Pensioners blame break-up on golden wedding day attack

Margaret and Bill Jiles were kicked and punched by a young thug as they returned home from a shopping trip last November.

During the unprovoked attack Mrs Jiles, now 69, was hit in the face. Her glasses broke and her left eye was left permanently damaged.

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Incredibly their attacker, James Elliott, 20, was later bailed and allowed to live across the road from the couple.

Yesterday he was jailed for 15 months after admitting actual bodily harm.

The couple say the stress of living so close to the yob left them both deeply depressed and put their 50-year marriage under unbearable strain.

Mrs Jiles, a retired office worker from Stockton, Teesside, said: "Our attacker has been given 15 months, but I'm serving a life sentence. It would have been our 51st anniversary this year, but instead we're living in separate homes.

"It's the first time I've been on my own since we were married. I don't know how I'll cope."

Since the attack she has lost four stone and contemplated suicide. She also suffers from depression, stress and anxiety.

"I thought we'd be together forever, but the attack changed everything," she said. "We're both different people now. The stress was just too much to bear.

"We're still suffering both emotionally and physically. I can't see properly out of my left eye.

"All I can make out is a few shadows, although the doctors hope an operation will put that right eventually.'"

Her 70-year-old husband, a retired lorry driver, now suffers panic attacks and could eventually require a pacemaker due to the stress on his heart.

Elliott, a repeat offender with previous convictions for drugs, assaults and dishonesty, had moved in to a house just a few doors away from the Jiles' property five years ago and immediately began terrorising the couple.

Mr Jiles said: "It always seemed like he was there, all the time, taunting and threatening us. We'd lived in that house for 47 years and never had any trouble before.

"I doubt me and Margaret will be able to patch things up. We're living apart at the minute and legal proceedings are under way for the separation.

"I'm glad he's behind bars, but 15 months is nothing for what he's done to us. It should have been years."