An oil boss and former Russian army colonel has been handed a three-month suspended sentence for headbutting and strangling his ex-wife and assaulting his son.

Ratis Gailis, a 52-year-old oil businessman, went on a drunken rampage when his ex-wife refused to watch a war film with him.

Gailis joined the Russian army aged 24, rising to the rank of colonel, before leaving and becoming a director of an oil company in 2004.

Last Thursday, Gailis appeared at Hemel Hempstead Magistrates Court for sentence having pleaded guilty to assault of his ex-wife Vita Kokoreviga and their 13-year-old son.

Jan Muller, prosecuting, told the court Gailis flew into a rage, smashing property and “headbutting” and “strangling” his ex-wife at his mother’s home in Loudwater Drive, Loudwater, near Rickmansworth.

Gailis is a director of a company which sets up oil pipelines between Russia and Scandinavia and is allowed in this country on a 180-day a year business visa.

On Thursday, July 2, he was at his mother’s home when Vita returned from a trip to Latvia and gave out gifts before things turned aggressive.

Gailis, who had mixed prescription drugs with alcohol, grabbed her hand and made her follow him around the house, she told police.

She realised he was very drunk and there was an argument about loud music, with Gailis being abusive to their daughter.

The court was read a statement from his ex-wife explaining what happened next.

She said: “He tried to hold my hand and force me to watch a war film I didn’t want to watch.

“He tried to cuddle me and I told him I did not want to watch the film.

“He tried to headbutt me. He headbutted me again and got my right eye.

“I told the two children to pack and called a taxi.

“I was packing in the bedroom and he said ‘You cannot charge me, no one saw’.”

Vita told him their son had witnessed “everything”, which made Gailis more angry, saying: “If you want to run off, jump out of the window” and adding: “I am the man, you should listen to me”.

Gailis followed her upstairs and offered to take the family for something to eat, but his ex-wife said she could not because of a “black eye” he had given her.

Then there was the sound of a crash after Gailis picked up a large candle, which he banged on the door saying: “Where’s my movie?” and then on a picture, smashing the glass.

Gailis was drinking wine from a bottle and spat some out, before Vita fought back, the court heard.

Vita said she hit Gailis on his back with a wooden sculpture before falling on a sofa.

“He started to strangle me around my neck. I bit his finger and he let me go and I waited in my room until the police arrived,” she said.

Miss Muller, prosecuting, said: “He had assaulted his son too and was calling him an animal in Russian, which is more offensive than the word is in English.”

The court heard in mitigation Gailis was under a great deal of stress with his work and had lost other partners through his drink problem.

The Muscovite had sought help from Russia’s equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous and could not remember the incident, but was full of remorse.

District Judge Connolly imposed a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Gailis was made the subject of a restraining order prohibiting contact with his ex-wife for three years.

He was also given an exclusion order, banning him from the borough of Watford, where his wife lives.

The judge said: “This was a sustained attack over a long period of time.”