Hucknall man attacked wife and ran amok in his home with a claw hammer, sparking stand-off with police

Nottingham Magistrates Court heard David Leivers argued with his wife about making a sandwich before he kicked a cabinet and smashed a £600 smart television, on July 8, said prosecutor Donna Fawcett.

When he swung his fists at his wife, hitting her in the right eye, she tried to fend him off with her feet and he dragged her across the kitchen floor.

He shouted: "There will have to be a few bodies before I die. What's stopping me from burying you in the garden?"

Leivers, who now lives in Hucknall, stamped on her ankle and slapped her, then said: "I thought you were this outspoken girl but look at you now."

He grabbed her car keys and jabbed them into her side, then told his wife: "If you don't stab me with a knife I will kill you. I have got to do this."

To her surprise, Leivers let his wife leave the house. When police attended at 5.50pm, they heard smashing noises coming from inside.

Leivers came to the door and pressed his face against a window, before saying "f*** you," sticking up his middle finger and smashing the glass pane.

Back-up was called after he began hurling wooden bannister spindles at the officers. But when a Taser was pointed at him, Leivers became compliant.

The court heard he had used the claw hammer to smash glass, kitchen items, television screens, mirrors and a £1,500 camera, before ripping radiators from the walls upstairs, smashing the toilet to pieces, and knocking holes in the walls and sink.

After he was released on bail, he sent "repetitive, obsessive and certainly unwanted" messages to his wife, and he was re-arrested, said Ms Fawcett.

In a statement, his wife said she was "genuinely traumatised" and “too afraid to return home in case he turns up.”

"The whole incident has been, and continues to be, a living nightmare," she said.

Serena Cousin, mitigating, said Leiver’s mental health had suffered during lockdown and he "appeared to have a confused sense of reality."

She said he had previously been treated at Highbury Hospital in Bulwell and, on July 8, “he may well have experienced a psychotic episode.”

"He knows that he lost it,” Ms Cousin said. “He couldn’t remember the incident. At that time he couldn’t see a way out of things.

"He is now accessing mental health support. It is a matter of sadness to him that it has come too late for his relationship."

Leivers, 51, now of Nabbs Lane, Hucknall, admitted harassment without violence, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, affray, and criminal damage when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court on July 20.

Sentencing was adjourned to Wednesday for a psychiatric report.

He was sentenced to prison for 52 weeks, suspended for 24 months, with a 31-session programme for building better relationships and 12 rehabilitation days.

He was ordered to pay £200 compensation and a restraining order was made for five years.