A MOURNER savagely attacked his wife when he got drunk after a funeral – leaving her with a fractured cheekbone and broken nose.

Richard Price is starting a 14-month prison sentence for the sickening violence which his victim described as "a terrifying ordeal".

Price, 38, wanted to drive the couple home from Northallerton Working Men's Club in North Yorkshire despite drinking eight pints of lager and four whiskeys.

His wife tried to call her son to pick them up, but Price drove off, lost control, hit a kerb and wheel fell off, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Price's wife walked away when he became abusive, but he pushed her from behind and she fell over a stone pillar in a garden and he launched his vicious attack.

Prosecutor Paul Rooney said he punched her several times in the face and head, and when she stood up, was hit with an uppercut before a further four blows.

The victim described seeing white sparks before calling her son and being taken to hospital, where doctors found a fractured left cheekbone, broken nose, split lip, swelling to ribs on her right and bruising to her right thigh.

In an impact statement, she said: "I struggle to sleep as a result of the intrusive thoughts about the assault. It was a terrifying ordeal which causes me distress when I think about it."

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, told Price – who has twice before been prosecuted for attacking the woman: "You caused her very serious injuries. She was utterly defenceless."

Sarah Barlow, mitigating, said Price has not touched alcohol since the incident in October, and accepts his marriage is over.

Price, of Norby Estate, Thirsk, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm, and was also given a ten-year restraining order.