A MAN from Gwynedd who strangled his wife and told her: “I’m going to f***ing kill you today” has been jailed.

Robert Pinnington, 65, of Y Fron, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court today (March 22).

He had previously admitted charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, making a threat to kill, and intentional strangulation.

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Prosecuting, Dafydd Roberts told the court that, at about 2pm on November 1, Angela Pinnington, the defendant’s wife of 10 years, was resting in bed having been unwell.

The defendant retired to bed having been drinking coffee with whisky during the morning; Mrs Pinnington believed him to be drunk when he committed the offences.

While they were both in bed, he leant over and bit her on her lip with such force that it broke her skin and drew blood.

He then straddled her on their bed and put both hands around her throat, using “all of his body weight” to strangle her.

While strangling her, he said to her: “You’re going to die; die, b**** - I’m going to f***ing kill you today.”

Mrs Pinnington, fearing for her life, believed him to be intent on killing her, having “never seen him so angry before”.

She kicked him off her and rolled off the bed, but as she tried to get away, he grabbed hold of her again from behind, before placing his hands around her throat to choke her.

Her adult daughter entered the bedroom and shouted at him: “Get off mum, leave her alone, please stop it.”

Mrs Pinnington’s daughter physically tried to pull him off her mother, which gave her mother the opportunity to run downstairs, take her car keys, and leave the property with her daughter.

As she left the property, Mrs Pinnington was still wearing her night dress and was “pouring with blood”.

She suffered a bite mark on her lip, bruising and scratching to both sides of her neck, and a small scratch to her right arm.

Police were called and arrived at their home at about 2.20pm, finding the defendant outside having injured himself.

He was taken to hospital for treatment, where he stayed until November 7 before being transferred to custody.

The defendant told officers that his wife had “found someone else” and had “taunted him”, and so he consequently “flipped”.

Defending Pinnington, who had no previous convictions, Ember-Jade Wong said he was “at his lowest ebb” at the time, and is “remorseful for the pain he has caused”.

“To use his words, he says: ‘I don’t know how I went from loving her to hurting her’”, Ms Wong added.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Saffman told Pinnington: “This has had a considerable practical impact on Mrs Pinnington.

“She felt ashamed of the fact that she had put herself in this position.”

Pinnington was handed a 15-year restraining order, preventing him from contacting or approaching Mrs Pinnington or her daughter, save for via solicitors regarding matrimonial proceedings.

The length of this order, Judge Saffman said, was “proportionate, given your age”.

He also cannot return to the village where he lived for the same period of time.