Man who held knife to wife's neck during row jailed

A court heard the woman felt Farhan Mehdi's threats were genuine (stock image)

A butcher who held a knife to his wife's throat and threatened to kill her during a row has been jailed for 12 months.

During the argument in March at their home in Shipley, Bradford, Farhan Mehdi hit his partner with a metal shoe horn and a long wooden pole.

The woman felt the 35-year-old's threats were genuine, Bradford Crown Court heard, with Mehdi admitting charges of making a threat to kill and threatening another with a bladed article in a private place.

Police officers searched the house and found a neglected bird of prey in the basement, with Mehdi also pleading guilty to an animal cruelty charge.

The goshawk had been tied up with insufficient space to move around and kept in a dark area covered in bird faeces, the court heard.

Mehdi also admitted an animal cruelty charge after keeping a bird of prey in his basement (stock image)

Mehdi was banned from keeping or owning any animal for two years and will be subject to an indefinite restraining order to stop him contacting the complainant or going back to the property.

Barrister Jade Bucklow, representing Mehdi, told the court the couple had been arguing about money and made the threat when his wife refused to give him his keys.

She said Mehdi had been keeping the bird of prey inside temporarily while he was building a shelter for it.

"During the course of what was a very extensive argument you took a kitchen knife and held it to the victim's throat," judge Jonathan Gibson told Mehdi.

"That was, as she said in her statement, extremely frightening for her and certainly in the moment she thought that she might die."

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