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South Wales PoliceA head teacher has been jailed for two years and four months for attacking his deputy with a wrench after a love triangle dispute involving another member of staff.
Anthony Felton, 54, of Penyrheol Road, Gorseinon, Swansea, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent following the incident at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Comprehensive in Aberavon, Neath Port Talbot, on 5 March.
Richard Pyke, 51, was treated for minor injuries in hospital following the attack.
Sentencing Felton at Swansea Crown Court on Friday, Judge Paul Thomas KC said he suspected a head teacher attacking his deputy was “entirely without precedent”.
The court heard Felton was distressed after finding out he was the father of a fellow teacher’s child having previously had a relationship with her.
He had recently discovered Mr Pyke was in a relationship with the same teacher.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Pyke told the court Felton, who he trusted completely, brought a metal wrench into his office.
Felton then inflicted a “number of blows” to his deputy.
The attack on 5 March was fully caught on CCTV and Mr Pyke was treated for minor injuries.
He said Felton had “manipulated me into a position of complete vulnerability”.
“I thought we were trusted colleagues who had, over many years, built up a relationship of trust and understanding,” he said.
“It terrifies me still.
“I feel I have lost so much of me… I’m not sure I will ever come to terms with that.”
Giving his remarks to Felton, Judge Thomas cited the upcoming sentencing of a 14-year-old girl who attempted to kill two teachers and a pupil at a school in Ammanford, less than 25 miles (40km) away from Felton’s school.
“You knew as well as anyone could have known the current prevalence of violence in our schools.
“Instances of pupils taking weapons into school and attacks on staff and fellow pupils are [an] all too common feature in the media.
“For the headmaster of a school should take and use a weapon to try to badly injure their deputy is, I suspect, entirely without precedent.
“The appalling example this episode sets to others needs no emphasis from me.”
He told Felton he was “more than intelligent enough” to realise the ramifications of his plot would be “fear reaching”.
He added: “He had been lured by you into what was in effect an ambush.
“Sexual jealousy arising from an adulterous affair and the uncontrollable rage from you” had led to his ultimate downfall, he said.
Felton was told his sentence would have been three-and-a-half years without an early guilty plea and he would serve half of his sentence on licence.
He was also given a restraining order in relation to Mr Pike, his wife and children, for an indefinite period.
