A GP's lover who attacked his wife after a row escaped punishment yesterday.

Nicola Beattie, 30, grabbed Audrey Paterson by the hair and hauled her off a chair in a "heated argument" in the kitchen of the marital home.

Beattie said she had rushed to the house to see her lover Dr John Paterson after she was called by Mrs Paterson. But police were called to the house, in the Kingswells area on the outskirts of Aberdeen, after they ended up in a bitter row.

Beattie had appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court charged with assaulting Mrs Paterson, a mother-of-two, and breaching the peace by threatening to kill her on April 1.

However, the Crown accepted a reduced plea of assault and sentence was then deferred until yesterday for good behaviour. Beattie was admonished.

The court heard that unemployed Beattie had been having an affair with Dr Paterson for two and a half years.