A 62 year old man took his ex-mother in law out to thank her for looking after him when he had a heart attack - but ended up attacking her and breaking her arm in three places.
Michael Watts, of Commercial Road, Newport, got so drunk and foul-mouthed in a Cotswold pub that he was asked to leave - and then tried to fight his own son, Matthew, on the way out, a court was told.
When his former mother in law Thursa Heath, of Moreton in Marsh, Gloucester, got between father and son to stop the fight, Watts lashed out at her, Gloucester crown court heard.
She was knocked back against a wall, hitting her left arm and head, and then fell forward onto her face, said prosecutor Julian Kesner.
Mrs Heath suffered a three part fracture of the upper arm bone, he said.
Yet despite her injury Mrs Heath said in a statement that she did not want to see Watts go to prison.
Watts, a £24,000 a year electrician, admitted unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily harm on 65-year-old Mrs Heath.
Lucy Beale, defending, said Watts is full of remorse.
He was sentenced to 12 months jail suspended for a year and ordered to do 180 hours unpaid work and also ordered him to pay Mrs Heath £1,000 compensation within 3 months.
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