A Didcot man has admitted throttling his wife in June.

Appearing before Oxford Crown Court on Monday (July 24) wearing a rosary around his neck, Callum Kenward, 27, of Diamond Drive, Didcot, pleaded guilty to a charge of non-fatal intentional strangulation.

He denied other allegations of causing actual bodily harm and common assault.

All the offences related to the same victim and were said to have been committed on June 12.

His guilty plea to the strangulation alone was accepted and the Crown was not seeking a trial on the other two alleged assaults, the court was told.

Judge Michael Gledhill KC adjourned sentencing until September 4 and ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report by the probation service.

But he warned the defendant: “It is, obviously, a very serious matter. Pleas have been accepted but it does not follow that anything other than an immediate custodial sentence will be appropriate for this serious criminal offence.”

He remanded Kenward in custody.

A relatively new offence, the crime of non-fatal strangulation often results in those responsible being sent to prison.

That principle was established by the Court of Appeal, which upheld the jail sentence given to London man Alfie Cook by a judge at Isleworth Crown Court.

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