A teacher who beat up his wife in a jealous rage after she danced with another man narrowly avoided going to prison.

But Nyasha Bhila, 37, was given a nine-month suspended sentence last Friday and warned that if he breached various conditions, including supervision and attending a "think-first" programme, he would return to Isleworth Crown Court and would be imprisoned.

At an earlier trial, Bhila, who lives in Highlands Close, Hounslow, was found guilty by a jury of causing his wife, Matshukidu Ramushu, actual bodily harm on April 28 last year.

Judge Jonathan Lowen, who suspended the sentence for two years, told him: "The evidence was clear that your relationship, since it began in 2005, had been turbulent.

"On that night you argued and when you got home you administered a sustained and violent beating on her. There is no doubt about it."

The judge added: "You punched and kicked her and hit her with your belt and she sustained a number of superficial cuts and bruises, bled from the nose and mouth and was left with a black eye.

"This was an offence in the context of other incidents of violence and bullying."

Prosecuting, Peter Lancaster told the court that Bhila took his wife, Matshukidu, to a party in Henley that night.

She danced with another man.

They argued on the way home and he became violent once they got home, said counsel.

Defence counsel Claire Robinson asked for any sentence to be suspended with conditions, adding: "I have explained to him that would not be an easy option, but it would allow him to look after his son and maintain his employment."

Bhila teaches at Deanfield School, Tilehurst in Reading.

The couple have separated.