Violent BNP thug David Enderby branded a wife beater

A BNP councillor has been branded a wife-beating thug who once viciously attacked a motorist in a ferocious road-rage attack.

David Enderby, who serves on Redditch Borough Council, was convicted last week of assaulting his estranged wife, his mother-in-law and a teenage girl. Magistrates at Kidderminster, Worcestershire, heard how he barged into a family birthday celebration and refused to leave. Witnesses told the court that Enderby was 'in a rage' and 'just flipped'. During the melée, he struck his ex-wife Jane, his mother-in-law Noel Campion, and a girl aged 14 before being manhandled outside.

Enderby, 46, of Winyates East, Redditch, Worcestershire, denied three charges of common assault but was convicted after a two-day trial in which his own family gave evidence against him.

He was fined £300 and ordered to pay £100 court costs, despite his claim that he had not hurt anyone. The court heard he had no previous convictions. But Mrs Campion claimed that the commotion at the party, which left children crying and screaming at her home, was just the tip of the iceberg in Enderby's tempestuous and violent past.

Mrs Campion alleged that her son-in-law had:

~ Regularly assaulted the mother of his three children;

~ Tried to push his wife down the stairs during a furious row;

~ And 'gone berserk' when he was cut up by a motorist, chasing after him and viciously attacking him in broad daylight.

Enderby, a burly six-footer, married Jane in 1989. But she walked out on him three years ago and has started divorce proceedings, which cite his violence.

"What happened at my house at the birthday party last summer was no isolated incident," said Mrs Campion, 62, of Greenlands, Redditch. He has always been a violent control freak who made Jane's life a misery. The Christmas before they married, we all went out shopping in Redditch and another motorist cut him up. David just went berserk. He chased after the other driver and forced him to stop. He savagely attacked him, punching him repeatedly in the face. It was so bad I thought he was going to kill him. I leapt out of the car and jumped on to David's back, shouting: 'David, David. Stop it!' He appeared to come to his senses and got back in the car but he never said anything. It was just as if nothing had happened. I knew then that there was trouble ahead."

Mrs Campion claimed: "Even before they were married, David would beat Jane. On three occasions during their marriage, I went round to their house and brought Jane and the children back to my house because of his violent rages. She often had black eyes and bruises caused by David. He is a control freak who always wanted to keep Jane in her place as he would see it. I paid for her to have driving lessons when she was 21 and she passed her test. But David would never let her drive their car because it would have given her a degree of independence. He is a big bloke and I have always been frightened of him."

Mrs Campion said that the family was stunned when Enderby - a track worker at Land Rover in Solihull - stood for election to Redditch Borough Council in May 2006.

"He had never been interested in politics," she said. "His nomination for the council - and later election to it - caused big problems for the children he claims to love so much because they have friends from ethnic minority backgrounds. David even has ethnic cousins, so I just don't know what this BNP stuff is all about."

Jane Enderby,41, said of her former husband: "With David, it is either his way or no way. He is a violent and controlling man. I don't want to go into too many details for the sake of the children. But what happened at my mother's house last June was not the first time he had been violent. Whenever he was at home, the kids were always walking on eggshells in case they set off his temper. When he stood for the council, he said on his election leaflet that he was married with three children, even though we had separated ages before. He didn't even have the decency to tell me that he was standing for the council, and that we would be thrust into the public spotlight."

After the court case, the Sunday Mercury talked to Enderby about the family claims of his violent past behaviour. He listened patiently as they were outlined in detail. Then he said: "I have no comment to make on the allegations."

Enderby will not lose his seat on Red-ditch Borough Council despite his court conviction. A council spokeswoman said: "This has no impact on Councillor Enderby's formal position as a councillor. The case was personal and did not involve his role as an elected member of the council. The sentence was not of an order to warrant disqualification."

Sunday Mercury