Kettering builder smashed plank of wood over neighbour’s head after 'wife spread affair rumours'

A Kettering man was left with a fractured skull and bleed on the brain after one of his neighbours smashed a plank of wood over his head following accusations of an affair.

The victim walked from his home in Bath Road a few doors down to the house of Nathan Shane Fullerton to confront his partner, who had allegedly been spreading rumours the victim had been cheating on his wife.

He stood on the doorstep and challenged her before Fullerton, a youth football coach, arrived home in his car and the two men began to argue.

Fullerton, 43, took out a plank of wood and shouted ‘Do you want some beef?

He lifted the timber above his head and smashed it down on his victim’s head. A witness sitting in the Cordwainer pub opposite the scene said she saw the victim slump to the ground before Fullerton straightened up his vehicle then walked into his house. She said he returned outside to walk around ‘like it was no big deal’.

Fullerton’s children were thought to be in the house when the incident happened.

Northampton Crown Court saw footage of an off-duty paramedic trying to help the victim after he found him on the ground, convulsing, on the evening of April 1 last year. He was bleeding from his right ear and the back of his head.

An ambulance was called but the wait was five hours so the victim was transported to Kettering General Hospital in the back of a police van. He was found to have a fractured skull, a bleed outside of his skull and a second inside his skull.

A victim impact statement said that the man had been left with memory, vision and hearing issues and had been unable to go back to his warehouse job.

He said: “I didn’t have time to defend myself. I’m reluctant to leave the house because I’m worried I could be assaulted and any time. I’ve lost faith in people.”

“I’ve gone from being a healthy man to being reliant on medication. I’ve become a completely different person inside and out. I wouldn’t wish it one anyone. This was an unforgivable act.”

The families of both men were in court to see Fullerton being sentenced last Thursday (December 21). The victim’s family had to be told multiple times to stop talking in the public gallery and there was an altercation between the groups outside court during a break which had to be dealt with by security guards.

Fullerton pleaded guilty to a Section 20 grievous bodily harm (without intent) after previously denying a Section 18 grievous bodily harm (with intent).

The court was told he had previous convictions for battery from 2008.

In mitigation, the court heard that Fullerton had his own building company and employed two people and was a youth football coach.

His barrister said: “He’s a man of enterprise. He’s rehabilitated and he’s an asset to the community that he works in.

"He’s a family man, a businessman, a mentor, a coach.

“What started as a shouting match with Mr Fullerton’s wife ended in a much more serious position.

"It really boils down to a moment of madness.”

In police interview, Fullerton claimed he had acted in self-defence and had been trying to protect his family.

Recorder Christopher Donnellan said: “Your raised (the plank) and it came crashing down on him.

"The witness heard a noise like someone’s head hitting the floor.

"You walked around with your hands in your pockets as if it wasn’t a big deal.

"There’s not a shred of evidence that you needed to arm yourself with a weapon to defend yourself, let alone use it.”

Recorder Donnellan said that Fullerton had already served the equivalent of a four month sentence on an electronic curfew and if he jailed him in line with sentencing guidelines, he would be released in six months.

He gave him a 21 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered him to undertake 20 rehabilitation requirement days and to complete 120 hours of unpaid work. He told the victim to seek compensation through the civil courts as anything he could award in the criminal court would be ‘insulting’.

Fullerton was handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting his victim by any means, including indirectly, and from parking his van in front of, or next to, his home.