'Ugliest man in Britain' threatened to kill wife during savage beating

A man once dubbed Britain's ugliest male was taken back by his wife – despite him savagely beating her and telling her: "I'm going to kill you". Ronnie Sowter "flipped" when his wife, Lynne, told him she had feelings for another man she kissed during a night out in Ashbourne.

When she asked her husband to leave the property she was staying at, Sowter, 57, began punching and strangling her. Derby Crown Court was told Mrs Sowter reported the assault to the police but later said she no longer wanted him to be prosecuted, as she had decided to take him back.



But officers charged Sowter, of The Firs, Ashbourne, with assault occasioning actual bodily harm due to the serious nature of the attack, which left Mrs Sowter with a badly swollen and bruised face. Sowter – who was given the title of "ugliest man in Britain" by Channel 4 entertainment show TFI Friday in the 1990s – was given a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

Judge Andrew Hamilton had planned on imposing a restraining order on him to protect Mrs Sowter, but was asked by her not to do so. Instead, Judge Hamilton further ordered Sowter to complete a domestic abuse programme and carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.