THE case against a son who “went absolutely berserk” and attempted to murder his mother and stepfather at their home in Shalbourne, near Marlborough, has opened at Bristol Crown Court.

Churchwarden Linda Holford only found out it was her son who had hurt her after she emerged from a coma following the attack in March last year.

James Wells, 43, of Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, is accused of attacking Linda Holford and her husband Adrian Holford. He denies the charges by reason of insanity.

Bristol Crown Court this week heard that Wells had become stressed at work and was driven to the couple’s home in Shalbourne by a colleague. He had been working as a project manager at the first Nightingale Hospital in London, which was being built at the time.

He allegedly used fireplace tools at the detached property, as well as a pewter tankard, to bludgeon the couple hours after arriving.

The jury was played interviews with both Mr and Mrs Holford recorded by police.

Mr Holford, 75, first spoke to officers from his hospital bed and told them he had been “brutally and viciously” attacked by Wells.

He described how Wells was “hyper” when he arrived at the couple’s home at about 4.30pm on March 30 and they were aware that he had not slept for four days.

Wells went for a walk with his mother before eating dinner and going to bed but then re-emerged with his suitcase and was questioned by the couple, Mr Holford told police.

“At that point he went absolutely berserk,” Mr Holford said.

“He grabbed Linda by the throat, threw her on the floor and tried to strangle her.

“He had both hands on Linda’s throat. When I pulled one of his hands off, he put it around my throat.”

Mr Holford described how Wells was “kicking, headbutting, punching” and attempted to strangle his mother again.

Wells then used the poker and ash pan, as well as a pewter tankard, to attack the couple, Mr Holford said.

“He suddenly headbutted me. This must have gone on for about 45 minutes. I thought: ‘We are going to die here, we are not going to get out of this.’ There was blood everywhere.”

Mr Holford managed to call 999 and request police and paramedics while Wells was in the shower washing blood off himself, the court heard.

He said Wells was “shouting and screaming” in a military style and kept asking Mr Holford to salute him.

“I thought Linda was dead, but I was conscious that I ought to stay between her and him all the way,” Mr Holford told police.

“Then he dashed to the kitchen and started opening cupboards and drawers. He pulled out a big carving knife out of one of the drawers. I thought, ‘this is it’. I was bleeding heavily.

During the incident, Wells said: “I want to murder Mum and I think I’ve done it,” Mr Holford told officers.

Police who raced to the house along with paramedics had to use a Taser to arrest Wells.

In an interview at home, Mrs Holford said she had no memory of the incident and learned in hospital that her son had attacked her.

“It was so hard to believe and hard to understand. Just one’s worst nightmare,” Mrs Holford, 70, told police.

She described learning of the severity of her injuries as “distressing”, and said she was “very lucky” that her husband and paramedics had saved her life.

Mrs Holford spent a month in hospitals receiving treatment for injuries including a fractured skull, facial fractures and bleeding on her brain.

Her husband sustained lacerations to his scalp, a fracture to his skull, and a broken jaw and nose.

Wells also denies assaulting a police officer who he is alleged to have spat on while being placed in the back of a police car following hospital treatment for minor injuries.

The trial continues.