Man threatened to put pickaxe through his partner's head

A MAN who threatened to put a pickaxe through his partner's head has been jailed for two assaults against her.

- DAVID POWELL

John Atherton attacked his victim, threatened her with a knife and smashed her car window before she fled to a police station.

He admitted two assaults occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a knife in a private place.

A judge at Mold Crown Court jailed Atherton, of East Parade, Rhyl, for a total of two and a half years yesterday - his 39th birthday.

Prosecutor Michael Whitty told how the defendant and his former partner had been in a relationship for about two years. It began well but he struggled financially, turned to alcohol, and it ended in about April this year.

In the first incident on December 8 last year, Atherton went for a night out and returned home at 1am. He asked her to take him into Rhyl but she declined.

He became annoyed and dragged her by the hair onto the floor, said Mr Whitty. He stood over her, punched the left side of her face and said: “F****** stay down.” The couple moved to the living room. There he told her he would “put a f****** pickaxe through your head, you little rat”.