Doctor cleared of beating wife with a shoe as jury decides she made it up to shame him for exposing her affair

A doctor was cleared of beating his wife with a shoe yesterday after claiming she fabricated the assault.



Simon Stacey said the nurse made up the claims out of revenge for his exposing her affair with a family friend after they had split up.



His estranged wife, Victoria, 37, had accused Dr Stacey of threatening to kill her after she accidentally sent him a text message intended for her new lover.



Cleared: Dr Simon Stacey, left, has been found not guilty of assaulting his ex-wife Victoria with a shoe



She had written ‘How about another weekend in the Marriott Hotel in Birmingham?’ meaning to send it to family friend Stephen Sherratt – but was unfamiliar with her new phone and sent it to Dr Stacey, 40, instead.

Mrs Stacey – who had separated from her husband after what she alleged had been a series of violent, drink-fuelled assaults – claimed he threatened to ‘come down and kill me’.

The hospital consultant was arrested after she reported him for battering her with a training shoe, and at his trial he was also accused of hitting her head on a toilet bowl and throwing a wall light at her.

But his barrister accused Mrs Stacey of telling ‘a pack of lies’ motivated by malice after the doctor told Mr Sherratt’s wife about the affair, causing him to break it off. He said her injuries had been self-inflicted after she drunkenly fell down the stairs of their home.



Yesterday a judge told Dr Stacey that he was leaving the dock with his ‘good character and reputation intact’ after a jury took just over five hours to acquit him of assault.



Dr Stacey sobbed as the verdict was read out, saying ‘thank you’ as he left court with his supporters.

Royal Bolton Hospital: The couple started their relationship after meeting here in 1995

The couple, who met at Royal Bolton Hospital where both were working in 1995, had two daughters now aged seven and 13, but their marriage was ‘turbulent’ throughout, the trial at Bolton Crown Court heard.

Dr Stacey said the relationship broke down entirely and he moved out of the family home in Bolton in June 2009 and began ‘going on dates’ with an ex-girlfriend.



He then learnt of his wife’s five-month affair with Mr Sherratt through the text message sent in February 2010. Dr Stacey said he replied ‘Oops, don’t think that was meant for me!’ and then told Mr Sherratt’s wife, Stephanie.



Mr Sherratt said the affair came to an end soon afterwards. Giving evidence for Dr Stacey’s defence, he said he had had to appoint a solicitor to write to Mrs Stacey asking her to stop contacting him and his wife.

At the same time, Mrs Stacey contacted police, accusing her estranged husband of assaulting her in March 2009. She said he had hit her repeatedly with a training shoe in her daughter’s bedroom. She also accused him of subjecting her to a number of violent assaults.



But he denied harming her, claiming she had bullied him. He described her as ‘highly-strung and jealous’, scratching and punching him when the ‘red mist’ descended.