# UK Soap and Drama Discussion > Coronation Street > General >  Les Battersby actor to face court trial

## Perdita

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones is to face trial at Mold Crown Court over driving and assault charges.

The 56-year-old actor, who played Weatherfield loudmouth Les Battersby, discovered the news as he appeared for committal proceedings at a magistrates court in Prestatyn, Wales today, BBC News reports.

Jones has been accused of two drink-driving charges, dangerous driving on the A55 (North Wales Expressway) and assaulting his wife Sandra.

The ex-soap star has been bailed to appear at crown court on December 10. He has reportedly been told that he must not contact his partner.

It is thought that Jones is intending to plead not guilty to all the charges.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/...urt-trial.html

----------


## Perdita

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has today insisted that he is not guilty of dangerous driving and assault charges.

The actor denied the offences as he appeared at Mold Crown Court in Wales ahead of a forthcoming trial, BBC News reports.

Jones, who played Weatherfield layabout Les Battersby, has been accused of dangerous driving on the A55 (North Wales Expressway) in August. He is also facing allegations that he assaulted his wife Sandra on the same day.

It is thought that Jones's trial will begin on February 4. He has once again been bailed on the condition that he must not contact his partner.

Reports have stated that the ex-soap star is living in a caravan in Rhyl due to his bail conditions.


http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/...-in-court.html

----------


## alan45

The jury appointed for former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones's court trial has been discharged.

BBC News reports that the development occurred earlier today following legal arguments and that a retrial may now be held.

Jones, who played Weatherfield layabout Les Battersby for ten years, had been standing trial at Mold Crown Court over charges of dangerous driving and assault.

The case centred around incidents which allegedly occurred in Wales on August 28, 2009. It was claimed that they had taken place after Jones became involved in an altercation with his wife Sandra while they travelled along the A55 in Flintshire.

The ex-soap actor had denied both charges.

----------


## alan45

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

The actor, who played Weatherfield layabout Les Battersby for ten years, admitted the charge after his trial by jury was discharged, BBC News reports.

Mold Crown Court heard that the 57-year-old tried to crash a Mercedes last August as it was being driven along the A55 in Flintshire by his wife Sandra. Mr Jones admitted that he had grabbed the car's steering wheel and jerked it up and down, causing the vehicle to swerve violently.

The ex-soap star, who also confessed that he was drunk at the time of the incident, has received an interim driving ban and will be sentenced next month.

A charge of common assault has also reportedly been placed on file over a later incident which saw Mr Jones grab his partner's hand when she managed to stop the car safely at a nearby pub.

It is understood that Jones made his confessions after the first day of his trial yesterday caused him to reflect on his personal problems.

A statement released by his barrister today read: "Mr Jones accepts for the first time that he has an alcohol problem which he needs to address. It is one that has caused him significant problems over the last five or six years and resulted finally in him being in this situation today.

"He very much wants to address this with privacy and get his life together and save a marriage that has lasted over 26 years. He is very regretful at having his wife subjected to cross-examination in court and found the whole experience very distressing."

----------


## alan45

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has vowed to spend six months in rehab after admitting that he has a drinking problem.

The actor, best known for playing Weatherfield layabout Les Battersby for ten years, confessed his alcoholism last week after pleading guilty to dangerous driving at Mold Crown Court.

Jones had been appearing in court in relation to an incident which saw him drunkenly grabbing the wheel of his wife's car while she was driving and threatening to kill them both.

In his first interview since revealing his shame, the ex-soap star told The Mirror: "I deserve absolutely no sympathy. I had everything most people dream of and I've blown the lot."

Speaking about his wife, he continued: "I'm worried I've lost Sandra. I love her to bits. She's supported me through everything and I've treated her so badly. If I could turn the clock back, I would.

"She tells me some of the horrific things I've said to her when I've been drunk. She's told me about me throwing things at her and I have no recollection the next day.

"My four kids have all fallen out with me over the drinking. I'm worried I'm going to lose my family. It's vile, I hate myself because of it and I want to change. I'm checking into rehab for six months and I'm going to change my life or die trying."

Jones will be sentenced for dangerous driving and drunken driving next month.

----------


## alan45

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has reportedly been refused permission to enter a rehab clinic in South Africa.

According to PA, Jones appeared in court today in a bid to have the date of his sentencing for dangerous driving deferred or brought forward. He made the request so that he would be free to join a Cape Town treatment centre.

