Bassetlaw man battered stepdaughter and her husband with a saucepan

Peter Twelvetree launched the attack when the pair went to his home in Harworth, on September 24, last year, concerned about his wife’s health, said Annelli Pritchard, prosecuting. “His wife was being looked after by the defendant and they had issues about his care of her,” she said.

She said Twelvetree, aged 57, contacted his stepdaughter earlier and called her names, and when she wanted to speak to her mum in private, he “punched her hard in the face causing immediate pain and her glasses to fly off.”

His wife took him into the kitchen but he came back out, armed with a saucepan which contained rice and water, and hit his stepdaughter over the back of the head. She fell to the ground bleeding. Her husband picked her up and dragged her outside where she lost consciousness.

Twelvetree hit her husband with the saucepan, causing a “significant lump” on the back of his head, and continued to hit him as his victim asked: “Are you really hitting me with a pan?” Twelvetree’s victim had a CT scan at Doncaster Royal Infirmary where her head-wound was sealed with glue.

Ms Pritchard said he has two previous convictions for four dissimilar offences, adding it was “an assault with a weapon” – an offence which can attract up to 18 months in custody.

His solicitor described self-employed Twelvetree as “trustworthy” and said: “This is not within his character.” On the date in question she alleged his stepdaughter forced entry into the house and threw the first punch.

“He is very embarrassed about what happened,” his solicitor said. “He should have left the house at that moment and called the police. “It was a scuffle that went badly wrong. There was assaulting and hitting from both sides. He was on his own. His wife broke it up.”

Twelvetree, of Greenwood Avenue, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and common assault when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court. Sentencing was adjourned until February 7 for probation reports and he was bailed on condition he doesn’t contact either victim.