A jealous husband has been given a community order for assaulting his estranged wife after he had been drinking at a family gathering.

Leeds Crown Court heard Timothy Heaton and his wife Kate had separated but saw each other in the Royal Oak on Manchester Road, Linthwaite , on September 10.

Stephanie Hancock, prosecuting, said things had been amicable between them in the previous weeks but that evening he was jealous and accused her of sending text messages to another man.

She decided to defuse the situation by leaving and returned to her home nearby. Some hours later she was sitting in the living room talking to her babysitter when Heaton went to the rear of the property and forced the lock on the patio doors to get inside.

He then approached her and head-butted her once making contact with the centre of her head. She asked the baby sitter to call the police and Heaton ran out of the premises.

She was then standing with the front door open when he returned and pushed her back so she made contact with the bannister at the bottom of the stairs.

Miss Hancock said some men at the pub across the road intervened and dragged Heaton away.

The court heard the couple had been in a relationship eight years and married in 2012 but he blamed her for the breakdown. Heaton told a probation officer that night as he got increasingly drunk he decided to go round to what had been his family home to confront her.

Since then he had reduced his use of alcohol and was continuing to work full-time.

Leeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

Heaton, 37, of Reinwood Road, Lindley , admitted criminal damage and assault by beating. He was given a two year community order with a 33 day accredited programme and ordered to pay £364 prosecution costs.

Judge Neil Clark told him it was an unpleasant incident. “What clearly was volatile was your temper on this particular night,” he said.

“It seems you got jealous, went round to the house and damaged the doors before head-butting your former wife causing her distress and some injury.”

The judge said it was aggravated by the fact that children in the house saw or heard some of what happened but he accepted he had no record for such offending and the programme suggested would deal with issues such as anger, loss of control and drinking to avoid any repetition.