Ex-soldier with PTSD attacked wife in frenzy

John Waring turned on wife, pushing her and then started smashing up the kitchen cabinets with his bare hands.

Waring, 39, of Pilling Avenue, St Annes, pleaded guilty to assault.

Prosecutor, Jim Mowbray, told magistrates that Pilling’s wife said they had been married since 2006, her husband had been in the Army 14 years, suffered PTSD and the police had been called several times after he had threatened to kill her.

On September 13 about 1.30am Waring returned home after drinking and threatened to kill her.

He pushed her and she fell back onto the sofa. When interviewed he told police rage sometimes overpowered him and he could not control it.

Daniel Harman, defending, said his client had been a Corporal in the Army and had served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. He came out of the Army in 2006 and his PTSD was severe.

Waring rarely went out, but they that day he went out so he could buy some new clothes for a holiday. There was a row and he went to a bar.

Mr Harman added: “When he got home an argument started up.

“He can’t remember much of it.

“His is the classic behaviour of a man suffering a breakdown.”

Waring was granted bail and will be sentenced at a later date by Blackpool magistrates.