A HUSBAND who left a trail of blood through the marital home he was forbidden to enter has been jailed.

When she saw it, Brent Smith’s mother-in-law was so concerned for her daughter’s welfare, she went to Malton Police Station to alert officers, said Katherine Schofield, prosecuting.

Twenty to 30 minutes earlier, Smith himself had been to the same police station and asked if officers wanted to speak to him. He was told they did not.

He left blood on the waiting room floor, said Ms Schofield.

When police investigated after the mother-in-law’s visit, they found that the wife was safe, but Smith had smashed a mirror and stamped on a television in the marital house.

He had then walked about the house upstairs and downstairs with a bleeding foot.

Some weeks before the incident, Smith had beaten his wife up as a neighbour watched, said Ms Schofield.

For Smith, James McGowan said the wife had invited him to the house on November 6.

He refused to do any community punishment and wanted a prison sentence, the court heard.

He was also doing his best to ensure the couple were divorced as quickly as possible, said Mr McGowan.

York magistrates jailed Smith for 20 weeks.

Smith, 39, now of The Cornmill, Railway Street, Malton, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and breaching a non-molestation order by going to the house, both on November 6, and assaulting his wife on August 13.

Ms Schofield said a neighbour realised something was happening at the Smiths’ home on August 13 when they heard raised voices and looking out, saw Smith punching his wife all over her body for about two minutes.

On being arrested, Smith said: “I know she won’t press charges, I know she won’t."

On September 12, Scarborough Family Court made a non-molestation order banning Smith from going to the marital home or contacting his wife.

Ms Schofield said on November 6, Smith’s mother-in-law saw that her daughter’s house was unlocked and the trail of blood inside shortly after 9am.