A 67-year-old grandfather smothered his wife’s face with a pillow and cushions after she gave away a toy belonging to their tragic son who died at the age of five, a court heard.

Raymond Williams was jailed for nine months after the attack on his wife of 47 years, despite her pleas for him to be freed.

Worcester Crown Court heard how Williams flew into a rage when he heard the toy car belonging to their late son, who died from cancer in the 1970s, had been given to their grandson without him being consulted.

After drinking a whisky and some beer, he pushed his wife Margaret onto a bed and gripped her round the throat.

She thought she was going to die before he let go, said Mr Charles Hardy, prosecuting yesterday. Williams then renewed the attack, smothering her face until she had difficulty breathing.

Son-in-law Robert Flynn came to the door after neighbours heard the victim’s screams but Williams grabbed a kitchen knife and the two men struggled.

Williams suffered a cut head, which required 15 stitches, when a plant pot was hurled at him and Mr Flynn cut his hand as he grabbed the blade.

The couple gave most of their late son’s toys to charity because of their pain, only keeping the car, explained Mr Daniel White, defending.

Williams, of Stourbridge Road, Kidderminster, was jailed for nine months as his family watched from the public gallery. He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Recorder David Crigman QC said anyone hearing the case would have sympathy over such an emotional issue.

But the potential consequences of his behaviour against his wife, also in her sixties, could have been grave.

“You squeezed the neck of a defenceless woman, then compounded it by smothering. The violence could have killed her,” he said.

Mr Crigman said Williams’s wife missed him and wanted him home as he had spent 97 days in custody on remand. But he could not pass a sentence influenced by her sympathy, only on what Williams actually did.

The violence erupted at the couple’s home on August 21 after Mrs Williams decided to have a clear-out, said Mr Hardy.

She gave the toy car to their grandson who lived next door. Williams arrived home at 8pm, becoming “extremely upset” because the car “had memories”.

Mrs Williams was taken to hospital suffering from a bruised lip and swollen face.

Williams had not tried to suffocate his wife but was trying to stop her screaming, said Mr White.

His wife had made a retraction statement in a bid to stop the prosecution going ahead.

Mr White added: “The defendant was pushed over the edge but apologises to those he injured. He has been in daily contact with his wife from prison. Life without him has been traumatic for her.”