AN elderly man has been ordered to pay almost £2,000 in court costs and compensation after racially aggravated assault against his ex-partner, who has been left a “quivering wreck”.

Phillip Wyville-Bell, 83, denied four counts of assault and racially aggravated assault against his ex and her daughter in Oswestry last June.

The defendant, of West Ella Road, Kirk Ella, near Hull, denied the assaults on June 14, 2023m and a racially aggravated assault on the daughter on June 3 and June 14, but was found guilty in his absence after failing to attend his own trial in March.

At his sentencing hearing at Welshpool Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, April 16, prosecutor Helen Tench said during one incident he pointed a 10-inch serrated knife at the younger woman.

“The mother had been in a relationship with the defendant since 1990,” said Mrs Tench.

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“In 2015 they moved in together. The victim realised it was a mistake but she stayed and tried to make the best of things.”

Mrs Tench said the first incident related to June 3 when there had been an argument over his partner planning to go to the pub that evening.

“He grabbed her handbag and would not let it go," she said.

“He told the daughter to ‘go back to your gypsy mates’. He tried to pick up a chair and throw it, but it was too heavy, so he threw books at her instead.

“He asked her was she a man or woman, due to how she was dressed.”

On June 14 the defendant had been trying to convince his ex to give their relationship another go, and was shouting at her daughter.

“He was in possession of a serrated vegetable knife, which was 10 inches long,” said Mrs Tench.

“He was pointing it at her stomach and at the last second he grabbed a sharpener and began sharpening it. His face was contorted in anger and she feared what he would do.

“He then picked up a heavy coffee mug and recoiled his arm as if to throw it, but her mother intervened and pushed him so he was off balance.

“He was shouting obscenities so (his ex's daughter) threw the contents of a dog’s water bowl over him.

“They left house and took dogs for walk; he then accused her of kidnapping the dogs.”

Later that same day there was another altercation in the garden, which included racial slurs.

The defendant was described as repeatedly “exploding” and calming down.

In a victim impact, read out by Mrs Tench, his ex said: “The ordeal has been a terrible shock, it has made me feel weak.

“I am in constant fear he’s going to show up at my home. My anxiety levels have increased and it has made me a quivering wreck."

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She said while her village had been supportive, she had become a "hermit" and even lost some hair.

Mrs Tench said a restraining order had been applied for.

Owain Jones, representing Wyville-Bell, said it was difficult to mitigate for his client as he does not accept the verdict of the trial, which he missed as he got a date wrong – and has lodged an appeal.

“In the pre-sentence report he doesn’t accept a lot of the facts,” he said.

Mr Jones questioned the need for a restraining order as Wyville-Bell now lives in the Hull area and accepts the relationship is over.

Wyville-Bell received an 18-month community order, was fined £300 with £600 costs, and £500 to each victim in compensation.

Magistrates also imposed a two-year restraining order.