A MULTIPLE domestic assault brute who bit his wife’s breast so hard in one attack that her nipple bled could be spared a prison sentence.

Rodney Mountford - who also throttled terrified spouse Victoria with her own clothing – is to be assessed as to his suitability to be electronically tagged.

Mountford sat stony-faced, staring directly ahead, in the dock of Greenock Sheriff Court as a jury yesterday returned guilty verdicts on him after nearly four hours of deliberations.

The Greenock Cricket Club batsman had claimed that his wife had lied about a string of assaults he inflicted on her because she wanted ‘full ownership’ of their four children.

But the panel of eight women and seven men decided that Mountford, 41, attacked her between February and March 2013 and again in May 2014 at their Wemyss Bay home.

During a six-day trial a tearful Mrs Mountford, 42, told how her husband sank his teeth all the way through a sweatshirt and a pyjama top she was wearing in order to inflict the painful injury on her breast.

Mrs Mountford - who branded her husband a ‘monster’ – said of the attack: “I had four children and breast fed them – I found it quite animalistic that he could do that to me.” 

Mountford’s claim that his wife had ‘crash tackled’ him and that he had merely clenched his teeth after her clothing ‘fell’ into his mouth and restricted his breathing was rejected by the jury.

He’d insisted that Mrs Mountford had been in the aggressor in a series of incidents, despite the fact that he appeared to have emerged unscathed from all of them.

Australian Mountford told the court: “I believe that her motivation is to have me removed from the country to allow her to have full ‘ownership’, as she would put it, of the children.

“She will go to any lengths to achieve that goal.”

He declared: “I am not a bully or controlling in any manner to my wife, or anybody else for that matter.”

However, in a taped interview with police -–which was played in court – Mountford was at a loss to explain extensive bruising on his wife’s body the day after one alleged assault on May 12 2014.

Mountford stated to two officers, who placed him under arrest following the 20-minute discussion: “My wife was being very volatile and aggressive.

“I can’t explain the bruising. It may have been through the scuffle.”

Mountford, of Undercliff Road, Wemyss Bay, told the court that his wife was ‘paranoid’ and frequently wanted to scroll through his mobile phone after he started a new job.

His wife – who gave evidence over two days from behind a screen – said he ‘hard smacked’ their four young sons because he considered it to be his ‘right’ as a father when disciplining them.

Mrs Mountford - who declared that her 13-year marriage was ‘unhappy from the outset’ - said that her husband threw her down a flight of nine concrete stairs in October 2013, but the jury found this charge not proven by majority after Mountford claimed that his wife had jumped on him before ‘slipping’ off of his back.

Mountford appeared to be on the brink of tears in the witness box as he told how he has not seen any of his children since 2014 following a court ruling.

The jury were deadlocked at 5.30pm last Friday following nearly two-and-a-half hours of deliberations and had to return yesterday for a further 86 minutes of discussion before reaching agreement on the case.

They found company managing director Mountford guilty by a majority of pushing his wife onto a bed, holding her down and biting her breast to her injury sometime between February 1 and March 31 2013.

Also by majority, they decided that he was guilty, under provocation, of pursuing Mrs Mountford, seizing her by the clothing, throwing her to the ground, kneeling upon her body, preventing her from escaping, seizing her clothing and tightening it round her neck, forcing her head back, restraining her, seizing her by the wrists, pushing and pulling her and causing her to fall to the ground to her injury.

Allegations that Mountford compressed his wife’s throat, restricted her breathing, removed her trousers and pants, repeatedly struck her on the head, lay on top of her, sat on top of her, made sexual remarks, placed her in a cupboard and repeatedly closed its door on her leg, all to the danger of her life, were deleted from the charge by the jury. 

Defence lawyer Graham Robertson QC – instructed by Keenan Solicitors – asked for his client’s bail to be continued prior to sentencing.

Sheriff Craig Turnbull granted the motion and ordered background and restriction of liberty order reports.

Mountford, of Undercliff Road, Wemyss Bay, is due to learn his fate on February 23.