A MAN strangled his wife of 22 years in a fight after their 'first date night’ since the pandemic.

Karl Gregory, 51, started arguing with his partner when they returned home after a night drinking at the pub.

The defendant became physical, putting his hands around her throat and shouting at her as she tried to break free.

He then released his grip, before storming out of the room they were in and heading to the front door.

One of them was hit in the arm by an air freshener can Gregory “angrily” swiped off the side during the incident.

The defendant was subsequently arrested by police.

Gregory, of Egmont Road in Poole, accepted he had been drunk, and accepted there was an argument, but said everything he did was in self-defence, claiming his wife had been “scratching at his face”.

He admitted a charge of assault by beating.

A jury found him guilty of a charge of intentional strangulation relating to his wife.

The defendant appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday, February 29.

The court heard how Gregory and his wife had gone to the pub on the evening of October 29, 2022, for what was the first time they’d "properly been out together" since the Covid pandemic.

Gregory’s wife said in a victim statement that she, till this day, cannot understand why Karl ended up attacking her.

She also said Gregory had left her with “significant bruises” to her face and arm, and swelling around her neck, and feeling “unsafe going out socially”.  

Mitigating, Ellie Fargin explained that her client had a medical condition which saw him experience strokes.

She said he had turned to drinking because of this, and noted the attack “happened as a result of drinking”.

Ms Fargin told the court: “He realises now how inappropriate that was.

“He’s never tried to shy or hide away from what he did that evening.

“He is embarrassed about what happened, and he’s sad it got to that stage, but he is now trying to change.”

It was also said that Gregory only strangled his wife “for a brief period”.

Judge William Mousley KC concluded: “I’ve heard and have read a victim statement from [the wife] which explains the very significant impact that your violence had had that night upon her, and upon your and her children.

“You are assessed at being at some risk of re-offending, and more significantly, if you were to re-offend, you might cause serious harm to people in a domestic context.”

Gregory was jailed for one year and handed a restraining order lasting five years.