However, it is understood that the request was rejected by Judge John Rogers QC because the ex-soap star may still face a jail term.

Jones's defence lawyer had argued that checking into the clinic was "the most effective way" for the actor to begin treatment for alcoholism and would "in no way interfere with the interests of justice".

However, Judge Rogers stated: "I have seen the application that he might go to South Africa and I'm afraid it does not accord with what the trial judge has deemed the appropriate course of action."

Jones, who played Weatherfield layabout Les Battersby for ten years, last week confessed that a drunken rage had caused him to grab the wheel of his wife's car while she was driving and threaten to kill them both.

The 57-year-old is expected to be sentenced as planned on April 16.

----------


## alan45

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has expressed disappointment after being refused permission to enter rehab in South Africa.

The actor, who played Weatherfield's Les Battersby for ten years, spoke out after a failed attempt to get his sentencing for dangerous driving deferred or brought forward. He had made the request so that he would be free to receive treatment for alcoholism at a Cape Town facility.

At Mold Crown Court yesterday, Judge John Rogers QC rejected the proposal because the ex-soap star may still face a jail term.

Speaking to The Mirror after the decision was made, Jones claimed that the ruling was a "shattering blow".

He added: "I'm devastated that the judge wouldn't let me go into rehab and then sentence me when I got back. [But] I deserve absolutely no sympathy."

Last week, Jones confessed that a drunken rage had caused him to grab the wheel of his wife's car while she was driving and threaten to kill them both. He will be sentenced on April 16.

----------


## alan45

Bruce Jones subjected his wife to horrific physical and verbal abuse during their 26-year marriage, the News Of The World reports.

Sandra Jones claimed that he would strangle her so hard that she pretended to faint to make him stop. She also claimed that he would drag her around by the hair in front of their children.

The former Coronation Street star is awaiting sentence after he threatened to kill them both in their car by grabbing the wheel in a drunken rage. Bruce, 57, pleaded guilty to drunken and dangerous driving last August and confessed that he has an alcohol addiction.

Recounting the ordeal, Sandra said that he was screaming: 'I'll f**king kill us both. I'll put us under a truck. You don't believe me? You just watch'."

Sandra, who met Bruce in 1984 and married two years later, said that she is now on anti-depressants to deal with the years of torment.

"Ian has sapped every little bit of confidence I had out of me," she said. "Some of the arguments we had were horrific. He'd completely lose it and drag me around the house by my clothes or my hair. Sometimes the kids saw and would run upstairs and lock themselves in their bedrooms.

"He never punched me but he used to strangle me and the only way I could make him stop was to pretend to faint. I told him I was going to leave a few times, I even packed my bags but he'd stop me, cry and apologise and I'd forgive him."

She added that she wished she had left sooner, but "it is not as easy as everyone thinks".

----------


## alan45

a suspended jail sentence for dangerous driving.

The actor, who is best known for playing Weatherfield layabout Les Battersby, last month pleaded guilty to the charge at Mold Crown Court.

Jones drunkenly tried to crash a Mercedes last August as it was being driven along the A55 in Flintshire by his wife Sandra. He grabbed the car's steering wheel and jerked it up and down, causing the vehicle to swerve violently.

Appearing in court this morning, the 57-year-old was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He has also been banned from driving for 18 months and must pay Â£1,000 costs.

Additionally, Jones was ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and complete a 12-month supervision order.

After making his court confession last month, the ex-soap star confessed that he was an alcoholic and vowed to turn his life around. He is now in a 26-week rehab programme.

----------


## alan45

FALLEN Corrie star Bruce Jones has been made HOMELESS after his bank forced him to sell his luxury pad.

The 57-year-old - known to millions as the soap's Les Battersby - has been sleeping on pals' floors for the past nine days.

His wife Sandra, 59, has also been forced to stay with family after mounting debts forced them to sell their Â£500,000 home in Hale, Cheshire.

Now, jobless Bruce is left without a penny because his share of the equity has been swallowed up by a loan he had secured on the house.

The alcoholic has even had to quit his rehab course at a Â£1,000-a-week Suffolk clinic because he cannot afford the fees.

A source close to Bruce, who was sacked from Corrie in 2007, said: "It's a huge mess. Losing his home is a major setback in him putting his life back together.

"He is carrying his belongings from one friend's home to another so he can get a roof over his head and some food in his stomach."

The actor had been hoping to continue his rehab at a new clinic in South Africa later this month but can no longer afford the trip.

