A MAN who held a knife to the throat of his former partner before striking a neighbour who tried to come to her aid has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Wilson Carey, 26, was arrested after a confrontation at an address in Harwich in July last year, which arose after neighbours heard a woman’s screams.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard a neighbour had described the scream as “bloodcurdling”.

Recorder Simon Mayo QC said: “That disturbance was so loud that it attracted the attention of a number of neighbours.

“One of those neighbours, fearing what was going on, called 999.

“Other neighbours were so moved by what was going on they came to the door of the address.”

When the neighbours arrived at the house, they were able to see inside and noticed Carey holding a kitchen knife to his then partner’s throat.

The neighbours entered the home.

Judge Mayo said: “They sought to persuade you to calm down and to desist from the aggressive behaviour.

“There was at one point a confrontation between you and [a neighbour], when she sought to prevent you from going back to an area of the house where your former partner was.

“In the process of that you struck her right thumb, and as I understand it she suffered some injury to the bone of her thumb.”

Carey, of Bridge Place, Cattawade, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray.

Steven Levy, mitigating, said Carey had no relevant previous convictions and had admitted his guilt at an early opportunity.

He said: “Things seem to have escalated when the neighbours tried to get in, and at this point the defendant accepts ‘If that’s what they say I did, I did it, I don’t have any recollection.’

“It appears the way [the neighbour] got assaulted was through the defendant trying to leave.”

Carey was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

He was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and a 35-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

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