Wife beater Nigel Basford jailed for late-night attack at Meir home

JOINER Nigel Basford has been jailed after breaking his wife's wrist during an attack on her in bed.

And his victim Dawn Basford says she feared her husband of five years was going to kill her during the late-night assault.

Yesterday 51-year-old Basford appeared at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court where it was revealed he attacked his wife following the breakdown of their five-year marriage.

The court was told that Basford had also assaulted his wife in 2008 and 2010.

Sentinel Home & Garden Show

Hylands Ltd & Panasonic Store

View details

Print voucher

This Sunday between 11am & 4pm with FREE admission at the Moat House Hotel Festival Park we will be exhibiting with some special show offers, the weather forecast isn't good but our deals are

Terms: Visit us or pick up a voucher at the show to be eligible

Contact: 01782 342609

Valid until: Sunday, June 23 2013

A week after discovering his wife had started a new relationship, Basford launched a prolonged attack on her in their home in Brookwood Drive, Meir.

Siobhan Collins, prosecuting, said: "It was 3.30am on April 21 and Mrs Basford was in bed. The defendant turned the light on and put both hands around her neck and began to strangle her. It was with enough pressure to make her think she was going to die.

"She went downstairs to escape him and he kicked and punched her and used his knees to strike her.

"She went to the floor and tried to shield her face but he continued to punch her."

At 9am the following day, the couple, who were living together at the time, drove to hospital to seek treatment for Mrs Basford's injuries.

Miss Collins said: "There was a discussion about what would be said in hospital. She lied to staff and said she had fallen down the stairs."

Medics discovered she had suffered a displaced fracture to her wrist.

Another incident occurred on April 26 when Basford came home 'intoxicated and aggressive' where he spat in his wife's face and pushed her to the floor.

On that occasion Mrs Basford called the police. Officers arrested the defendant and subsequently charged him with obstruction for failing to remain seated in the rear of the police car. He accepted the charge and later pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.

Along with a 19-month prison sentence Basford, of Church Road, Blurton, was handed a five-year restraining order.

Judge Granville Styler told him: "When you are drunk you are a violent and unpleasant man."

Speaking to The Sentinel after the verdict, Mrs Basford, aged 47, said: "I don't think the sentence is long enough and I fear him getting out.

"On that night he could have killed me, I was petrified. I have left him lots and lots of times but I always believed his promises. The marriage for me was finished after a year as he started to drink again."

However his mother Valerie Basford, of Church Road, Blurton, said: "I think the sentence is ridiculous, it's too harsh. It really hit him hard when the marriage finished."