THE former secretary of the Bromsgrove Advertiser/Messenger District Football League was jailed for ten years yesterday for a ferocious attack on his estranged wife and step-daughter with a baseball bat.

Peter Townsend, who was also manager of Barnt Green Spartak FC, had been living in the clubhouse since his marriage broke up.

But he snapped after taking his washing round to wife Susan's home in Newlands, Pershore, which she shared with new lover, Paul Young.

Defence counsel Neil Ford QC told Worcester Crown Court Mrs Townsend informed her husband with a "smirk" that their son, Adam, 14, might not have been fathered by him.

She was discovered by Mr Young semi-conscious with severe head injuries and a broken arm. She was bleeding from her nose and mouth and her face was disfigured.

Prosecutor John Edwards said she needed an operation to remove a blood clot from her brain. Part of her skull was missing.

Her daughter by a previous marriage, Sally Bowering, 20, had returned to the house unaware of the attack when Townsend turned on her too.

She fled to a local pub for help after suffering a broken finger. She needed 14 stitches in cuts.

Townsend, 46, of previous good character, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

Judge Frank Chapman said the defendant was a jealous man whose mind had become twisted by desperation.

Barmaid Mrs Townsend met her new lover in the Drakes Broughton pub where she worked, said Mr Edwards. Mr Young moved into the family home while the defendant -- whose carpet business had collapsed -- slept in the club's lounge.

On October 28 last year, while suffering from clinical depression, Townsend spent the night in his car, before going to his wife's home where he flew into a rage.

After the attack he carried her into a bedroom and put her jeans over her head because of the volume of blood.

When Sally returned she had to fight for her life against the defendant.

The court heard Townsend's marriage deteriorated after his stepson, Scott, 19, died after an accident. His wife became preoccupied with a civil action against the hospital.

In December l999 he moved out to live at the club but became an insomniac and suicidal.

After the attacks he went to a nearby river where he intended to end his life but he changed his mind and phoned the police telling them: "I've just lost my rag."

Mr Ford said Townsend was devastated and remorseful. He was a man who hid his emotions and had never been involved in violence.

"There was an element of jealousy which played on his disturbed mind. He has caused catastrophic injuries and destroyed a family."