SAVAGE ATTACK
Terrifying moment neighbour beats OAP, 70, in sickening assault after row over smelly rubbish bins
THIS IS the terrifying moment a neighbour beat a pensioner to a pulp in a sickening assault during a row over smelly rubbish bins.
Former commando Daniel Winward, 44, was caught on CCTV pushing Simon Proctor, 70, to the ground in front of his home in Morecambe, Lancashire.
5
5
The row erupted in August last year after Winward, who runs the nearby Morecambe Hotel pub, left "smelly" commercial bins on their street.
Winward was spared jail after a trial at Preston Crown Court because he suffers from PTSD, which causes him to have a heightened perception of threat.
But Mr Proctor, a cancer-stricken pensioner, was left with severe cuts and bruises as well as a deep head wound that needed 20 stitches.
Footage showed Winward, who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, running down the street towards Mr Proctor.
Read More On Neighbour Row
He shoved him to the ground before using both arms to rain a dozen punches on his helpless victim.
Mr Proctor's wife Tarni, 56, ran out of their mid-terrace home to try and stop the attack.
But Winward pushed her to the ground as she yelled to stop because Mr Proctor had cancer.
Winward sneered: "Well then he's going to die anyway."
Most read in The Sun
He stepped back but continued his tirade as Mr Proctor leant against a van tyre.
As the couple got to their feet and tried to get back inside their home, Winward followed them.
He ransacked their living room causing £1,000-worth of damage - smashing a mirror, sound bar, TV and several ornaments.
Mr Proctor, who has bladder and prostate cancer, said the couple thought Winward was going to kill him.
He added: "When I went to hospital, they thought I'd been in a car crash.
"My left eye was damaged and I needed stitches externally and internally."
Winward had claimed he ran to Mr Proctor after finding him collapsed in the street, but CCTV revealed the truth.
Mr Proctor said there was an ongoing dispute about bins belonging to Winward's family pub being left near his three-bed terraced property.
He wrote to his local council after the foul-smelling refuse was dumped close to his home over a hot bank holiday weekend last year.
The retired engineer said on the morning of August 29, 2022, Winward was "pacing up and down" the street before 7 am, banging bins and looking for "attention".
Winward attacked him at 8.30am when he spotted him leaving his home with his wife for a cycle ride.
Simon said: "I was going to go out on a push bike ride with my wife, so we were walking out. I thought, what are you going to do? And then he punched me.
"If I was ten years younger, I could have defended myself. But I wasn't in the right state. I got hit pretty badly. I got hit quite a lot of times.
"He then came into the house, he followed me in, and pulled a mirror and a TV off the stand and threw on the floor. He maybe did about £1000 worth of damage.
"There was quite a lot of blood on the walls - it was mine that all came off his fists."
Simon said he was left with a scar behind his left eye, but worried more about his new cancer prognosis, which he believes could be linked to the assault.
He said: "This last Saturday, I came back from the hospital, and they found a cancerous growth on my left kidney. So I've got to have that removed."
Simon now said he was deeply concerned about what would happen if he came across Winward in the street again.
He said: "My biggest worry is we don't know if he is going to do it again. We don't know if he's going to come back."
Chris Hudson, defending Winward, said he has been working with PTSD charity Combat Stress.
He added: "This is a damaged individual. 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.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
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.
5
5
5