A carpenter has avoided jail after fracturing a retired magistrate’s eye socket with a piece of wood amid a neighbourhood feud in a picturesque village.
Christopher Wellman, 36, was doing work at his mother-in-law’s house in Walditch, near Bridport in Dorset, when neighbour Colin Prior approached to complain about the noise.
Wellman ignored him, and Mr Prior, 76, put his foot on the tradesman’s electric saw.
The carpenter reacted by taking a “long back swing” with a 3×4 piece of wood, hitting the pensioner on the side of the head.
The force of the blow fractured Mr Prior’s cheekbone and eye socket and split his ear “essentially in half”, while his wife, 73-year-old Helen, watched in horror.
Mr Prior, a retired BT engineer, driving examiner and former magistrate, said that both he and Helen were psychologically impacted by the horrifying assault “on their doorstep”.
He was disappointed that Wellman did not receive a prison sentence, he said.
There had been ill-feeling between Wellman’s family and the Priors for some time over a planning dispute.
Wellman’s partner Poppy Crisp set up a massage and wellness business in the garden of her mother’s thatched cottage home.
The Priors live in the cottage immediately next door and the two neighbours share an entranceway.
When Ms Crisp submitted a planning application to legitimise the business, the Priors objected, complaining about her clients peering in through their window and invading their privacy.
Stuart Ellacott, prosecuting, told Bournemouth Crown Court that Mr Prior had been out for a walk on the morning of 26 March 2025 and returned home to find Wellman doing some work by the shared entrance, with music “blaring”.
After Wellman turned the radio off, he started working with an electric saw and Mr Prior went out to confront him about the noise.
Mr Ellacott said: “He walks out, lifted the ear defender and said ‘you’re being silly’. The defendant put his ear defender back on, ignored Mr Prior and carried on.
“Mr Prior put his foot on the machine. When he did that Mr Wellman started puffing out his chest, confronting him within his personal space, looking enraged.
“He shouted ‘c**t’ before swinging a large piece of wood, a 3×4, round with both hands, delivering a long back swing which struck the right side of Mr Prior’s face and ear, causing Mr Prior to fall sideways, landing on a metal gate which caused an injury to his shoulder.
“He was taken to hospital in an ambulance and had a 3-4cm laceration to his ear, two fractures to the right cheekbone and wall of the orbit round the eye socket.”
Mr Prior told the court the assault had a “profound” effect on him and his wife.
He said that his right ear was “split to my skull” and a tooth was loosened by the force that now requires extraction, but he has put this off, having “endured enough trauma for one year”.
He described having to sleep sitting upright in a chair for three weeks due to his ear and facial injuries and said they remain tender a year later.
He also suffered such severe headaches after the incident his doctor sent him for further tests, fearing a bleed on the brain, but fortunately was given the all clear.
Mr Prior said: “Helen saw me slump to the ground and did not know if I had survived such a blow to the head.
“It continues to cause her flashbacks, she worries I could so easily have died on the doorstep of our property that day, ending our 53 years of marriage.
“A year on I am still infuriated that Wellman, an almost total stranger, has brought violence to our doorstep in our retirement years.”
He added that after the incident, the couple had not felt comfortable going back to Walditch, their second home, and had returned to their other home in Hampshire instead.
He said: “We both never wish to see Wellman here again.
“We have been supported by our friends and the Walditch community who have been absolutely horrified such an attack could have been launched against me at my home.”
John King, defending Wellman, pointed out it was a “dangerous act” when Mr Prior touched the saw and said that Wellman reacted spontaneously.
He added: “He is extremely hard working and contributes to the local neighbourhood and charities. He is a hard-working decent man, this was a one-off incident unlikely to recur.
“He regrets very much what has happened.”
Wellman admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent.
In sentencing him, Recorder Tom Day said: “You were 35 at that time, Mr Prior was 40 years older than you, having had surgery to his nose and issues with his back. You struck him in that way causing extremely serious injuries.
“There is no explanation and no justification for your conduct.
“There is no mitigation in the fact Mr Prior sought to remove your ear defender or interacted with your tools in some way.
“This was unprovoked, unjustified and appalling. You are a young, strong, healthy man who attacked a 75-year-old.
“You used a weapon, it is right to say it was impulsive and short-lived.
“Striking someone to the head with a plank of wood could have caused even more serious harm, a bleed on the brain could easily have happened.”
But he said that Wellman’s character references showed “this was entirely out of character for you” and said he was “just persuaded” to suspend the jail term.
He handed him a 14-month term, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £5,000 compensation to Mr Prior.
Recorder Day also made a restraining order preventing Wellman from contacting the Priors or from going to Walditch for five years.
Speaking after the case, Mr Prior said that he had expected Wellman to be jailed and was disappointed he wasn’t charged with GBH with intent.
He added: “The restraining order was important to us for peace of mind. With the compensation, it was never about the money but I suppose that is the part that will hurt him more than anything.”
