Man criticised by magistrate for beating wife (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Man criticised by magistrate for beating wife

3:20pm Thursday 28th February 2013 in News By Joanna Morris

A MAGISTRATE today (Thursday February 28) slammed the behaviour of a man prosecuted for beating his wife.

John Richard Spellman, of West Crescent, Darlington, beat his wife Rebecca when she refused to clean up after him.

On the night of Sunday, January 20, Spellman, 35, had drunkenly smashed a wine glass and demanded his wife clear the resulting mess.

When she refused, he pinned her to the ground and punched her twice in the face, leaving her with a black eye and bruising. Her young child witnessed the aftermath of the incident.

He pleaded guilty to assault by beating and was today handed a six month community supervision order at Darlington Magistrates’ Court.

Chair of the bench, Leslie Abbott, said: “It does not matter if you are on drink or drugs or whatever, nobody has the right to punch anybody, particularly when there are children around.

"What kind of message does that send out to them? An extremely bad one.

"For every action you take there is a consequence and you are lucky you are not being jailed.”

Spellman said: “I am very sorry for my actions. It was excessive self defence but having said that, I want to apologise as I went too far on that occasion and I hold my hands up to that.”