CALLOUS Brian Fearon collapsed in court yesterday, moments after he was warned he was going to prison for a long time for pouring boiling water over his wife.

Fearon had denied wounding his wife but a jury at Mold Crown Court took three and a half hours to return a 10-2 majority guilty verdict.

Judge Nicholas Woodward said he took a particularly serious view of the offence and warned Fearon he faced a significant prison sentence.

But he agreed to adjourn the case for a pre-sentence report to be prepared and Fearon was bailed on condition he did not approach his wife in the meantime.

He was discharged from the dock but as he emerged from the court room he collapsed on to the floor of the foyer at Mold Law Courts.

He was taken away in an ambulance. The jury of seven women and five men heard how Fearon first poured boiling hot water from a kettle over his wife's arm when she stopped him from having a bottle of gin.

When terrified Lorraine Fearon turned to the kitchen sink to put cold water on her arm, Fearon, 44, tilted her head forward and poured the remainder of the boiling water over the back of her neck.

He even shook the kettle to make sure he had got every drop of water out as his wife screamed in pain.

Fearon, of Mainwaring Drive in Saltney Ferry, denied a charge of GBH following the incident in December of last year.

The prosecution said he was an alcoholic, that he wanted more to drink, and poured the boiling water on her, leaving her with permanent scarring.

Prosecuting barrister Maria Marsellis said it was a vicious attack by Fearon on his now estranged wife.

In evidence Mrs Fearon said she returned home from work and thought her husband had been drinking. An argument took place over money.

They later went to the Saltney Ferry Hotel where he drank some bitter, she was chatting to her father, her husband stormed off home and she later returned home.

She said she decided to pour eight cans of lager down the sink, he then went under the Christmas tree to get a bottle of gin which had been bought to give as a present.

When she took the bottle of gin off him he tried to grab it.

It was then, she said, he scalded her. 'I was screaming in pain,' she said. 'I poured cold water on my arm and he titled my head forward and poured the water over my neck.'

Fearon denied he had been drinking before his wife came home from work and said he no longer had an alcohol problem.

When his wife came home he was making a cup of tea for himself.

His wife approached him with a knife, he pulled his arm up and caught her with the kettle, he said.

He denied he poured water on her neck and said he helped her get her top off.

After yesterday's conviction, defending barrister Des Parry said his Fearon had certain health problems.

Judge Woodward said: 'I don't want you to have any misapprehension. I am almost certainly going to send you into custody and it can be for a long time.'

Fearon will be sentenced on May 14, at the court where Judge Woodward will be sitting at that time.