Office attack

Fergus Wilson was convicted in April last year of assaulting estate agent Daniel Wells, 31, after a dispute over a boiler.

He was fined more than £1,500.

Folkestone Magistrates’ Court heard how 22-stone Wilson stormed into the Folkestone office of agent PLS (Property Lettings and Sales) and shouted: “Right you little s***”, at Mr Wells before walking the few metres to his desk, hitting him in the temple and knocking him off his chair.

Giving evidence, Mr Wells told the trial: “I turned my chair to the right, at which point he struck me on the left side of my head. It felt like a closed fist. Mr Wilson is a large gentleman and maybe not too steady on his feet. He fell towards me and sort of bundled me off my chair and I ended up in the window display.”

The trial heard that half an hour before the attack at the Cheriton Place office on January 19 last year, Mr Wells had spoken to Wilson on the phone to inform him one of his tenants had called to complain that her boiler was not working.

Mr Wells claimed Wilson had shouted at him over the phone and the estate agent had reported the verbal abuse to his manager. Former maths teacher Wilson admitted swearing at Mr Wells but denied hitting him, claiming the agent accidentally fell off his swivel chair. Wilson told the court: “I’ve fallen out of swivel chairs in that office twice. In the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race this year the cox fell out of his seat. It happens.”

Mr Wilson, who owns hundreds of rental properties across Kent with his wife Judith, including many in Folkestone, previously paid PLS to manage 280 of them.