Pub landlord who attacked cancer patient neighbour, 70, then sneered ‘he’s going to die anyway’ after frightened wife told him to stop amid row over BINS avoids jail
- Ex-commando Daniel Winward is the landlord of the Morecambe Hotel
A pub landlord who attacked his cancer patient neighbour and his wife after a row over bins has avoided jail.
Ex-commando Daniel Winward, the landlord of the Morecambe Hotel in Lancashire, beat his neighbour seven or eight times before pushing his wife to the floor and ransacking the couple’s living room.
When the frightened woman warned that her husband had cancer, Winward sneered: ‘Well, then he’s going to die anyway’, Preston Crown Court was told.
The court was told that tensions had been high among neighbours on Beecham Street in Morecambe – and that at one stage the council even refused to collect bins on the street due to the hostility.
A judge handed Winward a ten-month suspended sentence and ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay his neighbours £2,000.
The incident happened after Winward returned from holiday in August 2022, when the landlord believed there had been a further row with a neighbour who said his bin was a fire risk.
Daniel Winward (pictured) attacked his neighbour after a row about bins ‘got out of hand’
CCTV showed Winward walking up and down Beecham Street on August 29.
Winward then attacked his 70-year-old neighbour after he came out of his house, beating him to the ground with seven or eight blow.
His neighbour’s wife then came out of her home and shouted: ‘Stop! He’s a 70-year-old cancer patient!’ Winward replied: ‘Well, then he’s going to die anyway’, Paul Cummings, prosecuting, told the court.
As the woman stepped in to protect her husband, Winward then grabbed hold of her and pushed her to the floor. The ex-British Army Commando then went into his neighbour’s house, saying he was going to trash it.
‘If anyone calls the police I’ll come back and finish the job off,’ he added.
The 70-year-old’s wife managed to get her husband to his feet and helped him into their dining room.
Winward ransacked the couple’s living room, smashing a mirror, a sound bar, a TV and several ornaments, causing £1,000 worth of damage.
The pub landlord (pictured) ransacked his neighbour’s home causing £1,000 worth of damage
The woman called the police and an ambulance and her husband was taken to hospital.
The neighbour had a 6cm cut over his left eye, which required stitches, and several cuts and bruises, while his wife suffered a number of cuts and bruises.
An x-ray showed he didn’t have any broken bones or fractures.
Defending, Chris Hudson said the landlord had spent eight years in the Commandos and served three tours of duty on the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The former soldier now suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which causes him to have a heightened perception of threat. He has, since the attack, been working with PTSD charity, Combat Stress, to help him with his mental health. ‘This is a damaged individual,’ Mr Hudson said.
‘He was damaged in the service of his country and that is significant. Everyone realises this got way out of hand, an argument about bins.
‘There will be no repetition of any of this and there will be no further problems.’
District Judge Paul Healey handed Winward a ten-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with a number of conditions.
He must carry out 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirements, 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,000 for the damage he caused and £1,000 compensation to the couple he attacked.
The judge also gave him a two-year restraining order and ordered Winward to pay £200 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge.
He said: ‘The condition you have would not be treated in prison and you would return to society with a pre-existing condition. You have strong personal mitigation and there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.’
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