Drink made Coronation Street star Bruce Jones violent, says wife

The wife of former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones told today how drinking changed his personality and made him "aggressive and loud".

The actor, who played Les Battersby in the ITV1 soap, pleaded guilty earlier this month to dangerous driving and has vowed to beat the bottle and save his marriage.

Jones, 57, admitted yanking the steering wheel of his wife Sandra's Mercedes M Class car from her hand as she drove along a busy road and shouting that he would kill them both.

Mrs Jones told GMTV her husband had been a "lovely and charming" man but drink changed him completely.

She said: "He would become aggressive and loud and was trying to look for fights, for arguments. It seemed as though it just changed him so much."

Mrs Jones said her husband started to drink more over the 26 years they were married until it was the only thing that mattered to him.

She said: "What I said to him was 'I can understand you going out for a drink if it makes you happy, but why go out drinking if it's going to make you violent, moody?'

"I can't see the point in that at all."

On March 23, Jones appeared at Mold Crown Court where he was refused permission to enter a rehab clinic in South Africa.

He had asked for his sentencing to be deferred or brought forward so he could travel to a clinic in Cape Town.

But the request was refused by Judge John Rogers QC because Jones may yet face a jail term when he is sentenced on April 16.