Man attacked wife with cricket bat

Oct 27 2007 Western Mail

A PUB landlord attacked his half-naked wife with a child’s cricket bat when he found her enjoying a Chinese takeaway with another man, a court heard yesterday.

Anthony Ernest Morgan, 70, came across wife Elaine – his partner for 21 years – wearing only a towel at the home of Stephen Clarke.

She claimed to have stripped off so her clothes would not get greasy from the takeaway, Newport Crown Court heard.

Morgan, who runs Potters Pub in Aberbeeg, Abertillery, entered Mr Clarke’s flat and hit the pair with the bat, breaking his wife’s nose.

He was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, and ordered to pay £500 towards the prosecution’s costs.

The court heard that Morgan, who served with the armed forces in Malaya in the 1950s, immediately handed himself in to police in July.

David Webster, mitigating, said Morgan’s relationship with his wife was over “and there will be no reconciliation”.

“He is thoroughly ashamed of what he did that night,” he said.

Sentencing him, Judge Roderick Denyer QC said Morgan, who pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, would have to report to a probation officer.

“They can just keep an eye on you because we don’t want you going off the rails again,” he said.

The judge heard how Morgan was highly regarded in his community and how he was a “man who helps other people when he doesn’t have to help other people”.

“You clearly run a good pub. Everyone says so,” Judge Denyer said.