20 years for pole attack

A man who thrust a rusty fencing pin through his ex-partner’s neck into her chest cavity has been jailed for 20 years after being convicted of attempted murder.

Judge Merfyn Hughes QC told 42-year-old Gary Rhodes, who showed no emotion  :”It’s a miracle it didn’t penetrate the heart nor the vital blood vessels surrounding it. That she survived is no thanks to you.

“The clear motive for attempting to kill her included a financial one borne out of the bitterness you felt when she finally decided she could no longer tolerate your abusive behaviour.”

Rhodes, a construction worker, of Beach Road, Old Colwyn in North Wales, had claimed that it wasn’t him who thrust the road pin,  4ft 6 long, into Lynda Green, 40, who’d been staying at her twin sister’s home at Prestatyn after walking out on her violent and demanding lover.

A jury at Caernarfon crown court had been told by a Home Office pathologist how the rod had entered her neck at 45 degrees and ended in her chest – between two vital blood vessels. Had either been pierced she could have bled to death.

Not only did it miss these but the rod, with a rounded tip, had also avoided her windpipe and other vital arteries as it pierced her. In her evidence Miss Green said she felt as if there had been two thrusts of the rod.

Firefighters had to be called to cut it from where it stuck out of her neck so she could be rushed to hospital for surgery.

Simon Medland, prosecuting, told the jury she’d been enjoying a cigarette in the dark in the back garden when she was attacked by a hidden assailant. A few days earlier two mysterious, sinister crosses had been left in the garden, “symbols of death” as described by Mr Medland.

According to the prosecutor, Rhodes had been “manipulative and threatening,” not only to Miss Green but to his ex-wife.

Rhodes pleaded not guilty and had maintained in the witness box that on the day of the attack a mystery man had called at his home offering to intervene with Lynda Green, and left a note saying he would visit her.  Feeling anxious, Rhodes said he drove to Prestatyn and parked 200 yards from where Miss Green was staying, but no one had arrived so he drove back home.

Speaking after the verdict, CPS Senior Crown Prosecutor Julie Jones, said:

"This was a vicious and unprovoked attack on a defenceless and vulnerable victim for which Gary Rhodes has neither acknowledged responsibility nor shown any remorse.

"Throughout the investigation, Rhodes' accounts were inconsistent and vague. However, as a result of the concerted efforts and dedication of all members of the authorities involved in the prosecution of this case, evidence was obtained to expose those fallacies for what they were.

"We would like to thank the witnesses for their cooperation and support. Without their testimony it would not have been possible to have built such a strong case against the defendant.

"Finally we hope that today's verdict will be of some reassurance to the victim who has suffered a harrowing ordeal and who continues to live with the consequences of Rhodes' actions on that night."

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