Dad admits assaulting estranged wife in her Wearside home after drinking session

Lee Caffrey, 44, appeared before magistrates charged with attacking his estranged wife at her Washington home after a boozing session.

Prosecutor Rob Lawson said Caffrey grabbed her by the throat after being invited to the house to babysit, sending her tumbling to the floor.

But that is denied by Caffrey who says he grabbed her ‘around the chest’.

It happened after the woman returned home at 10.30pm on Saturday, October 3, to find he had been drinking and asked him to leave.

South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard he persuaded her to join him in the kitchen so that their children could not hear.

Mr Lawson said Caffrey added: “[The victim] said that when she returned home, he appeared intoxicated. They sat in the living room and she asked him to leave.

“His demeanour changed towards her, and he asked her to go into the kitchen so that the children couldn’t hear.

“He said that what she had done had made him want to kill himself. He was talking about the break-up.

“He’s taken hold of her neck with his right hand and he’s made her gag and cough, she was having difficulty breathing.

“There’s a witness who hears a commotion.”

The court heard Caffrey denied putting his hands around her neck and pleaded guilty to assault by beating on the basis he grabbed her around the chest.

Mr Lawson said the prosecution did not agree with that – and the case may now be dealt with by a Newton hearing, an examination of the evidence before sentence.

Ian Wilson, defending, said: “She alleges that he grabbed her around the neck, but he doesn’t remember doing that. He says that he grabbed her around the chest.

“He accepts assaulting her. He accepts grappling and that she fell to the floor. The relationship hasn’t resumed.”

District Judge Kathryn Meek advised Mr Wilson to seek evidence clarification from Caffrey, of Dean Street, Gateshead, ahead of a potential Newton hearing and sentencing at the same court on Monday, February 1.

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