A BRUTE who bit and choked his wife before holding a knife to her throat and shooting her has walked free from court.

Anthony Bruce's let-off was branded "astonishing and outrageous" by angry campaigners - who demanded an appeal.

One domestic violence charity chief called in the Crown Prosecution Service to immediately seek a review of the sentence.

Claire Phillipson, from Wearside Women in Need, said: "This is the kind of thing that makes us all just despair at the judiciary."

Bruce laughed and joked as he left court, and within an hour, put on Facebook: "The **** did not win . . . I am free."

The victim's mother said after the case: "How can this government say it is tackling domestic violence when this can happen."

And last night Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird, who campaigns on domestic violence, said: “How are women who suffer this to be encouraged to come forward if, when they do, there are frankly offensive sentences like this given to perpetrators of the most horrendous violence against someone who has nowhere to run, because it is done their own home?"

Bruce launched the vicious attack at their home in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, after his wife spoke about splitting up, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The jobless welder, 34, screamed at her: "I'm going to top you and then top myself. If I can't have you, nobody will."

He held a knife with an eight-inch blade to her neck and warned: "If they're going to get me, I'll go down properly."

The court heard yesterday (Tuesday, September 23) how Bruce also threatened to scald the mother-of-two with boiling water.

He got a pellet gun from a bedroom and vowed to put a bullet "straight through your eye into your brain".

Martin Towers, prosecuting, said Bruce then warned: "I've got nothing left to lose. One of us, or both of us, is going to die."

The woman was shot in the toe, before she managed to get the gun and hide it, said Mr Towers.

In an impact statement, the victim told how she has had to move to a secret address miles away and said she feared for her life during what she called a "life-changing" attack in the early hours of April 16 last year.

Ms Phillipson said after the case: "It is just incredible that a judge thinks that an appropriate sentence for the level of violence meted out to this woman.

"This completely undermines everything we are trying to do with the violence against women and girls action plan.

"If you punch, but don't injure, a police horse, you get a year. In this case of absolute torture and terror, including a shooting, it's a suspended sentence."

The victim's mother said: "The police were wonderful, they could not have done any more, and yet when it comes to court, he is allowed to walk free."

Bruce, of Greta Street North, Pelton, Chester-le-Street, was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence with supervision and an alcohol treatment requirement.

Judge George Moorhouse told him: "Fortunately the injuries were not serious, and most importantly, you have been out of trouble for seven years."

The judge heard that after his arrest and just days before he was due in court, Bruce rang his ex-wife and warned: "Drop the charges or I'm going to torch . . ."

The woman hung up before he finished his threat.

Bruce pleaded guilty on the day of his trial to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intimidation.

His barrister, Louise Harrison, said: "The complainant was spared giving evidence on that day . . .

"The incident, clearly extremely unpleasant for the complainant, seems to be somewhat out of character for Mr Bruce.

"Since the time of his arrest, there has been a decline. He accepts he has been drinking more since then and hasn't worked."

Bruce was also given a restraining order which bans him from contacting his ex-wife or her parents.