A CONTROLLING husband has been ordered to pay his ex wife £750 compensation and banned from contacting her for 10 years.
Marine engineer Jeremy Pilkington was violent towards his wife during the marriage, Exeter Crown Court was told.
The court heard character references for the defendant from Newton Abbot town clerk Phil Rowe, Mayor Colin Parker and former councillor Gordon Hook.
The couple lived on a barge and on one occasion he flicked her in the face and punched her and she ended up with a black eye and bruising.
The court heard Pilkington, 60, played loud music in a shipping container so that she could not sleep.
In another incident the court heard he sprayed her with a hosepipe in bed and was awoken on many occasions with bruises on her arms.
Prosecutor Peter Coombe said she was scared of him during their 20 year marriage and said Pilkington would blame her saying it was her fault and was ‘always shutting her down’.
Simon Burns, defending, said Pilkington ‘bears the lion's part of the responsibility for what happened’.
'He is apologetic and sorry for what he has done,’ said the lawyer who said Pilkington has alcohol addiction issues which need treating.
Barrister Mr Burns said Pilkington had a ‘fond regard’ for part of the marriage but accepted it was volatile and sometimes physically threatening.
He said Pilkington worked for his elderly father’s marine business in Newton Abbot, working on gear boxes for expensive boats.
He said the business was afloat but on a knife edge.
Pilkington admitted controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship between 2015 and 2023.
Recorder Andrew Oldland sentenced him to 18 months in jail, suspended for two years, and was ordered to pay her £750 compensation, plus £400 court costs, and the 10 year restraining order.