Grandson attacked grandparents in their house after drinking binge
A GRANDSON who had been on an all-day drinking session attacked his grandparents in their home after breaking into an elderly woman’s home nearby.
Jay Earles, 21, was so intoxicated he was unable to respond to pleas from his grandfather and grandmother to leave them alone and he grabbed his grandfather by the neck before attempting to strike his grandmother with a walking stick at their home in Swansea.
Minutes before unleashing the attack on his grandparents Earles entered the home of a 73-year-old Joy Morgan, having drunkenly believed it was his grandparents’ home, and tried to slam a door in her face and pushed her when she confronted him.
When his grandfather and grandmother called the police and he was arrested Earles spat at two police officers at a custody suite.
A sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court yesterday heard the defendant had been drinking at the Jersey Arms in Bonymaen throughout the day of August 21 until he was thrown out at 10.30pm for stealing an elderly man’s drink and throwing ice at bar staff.
Prosecutor Nicola Powell said Mrs Morgan, who suffers from emphysema, angina and diabetes, was sitting in bed watching television while her son was out walking the dog.
At around 11pm she heard a sound from the hallway and initially thought it was her son but when she looked into the hallway she saw the defendant. She shouted “What do you want?” at him but he didn’t reply and was muttering.
Mrs Morgan stayed in her bedroom but when she heard a banging sound she walked towards the living room of her bungalow with the aid of a frame. She saw Earles, who was wearing her coat, and she again asked him what he wanted.
Ms Powell said: “He began shouting and made his way towards her and she was terrified.
“The defendant tried to slam the living room door into her face. He was holding on to her son’s coat and pushed over a table. He threw the coat on the floor and as he rushed past he pushed Mrs Morgan with both his hands to her shoulders.
“She was terrified by the ordeal and she was found by her son on the bed. She was shaken, crying, and distressed.”
After leaving Mrs Morgan’s property Earles walked to his grandparents’ house nearby and entered through the back which had been unlocked for him.
The defendant’s grandmother, named only as Mrs Nicholson, went into the kitchen and described Earles as “talking gibberish” so woke up her husband to deal with him. However when Mr Nicholson saw the state of his grandson he decided to leave him, the court heard, on account of the fact that he had acted erratically and aggressively in the past when intoxicated.
Earles later walked into his grandfather’s bedroom and grabbed him by the throat with two hands and pulled him into the hallway.
Mr Nicholson said to the defendant: “It’s me, your Bampa” but Earles didn’t react and kept muttering to himself. Mrs Nicholson tried to push him off her husband.
He then turned his attention to Mrs Nicholson, grabbed a walking stick and raised it in the air left as if to strike her but Mr Nicholson shouted: “That’s Nana” and he put the stick down.
The grandparents, both 69 years old, then barricaded themselves in the bedroom and contacted the police.
When officers attended the address Earles was arrested and conveyed to Swansea police station where he became aggressive and violent. While being taken to his cell he spat at two officers.
In his police interview Earles said he didn’t intend to burgle Mrs Nicholson’s home and had “honestly thought” it was his grandparents’ home.
The defendant, of Caerphilly Avenue, Bonymaen, later pleaded guilty to battery, common assault, burglary and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
Judge Paul Thomas QC sentenced Earles to a total of 14 months imprisonment.