After locking his wife in their garden shed and then, when she got out, locking her out of the house, a Truro postman called her “nothing but a common prostitute” and said she was finished in his house.

When she got in with her own key and they were arguing, he tried to drag her out of the house by her legs. Upstairs, he threw her on the bed, got on top of her and grabbed her breasts.

In Truro Magistrates’ Court postman Andrew Paul Salmon, aged 42, of Malabar Road, Truro, pleaded guilty to assaulting Beverley Anne Salmon at Truro on February 6.

Gail Hawkley, for the CPS, said in his police interview Salmon said he did not remember what caused him to assault his wife as he was drunk.

He said he had been suffering from depression as his mother had recently died. Mrs Salmon did not like his mother and was not being supportive. She was also unkind about her death.

He believed that she was having an affair.

He admitted locking her in the shed, saying it was to “p*** her off”, knowing she would be able to get out through a window.

Salmon was given a community order for 24 months, including a requirement to take part in a building better relationships programme. He was fined £100 and told to pay £145 costs and surcharge.