Hammer man's 'emotional turmoil'

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A man attacked his pregnant girlfriend because he saw it as the solution to the "emotional turmoil" in which he found himself, a court has heard.

Simon Morris, 36, from Prestatyn, Denbighshire, denies trying to kill Nerys Price, 35, claiming they were attacked by intruders.

But Mr Morris' defence claim his relationship with another woman was not so intense he was prepared to kill.

The judge at Mold Crown Court said he would sum up the case on Thursday.

In his closing speech, prosecutor Patrick Harrington QC said that the attack was not the work of some random burglar and not an ex-employee of Ms Price's company who she had to tell he was redundant.

"It was an attack by this defendant on his pregnant mistress because he saw it as a solution to the emotional turmoil in which he found himself," he said.

Morris was a man who liked female company but also liked the trappings of a single life-style, he said.

This was not the work of a diabolical intruder, this was the work of Simon David Morris Patrick Harrington QC, prosecuting

For months, Ms Price carried his child wholly unaware of how he was really living his life.

"She thought he was a doting partner, someone with whom she had a future, someone who looked out for her and be her life long friend," he said.

But Morris had started a very intense relationship with Kate Christian of Dyserth, and he wanted out of the relationship, the court was told.

The day after Ms Price had made him the beneficiary of her will he had been sending Ms Christian texts including one which read: "Has anyone told you how gorgeous, sexy, beautiful, stunning, attractive, foxy, lovely, lush, exquisite, perfect, radiant and special you are. If not, let me know and I'll tell you," Mr Harrington told the jury

He had been responsible for the "horribly brutal attack" on the wholly innocent woman lying in her bed a fortnight before she was due to have his baby, he said.

"This was not the work of a diabolical intruder. This was the work of Simon David Morris," he said.

However Nicholas Johnson QC, Mr Morris' barrister, urged the jury to consider whether the evidence proved that Mr Morris had tried to kill Ms Price not whether he was a good and faithful boyfriend.

"Looking back now you are trying a man whose behaviour fell far short of what any reasonable partner would expect," he said in his closing speech.

Nerys Price has since had a baby daughter

But the focus of the prosecution attack had been focused largely on his philandering, he told the court.

Some of racier text messages he had sent Ms Christian had been read out, and no doubt the ones selected were the ones likely to influence the jury the most, he said.

"The messages hardly suggest that the nature of the relationship between Simon Morris and Kate Christian was so intense that he would be prepared to kill Nerys Price to get her out of the way and pursue a relationship with Miss Christian," he said.

The evidence showed that Morris was a "gentle giant", someone who on the night of the incident hid behind Ms Price and who was too frightened to go downstairs to investigate.

There was no direct evidence that Morris had been responsible for the attack and the circumstantial evidence could be open to other interpretations, he said.

Mr Johnson said the jury had also heard that he was excited at the prospect of becoming a dad.

In the hammer attack, Ms Price suffered two skull fractures and needed surgery from which she later recovered.

Her daughter Freya was born by emergency Caesarean section.

Mr Morris denies attempted murder and the attempted destruction of an unborn child.

Judge John Rogers QC told the jury they would not sit on Wednesday but he would sum up the case to them on Thursday morning.