A headteacher who was caught on video attacking his deputy with a large adjustable spanner, in an assault motivated by “overwhelming sexual jealousy”, has been jailed for more than two years.
Anthony John Felton, 54, concealed the wrench in his jacket pocket as he approached his colleague, Richard Pyke, 51, from behind. Video of the incident showed him taking out the heavy tool and then repeatedly swinging it at Pyke’s head.
Pyke fell to the floor and attempted to kick away Felton before colleagues at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic comprehensive school in Aberavon, southWales, heard the disturbance and came to his aid.
When graphic CCTV footageof the incident was played to Swansea crown court there were gasps in the public gallery at the ferocity of the attack.
Ieuan Rees, for the prosecution, said Felton believed Pyke had slept with another teacher with whom he had recently been in a relationship.
“The evidence of his wife and the admissions he made to her suggested Mr Felton had been in a relationship with another member of staff and had recently discovered he was the father of her child,” he said.
“Furthermore, he believed that Mr Pyke had now begun his own relationship with that lady.”
After the attack, Felton fled the school in his car and then emailed staff to apologise “for the problems and distress his actions were likely to cause”, the court heard.
Felton, who had been headteacher since September 2023, pleaded guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm with intent, at a hearing earlier this month.
In a victim impact statement address to Felton, Pyke said: “You had my complete trust in every way and you used that to manoeuvre me into a position of utter vulnerability. And then you attacked me from behind.”
He added: “The fear that you could attempt to do me such harm, smiling at me just seconds before, will always be with me.”
On Friday, Judge Paul Thomas sentenced Felton to two years and four months in jail and issued an indefinite restraining order.
The judge said the “ambush” by a headteacher on their deputy was: “I suspect, entirely without precedent”.
He added: “You are more than intelligent enough to realise when you plotted this bizarre attack that the impact and ramifications would be immense and far-reaching.
“Ultimately, the trigger for your act of extreme violence was of your own doing, the overwhelming sexual jealousy arising from an adulterous affair and the uncontrollable rage it created in you.”
John Hipkin KC, speaking for the defence, said Felton had recently suffered due to the death of his mother and a cancer diagnosis.
After the attack, police said Pyke had been discharged from hospital after suffering minor injuries.