A FORMER drug addict beggar taken in by a 63-year-old man thanked him by assaulting him, leaving him with a broken arm.

Jadie Scotford hurled a metal bar at David Millard with such force that it fractured the arm he put up to defend his head.

But after hearing how the 39-year-old was sorry for what she had done, a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the couple had been together for about four years.

On October 27 they argued about his work pattern as a kitchen porter and he asked her to leave, which she refused to do.

“She then picked up a metal bar, a piece of a TV stand, and told Mr Millard she was going to hit him on the head with it,” Miss Squire said.

“She didn’t, but she flung it at him. He put his arm up to stop it and it hit him on the arm.

“She continued to be angry. He told her to leave, she refused and it was Mr Millard who left. He got a taxi to a hotel where he had worked for 12 years.”

Once he got there his arm was so painful a colleague took him to hospital. When the police went to arrest her the next day she told them: ‘He said he wasn’t going to get me arrested. I said I’m sorry’.

Miss Squire said a neighbour said after the assault they saw the defendant telling the victim: ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it baby,’ as he left the house.

Scotford also told police she still loved him and ‘was nothing without him’.

Miss Squire added: “He feels disgusted. He had looked after her, took her in off the street, put a roof over her head.

“He said: ‘I am in constant pain. I can’t shave properly. It has caused me great trouble.’ “After the offence she continued to contact him asking him to drop the charges.”

Scotford, of Reading Street, admitted grievous bodily harm. Andrew Eddy, defending, said: “It is clear that Jadie Scotford is genuinely sorry for what she has done. This is a woman who has had, as her previous convictions show, quite a hard life.

“She got in a relationship with the complainant. It was a loving and normal relationship.

“She would probably say she has lost her best friend as a result of what she did. She said she was sorry.

“Through heightened emotions she picked up items from the TV stand and threw it.”

He said she was now clean of drugs although still on heroin replacement methadone.

Judge Tim Mousley QC told her of the attack: “It broke his arm and he had between four and six weeks off work. That is how he was repaid for a few years of kindness towards you.

“To your credit you apologised and were remorseful.”

He imposed a 12-month suspended jail term and told her to complete a drug rehabilitation order and supervision.