A MAN who subjected his wife to years of abuse and attacked her with a Christmas tree has been permanently banned from their home and barred from contacting three members of his family.

Andrew John Atkin, 50, put his wife Susan through years of emotional abuse and insults during which he acted in a controlling way towards her, said Cathy Turnbull, prosecuting.

She eventually went to the police after he had hit her with a plastic Christmas tree and forced her and their adult son Ben to spend much of a December night outside the home in a car.

Ms Turnbull said as Mrs Atkin sat with her head in her hands following the attack with the tree, her son told her: “It can’t go on. We have got to do something about him."

Atkin, now of Stockton Lane, York, pleaded guilty to two assaults on his wife and one on his son.

York magistrates made a restraining order barring him from contacting his wife, son, or sister-in-law who witnessed some of his behaviour in a pub, and banned him from going to the marital home in Tang Hall which is now in her name alone. The order lasts indefinitely.

He was also given a two-year community order with two rehabilitation courses on how to conduct his relationships and to tackle alcohol misuse and ordered him to pay £300 prosecution costs, a £60 fine and a £120 statutory surcharge.

His solicitor Jane Maloney said he didn’t accept that he had misbehaved towards his wife, other than when he assaulted her, but he accepted that their relationship was over.

“Alcohol has clearly played a part in these incidents,” she said.

Ms Turnbull said Mrs Atkin had difficulty living with Atkin when he had been drinking. On December 18, 2015, he stopped her watching television, hit her twice across the face, fetched a small plastic Christmas tree in its container and hit her with it on the back of her head.

Ben Atkin comforted his mother while his brother Daniel tried to calm their father down.

On December 27, Mrs Atkin and Ben went to a pub with family members, but Atkin followed them, stared at them from a table near where they were sitting, and later tapped on the window of their alcove to get their attention.

When they arrived home at about midnight, he shoved her out of the house, shouting at her. They waited in Ben’s car outside the house for some time before trying to get in again, and were again repelled by Atkin. They were only able to get back in at 4am after Atkin had fallen asleep.

In the morning, the father called Mrs Atkin names and threatened to hit his son.