A ‘gentle and placid’ businessman – hit by the rec

A ‘gentle and placid’ businessman – hit by the recession –
‘suddenly snapped’ and tried to murder his bride of two months.

But exactly what triggered the savage assault, which has left
Diane Butterfield, 36, crippled and brain damaged, remains a mystery,
a court was told today Friday.

The only motive seemed to be a resentment of her former
husband and a failure of his business.

As James Butterfield, 42, was led away to begin a
six year jail sentence, his wife struggles to walk again
and rebuild her shattered life in a medical rehabilitation unit.

And Mrs Butterfield, in a letter to the judge, asked him to
show her husband ‘mercy and leniency.

‘
The couple met and married after a whirlwind romance –
Butterfield proposed and she accepted on their third date, the
Old Bailey heard.

But their happiness was short lived.

Miss Joanne Korner, prosecuting, said she was involved in an
acrimonious divorce which led to her losing custody of her two
young children, aged four and seven years.

At the same time Butterfield found the business he had spent
a decade building up badly hit by the recession.

On top of that Mrs Butterfield was left with a huge legal
bill from her divorce and for a while the newly-weds were forced
to live in his business premises.

They eventually bought their own modest home in Lower Road,
Grayswood, nr Haslemere, Surrey.

Pressures were mounting ‘not least because of a campaign to
make life difficult’ by Mrs Butterfield’s ex-husband, said Mr
Frank Gillibrand, defending.

Then on the morning of Monday September 9 last year
Butterfield ‘snapped.

‘
And the man who had never shown any signs of violence ‘inex
plicably’ erupted.

After making his wife a cup of tea, he showered and returned
to their bedroom to dress for work.

He could not find a shirt
and asked his wife to iron one for him, said Miss Korner.

She got up and was walking downstairs to press the shirt when
Butterfield ‘pushed her down.

‘
He then picked up a heavy cobbler’s last and smashed it into
her face and head.

The savage blows shattered her jaw and cheek
bone and tragically caused brain damage, said Miss Korner.

Butterfield immediately called an ambulance and soon after
his wife arrived at hospital he rang the police and confessed:
‘I tried to kill my wife.

‘
Officers rushed to the Royal Surrey Hospital and found Butterfield
in tears repeating his confession.

In an interview, against legal advice, he made full admis
sions, but said: ‘I don’t know why I was trying to kill her .

‘
He said they had not had an argument and he did not know why
he had done it.

Crying, he said he was ‘sorry’ and revealed that ‘there had
been some problem between his wife and her ex-husband.

‘
‘I just thought she had to be killed.

I had to kill her.

I
don’t know why.

I just want the pressure to stop and perhaps if
I kill her the pressure will stop,’ Butterfield told detectives.

Mr Gillibrand said: ‘Even in this build ing this case must
rank as a highly unusual one.

‘It was an awful attack and yet in no way was it premeditated
and all of the signs were that he was devoted to his wife before
and remains devoted to her.

It was an attack without any logical
motive.

‘
A bundle of letters and testimonials including one from
Butterfield’s ex-wife, spoke of him in glowing terms.

‘My ex-husband is one of the most kind and understanding men
I have ever met who in all of the time we were together has never
raised his voice or shown any signs of violence towards me or his
two children,’ she wrote.

The letter concluded: ‘He is such a gentle man by nature and
to commit any act of violence especially towards someone he loves
is truly unbelievable.

‘
Another woman whom Butterfield lived with for many years
following his divorce described him as ‘very placid, kind and
generous.

‘
Butterfield and Diane met in 1989.

She was in the process of
a divorce and he was still very unhappy over the failure of his
last relationship.

‘They immediately enjoyed each other’s company and he proposed
on the third occasion they met.

She without hesitation accepted and
they married on June 29 last year.

‘Both were extremely vulnerable at the time,’ said Mr Gilli
brand.

Adding: ‘It is probable that difficulties over her children
and her ex-husband led to this offence.

‘This calm and over-controlled man had a tremendous resent
ment towards her ex-husband and in someway this was turned on
her.

He snapped.

‘
Butterfield was also under pressure because of the ‘failure
of his business.

‘Although it is not logical and there is no justification it
is those matters which led to this awful attack,’ continued
counsel.

He then handed a letter dictated by Mrs Butterfield to the
judge in which she asked for mercy and leniency for her husband
whom she still cares for.

‘This letter is perhaps the most curious thing.

‘
Mrs Butterfield who has made some progress recently and is
now able to walk with a frame, has visited Butterfield twice in
prison.

‘Whatever punishment the court inflicts it cannot compare
with the guilt he carries round with him.

He goes over it again
and again and he cannot understand it.

‘For him perhaps the worst feature is expecting and know
ing that he must go to prison and being locked up, unable to care
for his wife.

‘Having harmed the one person who matters so much to him –
having taken so many years to find the one person who most
matched him and whom he cared for – he is unable to help her or
put things right,’ said counsel.

Jailing Butterfield, a man of excellent previous character,
Judge Kenneth Richardson QC said: ‘This was an awful attack and
the strange thing about it is that it appears to have been an
inexplicable attack.

‘There was no logic in it.

There was no apparent motive
or premeditation.

You are clearly feeling remorse for what you
did.

Why you behaved as you did may never be known.

I am pre
pared to accept that you must have been under some form of pres
sure at the time.

‘
Butterfield pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

ENDS
llll