A MAN from Rhyl who strangled his wife in front of their children has been spared jail.

John Charker, 35, of Sydenham Avenue, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Mold Crown Court today (June 15).

He had pleaded guilty to a charge of intentional strangulation on May 19, the day his trial was due to begin.

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Prosecuting, Alexandra Carrier told the court that, on December 2, 2022, Charker and his wife, Kelly Harvey, who have been in a relationship for 13 years, collected their children from school together.

Ms Carrier said the couple’s relationship had “deteriorated in recent years”.

When they returned home, Mrs Harvey saw to the children while Charker listened to music using one of his children’s mobile phone.

He later went upstairs to watch television, lying on one of his children’s bed complaining of back pains, while still in possession of the phone.

Mrs Harvey took the phone from him, so Charker got up to follow her, asking her why she had done so.

She said she was returning it to their child, who then told her that he had let his father use it.

After she placed the phone on an arm of their sofa, Charker retrieved it before leaving the room.

He then threw the phone at Mrs Harvey, missing her but hitting a wall.

Mrs Harvey told him that he had broken the phone, to which he responded by “storming towards her”, grabbing her by the throat, and pushing her on to the sofa.

Scared, she tried to get her children to leave the room, as Charker grabbed her hair, pulled her head back and held her in a headlock.

Two of the children then attempted to get Charker off their mother, saying: “Daddy, stop; get off mummy, you’re hurting mummy.”

Mrs Harvey eventually managed to push Charker away, before running from the house with the children and shouting for help in the street.

Charker was heard to have shouted that his wife was a “f****** d*******”, before she contacted police after returning home.

When interviewed by police, Charker said Mrs Harvey had attempted to punch him, so he retaliated, and that he left their house when she asked him to.

In a statement, Mrs Harvey said she feared for her life during the attack, which caused her to sustain reddening to her neck.

She said that her husband’s mental health has diminished in the last three years following the loss of his job, and that she did not feel he “was himself” at the time of the incident.

Defending Charker, who had one previous conviction for an unrelated matter, Simon Mintz said that the relationship with his wife was not “defined by domestic abuse”.

Of the 13 years that they have been together, Mr Mintz said, “10 of those years were perfectly happy.”

Charker had shown a “genuine acceptance of the need for change”, he added, has since gained employment at a holiday park, and is “progressing very well” with his prescribed antidepressants.

Despite accepting that this was an “awful” and “very disturbing” incident, Mr Mintz deemed his client to have a genuine prospect of rehabilitation.

He also referred to further extracts from his wife’s statement, which read: “I do love him, and he’s a good dad.

“The man who assaulted me was not John. He wasn’t himself. John is an amazing dad and provides what he can for me and the children. They absolutely adore him; they want their daddy back.”

With this in mind, Mr Mintz invited the court to suspend Charker’s custodial sentence.

Sentencing, Judge Parry also ordered Charker to carry out 20 days’ rehabilitation activity requirements, and a 35-day programme.

He was made subject to a 12-month exclusion requirement, which he will breach if he goes within 500 yards of his children’s home.

Judge Parry said that only because of the mitigation provided by Charker’s wife did he suspend his sentence.

“This offending was clearly the culmination of a deteriorating relationship between you and the victim,” Judge Parry told him.

“You lost your temper quite irrationally.”

Charker must also pay £450 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.