Pregnant woman's partner held on suspicion of her attempted murder after 'attack by intruders'

The partner of a heavily pregnant woman who was apparently attacked by burglars in her bed has been arrested on suspicion of her attempted murder.

Nerys Price, 35, was just two weeks away from giving birth when she suffered severe injuries after being coshed over the head.

Doctors had to perform an emergency Caesarean to deliver her baby, Freya, who was born none the worse for her mother's ordeal.

Miss Price's 6ft 6in partner, Simon Morris, 36, told police the burglars had attacked her after forcing their way into their bedroom demanding keys to their luxury cars.

He said he had stepped in to protect her and was repeatedly hit about the head and back before the intruders fled the couple's £300,000 home empty-handed.

But more than a week after the alleged break-in, no description of the burglars had been released.

Detectives stressed that despite Mr Morris's parents claiming that the target had been their cars, they were keeping an open mind as to the motive.

Then on Saturday evening he was arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of his partner.

Mr Morris was still being questioned last night. The attack in the early hours of Friday, August 15 shocked residents in the North Wales seaside town of Prestatyn.

Emergency services were called to the couple's house and Miss Price was taken to hospital where doctors performed surgery to save her baby.

Despite her mother also needing treatment for her head injuries, her daughter was born in perfect health, weighing 6lb 11oz.

Raid investigation: The couple's home in Prestatyn, North Wales

Miss Price, a manager at a building firm, was discharged from hospital a week later, but instead of returning to the couple's home was staying at another address, apparently with her partner.

While Mr Morris declined to talk to the press about the incident, his father David, a former town mayor, said he believed it had been a burglary targeting the couple's cars.

Speaking after the attack, Mr Morris Sr, 66, said: 'It is incredible to think that someone would lash out at a pregnant woman.

'It sickens us to think that evil thieves could have killed them all. It must have been so terrifying for Nerys waking up and being attacked like that.

'Simon is 6ft 6in tall and 16 stone and we think the robbers were expecting some weakling who would cave in. But that is not Simon and he was trying to defend his partner.'

Yesterday a North Wales Police spokesman said: 'A 36-year-old local man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.'