A JEALOUS Widnes dad burst into the home of another man, who was having an affair with his wife, and beat him up, a court heard today. 

Dad-of-three Graham Hines, aged 42, of Simonside,  had been devastated when he learnt about the secret affair and he became further depressed and upset when he was made redundant just days later and also found out his wife Julie had run up debts of £60,000.

"He describes himself as living with mental torture and he decided to talk to her but she declined to and he decided to confront the complainant," said Kate Morley, defending.

"Almost inevitably things took a turn for the worse," she added.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that while in the Aigburth home of the victim, Shane Pemberton, Hines punched him in the face causing him to fall over the arm of a chair.

He punched and kicked him repeatedly until the victim's girlfriend, Debbie Beckett, heard the commotion and came down. She pulled Hines off him and he pushed her out of the way before fleeing.

Mr Pemberton was taken to hospital where it was found he had suffered a broken bone in his neck as well as cuts and bruises.

Hines pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm and common assault.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for a year and ordered to carry out 240 hours unpaid work.

Sentencing him, the judge, Recorder Anthony Long, said that it was a serious assault but he took into consideration that he was normally hard working and industrious.

"You committed the offences when very upset about what you believed was going on and were suffering from depression."

Miss Morley said that Hines and his wife have now divorced and he has a new partner since the incident which happened almost a year ago last September.

She added: "He is extremely sorry for what happened and if he could turn the clock back he would."