A man who pinned his wife to the bed by her throat while threatening to ‘f***ing kill’ her has walked free from court.

Timothy Mills lost control when his wife told him their marriage was over following a number of rows and attacked her in the bedroom.

The 48-year-old forced her onto the bed before straddling her with both knees and forcing his hands around her throat, Teesside Crown Court heard.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said she genuinely feared for her life until she found the strength from somewhere to fight him off.

“I suffer with flashbacks and nightmares of the incident when I was strangled by him. I genuinely believe that when the incident was ongoing that I was going to die,” she said.

“I have suffered for years at the hands of him, he has no empathy and is a narcissist.”

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Christopher Bevan, prosecuting, said the defendant’s wife had only returned to the family home on the morning of January 26 to pick up some clothes for herself and their daughter.

He added the trouble flared when Mills continually brought up a one-night-stand she had more than 16 years earlier during a period when they were separated and accused her of being a ‘slag’.

“He took his wife by the neck and using his hands he pushed his thumbs down into her throat making it difficult for her to breathe,” he said.

'I will f***ing kill you'

“She said at this point he stared straight at her and told her ‘I will f***ing kill you. I will f***ing kill you’. She described how he asked her if she wanted to die and she replied she did – he then pushed down even harder on her neck and he looked like he was possessed.”

He told the court that the defendant had a conviction from 2001 for an offence of battery when he attacked his wife at work when he accused her of having an affair.

Mills, of Lingfield Road, Yarm, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Chris Baker, in mitigation, said the father of three was ashamed of his actions and urged the judge to take into consideration his client’s mental state at the time and his guilty plea.

He said Mills had shown ‘genuine remorse and shame’ for his behaviour when he ‘lost control’ when he saw his ‘life disappearing in a suitcase’.

Judge Paul Watson QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, sentenced him to 16 months in prison, suspended for 18 months.

He said: “I accept this was an unpremeditated loss of self-restraint on your part, in blind temper, as a result of your inability to come terms with your broken relationship.”

Mills was also ordered to attend 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.

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