Man hit blind wife in head with meat cleaver after she knocked his Xbox

A man who attacked his blind wife with a meat cleaver because she had knocked over his Xbox has been jailed for nine years.

Jonathan Eldridge had been drinking heavily on Christmas Eve 2021 when he returned home to find his games console and TV on the floor, which he told police was the "trigger" for the attack.

The court heard the marriage had been struggling for months and Mr Eldridge was fed up of his caring responsibilities during lockdown.

The 42-year-old had only hours before returned from hospital after overdosing.

The court heard the defendant said to his wife Victoria Eldridge on the morning of the attack: "One of us is going to end up dead and it’s not going to be me."

While being sentenced Recorder Barry McElduff told Mr Eldridge that his wife survived "rather by luck than judgment" from the "brutal" attack.

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Mrs Eldridge was left with a 10cm scar on her head.

Mr Eldridge was jailed for nine years and given a restraining order preventing him from contacting his wife.

He was convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent.

McElduff added: "The effect on Mrs Eldridge has been significant and enduring, a physical scar to the top of her head that she now understandably covers up as she goes out in public, but also psychological and emotional scars as well as enduring physical pain."

Ollie Wellings, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court the couple had been together for 12 years and the defendant had acted as carer for his wife, who suffered with epilepsy as well as being registered blind.

He said Mr Eldridge had drunk about nine or 10 pints before carrying out the "grave" attack.

During lockdown, Mr Eldridge relied heavily on his Xbox for entertainment and social interaction while his wife watched programmes on a separate TV.

In a 999 call, Mr Eldridge said: "I have hit my wife in the head with a meat cleaver. Victoria wake up. I think I have killed her.

"I have got so frustrated with her, I am not sure she will survive this, I am going to be up for murder."

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mrs Eldridge said: "I am still living day to day in utter disbelief, I have no idea why the man I have married and loved for over a decade would feel so much anger towards me and hurt me in the way he did."

She added that she still suffers "flashbacks, nightmares and unbearable pain".

Jonathan Underhill, defending, said Eldridge, who has a drinking problem, had shown remorse and had said: "What I have done is absolutely terrible."