Man pursued ex-wife with knife in hand

MODEL prisoner Edward Wardle, who held a kitchen knife as he pursued his former wife in a rage, has been jailed.

The 42-year-old, of Tarleton Road, Hanley, went to Susan Wardle's house on December 14 last year.

At 10pm she asked him to leave but he asked to stay. She refused and went upstairs.

He went to the kitchen and took a knife and his seven-year-old son was awoken as he shouted he would slit her throat.

Prosecutor Phillip Beardwell told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court Wardle held the knife in his hand throughout the incident.

Wardle had pleaded guilty to affray at an earlier hearing. He denied a charge of making threats to kill.

Stephen Oldham, defending, said: "There was no real violence. The knife was in his hand but it was not brandished."

He said Wardle had made great efforts to rehabilitate himself while on remand in prison.

"He does extremely well in custody and in a number of ways is the model prisoner.

"He has to make the transition from a model prisoner to a model member of society."

Judge Granville Styler sentenced Wardle to 16 months in prison.

The judge told Wardle: "You have an anger management problem. It was a serious matter. You were in anger when you pursued your ex-wife upstairs with a knife in your hand."

Wardle will serve half the sentence with the rest on licence. Time spent on remand – 198 days – will be deducted from the term served.