An electrician's mate pinned his former girlfriend to a kitchen work top and brandished a seven-inch carving knife at her, a court was told.

Wayne Sanderson, 24, of Hargrave Crescent, Menston, admitted threatening to kill Winifrid Thompson, with whom he had had a stormy relationship for some time. He was arrested three months later when he drove off after crashing his car.

Bingley magistrates were told yesterday that he was easily traced to his mother's house in Menston because his front number plate had fallen off in the accident and he was found by police hiding in a wardrobe in a bedroom.

Sanderson - who used to be employed by Mrs Thompson's cleaning business but now works for a friend's electrician's business - also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, driving with no insurance and failing to stop after an accident.

He was put on probation for a year by magistrates yesterday. Part of the sentence will include attendance at a ten-week domestic violence programme. He was also fined £480 for the motoring offences and ordered to pay £30 costs.

Louise Jenkins, prosecuting, told the court that the threats to kill Mrs Thompson were made on October 24 last year when she was with neighbours at her home in Main Street, Menston. She became aware that Sanderson was outside looking in through the living room window.

The court was told that there had been problems in their relationship because of Sanderson's drinking and that Mrs Thompson knew he had been drinking on this occasion.

Later that evening, Mrs Thompson went outside after hearing him trying to start his car, which had been parked outside her cottage since his disqualification from driving.

When he went into the house he pinned her against a work top, holding a black-handled carving knife with a seven-inch blade, and said he was going to kill her.

"She was extremely frightened. The knife was only 2ft away from her face," said Mrs Jenkins.

Sanderson was arrested on January 30 after his Ford Fiesta failed to negotiate a left hand bend in Moor Lane, Menston, and hit a parked car.

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