A HUSBAND threatened his chronically ill wife with a homemade blowtorch, a court heard.

Deane Webb brandished an aerosol can and lighter at his terrified partner’s bedside in their Southampton home, telling her he would kill her.

She waited until daybreak to escape his clutches – tricking her way downstairs to get help from one of their teenage children.

Now the father-of-nine has been spared jail after a judge took pity on the reformed alcoholic’s attempts to change his ways.

The Recorder Nicolas Gerasimidis ruled that Webb’s determination to battle booze and his wife’s pleas that she relied on him as a sole carer warranted him a second chance.

And there were moving scenes as the couple of 20 years embraced after he stepped from the dock after receiving a community supervision order for common assault.

Webb, 58, of Wallace Road, Weston, admitted the charge.

Southampton Crown Court heard how his diabetic wife awoke during the night of January 2 to find her husband kneeling by the bed wielding the items.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the court: “He said ‘I’m going to kill you’ and when she asked why he said ‘You would do the same to me given the chance’.”

After letting her use the bathroom he bolted the bedroom door and guarded her bedside all night while she slept. She escaped the following morning after asking to make a cup of tea, and police arrived to arrest him.

The court heard how Webb, who often drank 16 cans of lager a day, had been suffering from alcohol withdrawal and depression. He told officers he had wanted to scare her after being “held to ransom” following an earlier marital argument and family problems.

His wife had been distressed by their separation while he was on bail as she relied on him for care, the court heard.

In mitigation, barrister Mark Florida-James said his client was remorseful and has worked to overcome his addiction.

He told the court: “He has done all he can to ensure nothing like this happens again.

“She has severe diabetes and she needs him at home to provide some support.”

Recorder Gerasimidis spared Webb from a custodial sentence and said: “There was a toxic cocktail of family problems and your withdrawal from alcohol and depression was exacerbated by family problems. Since then you have done everything to address the issues that led to your behaviour.

“You love your wife and children and want to be a support to her.”

Webb must serve a community order supervised for 12 months and pay a £40 victim surcharge.