A CRAZED man held a knife to his estranged wife's throat after trying to throttle her - because his dog caught fleas in her care, a court heard.

Gavin Knaggs blamed his ex for allowing her cats to pass on the bugs, and went "on and on about it, winding himself up and getting more cross".

Prosecutor Adrian Dent told Teesside Crown Court that the pair - still on amicable terms after their split - were walking Knaggs's pet near Darlington.

After accusing his former partner, who looks after the dog while he is at work, Knaggs shoved her over and yelled: "Are you trying to work me?"

The 49-year-old started choking her before repeatedly banging her head on the ground, as she sobbed "sorry" began to become dizzy and get blurred vision.

Knaggs pulled out a multi-tool knife, held it close to the woman's throat and said to her: "I'll only get three years for it. It'll be worth it."

After the incident in a remote spot near the golf course at Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Hurworth, father-of-three Knaggs sent menacing text messages.

In one, he said: "I've just had you on the ground down a country lane where I could've done anything I wanted. You're sick in the head to even want to be friends with a man like that."

His barrister, Umza Khan, said Knaggs was "deeply ashamed" but said a letter written by the couple's daughter - shown to the judge - was a better portrayal.

A statement from the victim also explained a different side to her attacker, and she said he needed help more than the punishment of being jailed.

Knaggs, of Wordsworth Road, Darlington, had spent the equivalent of an 11-month sentence on remand, so was given a 12-month community order with supervision.

Judge Peter Armstrong told him: "Anger management classes will benefit not just you, but the community and also your ex-wife.

"To lose your temper in the way you did because of your dog getting fleas clearly shows distorted thinking which needs to be addressed.

"To be as violent towards you as you were, clearly you had completely lost your senses, and I think you have realised that in the cold light of day."

Miss Khan said Knaggs, who admitted putting a person in fear of violence by harassment and threatening with a blade, had been treated for mental health problems.

"He wants help with his anger management," she added. "That's the cause. He is deeply ashamed he would ever act in this way towards the mother of his children."