He admitted he had a problem two months ago after he grabbed the wheel of Sandra's car and threatened to kill them in a drunken rage.

He vowed to tackle his alcoholism last month after being handed an eight-month suspended jail sentence for dangerous driving.

Our source added: "Everyone's really worried about him - he's spent a bomb on booze and now he's got nothing."

----------


## alan45

He had vowed to kick the bottle.
So opening a bar is perhaps not the wisest decision former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has made.
The actor, who has battled a drink problem, teamed up with Black Lace frontman Dene Michael to open up Agadoo, named after the band's 1984 hit.
Just a few months ago he vowed to beat his addiction and save his marriage after trying to crash his wife Sandra’s car while she was driving him.

But Jones, 57, who played Weatherfield layabout Les Battersby until 2007, yesterday insisted: ‘For me this is kind of like a new beginning.’
Michael and Jones met while working together in Benidorm.
They decided to launch their venture and create a chain of fun nightspots, and after talking to  friends in Sunderland, decided to set up their flagship bar in the city.
Jones said: I couldn't have picked a better place than Sunderland and I hope people like it.
‘Everyone is so nice and friendly and I think this is the perfect place to start this venture.’

Michael added: ‘This bar in Sunderland will be the first of many. We want to set  up others in Blackpool and Manchester, and all across the country - but this will  be our first.’ 
The pair plan to have a comedy club upstairs and will be opening up the stage to new talent.
And, after setting up TV production company BDJ Productions in the city, Jones plans on filming a reality TV show to shine the spotlight on the country's top comics.
‘There have been TV shows to find dancers and singers but nothing for comics,’  he said.

Real-life drama: Jones and wife Sandra, who he nearly killed after grabbing the wheel of her car while he was drunk
‘We want to give people who have never even performed on stage before the  chance to shine.
‘We want to take someone from nowhere and hopefully get them to the top. We  want real raw talent.’  The potential comics will first showcase their skills at Agadoo before being  show-cased on the small screen.
Bruce and Dene also plan to put together a variety show called, Bruce's Big  Night Out with special guests, which will tour the country.
‘We are doing all of this from Sunderland and it seems like there's no better  place to start,’ Dene said.
Earlier this year, Bruce pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after admitting trying to crash his Mercedes while his wife Sandra was driving at high speed.
Mold Crown Court, North Wales, heard how he grabbed the steering wheel from his wife Sandra  and jerked it up and down, causing the M Class car to swerve on the A55 in  North Wales, last August.
After Sandra stopped the car, her husband grabbed her wrist.
She told the jury her husband has had a drink problem for years.
Outside court, the actor - who was two-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit during the incident - said he wanted to beat his alcohol addiction and save his  marriage.
At the time of the court case, his barrister, Dominic D'Souza, read that alcohol had caused Jones ‘significant problems over the last five or six years’.
‘He very much wants to address this with privacy and get his life together and  save a marriage that has lasted over 26 years,’ he added.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...#ixzz0pJt5gUSp

----------


## Chloe O'brien

Sorry but where did he get the money to buy a pub. Less than a month ago he was claiming he was homeless and penniless having to sleep on a mates floor, now he's buying a boozer with a mate and plans to open more without doing a hard day's graft for over two years. Wish I new his secret.

----------


## Perdita

FORMER Coronation Street actor Bruce Jones is back with his long-suffering wife.


Shattered Sandra, 59, endured years of mental and physical abuse during her 26-year marriage to the fallen star, who played the soaps Les Battersby.

She finally left him after the violence came to a head in August last year when Jones, 57, attacked her and grabbed the wheel of their car in a drunken rage yelling Ill kill us both as she drove at 70mph.

Bruce was given a suspended jail term in April after he admitted dangerous driving.

But the troubled celeb, whose drinking led to him being sacked from the Street in 2007 after playing Les for ten years, has managed to win back Sandra after promising her he had changed ways.

A source said: Bruce was lost when Sandra left him. He never thought shed walk out but it turned out to be the best thing thats {happened to him.

He went to rehab to sort out his life out and to try to beat his alcoholism. He did it to woo Sandra back. Bruce hasnt given up booze entirely but hes cut down massively on how much he used to drink. Hes able to go to the pub for a couple of pints now not a dozen. Then he goes home.

The couple, who married in 1984, r{ekindled their relationship two weeks ago and are back living in their bungalow in Conwy, North Wales, which they had been renting out.

