Clare Stubbs told police that her husband Paul (29) regularly drove past her home and it sometimes seemed like he was repeatedly 'driving around the block'.

Mrs Stubbs, who had a court order preventing him from molesting her, said she saw him in her front garden staring into her home on 9th March.

Prosecutor Peter Bettany told Chesterfield magistrates last Wednesday: "On 21st March she received a phone call from him wanting to know where her new partner was.

"The defendant said he was going to break his legs as they were still married."

Stubbs, of Market Place, was arrested and told police he regularly drove past her home on his way to visit his sister.

He said he looked through her window on one occasion when he called to return some of her belongings and got no answer at the door.

"He said she had phoned him and told him about her new partner," said Mr Bettany.

"He said he didn't intend to break his legs – it was just a daft thing he said – and he was filing for divorce."

Stubbs admitted making a threatening phone call and magistrates adjourned sentence while warning that he could be jailed at the next hearing on 14th May.

Bail was granted on condition he does not contact Mrs Stubbs or go near her home in Shirebrook.

In mitigation, Steve Brint told the court: "His sister lives three doors away from his wife and he had no option but to go past his wife's house – it wasn't a deliberate ploy to harass her.

"On 21st March she phoned him and stated: 'You may have heard the rumours. Yes, I'm seeing another man'. She gave him all the details and this was difficult for Mr Stubbs to hear.

"In the heat of the moment he accepts saying he would break his legs."