A HUSBAND threatened to bite a friend’s nose off and murder him after he caught him with his wife and went “slightly off the rails”, York Crown Court heard.

Dale Ashley Balding was grieving after the death from Covid-19 of one of his clients when he came home to find his spouse and his friend together, said defence solicitor advocate Kevin Blount.

Brooke Morrison, prosecuting, said Balding, 34, a carer, followed the two in his car as they drove through York to the now former friend’s house late on July 24.

He came up alongside them in a street with parked cars, accelerated to be immediately in front of them and put on his brakes, said Mr Morrison.

The friend had to brake sharply to avoid a collision, the court heard.

Questioned and bailed by the police, Balding rang a friend of his wife’s new man, said the barrister.

He said when his bail ended: “It’s game on, I will bite his ….. nose off, I will kill him, I will murder him, I don’t care who knows.”

For Balding, Mr Blount said the circumstances in which he had found out about his wife’s infidelity had led to him behaving out of character.

“He lost his temper and lost his rationality,” he told the court.

“He had recently lost one of his patients and was struggling with that mentally and then, having to move out of his home and the end of the relationship.”

Balding, now of Helens Road, Penrhiwtyn, Neath, Wales, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and a malicious communication.

He had no previous convictions.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said that the affair between Balding’s wife and now former friend had sent Balding “slightly off the rails”.

“Driving alongside someone like that could have caused an over-reaction,” the judge told the court.

“Who knows what could have happened. Cars kill.”

He passed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months on the condition Balding does 80 hours’ unpaid work.

Balding was also banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to take an extended driving test before driving unsupervised again.