A headteacher attacked his deputy with a wrench in school over his “overwhelming sexual jealousy” after becoming entangled in a love triangle. Anthony John Felton, 54, had armed himself with a tool and sought out his colleague Richard Pyke, 51, before ambushing the fellow teacher and attacking him from behind.
Pyke fell to the ground and desperately attempted to kick the attacker away at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Comprehensive School in Aberavon, South Wales. Colleagues rushed to help after hearing the bust up. Felton, who was married, launched the horrific attack after believing Pyke had slept with a teacher, with whom he had recently been in a relationship with.
Pyke was rushed to hospital with head injuries, after the March 5 attack. Felton threw the wrench away and left the school in his car. The headteacher then sent an email to all staff apologising “for the problems and distress his actions were likely to cause”. In the nasty email, the head also accused his alleged affair partner of having “slept her way to the top”.
The prosecution lawyer said: “The evidence of his wife and the admissions he made to her suggested Mr Felton had been in a relationship with another member of staff and had recently discovered he was the father of her child. Furthermore, he believed that Mr Pyke had now begun his own relationship with that lady.”
Felton pleaded guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm with intent on April 7 and has now been jailed for two years and four months over the shocking school attack. The judge also issued a restraining order.
In court, Judge Paul Thomas said an attack by a head on their deputy was “I suspect, entirely without precedent” and was the result of “overwhelming sexual jealousy”. He added: “That a headmaster of a school should take and use a weapon to try to badly injure their deputy, is I suspect, entirely without precedent. You are more than intelligent enough to realise when you plotted this bizarre attack that the impact and ramifications would be immense and far-reaching.”
The judge added: “Mr Pyke thought he was your friend. Your victim. He was struck from behind having been lured by you into what was in effect an ambush.” Following the incident, police said Pyke had been discharged from hospital after suffering minor injuries.
Abul Hussain, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Anthony Felton struck a defenceless man repeatedly to the head with a metal weapon, demonstrating he had an intent to cause his victim really serious harm. The level of unprovoked violence, from a professional in the workplace, was shocking.
“Too often we see attacks of this nature result in life changing injuries or fatal consequences, and thankfully, that was not the result in this case.”
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