Bath magistrates clear man of hitting his girlfriend with a pillow

Bath magistrates have acquitted a man who was accused of hitting his girlfriend around the head with a pillow after allegedly consuming as many as 40 pints of cider.

Mark Williams, of Rock Road in Midsomer Norton, had pleaded not guilty to assaulting the woman in his caravan at a holiday park in Exmouth.

At his trial on Wednesday 16th July, magistrates found the 56-year-old long-distance lorry driver not guilty of assault but did convict him of a separate charge of causing criminal damage to a £45 canvas photo of the couple.

Screens shielded Williams from the woman while she gave evidence. The court heard that the couple met in January 2024 and initially the relationship was “very good”.

On 26th May last year, she said Williams had been drinking and was being “verbally vile”, smashing things up in the caravan before smacking her about the head with a pillow with his full strength in the bedroom where she had taken refuge.

She said she later plucked up the courage to send a text to say the relationship was over, but it was rekindled the following month after he looked after her following an operation.

Then on 22nd June last year, while at her home in Writhlington where they had been having a barbecue with neighbours, he became “vile” again after drinking.

She said he punched the wall and picked up a bread knife and swung it round. That night she let him sleep on the sofa as he had so much to drink and she feared he would kill someone if he got behind the wheel.

She said he woke her in the early hours of the next day, asking to get into her bed; he got angry and ripped the picture off the wall and used car keys to gouge a hole in it.

The woman reported what had happened to the police and it was then that she mentioned the alleged incident at the caravan.

Cross-examining the woman, defence solicitor Ned Kemp reminded her that she had provided a written statement to say she had not left her house for 16 weeks after what had happened, but had posted images on Facebook of a holiday in Weymouth in August which she described as the “best ever”.

The woman told Mr Kemp what she had meant was that she had not gone out in the vicinity of her home for 16 weeks, but had felt safe while on holiday with a friend.

She said she suffers from functional neurological disorder, triggered by trauma and stress, and therefore could not be precise about anything.

Her daughter gave evidence corroborating that Williams had sworn, smashed things up in the caravan and that she had seen him hit her mother with a pillow through a gap in the bedroom door.

But she also made allegations that her mother had not mentioned, such as claiming that Williams had consumed between 30 and 40 pints of cider and had gone out driving that day.

When on the witness stand, Williams denied that he had got violent in the caravan, sworn or battered the woman with a pillow. He said he had drunk eight pints and denied he had gone out driving after drinking.

Regarding the criminal damage charge, which he also denied, Williams accepted destroying the picture but said it was his own property. He said he’d had it delivered to the woman’s address as there was no room for him to hang it in his lorry cab.

He said he had addressed the picture to the woman as “that was how much I thought of her at the time”.

While in the witness box, Williams referred to a previous conviction he had for battery in 2019.

Mr Kemp told the magistrates that the most consistent evidence they had heard was from the defendant. He said Williams’ former girlfriend had “lied unequivocally” and made a “woeful attempt” to step back from that in court.

Mr Kemp also highlighted that the woman had bought Williams an England shirt as a gift when they were together, but had “repatriated” it on Facebook Marketplace.

After retiring to consider their verdict, magistrates found Williams not guilty of assault, saying they doubted the witnesses’ credibility.

However, they convicted him of criminal damage and fined him £758 along with a surcharge of £303 and £325 prosecution costs.

The magistrates did not feel a restraining order against Williams was necessary as there had been no reported incidents over the last 12 months.