RICHARD Samuel subjected his wife to an incredibly vicious attack by lifting her up by her hair, and smashing her head against a wall. The incident continued when he punched her, and when she went to lay down to recover, he smashed her head on the floor

RICHARD Samuel subjected his wife to "an incredibly vicious attack" by lifting her up by her hair, and smashing her head against a wall.

The incident continued when he punched her, and when she went to lay down to recover, he smashed her head on the floor.

The next day Samuel told Janet Samuel: "I will burn this house down before you have it."

Mrs Samuel needed extensive dental work to repair broken and missing teeth, and suffered from a limp after the incident, Ely magistrates heard on Thursday.

Mrs Samuel's victim statement said the incident had marked the end of more than three years of "a roller coaster of emotional abuse".

"I look in the mirror and see half the woman I used to be," she said. "I remain truly scared of that man."

Samuel, 30, of Aspen Close, Ely, admitted harassing Janet Samuel between February 10 and 16, causing her to fear that violence would be used against her.

Samuel had drunk seven or eight pints of lager when the couple visited the pub on February 10, said Olivia Gooding, prosecuting.

When they returned home, Samuel grabbed his wife by the jaw and pushed her against a wall.

In the bedroom she was subjected to a vicious attack.

Samuel grabbed her hair, lifting her off the bed, and smashed her head against the wall.

Samuel had cut himself during the incident, and flicked his blood into her face.

Half an hour later, Samuel launched a further assault as Mrs Samuel lay on the sofa, said Ms Gooding.

Without speaking, he pulled her off the sofa by the hair, pulled her head back, and smashed her head against the floor, and subjected her to a verbal onslaught.

Solicitor Adam Hazelhurst told the court: "The more he hears about it, the more sick he feels.

"He is very remorseful about what he had done.

"He accepts he has done wrong and must be punished."

The magistrates decided to send Samuel to Cambridge Crown Court for sentencing, and gave him conditional bail.