A SOCCER club official has been jailed for 10 years after a ferocious baseball bat attack left his estranged wife seriously injured.

Peter Townsend had been living in the clubhouse at Barnt Green Spartak FC since his marriage broke up.

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

Neil Ford QC, defending, told Worcester Crown Court that Mrs Townsend smirked as she told her husband that their son might not have been fathered by him.

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

John Edwards, prosecuting, said she needed an operation to remove a blood clot from her brain, part of her skull was missing and she had since undergone a personality change.

Her daughter by a previous marriage, 20-year-old Sally Bowering, had returned to the house unaware of the attack and Townsend turned on her too, raining blows on her head and shoulders with the bat.

She fled to a nearby pub for help after suffering a broken finger and cuts, which needed 14 stitches.

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

Judge Frank Chapman said the 46-year-old was a jealous man whose mind had become twisted by despair.

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 Saturday, October 28, last year, while he was suffering from clinical depression, Townsend spent the night in his car before going to his wife's Newlands home where he flew into a rage. Mr Edwards said Townsend had found it difficult to come to terms with his wife's new relationship.

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 that Townsend's marriage deteriorated after his 19-year-old stepson, Scott, died after an accident.

His wife became preoccupied with a civil action against the hospital and became angry when her husband refused to use family assets to pursue the claim.

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 police, telling them: "I've just lost my rag."

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

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

Townsend was until last season the Bromsgrove and District Football League secretary. He was also the league's representative on the Worcestershire Football Association.