Christmas: Widow backs anti-violence campaign

"We had everything set in place to live a wonderful life together, but it was all taken away in an instant."

It is two years since Christine Edwards' husband Vaughan was attacked on a night out to celebrate Christmas.

He sustained traumatic head injuries and died in January 2018 after the assault in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

Mrs Edwards has backed Dyfed-Powys Police's "Just Walk Away" campaign, aimed at cutting alcohol-related violence over the festive period.

"Christmas will never be the same - nothing ever will," said Mrs Edwards, of Llannon.

"What I've had to go through, with grieving, the court case and taking on the business, has been too much to deal with."

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She was with her husband for the family business Christmas party celebrations in their home town when he was assaulted as he headed home from a bar.

"It was horrendous," she said.

"He went down and he wasn't getting up. I told my daughter Emma 'he's gone' - I just knew it."

There is a "dark cloud" over the family at Christmas, says Christine Edwards and her daughter Emma

He was rushed to the major trauma unit at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales and put on a life-support machine, but died on 17 January.

In June 2018, 37-year-old David Wayne Jenkins was jailed for five years and three months for manslaughter.

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"Every Christmas there will be a dark cloud over us. My children have lost a father, our grandson - who Vaughan absolutely doted on - has been affected, and I've been left alone at the age of 57.

"It's not right and life shouldn't have been this way."

Vaughan Edwards was killed while on a night out over Christmas

Every year since 2015, Dyfed-Powys Police said it had recorded an average of 87 serious alcohol-related assaults over the three-week period into the new year.

Throughout December it hits about 120 attacks, where alcohol is an aggravating factor.

"It's undeniable that the number of violent incidents has a huge impact on police resources," said temporary Det Ch Insp Phil Rowe.

"But more importantly, each of these assaults affects people's lives."

Vaughan Edwards died in hospital after being on a life support machine

He said people needed to think before they act on a night out.

"Could you live with going to prison, spending Christmas in custody and the emotional weight of knowing your actions seriously injured or even killed someone?" he said.

"If you get into a confrontational situation on a night out, please be the bigger person and just walk away."