Sentence for Premeditated ABH & Common Assault

My brother In Law has recently split from his wife after 27 years of marriage.  She started to spend more and more time with her friends rather than her family and my brother in law had suspicions that his wife may have been unfaithful.  

His wife 'now' alleges that she was going out because he had become violent towards her. They have two sons aged 13 and 15 yrs old who have heard/seen them argue but never seen their father become violent towards her apart from one occasion when the youngest explained that his father threw a coat hanger but did not hit his mother.

2 weeks ago his wife walked out on him and at first blames the fact he was violent. When my wife spoke to her she admitted that she had feelings for another women and that it had only been going on for a couple of weeks (me and my wife feel it has been going on longer) but she still played the violent card.

She left the familty home and my brother in law and kids were left to deal with the consequences. After nearly two weeks we had notice my brother in law was struggling to come to terms as to what has happened but he had arranged for his wife to come round to talk about bills.

The next we hear is that my brother in law locked her in the house and he began to attack her with a knife and was dragging her upstairs. Somehow she persuaded him to put the knife down and the attack  proceeded to take place outside the property (I can only presume she persuaded him to open the door aswell) at which point the women she has started a relationship with had turned up and he attacked her aswell. His wife has alledged it was attempted rape and attempted murder.

The police were called but my brother in law locked himself in the house only to attempt to take his own life with pills and alcohol. My brother in law was taken to hospital and after a few days recovering he was taken to the police station.

At this point no one in the family, including the children could believe that my brother in law was capable of doing such a thing. That clearly upset his wife evenmore as we are her immediate familty but from what we know of my brother in law, without being mentally unstable there is not in a million years he could be capable of this.

We then find out he had in fact pleaded guilty but only to ABH on his wife and common assault on his wife's new partner. He apparently pleaded guilty to locking her in the house and that he did have a knife.

He was remanded in custody until 23rd May and is currently in Strangeways Prison in Manchester.

I believe there are mitigating circumstances by the fact his wife has always over the years been in control of his life. He had always wanted to go to work and earn his own cash but she always wanted him to be at home to look after her as she claims to have lupus. If she was to tell him to jump, he would say how high. He lived his whole married life running around after her and he got used to it so much it became normal to him. In my opinion when she left him he just simply didn't know what to do or think and he was clearly in a very dark place. She also claims a substantial amount of benefits for her youngest son, due to what she describes as life threatening illness but I don't believe he is as ill as she makes out he is and I have my own opinions on that as well.

He has had no previous convictions and I am concerned for his welfare whilst he is in prison.

I can't defend what he has done and neither can he considering he has pleaded guilty but the whole family is in a state of shock and although we know he has done wrong, we, including his children want him back. 

His wife on the otherhand wants him to rot in hell despite her children wanting him back.

My question is what is the likelihood of him getting a suspended sentence. Is there anything we can do to put what we feel are mitigating factors to the courts. We can't seem to get the details of the solicitor that was provided at the police station so we feel we are unable to do anything to help him at the moment.

If you feel he won't get a suspended sentence, then from experience how long do you feel he will get in prison?