A MAN who threatened to kill his wife has pleaded guilty to assault.

Magistrates heard how Thomas Hudson, 50, had spent most of a car journey from Boroughbridge "angling for a fight" with his wife, Susan, after he drank 10 or 12 pints of beer.

Vicky Lamballe, prosecuting, told magistrates that he got out of the car, leaving Mrs Hudson to drive to their home in Fairfax Avenue, Harrogate, alone.

The court was told that soon after she arrived and went into the kitchen, Hudson, a forklift truck driver, returned, grabbed her by the throat and threatened to kill her and the man he thought she was seeing.

He then began to punch her and followed her when she ran for her car and continued to hit her.

Hudson, who admitted assault and making a threat to kill, told the police he was depressed after suspecting his wife of an affair, and could remember nothing of the attack.

The court was told that Mrs Hudson had not worked for five years after an accident.

Hudson was conditionally discharged for a year and ordered to pay £50 costs after the court heard the couple were trying to make a go of their relationship.