A MAN has been sentenced to a year in prison for grabbing his wife by the throat and wrenching her head back in a brutal attack in a public garden.

Terry Ian Cummins, 29, then kicked Natalie Cummins in the head during ‘the type of assault that could have been fatal’, Recorder Christopher Parker QC said.

Small-business owner Cummins, formerly of Abbotsbury Road, Weymouth, pounced on his estranged wife in Alexandra Gardens, Weymouth, in the early hours of September 13, Dorchester Crown Court heard. The pair had been drinking with friends in Weymouth town centre, although Cummins had been ordered not to contact his wife after being arrested for making harassing phone calls and sending text messages in July.

Prosecutor Carolyn Bradford-Wood said: “At one point Mr Cummins attempted to kiss Mrs Cummins. She made it clear that she was only prepared to be in his company as friends.”

The court was told Mrs Cummins left the pub they were drinking in with a friend to go home, but was followed by Cummins.

CCTV footage was shown of Cummins carrying out the sickening attack on Mrs Cummins – the mother of his six-year-old son.

“Mrs Cummins landed on the ground and Mr Cummins had his arms locked around her throat and pulled her head back as far as it would go.

“She was face down and unable to move any part of her body and couldn’t breathe and was told by Mr Cummins ‘I’m going to make you pay’,” Ms Bradford-Wood said.

The footage then showed Cummins kicking his wife in the head.

Mrs Cummins then hid to escape him before going to the police.

Cummins pleaded guilty to harassment, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by beating.

Sentencing him to 12 months in prison, Recorder Parker said: “I will probably never have a term for the terror Mrs Cummins felt as you carried out that brutal attack.”

Cummins was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting or communicating with Mrs Cummins for five years.