A husband who whipped his wife with his trouser belt in front of their children has avoided jail after she begged the judge not to keep him in prison.

Dadir Muktar, 30, repeatedly lashed partner Huda Ali on the arm, hip and thigh while shouting: “Are you going to listen to me?”, despite her pleas to stop.

A neighbour alerted police after hearing screaming inside the flat in Charnwood Street, Upper Clapton on October 9.

Barry McElduff, prosecuting, said: “The neighbour looked into the flat via the peephole and could see the defendant

grabbing the back of his wife’s head and throwing her to the floor.

“Police found Ms Ali in a state of distress. She rolled up her top to reveal welts to her right forearm and to her right wrist by way of a belt.”

Muktar had refused to let Mrs Ali collect a phone which was being repaired, and ripped up passports belonging to her and the children, before he launched the attack.

Mr McElduff said: “The children were crying as they saw the defendant dragging her through the flat.

“The offence is further aggravated by its location and, of course, in particular by the fact that it happened in the presence of the children, or at least part of it did.”

Muktar was remanded in custody after admitting the assault but will now be released after being handed a suspended prison sentence by Judge Ian Darling at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday.

At the sentencing, Judge Darling told him he had “behaved very badly”.

“You are extremely fortunate that your wife has been prepared to say in a letter to me that what you did was entirely out of character, that your children are suffering and she wants no further punishment,” he said.

The court heard the relationship had been troubled for several months due to Muktar’s controlling nature.

McElduff said: “Mr Muktar was not allowing her to leave the house, effectively keeping her in the house and exercising a great deal of control over her.”

Muktar, who is now registered as having no fixed abode, was sentenced to 12 months

imprisonment, suspended for a year, with 150 hours of unpaid work.