A JILTED lover staged a terrifying ambush so he could kill himself in front of his ex-girlfriend.
Armed with two kitchen knives, Graham Smith, 31, broke into her home while she was out and hid in the airing cupboard.
After she returned, Smith sprung out as her new boyfriend Lee Marsham opened the cupboard at the house in Ashton Road, Denton.
Smith was being ''menacing and verbally threatening,'' Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester was told.
He agreed to put the knives down when a neighbour arrived.
The drama occurred five months after the woman ended her relationship with Smith.
Anthony Eyres, prosecuting, said: ''He said he had wanted to kill himself in front of his ex-girlfriend and her new partner.''
Smith, of Brooklands Close, Haughton, Green, Denton, admitted aggravated burglary and affray and was ordered to complete a two-year community rehabilitation order.
Defence counsel Tom Fitzpatrick said Smith's life had been blighted by a savage assault in 1997.
He said medical reports indicated he was unlikely to have carried out his suicide bid.
