A HUSBAND tried to strangle his wife with a piece of rope as their marriage crumbled, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Alan Clarke became emotionally distressed when he learned of her divorce plan.

After drinking alcohol, he returned to the Live and Let Live pub, Bringsty Common, near Bromyard, which they were renovating, and wrapped the rope around his wife Susan's neck.

"She thought he was going to kill her," said Abigail Nixon, prosecuting. "She was screaming as the rope got tighter."

Eventually a teenager grabbed the rope and pulled it off.

Clarke, aged 62, now of Church Street, Ledbury, was jailed for 12 months. He pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm and making a threat to kill.

He told police he got drunk but never intended to hurt his wife, a mother-of-two. A divorce was now going through.

Nicolas Cartwright, defending, said Clarke was a man of previous impeccable behaviour. He had given the court 26 character references.

He had seen a doctor just three days before the violence.

Mr Cartwright said the defendant's words had been: "I love her so much, it hurts me."

He added: "This is a one-off incident late in life."