Former policeman hit neighbour with an axe
Retired officer claimed fireworks party ‘had upset his dog’
ARETIRED Midlands policeman hit a neighbour with an axe after he had upset his dog by letting off fireworks, a court heard.
Luckily, Michael Smallwood’s victim was not seriously injured during the incident, but did suffer a cut to his shoulder.
Smallwood, 60, had denied possessing an offensive weapon and assaulting Nigel Storer, causing him actual bodily harm.
But he was found guilty of both charges following a trial at Warwick Crown Court.
The case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on Smallwood, of Greendale Close, Atherstone, Warwickshire, and he was granted bail.
Prosecutor Katie Fox said that on November 4 last year the Storer family were having a fireworks party at the rear of their home in Greendale Close.
Running along the back of the property was a shared driveway, where they had removed a fence panel so they could let the fireworks off there.
Smallwood, a former police officer whose house also backed onto the driveway, “took exception to the fireworks”, which were upsetting his dogs.
Ms Fox said: “That made the defendant angry, ‘incensed’ is the word he himself used, and he went out to confront one of the Storer party and kicked over one of the pots the family had filled with sand in which to let off the fireworks.
“He seemed drunk and was slurring his speech. He then left, and the Storers continued with their display. But that was not the end of the matter. The defendant began shouting at them from his
back garden. After that he reappeared, this time carrying an axe, and he went up to the buckets and ripped out one of the fireworks and deposited it at the feet of Nigel Storer.”
Ms Fox said Smallwood then pushed Mr Storer backwards, causing him to fall over one of the boards from the fence.
While he was on the floor, Mr Storer felt heavy blows before his brother, Philip, grabbed Smallwood from behind. Ms Fox said: “Someone shouted ‘he’s got an axe,’ so Philip Storer used a garden fork to strike the defendant across the back, which knocked him off balance, and he was wrestled to the ground.
“Nigel Storer had been injured, not seriously, but he had a cut to his shoulder and a swollen arm and a lump to his head.”
Smallwood’s reaction to police officers turning up was to tell them: “I’ve done something stupid. I’ve been an idiot. I’ve got an axe and gone round, and there were more of them than I expected.” Ms Fox went on: “When he was interviewed the next day, he said he had been frustrated about the fireworks going off and upsetting his dogs, which had incensed him.”
Smallwood accepted kicking over one of the pots and then returning with an axe, but claimed he did so because he had wanted to smash the pots.
He denied having it to cause injury to anyone, but accepted he had been the first to use violence by pushing Mr Storer “because he was in my space”.
The jury was told the Storers should not have been setting off fireworks outside the perimeter of their own garden but Ms Fox said: “That cannot excuse what happened.”