Another assault with a link to Antidepressants

As reported in this report from York, England

A woodcarver as been sent to jail for two years after he beat up his mother and threatened to kill her.

Christian Paul Dawson, 39, pleaded guilty to repeatedly punching June Smith "with great force" all over her body at her New Earswick home last October, but said he could not even remember assaulting her.

Ms Smith said she had never seen her son so drunk, York Crown Court heard.

She said he shouted to her he was going to kill her during the attack, which left her with a broken finger.

Ms Smith played dead during the assault, hoping this would stop her son. But she had to resort to hitting him on the head with a candle, after he had kicked her between the legs when she was on the floor.

She eventually managed to escape to a neighbour's property, and Dawson, who was on medication for depression, was arrested and taken to hospital. He was treated there for a suspected overdose of prescription drugs.


But Dawson then headbutted a police officer, PC Matthew Edwards, when he tried to remove him from the hospital because he was being so abusive.

Geraldine Kelly, mitigating, said: "At the time of the offence, Dawson hadn't been in contact with his mother for some time and went to York to help her out."

The court heard that Dawson had been helping his mother to decorate her flat, after she had invited him to stay. He had been living in Tottenham, north London.

He "desperately craved" a loving relationship with his mother, and her being "verbally abusive" towards him had sent him in a "downward spiral".

Sentencing him, Judge Paul Hoffman said: "You said you blamed your mother for your actions, and that you did not see yourself as having committed a crime.

"This was a very aggressive assault on your mother - you kicked her on the legs, and punched her body and head, fracturing one of her fingers. Not content with that, you assaulted a police officer.

"You're a very volatile man indeed, and you present a danger of committing a serious injury against your mother in the future."

He jailed Dawson for two years in total for affray, inflicting grievous bodily harm on his mother and actual bodily harm on PC Edwards. [...]

Apparently the man had a promising future at one point:

Genius of the young carver

It was the biggest restoration project York has ever seen. And Christian Dawson was right at the heart of it.

Presented with a block of wood, stone or marble he was a genius, and he played a pivotal role in helping return York Minster to its former glory, following the devastating fire of 1984.

He became an apprentice carver at the Minster when he was 17, and benefited from a £2,000 bequest from retired timber merchant Anthony David Christie Smith.

Christian's mother, June Smith, said he had designed three or four of the bosses on the restored South Transept roof, and been introduced to the Queen when she re-opened it in 1988. She said he also appeared on Blue Peter to help judge children's designs for bosses.

He left York after several years, and went on to work at Lincoln Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament, and also in Cambridge.

Ms Smith said: "He did very well when he got the Minster. He went to sixth form college to do joinery, then got this job at the Minster and that was wonderful. He was really, really happy there."

She said he wished her son had stayed at the Minster rather than moving away, and she hoped he would be given the help and support he needed to get his career back on its successful track.