A PENSIONER has escaped jail after a court heard he hit his ex-wife over the head an iron bar.

Oliver Clarkson, 72, form Finchale Terrace, Jarrow, was given two-year-old conditional discharge instead.

Durham Crown Court heard he struck his estranged wife when she returned to their marital home to collect her belongings on March 18 last year.

Prosecuting, Glen Gatland said: "This is a case of domestic violence. She had left the house and but had return.

She went with a work colleague because she was frightened of what might happen.

"When she entered the lounge she was struck over the head with a metal bar."

There was a struggle and Clarkson was restrained by his former wife's work colleague.

Clarkson had previously pleaded guilty to putting a person in fear of violence and unlawful wounding.

Mitigating, Peter Schofield said: "He says he hid because he heard someone was in the lounge and he had no idea who he had hit.

"He is no longer in contact with his ex-wife and has no intention of getting in touch."

Recorder Graham Hyland warned Clarkson if he re-offended in the next two years he could be sent to prison.