A TERRIFIED woman locked herself in her car to keep herself safe from her ranting husband.

The incident led to 54-year-old Austin Daniels, formerly of Rosyth, appearing in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on January 22, at his then home in Rosyth, he shouted, repeatedly acted aggressively, made threats of violence towards his wife, threw food items at a car occupied by her and lunged towards police officers.

He also admitted assaulting a police officer by attempting to bite her.

Depute fiscal Alistair McDermid told the court that the couple had been married for six years.

He said that Daniels’ wife had been concerned by his alcohol consumption since leaving his job in 2013.

This had increased further in the weeks leading up to the offences and he was becoming abusive towards her.

At 3pm, Daniels had started drinking and his wife stayed out of his way until returning home at 10pm to find him still consuming whisky.

The woman went to bed and got up the next morning at 6.40am to find he was still in the living room drinking.

She went out to the shops and returned home at 11am. She offered him something to eat but he refused and continued drinking.

He then began shouting and rambling at his wife. She was scared and went out to sit in her car.

Daniels shouted at her: “You’re a dead woman.”

With his wife locked in the vehicle, Daniels began throwing frozen food items at her, including a pizza and chicken Kiev.

She phoned the police and officers arrived to find her crying and shaking in her car.

He then struggled with police officers and tried to bite one of them on her backside but failed.

Defence solicitor Barbara Collie said the relationship was now over and her client was currently living in bed and breakfast accommodation.

The court was told Daniels was unfit for unpaid work. Sheriff James MacDonald imposed a community payback order with 12 months’ supervision.