ended."

That incident, which left his wife feeling unsafe in her own home, was also reported to police. She told them Jimbel was trying to "manipulate" her.

The court heard Jimbel, of St John's Avenue, has no previous convictions but will be deported on his release from prison.

Paul Jackson, defending, urged Judge Weekes to keep the sentence as short as possible so his return was not delayed any longer than necessary.

He added that the purpose of the call to his wife from prison was "a desperate plea for mercy" rather than a threat.

Jailing Jimbel for a total of three-and-a-half years, the judge told him domestic abuse often had "long-lasting consequences", with the courts regarding strangulation as particularly serious.

"I have had the undoubted advantage of seeing your wife and how this offending has impacted upon her," he added.

"The video made for very stark viewing indeed."