David Henderson spared jail after judge told "red mist took over"
A former soldier battered one of his friends after finding him in bed with his wife.
Falklands veteran David Henderson had climbed onto a flat roof to get into a bedroom where he caught the pair in the act.
The “red mist took over” and he punched the man several times in the face before taking a picture of his estranged wife and her lover, and sending them to the other man’s wife.
Henderson, 52, from Coventry, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to inflicting grievous bodily harm and maliciously sending the two pictures, but escaped being jailed.
He was sentenced to ten months in prison suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work, due to what the judge described as the “unusual circumstances” of the case.
Prosecutor Justin Jarmola said Henderson and his wife Louise had been in a relationship for 20 years, and married for 12, but she decided in July that the marriage was at an end.
She moved out of their home in Wolston to stay with a friend, and on July 16 Henderson turned up at that address, also in Wolston, and got in by climbing on to a flat roof and in through open French windows.
Following the attack, Henderson took photographs of his wife and the injuries he had caused. He then sent them to the other man’s wife and phoned her to tell her what he had discovered, said Mr Jarmola.
His victim had to go to hospital where he needed a total of 23 stitches to two wounds to his lip and one to his eyebrow.
The self-employed man also suffered from dizziness and from numbness to his face as a result of the “sustained and repeated assault”, and had to take two weeks off work.
Mr Jarmola added that when Henderson was arrested, he accepted walking from the former matrimonial home to the other house and carrying out the assault.
Sentencing Henderson, who had spent a month in custody before being granted bail, Judge Wall told him: “Rarely have I seen such a strong array of testimonials. They all describe you as professional and calm and measured.
“It is clear you are highly regarded and it is a tragedy that on July 16 things went so very badly wrong.
“I accept there was an emotional background to what happened. You believed she was having a sexual relationship with another man, and you decided to check that she was alright – and to check whether your suspicions were true.
“You let yourself in and found her engaged in sexual acts with a person you had considered to be a friend of yours.
“You lost your temper and punched that man several times, and he had very nasty facial injuries requiring 23 stitches.
“I accept there was no premeditation. It was an upsetting situation to which you reacted.
“I accept your remorse is genuine, and in the particular and unusual circumstances of your case, I can take the exceptional course of suspending the sentence.”
"It wasn't premeditated" yet "he had suspicions about her behaviour", a bit of a contradiction there I think?
