A FATHER who grabbed his daughter's teacher's throat in front of other children in the playground has been sent to prison for four months.

Stanley Adams was upset with the way his daughter had been treated at school.

It was alleged his daughter had been misbehaving in a PE lesson and was told she would have to change in the hall in front of the boys.

Later, when Adams saw the female teacher in the playground he lunged at her, grabbed her throat and started squeezing her neck.

Emma Lile, prosecuting, said the teacher was taking an after school club on Wednesday, October 3, 2007, when Adams approached her saying: "You are not going to bully my daughter".

"She said he got very close to her and was a couple of inches away from her face," said Miss Lile. At that point she realised he was the father of a girl in the class. She does not recall him leaving the playground and she was concerned the children would have seen the assault."

Later Adams, aged 41, of Norton, near Evesham, said he thought the teacher kept laughing at him and this upset him.

In a statement read out in court the woman, who has been a primary school teacher for 30 years, said the assault had a serious impact on her life.

"First I thought I would be able to put it all behind me. I have lost confidence in myself," she said.

She has had problems sleeping and some nights would have disturbing dreams.

Some weeks after the incident she went to see her GP who signed her off work for a week with stress. "When the time came for me to consider going back I was filled with dread," she said.

She has been on sick leave since.

Brian O'Connell, defending, said the circumstances surrounding the assault were important. "My understanding is she was told you will have to change in the hall in front of the boys', and the child believed it would happen," he said. "Adams went into school to deal with it. He accepts he lost his temper and there is no excuse for that."

Adams admitted the assault when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court yesterday.

In sentencing Adams, chairman of the bench Robbie Porter said: "This was a serious unprovoked assault carried out in front of young children. We heard that her confidence, self esteem, general health and her ability to work normally have been affected. In our view no public servant should be subjected to such treatment while doing their job."

Richard Hubbard, director of children's services for Worcestershire County Council, said: "Teachers are trying to carry out a public service and do all they can to give our children the best start in life and raise standards of education in schools.

"They should not have to put up with assaults in their workplace.

"The figures we have on attacks in the classroom suggest that incidents of this type are decreasing. But it doesn't matter what the figures say; just a single attack on a teacher in a year is one attack too many."