Mansfield carer punched bed-ridden wife with MS after drug abuse

Liam Botcher lashed out at the woman, who was diagnosed with MS in 2003, leaving her with a bruised cheek, following a row at their Hucklow Court home, on May 13.

He was angry because she told him her father was coming to visit, said prosecutor Robert Carr.

"He later apologised and gave her a bacon sandwich," he said. "But this was all she had to eat all day."

The next day he got angry because she had smoked all their cigarettes, and he threw tea over her.

Mr Carr read from Mrs Botcher's statement: "He has been a very good husband but since he got involved in drugs he has become very short-tempered."

Helen Brough, mitigating, said Botcher's wife hit him first with a grabber stick, and the punch was "not particularly serious in context."

"He felt horrendous afterwards," she said. "They both cried about the situation."

Botcher retaliated when his wife threw tea over him, Ms Brough added.

She said the couple had been together for 28 years, with Botcher looking after her children, but his biological daughter died tragically ten years ago.

Ms Brough said the former bricklayer had turned to amphetamines to cope, but suffered a nervous breakdown.

"To be honest, I think he is struggling to deal with the situation," she said. "He is on medication for anxiety and depression.

"I think it is a bit overwhelming for him. He wasn;t expecting her to deteriorate in as quick a time as she has.

Botcher, 45, now of Mappleton Drive, Mansfield, admitted the assaults at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Thursday.

On Friday, May 17, Ms Brough said: "At the end of the day he wants to spend as much time as possible with her. He is extremely remorseful."

He received an 18-month community order, with 30 sessions of the building better relationships programme, and a three month drug rehabilitation requirement.

He must also complete ten RAR days.

A nine-month restraining order was imposed. He was ordered to pay his wife £100 compensation, as well as £85 costs and an £85 government surcharge.