A DRUNKEN man who lost his temper with his wife at their Cotswold cottage and began punching the furniture and waving a samurai sword around, has narrowly escaped jail.

Ashley Langley, 28, received a four-month prison sentence suspended for two years and two years supervision, when he appeared before Judge Jamie Tabor QC at Gloucester Crown Court yesterday.

He had pleaded guilty to affray and possessing an offensive weapon.

The judge said: "When you drink, you really drink but you appear to have really sorted yourself out over the past four months. You could have so easily have gone to prison today."

On October 5, 2014 Langley threatened wife Karen that he would chop up her brothers if she called the police.

At an earlier hearing prosecuting barrister Susan Cavender said that Langley, who is now living in Inkskip, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, left Maidencroft Cottage, Kempsford, with the sword and was outdoors with it for some time before police spotted him and arrested him.

Ms Cavender said the trouble flared when Langley, who married his wife in August 2014 had been drinking all day and got angry about being asked to fetch his wife's teenage son from a visit to grandparents.

Langley did not see why he had to do it and he punched the wardrobe and then a living room cupboard in anger.

Mrs Langley was worried about his behaviour and took their one-year-old child to the bedroom with her but Langley continued to rant and she asked him to leave.

It was then he fetched one of four samurai swords he had offered to sell for her brother and after waving it around and saying he would chop up her brothers, he left with it.

He later returned but she would not let him in so he left again and she called the police "He was staggering and clearly very intoxicated," said Ms Cavender. "He had been drinking beer and cider all day."

She told the court Langley had made 24 previous court appearances for 43 offences, including assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and possessing a knife in a public place while drunk, but had been out of trouble for the last five years.