67 year-old Douglas Hellier Laing, a former member of Teignbridge District Council, viciously attacked his wife with a wooden mallet.
The incident happened on October 29th, Mrs Laing said she thought she was going to die during the attack but managed to escape the family home. She then raised the alarm with neighbours.
Douglas, who announced that he had resigned from Teignbridge District Council earlier this week, waited for the police to arrive at his home. Before they did, he cleared up the blood, and later admitted he lost control.
At Exeter Crown Court, Judge Cottle said: “This is indeed a tragic case. You and the victim were living together in the same house but leading separate lives whilst the divorce proceedings were continuing – never an ideal situation and sometimes a very difficult one.
“It’s not really clear why you did what you did on the day in question. Obviously there was an atmosphere of tension and unhappiness in the house.
“You had certainly been drinking. I would have thought drink must have had something to do with why you reacted and if sober you would have reacted in a different way.”
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