Morecambe dad cleared of attacking daughter’s boyfriend with rifle and hammer in response to row in Blackpool

A dad has been cleared of attacking his daughter’s boyfriend with a rifle and a hammer aftera week long trial.

A jury unanimously found Shaun Airey not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and an alternative charge of inflicting GBH after a trial at Preston Crown Court.

The 59-year-old from Morecambe was hugged by jubilant family and friends as he walked free after six days in the dock.

The victim – who suffered a fractured skull in an altercation between the two men - alleged he was assaulted as he slept in bed.

But the jury believed Airey’s version of events in which he claimed he had only struck his daughter’s partner with the butt of an air rifle in self-defence after he was threatened with a knife.

The court was told Airey’s daughter had been in a relationship with the man for around five years and had been living in a property owned by her father in Morecambe.

After a night out in Blackpool the couple returned to the house and were arguing when the boyfriend was alleged to have kicked her off the bed and told her to “f*** off”.

Airey, of Hall Drive, Morecambe, went round to the house the following morning and the two men clashed in the bedroom, leaving the victim with serious head injuries. But the jury were told both men gave completely different stories to police about the fracas.

The boyfriend alleged he was sound asleep when he was attacked with a hammer, sustaining between 10 and 15 blows to the head and body. At first he told police he had no idea who had carried out the assault but later changed his story to say Airey had been the assailant and he had seen him leave the property as a passenger in a white Volvo car.

But the court heard Airey’s account was totally different. He had walked into the bedroom to find the man sitting on the bed with a tray snorting cocaine. He said he got to his feet and came towards him with a knife.

He feared he was going to be stabbed and so picked up an air rifle which was in the bedroom and struck him with it on the head to fend him off. When he left the premises he was driving his own pick-up truck and was not a passenger in a car as alleged by the boyfriend – a fact that was backed up by CCTV outside the house at the time.

The man was taken to hospital where it was found he had a depressed fracture of the skull and multiple other head and facial injuries. His face remained numb on one side for some time after and he struggled with his speech.

Summing up the case Judge Paul Hodgkinson said there had been “many inconsistencies” in the victim’s evidence given to police after the incident and then later from the witness box during the trial.

He had originally said he had suffered just two hammer blows and numerous others from the rifle. But in court he had claimed he was hit between 10 and 15 times by a hammer.

Judge Hodgkinson said the man accepted there were discrepancies in his evidence but said his memory had been affected by the assault and that he had been sedated at the time he was interviewed at the hospital.

When asked if he had been sitting on the bed taking cocaine at the time Airey entered the room he denied it. Asked if he had a knife and had been the aggressor that night he had said “No”.

Airey had said in court he did not go round for a fight or to be aggressive. There had been other incidents between the couple in the past and he had not got involved.

He denied hitting him with a hammer but admitted he had picked up the rifle to defend himself. He accepted striking the man a number of times with the butt of the gun.

He agreed he had hit him as hard as he could saying: “I just wanted him to stop coming at me.” He had not wanted to cause him serious harm.

Two hammers were found, one inside the house and the other outside. But an expert had told the court neither showed any blood staining on the hammer heads.

The jury returned not guilty verdicts on both charges.