A FORMER policewoman who brutally attacked her pensioner neighbours in their village home, armed with a shovel, poker, knives and a powered cattle prod, has been jailed for six years and two months.
Paula Attwood-Rees, 59, had been convicted in court that morning of damaging Chris and Jacqueline Teague's Toyota Yaris car outside their Monkswood home near Usk after a parking dispute, Merthyr Crown Court was told.
As they were sitting down to dinner that evening, she burst into their Alexandra Terrace home, kicking her way through the French windows before punching 69-year-old Mrs Teague in the face and breaking her nose.
Shouting that she was going to kill them both, the ex-South Wales Police cop also cut Mrs Teague's wrist with a knife and slashed Mr Teague and hit him with a poker.
The attack then spilt outside where she smashed their two parked cars with a shovel and hit Mrs Teague over the head with it as the victim tried to call 999.
Dashcam footage captured Attwood-Rees battering her neighbour to the ground before a passing motorist intervened.
When armed police arrived, the defendant kicked PC Wayne Harrington as he was trying to handcuff her, before officers put her face down on the floor and warned her she could be tasered if she continued to struggle.
Prosecutor Clare Wilkes said the couple thought they were going to be murdered in the horrifying Thursday, May 30, attack, which happened three years after Attwood-Rees had moved into the street.
Mrs Teague had since suffered a stroke, and they had moved out of their family home of 38 years because they no longer felt safe there.
In mitigation, the court heard Attwood-Rees had suffered PTSD after serving as a response officer with South Wales Police, and had sustained a frontal lobe brain injury, which experts say can affect the way people behave.
She had also raised funds for the Headway Charity after they had helped her recover from her injury, it was claimed.
But Judge Jeremy Rees also noted that she had two previous convictions for assaults on police officers dating back to 2008.
Attwood-Rees was originally charged with attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, aggravated burglary with intent, common assault of an emergency worker, and two counts of causing criminal damage to property.
She also admitted possession of a prohibited weapon – a cattle prod electric shock device – possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and possession of a knife blade/sharp pointed article in a public place.
Jailing her for six years and two months and telling her she would serve two-thirds behind bars before being released on licence, Judge Rees told her she was "violent and abusive".
"You could not be reasoned with. Despite being a retired police officer you treated them and your former colleagues with contempt,” he said.
"You caused people to sustain serious injuries which will stay with them for years.”
Detective Constable Abigail Short, the Gwent Police officer in the case, said after sentencing: “Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own homes and on their property.
“It was truly terrifying for these two victims when the defendant burst into their home uninvited with the sole intention of attacking them and causing harm.
“Luckily, neither were seriously injured but the potential risk of harm that these dangerous and prohibited weapons could have caused is frightening.
“I hope the victims can continue the process of moving on and rebuilding their lives after this traumatic attack, but I’d also like to thank the man whose brave actions prevented further escalation.”