Woman 'attacked husband with hammer'

MARRIED HUSBAND IN 1989: Jane Way outside Ipswich Crown Court

A 78-YEAR-old man fled from his Suffolk home bleeding from more than 13 head wounds after being hit with a hammer by his wife, it has been alleged.

Retired civil servant Rolf Way was sitting at a desk in the couple's Stutton home when his wife Jane Way attacked him, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

Mr Way had grabbed hold of his wife's wrists after she began striking him with the hammer but was unable to prevent further blows.

Giving evidence, Mr Way described dragging his wife to the telephone and holding onto her hands as he dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance.

Then, fearing for his safety he had left the house and waited outside for help to arrive.

Mr Way was taken to Ipswich Hospital where he was found to have between 13 and 15 wounds which needed a total of 17 stitches.

Jane Way, 66, of Manningtree Road, Stutton, has denied wounding her husband with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm in October.

Mr Way told the court he had met his wife in 1986 through a dating agency and they had married in 1989. They had both been married before and his wife had a 16-year-old daughter.

He said that when they first met he had been living in a bed-sit in Crouch End, London and had moved into his wife's house at Stutton, near Holbrook, on their return from a two-week honeymoon in the Lake District.

Mr Way said he had initially been infatuated with his wife but within a few months of their marriage he realised he had made “a rather serious mistake”.

But he said he had stayed with his wife mainly because of financial concerns.

He said that when he moved into his wife's house after their marriage she had slept upstairs while he had slept downstairs on a mattress.

He had no family or friends in Suffolk and as he and his wife rarely socialised and he had felt increasingly isolated. “I felt as though we were stuck with each other really,” he said.

Mr Way said he and his wife had started leading separate lives and he had become increasingly frustrated at not being able to discuss anything with her.

“Every few weeks I would blow my top and use strong language because of the feeling of talking to a brick wall most of the time,” he said.

He told the court that his wife laid down a number of rules, which included him not being allowed to watch television at weekends when she was resting, not being allowed to work in the garden without her supervising him, and not even being able to eat an apple without her giving it to him.

On the day of the alleged attack he had got up at about 7am and had read a newspaper. He had then sat at a desk and was writing an article for an amateur writing group he belonged to when his wife had come into the room. “We didn't talk at all and somewhat to my amazement she started laying into me with a hammer,” he said.

“I thought 'gosh I must have done something terrible to make her lose her temper'”.

He had grabbed hold of her hands to stop her hitting him and told her “look I'm bleeding”.

He told the court that he was now living in a rented room in Ipswich and was divorcing his wife.

He denied becoming aggressive to his wife on occasions when he lost his temper.

The trial continues.