A SUICIDAL husband who held his estranged wife hostage with an 11-inch combat knife has been jailed for 18 months.

Armed police rushed to Malvern after Stephen Burton threatened to kill Sandra Burton, who had left him for a former friend, Worcester Crown Court heard.

He became emotional and agitated as their 17-year marriage disintegrated and he was barred from seeing his daughter.

Burton burst into his wife's home in Beauchamp Road, holding police at bay for more than an hour before a trained negotiator, talking through the letterbox, persuaded him to surrender.

Yesterday, the 41-year-old, of Jamaica Road, Malvern, was jailed after admitting to false imprisonment and affray.

He had left a suicide note at his own home before driving to see his father for the last time on Saturday, February 8, this year - but, by chance, he spotted his 11-year-old daughter and gave her a lift.

His wife tried to keep him out but, despite a court order not to go within 100 yards of the property, he kicked the door in, said David Munro, prosecuting.

Burton grabbed her round the neck and said he had nothing to live for. He threatened to kill her and himself rather than go to prison.

His daughter escaped to a neighbour's home and police were alerted. At one stage, Burton poked the knife through the letterbox towards an officer's face.

He eventually passed the knife to his wife and she put it on an external window sill. She suffered bruising to her neck and an arm.

Burton, who had no police record, felt betrayed after his wife left him for a friend, said Francis Laird, defending.

The couple were going through a divorce, although their seven-year-old son lived with him.

Mr Laird said the former soldier had resolved to kill himself that day inside his car on the Malvern Hills. But he changed his mind after seeing his daughter crying in the street after an argument with her mother.

"He wasn't allowed to see his daughter and that caused him a great deal of distress, " added Mr Laird. "Emotion got the better of him, but he has now learned his lesson."

Judge Andrew Geddes said it was a serious aggravating feature that Burton had armed himself with a knife.

He said two people had been terrified by the incident but accepted that the defendant had acted while under extreme emotional stress.