6 Tours in Northern Ireland and 2 in Bosnia Vet and family suffer

Ex-soldier assaulted wife
Feb 7 2008 by Andrew Pugh, Neath Guardian

A FORMER soldier used as a human shield after being taken hostage by Bosnian troops has pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife and police.

It is the second time that 41-year-old David Storey has pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife in the last five months.

He is also being investigated over allegations he assaulted his daughter last year.

His wife, Helen, of Moorland Road, has now started divorce proceedings.

In a statement read to the court she said: “The last few years have been hell for me and my daughter. I just want a quiet life.”

Storey, now residing at his brother’s home in Port Talbot, received two commendations for bravery during his 23 years of Army service.

He has served six tours in Northern Ireland and two in Bosnia.

The court heard that he began displaying classic symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and was diagnosed with the illness toward the end of last year.

In August, Storey pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife at their home, leaving her with cuts and bruises around one eye.

In the latest incident at 1.20pm on January 29, police were called to Moorland Road.

They arrived to find Ms Storey standing in the street outside her home.

The couple were arguing when she opened the door and demanded he leave – but he instead threw her out and locked the door.

After they arrived police could hear banging from inside the house and found Storey had barricaded himself in.

They eventually got inside the house and a struggle broke out.

Storey wrestled one of the officers to the ground and threw a punch which didn’t connect.

At this point neighbours had began gathering outside before he was eventually arrested.

Stephen Harrett, defending, said, : “If you look at the defendant’s record you can see has not committed an offence until 2007.

“Quite clearly there’s a difficulty causing him to offend”.

Mr Harrett went on to describe how Storey was diagnoed with post traumatic stress disorder towards the end of last year.

Magistrates adjourned the case until February to allow an all-options report to be prepared.
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