Walsall man signed house over to wife - then threatened to burn it down
A Walsall man who signed his house over to his wife then rang her threatening to burn it down has been given a suspended jail sentence.
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John Howells, who is 55, made the threat to his wife of 19 years in a phone call on July 15 last year.
His wife, from whom he was separating, said the threat had caused her stress resulting in a rash.
"She never believed that Mr Howells could harm her, but after this incident she doesn't know what he is capable of," said prosecutor Mr Tom Wickstead at Dudley Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
"He's not the man that she married years ago. She is a shadow of the person she had been."
