Man attacked stepdad with vacuum in row over watching Emmerdale

A man beat his 75-year-old stepdad in an unprovoked attack after mocking him for watching Emmerdale.

James Beaumont, 43, attacked Martyn Sumner with a vacuum cleaner and repeatedly punched him while he was sat in his armchair watching the long-running ITV drama.

Cardiff Crown Court heard Beaumont's "demeanour changed" when they got home and he started cleaning, after the pair had been drinking together at a Wetherspoons pub in Monmouth in September 2025.

Beaumont, of Monmouth, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, receiving a 12-month community order and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecutor Tim Lewis said: "The defendant told the victim, 'What are you watching this old woman's programme for? I shouldn't have to do this'."

Beaumont hit his stepdad with the Hoover before punching him in the face.

The victim called 999 before he was punched three time more times.

Jeffrey Jones, mitigating, said Beaumont was "ashamed, embarrassed and sorry" and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

Judge Recorder Andrew Hammond said it was an "entirely unprovoked attack" on the elderly victim who was "shocked and frightened".

"He still wonders why it happened.

"It was a shocking event which was clearly out of character," he said.

"No one understands why you did it."

The court was told that Sumner wanted to rebuild his relationship with his stepson and had written him a character reference.