A SON who smashed his father’s face in, causing numerous fractures which had to be repaired with metal plates, in a ‘horrific attack’ on him has been jailed for nine years.
Samuel Spreadborough pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to inflicting grievous bodily harm on his father Stephen Spreadborough with intent to cause him serious injury.
The 27-year-old, who is from Coventry but of no fixed address, also admitted causing damage at his parents’ home and common assault on his brother Jonathan during the incident.
Prosecutor Madhu Rai explained in April Spreadborough had assaulted his 60-year-old father by grabbing him round the throat during an argument and throwing him sideways.
A week later there was another attack when he had again grabbed his father by the throat, following which the police were contacted and he was charged with the assaults.
He was eventually jailed for ten weeks when he appeared in court in May, but in the meantime was granted bail with a condition not to contact his parents or go to their home.
But on April 29 he turned up at their address in River Walk, Wood End, in the early hours of the morning.
Spreadborough kicked the door several times, shouting threats, and then smashed the front window.
Police arrived and took details of the damage before leaving.
But after they had gone Stephen Spreadborough looked out of an upstairs window and saw his son hiding behind a wall, so he told his wife and then left through the front door and walked towards Hillmorton Road with his phone to call the police.
Meanwhile Spreadborough used a paving slab to smash the kitchen window to get into the house and began looking for his father before realising he had left.
He caught up and launched a vicious attack landing punches and kicks which knocked him unconscious.
He then stopped the attack and walked away, shaking his hand and blowing on his knuckles, as his brother went to assist their father and, with his mother, helped him back to the house.
Spreadborough was already there, and had locked himself in, but was persuaded to open the door by Jonathan who he then grabbed by the throat and pushed against a window.
When police arrived they found him calmly sitting on a sofa, and after he was arrested he asserted: “If I had a few more minutes with him, he’d be dead.”
Stephen Spreadborough had to undergo an operation in which the numerous fractures to his face were repaired with metal plates and screws, said Miss Rai.
Nigel Stelling, defending, said when Spreadborough was seen by a psychiatrist, he had expressed remorse for the severity of the injuries he had caused.
He said that all but one of Spreadborough’s convictions related to problems with his father, but pointed out he had told the psychiatrist he had stopped because he saw a glimpse of his father’s face and was shocked at what he had done.
Deputy Judge Richard Griffith-Jones told Spreadborough: “The blows were part of a sustained and vicious attack which caused multiple fractures to your father’s face at a time when he was barely conscious. He was left with a need to have his face rebuilt.
“But I do take into account that you desisted without intervention from another source.”