Their main home, in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, had to be sold to pay off {massive debts run up from the actors heavy drinking. On Thursday, they were spotted leaving the Conwy house, which they bought after Jones fell in love with the seaside town during filming. Our source said: Its early days but Sandra and Bruce have been getting on superbly well, hes much more like the bloke she married.

Earlier this year, Sandra broke her {silence on the dark side of the actor, who is appearing in panto at Christmas, as he awaited sentencing for the road rage {attack. Sandra who calls her husband by his real name Ian revealed how he {throttled her so hard during arguments shed {pretend to pass out to escape his clutches.

He dragged her across furniture and up and down stairs by her hair in front of their terrified children, threatened to kill her time and time again when he was drunk, and called her a bad mother.

She said: I do wish Id left him sooner but its not as easy as everyone thinks. Im on anti-depressants because of every-thing thats happened.

I hope he does sort his problems out, but I know I cant be with him.

Soon afterwards, Bruces stepdaughter Claudia Barratt told The People: Mum has stayed with me for three months but he always worms his way back in. She says this time shes left him for good and I hope she sticks to that as Dad will never change.

But The Peoples source said of their reconciliation yesterday: Sandra had doubts at first but it looks as though Bruce may well have changed. They are both the {happiest theyve been in ages.

----------


## alan45

Former Coronation Street actor Bruce Jones has reportedly been sacked from a panto due to his drinking.

The actor, who was sacked from his role as Les Battersby in 2007, admitted that he had an alcohol problem earlier this year when he appeared in court on a drink driving charge. The Sun reports that Jones had been starring in Cinderella, but was let go yesterday when he failed to turn up for a performance.

"Bruce hasn't fallen off the wagon because he's never been on it," the panto's producer Michael Hizer said. "When we hired him, his agent said he was clean but he regularly sits in the pub until closing time and comes in the next day stinking of booze.

"Bruce kept forgetting his lines and was unprofessional. I'll never work with him again."

Jones's co-star Casey-Lee Jolleys - who played Fred Elliot's mail-order bride Orchid in the ITV soap - told the paper that children in the audience had complained that the actor smelled of alcohol.

"Bruce's drinking has been a problem and him denying it is part of the problem," she admitted. "It's sad."

Both Jones and his agent denied that he had been sacked.

"This is really very upsetting," the 57-year-old said. "I've put my heart and soul into this panto and I just hope the lovely mums, dads and children will understand my predicament.

"In the last weeks the people of Hyde have been great to me."

His agent Tony Nyland added: "Any suggestion that Bruce is back drinking is totally wrong and an absolute lie. Bruce has walked out because they haven't paid him a penny since the show started. He's owed thousands."

----------


## alan45

Ex-Corrie actor Bruce Jones, who played Les Battersby, hit a new career low when fans snubbed his “audience with” show, says The Mirror. 

Bruce had hoped to spill the beans to 200 people on his 10 years on the cobbles. But no tickets for the event at the Chilton Country Pub near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, were sold. And only one person made a phone enquiry about the Â£18.50 gig, that included a meal.
A spokeswoman said: “It had to be cancelled. We are not sure why tickets did not sell. We are normally fully booked.

----------


## alan45

Bruce Jones, who played Coronation Street's Les Battersby, has released his autobiography. Well, when I say "his autobiography" it is actually written with Chris Berry and Ronnie Oliver.  

Here's some info from the book blurb:

Best known for his role as Coronation Street's loud-mouthed but likable rogue, Les Batterbsy, Bruce Jones' new biography will be as explosive as any of his on-screen alter ego's punch-ups.

Of course, all Corrie fans will want to know about life on the street and Bruce is open and revealing in his insights into his fellow Coronation Street stars and how living his life in the full glare of publicity affected his health and family life. 

His fall from grace - dismissal from Coronation Street, battles with alcoholism, drink-driving prosecutions, bankruptcy and family upsets - have all been luridly splashed across the tabloid press. And Bruce doesn't shirk from revealing the truth and private misery behind these headlines.

----------


## Dennis tanner

> Best known for his role as Coronation Street's loud-mouthed but likable rogue, Les Batterbsy,


Likeable rogue?????? I never liked him. Horrible, Horrible character :Angry:  :Angry:  :Angry:

----------


## Chloe O'brien

> Likeable rogue?????? I never liked him. Horrible, Horrible character


Neither did I Dennis he was a horrible man

----------


## Perdita

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has revealed that he is so depressed that he has considered suicide.

