A CONVICTED killer threatened to strangle his former wife when he attacked her during a row more than two years after they split up.

George Smith punched his former partner Katrina then grabbed her by the throat as they clashed at her home in east Cleveland.

A court heard yesterday that the 40-year-old also got Mrs Smith into a headlock and squeezed her neck until she fell to the floor.

The couple's ten-year-old son intervened and Mrs Smith started to slacken the grip, but as she did she was bitten on the arm.

Smith then waited until the police arrived, and told officers he lost his temper after being accused of stealing a coat.

Defence barrister Tom Mitchell accepted Smith had "grievous, heinous previous convictions" but argued that the attack did not cause serious harm.

Mrs Smith suffered reddening around the throat and a bite mark, but Mr Mitchell conceded the terror she endured was more worrying.

The court heard Smith had previous convictions for two assaults in 1986, and was jailed for wounding and grievous bodily harm two years later.

In 1991, he was locked up for seven years for manslaughter after stabbing a man through the heart in a street fight in Grangetown.

Smith had been out of jail for just four months when he killed neighbour Michael Armstrong, 21, following a family feud.

Yesterday, he was given an extended sentence - one year in custody and one year on licence - after he admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Andrea Pitt told Teesside Crown Court that the attack happened on July 20 when Smith went to his former wife's home in Lazenby.

Smith, of St George's Road, Grangetown, was handcuffed to a security officer when he appeared in the dock to be sentenced yesterday.

Judge Peter Armstrong told him he was passing an extended sentence because he was considered a "dangerous offender" under new legislation.

Mr Mitchell earlier told the court: "He has kept himself out of trouble for quite a long time now, it is just unfortunate he has lapsed so spectacularly.

"While there is no doubt his wife feared for her safety that day, she did not receive the most grievous injuries, but I don't doubt that the terror is an additional feature."

Smith served six years of the seven-year sentence imposed for manslaughter, after a jury cleared him of murder because they decided he had not intended to kill Mr Armstrong in the fight.