A teenage husband threatened to stab his wife with a kitchen knife during a row, a court heard yesterday.

Norwich magistrates heard how Gary Stone, 19, who now lives in Baltic Wharf, near the river in Norwich city centre, had made the threats at the couple's home in September last year.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault against his wife Amy Stone and was sentenced to a 25 week suspended prison sentence.

Stone, who has since split up with his wife of three years and will soon start divorce proceedings, was also given a restraining order and told to undertake a domestic violence and alcohol treatment programme.

During yesterday's hearing, Alan Wheetman, prosecuting, said: 'The defendant was at home looking after his wife's daughter who was asleep.

'He had been drinking. Mrs Stone and a friend were talking about an ex-boyfriend and it made the defendant jealous. Mrs Stone pushed him and he pushed her back. He then punched her in her arm twice and waved a knife and said 'if you don't shut up and be quiet, I will stab you'.'

The court heard how Mrs Stone had been an 'emotional wreck' since the incident on September 3 and had felt 'anxious', 'nervous' and lives 'in constant fear'.

Damien Moore, mitigating, said: 'Mr Stone is a man of previous good character with no previous criminal convictions.

'The incident followed an argument between Mr and Mrs Stone. For the last two years, their relationship has been rocky and volatile and trust issues have been prevalent in the marriage.

'That combined with the difficulties he's had with finding employment saw him turn to drinking as a coping mechanism. Perhaps this incident was a combination of all those things together.

'He very much regrets the incident, he has expressed genuine remorse and was shocked by his own actions.'

On top of the suspended sentence, Stone was ordered to pay �400 in costs.

Wendy Mantin, chairman of the bench, said: 'This is extremely serious. We have paid attention to the fact that there was a child in the house, although asleep, the longer impact of your actions and the fact that these were very dangerous circumstances.'