A BORTH man has escaped jail for three “unprovoked” and “nasty” assaults on elderly family members after magistrates ruled that sending him to prison would cause “further distress” to the family.

David Butler, whose address was given in court as c/o 27 Heol Aberwennol, pleaded guilty to assaulting Graham and Margaret Butler during an incident on 3 January, and assaulting Ceri Butler and occasioning actual bodily harm when he appeared before Aberystwyth Magistrates’ Court on 14 September.

Butler, 53, was handed a total of 26 weeks in jail suspended for 12 months, with magistrates saying the sentence would be suspended because there is a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation” and Butler had shown “genuine remorse and immediate custody would cause further distress to the family.”

Butler must also undertake 150 hours of unpaid work and undertake 12 months of alcohol treatment.

He must also pay costs of £250 and a £128 surcharge.