'I Battered My Abusive Dad With A Hammer To Save Mum - And I Would Do It Again'

A guy who battered his "Jekyll and Hyde" father eight times with a hammer in an effort to protect his mother said he would do it again if he had to.

Following the judge's consideration of Ben Wilson's father's provocation, the judge reduced the sentence to six years as a result of Ben's "violent nasty drunk" father.

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

The cycle had been going on for nearly a decade - Ben watched his father erode from alcoholism while his mother suffered from the consequences.

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

Ben's father Craig had threatened to kill himself on several occasions, and he regularly beat Ben's mother Tracey as well.

Speaking to the Mirror, Ben said: “I’d do the same again.” According to the publication, he was both firm and calm as he said so.

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

“I sacrificed myself to save my mam. I thought if I have to do prison for the rest of my life for my family, then I’m going to do it.”

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

It was when Ben was 22 years old that the incident took place.

Recounting the night of the attack, he said: “I picked up a hammer from my toolbag and went up. He said, ‘what the f*** are you doing, you creepy ****, what’s behind your back? I belted him on the temple.

“I hit him eight times supposedly. I only remember once. I didn’t want to kill him.”

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

In January 2015, Ben was jailed for grievous bodily harm, and his dad suffered brain damage as a result of the attack.

During his time in prison, they began to reconcile, but tragically, before his son's release at the end of the year, Craig committed suicide.

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

"When I went back to my cell I took the sink off the wall and flooded the place. I went daft with grief," he said. "I feel like a monster because I think I forced him to kill himself."

Image: North News

He said that he and his mum hadn't spoken about that night again. "It’s ruined so much of my life. But if I hadn’t stepped in she might not be here today.”

Ultimately, Ben was sentenced to six years in prison - the shortest possible sentence under the law. An uproar for his release broke out, with some 55,000 people signing a petition to get him released.

Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

As he spoke in 2019, four years after he was released from prison, Ben was still traumatized by what happened in the past, despite his release.

“You can’t wake up thinking, ‘am I going to die today or is mam going to die today?’ I was on edge,” he said.

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

“My dad was my best mate, but when he had a drink he was the devil. Before that I had a brilliant childhood. We’d go on holidays to Turkey and Ibiza.

Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

“But he got depressed after his dad died when I was about 13. He’d drink, mam would challenge him and the rows would start. It became the norm.

“He used to say, ‘I’m going to kill myself’. I’d think, ‘just f***ing do it’.”