RETURN OF THE JEDI
Thug is ‘still too stressed’ to be sentenced.. 3 YEARS after he battered ex with hammer
A SELF-STYLED Jedi who bludgeoned his ex with a hammer more than three years ago has avoided being sentenced yet again.
Neil Matthews, 35, says he is too stressed and unwell to go to jail because of a mysterious psychological illness which has left him unable to move his limbs
The thug, who enjoys dressing up as Star Wars’ Emperor Palpatine, had already had his sentence deferred for a year because of his baffling condition.
But when he made his latest trip back to court in a wheelchair yesterday, his lawyer told a sheriff nothing had changed.
Matthews sat limply as solicitor Peter Mullin said: “My client’s position is the same as before.
“No medical professionals can understand what’s happened here. They believe it’s some form of mental health difficulty causing the physical conditions.
“He’s seeing a psychologist to determine what is causing this and a physiotherapist to get his limbs moving again. It appears everybody is baffled.”
Mr Mullin said the psychologist caring for Matthews had been unable to provide a written update on his condition, and offered to hire an independent expert.
Matthews attacked his ex in May 2014 after she went to his Dunfermline home to discuss arrangements after their split.
She told the Record last year: “He was going for my head, just whack, whack, whack. I was screaming, in hysterics.”
The victim needed 12 staples in a gaping head wound and was left suffering from agonising migraines.
Matthews changed his plea three times before finally admitting serious assault. and it took until 2016 for him to be convicted. Then he arrived at court shaking and twitching in a wheelchair for his sentencing hearing in March of that year, and sentence was deferred.
Matthews appeared again in August 2016 and sentence was deferred again, this time for 12 months.
And yesterday, Kirkcaldy sheriff Alistair Thornton ordered yet another deferral, this time until December 14.
He told Mr Mullin he needed much more information to decide the thug’s fate. He said: “I find it very difficult to know how I can deal with this, as he is appearing for a very serious offence.
“It would be useful to have confirmation from the psychologist and physiotherapist, not just of the current situation, but the prognosis.” LIFE ON TV At least 16 people have been killed by a typhoon which hit the city of Macau in southern China. Parts of the city were flooded and 153 people were injured.