AN ex- solider who admitted grabbing a colleague by the throat in a factory and threatened to kill him has been told to complete unpaid work.

Luke Alan Jones, 23, of Nant View Court in Buckley, was working at T. I. Automotive on Deeside Industrial Park, when the incident took place on January 29. Jones, who was a soldier in the parachute regiment until being medically discharged, became angry when Kryzstof Budziarek, a supervisor, had questioned the standard of his work. An altercation took place after Jones was asked for several tanks to be checked properly, which resulted in him shouting angrily, “I’ve had enough of it. F*** it. I’m going home.”

Ceri Ellis-Jones, prosecuting at Mold Magistrates Court, said how Jones, who only entered a guilty plea on the day of trial, then followed Mr Budziarek, before he grabbed him by the throat, pushing him down towards a box on the floor telling him he was going to kill him. Mr Budziarek said he feared for his life.

Ms Ellis-Jones also applied to the Deputy District Judge for a restraining order.

Gary Harvey, defending, told the court it was not a pre-mediated attack and that Jones had acted in the spur of the moment. He had been diagnosed with depression.

He was a man with no previous convictions who had not recalled the events as described until he saw the CCTV on the morning of his trial, so changed his plea.

Jones will have to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months and complete 10 days of a rehabilitative requirement.

He was also ordered to pay Mr Budziarek £300 in compensation, with £100 due to a second employee, court costs of £300 and a £90 surcharge.