Soap-loving pensioner, 75, battered with vacuum cleaner by stepson in rage over him watching Emmerdale
A PENSIONER was battered with a vacuum cleaner by his stepson in a rage over him watching Emmerdale.
James Beaumont, 43, asked Martyn Sumner: “What are you watching this old woman’s programme for? I shouldn’t have to do this?”
He then attacked the 75-year-old with part of the vacuum cleaner and began punching him.
Martyn, who had been sitting in his armchair watching the long-running ITV soap, called 999 but was hit three more times.
Beaumont has now pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm but avoided a jail term.
The thug was instead handed a 12-month community order and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Recorder Andrew Hammond said: “This was an entirely unprovoked attack on your elderly victim who was shocked and frightened.
“He still wonders why it happened. This is an offence within a domestic abuse context.
“It was a shocking event which was clearly out of character. No one understands why you did it.”
Cardiff Crown Court heard the pair had been drinking together at a Wetherspoons pub in Monmouth, South Wales, before the attack.
But Beaumont’s “demeanour changed” when they arrived home and he started vacuuming.
He mocked the victim for watching Emmerdale before launching into the assault.
Jeffrey Jones, defending, said: “He’s ashamed, embarrassed and sorry for what he’s done and he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity in the magistrates’ court.
“He’s very upset at what he’s done and contrite in the true sense of the word.”
The court heard that the victim wants to rebuild his relationship with his stepson and had written him a character reference.
