A MAN has been jailed after attacking a pensioner on the A55 in Abergele in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2022.

Daniel Lewis, 29, of Peatwood Avenue, Kirkby, was sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court today (April 26).

He was also made subject to a five-year restraining order, prohibiting him from contacting or approaching his victim, Brian Roberts, in that time.

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Prosecuting, Richard Edwards told the court that Mr Roberts, now 75, and Lewis were aware of one another prior to this incident through Mr Roberts’ wife, Norma. 

She had met Lewis when they were both inpatients at a mental health clinic, and became involved in a sexual relationship with each other, the court heard.

Mr Edwards said it was “not entirely clear” if Mr Roberts was aware of this, and referred to Lewis as a “friend of his wife”.

Mrs Roberts introduced Lewis to her husband, and asked if Lewis and his girlfriend could join the couple at a new year’s party, to which he begrudgingly agreed.

Together, the four of them attended the party at a house in Bangor, where Lewis became “increasingly intoxicated”, and appeared “quite aggressive and agitated”.

When they all travelled back to Wrexham during the early hours of January 1, 2022, Lewis, sat directly behind Mr Roberts, made comments to him about his children, including: “I could hurt them”.

He then punching Mr Roberts to the head, which he did about six or seven times before Mr Roberts pulled the handbrake on the car, which his wife was driving, to bring it to a halt.

As Mr Roberts got out of the vehicle, which by this point was on the A55, he slipped; his mobility having been reduced by operations on both of his knees in the previous 12 months.

Lewis then continued punching and kicking Mr Roberts as he lay on the ground, despite Mrs Roberts screaming at him to stop.

He and his girlfriend eventually ran off, but Mr Roberts was left bleeding heavily from his face and seemingly unconscious.

His glasses were knocked off his face, and he lost both of his hearing aids in the attack, which cost roughly £1,000 to replace.

When Mr Roberts attended hospital later that day, he was found to have significant bruising and swelling to both of his eyes.

There was bruising inside his lip and behind both of his ears, as well as a wound to left cheekbone, and a swollen nose.

In a statement he provided last September, he said that he was still suffering from neck stiffness, and that his ears bled for some months after.

The attack left him “utterly shocked” and “extremely upset”, and he felt “vulnerable” as a consequence.

Mr Roberts said he has since been anxious about whether Lewis has been trying to find him and his family.

This was exacerbated by a comment his daughter found on Facebook, made by Lewis, saying: “I bet you’re gutted you missed out on the live action of me leaving that stupid c*** lying on the side of the motorway, covered in his own blood”.

Lewis, who had 11 previous convictions for 16 offences, was arrested at an airport as he was about to travel abroad.

He told police he had acted in self-defence.

Defending, Matthew Dunford said that Lewis’ guilty pleas were the best mitigation for a man who had endured a “traumatic childhood”.

Lewis was said to have been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

A previous incident saw him rescued by a passing fishing vessel in the English Channel after he ended up stranded without food or water having entered the water on an inflatable kayak.

Mr Dunford suggested this was “part and parcel, perhaps, of a young man who has struggled with issues around his mental health”.

He pleaded for “as much mercy as the court can give him”, despite accepting that custody was inevitable for Lewis.

Sentencing, Recorder Neil Owen-Casey also ordered Lewis to pay a statutory surcharge upon his release.

He told Lewis that he had “rained blows” upon Mr Roberts, and rejected his claim that he acted in self-defence.

Recorder Owen-Casey said: “This was an attack that resulted in significant injuries to Mr Roberts; to his eyes and head.

“It happened in front of others, during a vehicle moving along the A55, while you were intoxicated through your consumption of alcohol.

“It was absolutely not a case of self-defence.

“This was a victim who was obviously vulnerable due to his age.

“You have had a very sad background, and now, for a number of years, you have been suffering with your mental health.

“But it seems to me that the aggravating features in this case outweigh the mitigation.”