A drunken husband from Orford, Warrington, who twice strangled and assaulted his wife in front of their nine-year-old daughter went to live with his mum and then attacked her partner.
Daniel Beckett, who was more drunk than his mum had ever seen him, suddenly stopped the assault on his step-dad John O’Reilly and said, ”I love you.”
A court heard today (Mon) that the 62-year-old victim was left with injuries including a fractured vertebrae and breathing issues and lost a tooth. He has been unable to return to his job as a self-employed bricklayer and his relationship has also broken down.
Beckett, aged 42, who was a delivery driver, was jailed for four years and nine months and disqualified from driving for seven years and ten months.
David Watson, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that after attacking his wife he drove off from their Orford home but crashed into nearby cars.
When police arrived at the scene and arrested him he was found to be four and a half times over the drink driving limit with a reading of 157 micrograms of alcohol in 100 mll of breath.
Beckett, a dad-of-four, of Whitecross Road, Bewsey and Whitecross, had been convicted of strangulation and common assault after a trial and admitted drink driving and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Mr Watson told the court that late on January 11 last year police were called out when Beckett crashed the car and they learnt that his wife had reported an assault by him.
She showed them injuries to her neck and mouth and explained they occurred when “he elbowed her, dragged her around, pinned her on a bed and put both hands around her neck putting both thumbs into her neck.
“She could not breathe and thought she was going to die. He punched her in the mouth and only stopped when their nine-year-old daughter hit him on the back and told him to stop.”
After the incident he went to live with his mum Wendy and Mr O’Reilly and he arrived there at about 7.15 pm on July 25 and was “the most intoxicated she had seen him.”
He had a black eye and said he had been assaulted. “He began goading Mr O’Reilly and then charged towards him and put his head forcibly against his chest and knocked him backwards shouting, ‘l’ll f….ing kill you’.”
The victim hit his head on the radiator as he fell and he felt his neck clicking. Beckett got on top of him and he was struggling to breathe. Beckett bit his finger and then suddenly stopped and said, “I love you.’
The defendant was drunk and aggressive and when arrested he said he had been drinking vodka and was “paralytically smashed.” Mr O’Reilly was taken to hospital for treatment.
In an impact statement Mr O’Reilly said, “I see him as my son.”
He said he was on liquid morphine for the pain in his back after the attack. He now has a shadow on his lung and there are on-going medical investigations. “My quality of life has massively deteriorated.”
Carmel Wilde, defending, said that Beckett, who has six previous convictions for nine offences including two for driving with excess alcohol, has been punished by not seeing his partner since January last year and having no contact with his children for seven months after being remanded in custody.
“Beckett’s wife wants to resume their relationship and the children are struggling without their father,” said Miss Wilde.
He is a good husband and father when sober and it was clear alcohol did not agree with him. He had been working 14 hour days as a delivery driver and used alcohol as a coping mechanism. He described his wife as “his best mate.”
Sentencing him Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said that he had battered his wife and strangled her twice that night as well as punching her in the face but she had strenuously tried to get the police and COPS to discontinue proceedings against him.
The judge said that the defendant had no real recollection of either incident and said he had drunk a litre of gin before the first attack. “I accept you feel genuine remorse for what you have done.”
