Somerset man jailed after threatening wife with knife

Green's wife told Taunton Crown Court she felt "guilt and shame" over letting things get "so bad"

A man who attacked his wife and threatened her with a knife in the middle of the night has been jailed.

After an argument on 25 May, Paul Green, 40, of Pearmain Road, Somerton, Somerset, woke his wife and covered her face with a pillow while threatening her with the weapon.

In a statement his wife said she "constantly relives" the attack.

Green pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm and sentenced to two years at Taunton Crown Court on 15 December.

In a victim statement, read out in court, his wife said the attack was an "enormous thing that I cannot get out of my head and the consequences could have been that my children would be parentless.

"Within a split second of what happened, there could have been that one slip of the knife, or Paul could have held that pillow for an extra minute and I could have been dead."

Green left the property on 25 May and returned later, shouting outside, before leaving when police arrived.

He was charged the following day and remanded in custody.

'Incredible bravery'

Avon and Somerset Police investigations officer Louise Savage said she commended the "incredible bravery and strength it took the victim to come forward after suffering at the hands of her spouse for so long".

She said the victim's statement helped express to the court how the incident had affected her, which was key in the judge's decision.

"Green terrorised his wife and thought he was untouchable," she added.

The victim said during her and Green's relationship she had "wrongly assumed" the behaviour "was just life and it was just normal to deal with".

"I painted a brave face in front of people, when in fact things were far from normal, far from healthy," she added.

Green also received a five-year restraining order and was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £156.