A man has been cleared of GBH after cutting off his wife's finger with a lawnmower.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard how Stephen Davies, a maths teacher, was mowing the garden "in a mood" on his day off when his wife stood on the mower's cable to make him stop. Mrs Davies alleged that he reacted by swinging the lawnmower at her, chopping off the index finger of her left hand with its whirling blades. Doctors were unable to reattach Mrs Davies' finger, and she had to be fitted with a prosthesis.

Another quiet afternoon with the Davies

Davies denied commiting grevious bodily harm, claiming that his wife, who is now divorcing him, fell into the path of the Flymo in a freak accident. "I told her she was standing on the wire and to get off. I was frustrated", he said. "I gave the mower an extra shove outwards. The wire was taut and the mower flicked up off the ground. She fell forward."

The jury cleared Davies after just 15 minutes' deliberation, and his pupils immediately prioritised their maths homework.