A BENTHAM businessman has been given a suspended prison sentence after throwing a bar stool at his ex-wife.

Denis O' Hagan 'saw red' after his former wife refused to serve him a drink at the pub where she worked, Skipton magistrates heard.

Magistrates also granted a restraining order barring O'Hagan from approaching or contacting his former wife for a year.

O'Hagan picked up the stool and threw it, she ducked and it smashed into the back of the bar, where there were other people at the time, the court heard on Friday.

O'Hagan, who admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in Main Street, Bentham, towards his former wife on September 5, was now in a new relationship following a difficult divorce, the court heard.

The former Mrs O'Hagan had been working a shift at the Main Street pub at the same time as her former husband was there for a drink. He had lost his temper after she refused to serve him - being unaware that her boss had given her permission not to do so.

In mitigation, Paul Fitzpatrick said O'Hagan and his former wife lived in the same town but relations had become so strained he was considering moving away.

He said O'Hagan accepted his actions had been unacceptable, but he had acted out of frustration.

"He simply saw red, years of frustration had come to the boil," he said.

He was compensating the pub landlord for the damage and wished no further contact with his former wife.

Magistrates told O'Hagan, of The Sidings, said it had been a serious matter that warranted a prison sentence. They sentenced him to 12 weeks, suspended for a year, and ordered him to pay costs of £85 and victims surcharge of £80.