A MAN who assaulted his wheelchair-bound fiancee was spared jail yesterday because they are now married.

Teesside Crown Court was told that neighbours rushed to help when they heard sounds of violence from the home of Sheila Nyburg and her partner, Angus McLean.

Ms Nyburg told police that McLean, 56, who had been drinking, forced her arm up behind her back and banged her head against a microwave.

She was immobilised with a broken hip and she told him to leave.

She tried to ring the police, but he snatched the phone from her and threw it against the wall, tipped her out of her wheelchair and pulled her across the floor by her wrists.

The court heard that she was lying helpless on her back and that he put his feet at the side of her head and held her nose and mouth until she was unable to breathe.

Adrian Strong, prosecuting, said: "He kicked her three times to her injured leg, not particularly hard with soft shoes.

"Fortunately, neighbours heard the struggle and they rushed around and were able to stop it and the police were called."

Joan Clemitson, in mitigation, said the couple were married three months later and that McLean was her sole carer.

Judge David Bryant told McLean it was a disgraceful attack that would normally warrant prison.

McLean, formerly of Randolf Street, Coundon Grange, County Durham, and now of Brook Court, Bedlington, Northumberland, pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm assault in the August 25 incident. He was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and a supervision order.