A PRESTONPANS man who squeezed his wife’s throat during an argument will be sentenced later this month.

Lyuben Kolakov, currently of Winton Court, Tranent, grabbed his wife by the throat and began applying pressure as the pair clashed at the family home in Prestonpans.

The court was told that Kolakov and his wife had been out socialising for the night with the woman’s brother and all three had returned home late in May last year.

Kolakov and the woman, who have been married for 18 years and have two children, were in bed when the pair began to argue with each other.

Kolakov, 48, was said to be “irate” and during the fight he “gripped his wife’s throat” with his hand and began to “apply pressure”.

Mrs Kolakov was in so much pain that she shouted out for him to stop and her brother then entered the room after becoming concerned.

The unnamed brother-in-law saw Kolakov on top of the woman and “gripping her throat with his left hand”. The woman was shouting “let go of me” during the incident.

She did not report the attack at the time but went to police in Musselburgh on another matter in July this year.

During that interview, the woman disclosed what had happened the previous year and Kolakov was soon arrested and charged.

Matthew Auchincloss, defending solicitor, said his client said he told police he had been “simply stopping her from scratching my face” as they argued.

The lawyer added that the relationship “had taken a turn” when they had fallen out and Kolakov was “devastated” at his conduct that night.

Mr Auchincloss said: “The relationship is still ongoing.

“Up to this point, he and his wife have had a wonderful relationship.”

The lawyer asked Sheriff Donald Corke to relax the bail conditions banning Kolakov from contacting his wife while he stays in Tranent and she continues to live at the family home in Prestonpans.

But Sheriff Corke denied the motion and deferred sentence to later this month for the preparation of background reports.

Kolakov admitted to assaulting his wife by seizing hold of her throat and applying pressure at an address at Wilson Avenue, Prestonpans, between May 1 and June 1 last year.

A plea of not guilty to assaulting the same woman by punching her to the face and repeatedly kicking her to the body at the same address on July 4 this year was accepted by the Crown.