A JEALOUS police officer from Brighouse who tried to throttle his wife and then attacked her new boyfriend when he saw them out cycling has been jailed for eight months.

A court heard yesterday how Gavin Thrippleton’s wife Charlotte thought she was going to be strangled to death after he found out she was seeing another man and their marriage was over.

Thrippleton, who was a serving officer in the Greater Manchester force, lost his temper during a domestic argument in March 2010.

Bradford Crown Court heard he tried to strangle his wife in the bedroom of their home in Charles Street, Brighouse, and left her gasping for air.

During her ordeal Thrippleton’s wife, now known as Charlotte Bolton, also passed out after being put in a headlock by him and forced down headfirst onto the bed.

When she came round and asked for assistance Thrippleton again tried to get his wife in a headlock, but she managed to get free and fled the house.

“She must have been absolutely terrified about what you might do to her,’’ Judge Peter Benson told Thrippleton.

“It was clear from her evidence she was in fear for her life at that time.

“You were a trained police officer who should have known how to control his emotions and should have known the dangers of the sort of physical attack you launched upon her that night.’’

Thrippleton, 30, was bailed after being arrested in connection with that assault, but just a few weeks later he saw his wife and her new boyfriend Matthew Baylis-Jones out cycling while he was on a bus.

Prosecutor Chris Smith described how Thrippleton got off the bus and started punching Mr Baylis-Jones.

The court heard how other members of the public intervened and Thrippleton himself ended up being seriously injured.

Thrippleton, who has now resigned from the force, was found guilty by a jury in December of assaulting his wife occasioning her actual bodily harm.

At an earlier hearing he had been convicted of common assault on Mr Baylis-Jones.

Thrippleton’s barrister Chloe Fairley said he had been proud of his job as a police officer and his conviction had resulted in him losing a position he had worked hard to achieve.

She pointed out that the court proceedings had been hanging over her client for nearly two years and there was now a ‘civil relationship’ between Thrippleton and his former wife.

The court heard that Thrippleton still had financial problems and faced the prospect of losing the former matrimonial home.

“In essence his life is ruined,’’ said Miss Fairley.

She submitted that a custodial sentence could be suspended, but Judge Benson said Thrippleton’s response to the break-down of his marriage had been “violent in the extreme.’’

In reference to the attack on Mr Baylis-Jones, Judge Benson said Thrippleton had got off the bus in “fit of jealous rage’’ and knocked the complainant off his bike.

Thrippleton was sentenced to six months in jail for the assault on his wife and a further two months for the common assault on Mr Baylis-Jones.