Jones, who played Les Battersby, was sacked from the ITV soap in 2007 and after struggling to find work, turned to drink, reportedly consuming up to 15 pints a day.

"After I lost my job, nothing went right," the 59-year-old told The Mirror. "I used to try to drink depression away. I was in suicide mode.

"I planned to end it all so I phoned my mother and said goodbye. I cried down the phone to her but my wife heard me and got me to a *doctor just in time."

The actor attended rehab following a court appearance in 2010, when he received an 18-month suspended sentence for dangerous and drunk driving. In the incident, Jones grabbed the steering wheel while his wife was driving and threatened to kill them both.

Doctors warned him that any more drinking would kill him, but just two weeks after leaving rehab he was spotted back in the pub. Jones claims he is now "cured" and able to drink in moderation, but told the paper that his wife of 28 years has walked out, having had enough.

"Everyone blames the drink but it was never that," he said. "It was depression. I've had depression since I was 10.

"I'm a different person [now]. I used to spend all my time in the pub. Now I don't."

Jones will appear in court tomorrow (June 18) in an attempt to stop his North Wales home being repossessed. However, he said that he is convinced he will lose the property and only has Â£14 to his name.

"I'm broke, I'm destitute and after the hearing, the likelihood is, I'm homeless," he said.

Jones, who once earned Â£200,000 a year and reportedly had a fortune estimated at Â£4 million, claimed his spending "wasn't extravagant" and that he gave away most of his money to charity and friends. 

"I've been kind but I never saw those people again once I'd lent them money," he said. "If people paid me back what they owed me I wouldn't be in this situation.

"I'm going to lose the house that meant everything to me. The house I worked so hard for, the house I wanted to leave to the children when I die."

He added: "It's all over for me. I've got nowhere to go now but the grave. That's where I'll end up. But do you know what? I don't care because I can't take it anymore... I'm beat.

"I wake up some days and think, 'This will be the day that I end it all, I'm *going to take pills or throw myself under a train' because I've had enough. I want some peace."

----------

Dennis tanner (17-06-2012)

----------


## Dennis tanner

I trust that he was well paid for the article and is now in a position to have a few more drinks.

----------


## Perdita

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has said that he has finally beaten depression.

The actor, well-known for his role as Weatherfield's Les Battersby, has a long history of personal problems and struggled with alcoholism in recent years.

Speaking in a live interview with ITV's Daybreak today (March 1), Jones explained that he has finally turned a corner, having hit rock bottom in August 2009 when he tried to kill himself and wife Sandra while they were travelling in a car.

Jones commented: "I feel great actually. I think that moment was I'd been drinking all day and I was supposed to go to North Wales with my wife and I'd had enough. 

"I love my wife, I love my wife more than anything in the world, still do to this day, and I tried to kill us both. I just grabbed the steering wheel and [thought], 'If I'm going, you're coming with me. I love you that much that you're coming with me'. 

"I know it sounds stupid, but at that moment in time, that's how I felt. And I knew then when I got arrested for that, then I knew. I remember sitting in a prison cell and I thought, 'Why? Why do I want to do this?'"

Paying tribute to his friends for helping his recovery, the 60-year-old continued: "They rallied round and I suddenly decided, 'Well, it's got to end. Either I've got end, or it's got to end'. 

"And it's then I found out it was a depressive state from years back in my life that had never got out of my head, and I had to get rid of it. I found out that if you go to the right place and you can talk to the right people, you can get this out of you."

Jones is now plotting a career comeback as he stars in a one-man play titled Talk: Tackling The Taboo, which explores the topic of depression in men and encourages sufferers to seek help.

He said: "Depression is the hidden killer, it is the hidden killer. I'm doing a one-man play about depression. Depressives hold it in. They don't talk and they hide it in a way that there's nothing wrong with them."

----------


## Perdita

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has revealed he has changed his life by working as a mechanic.

The actor, who played Les Battersby, was axed from the ITV1 soap in 2007 with depression and alcohol problems.

He now earns Â£120 a week at Abergele Tyres and Exhausts near his home in Towyn, North Wales. 

Speaking about his new job, Jones said to The Sun: "I love it. I've learnt how to change tyres, strip exhausts, put them back and how to make a good cup of tea! Customers say, 'Thanks for fixing my tyre, Les!'"

Jones also got an eight-month suspended jail term in 2010 after he tried to yank the wheel of wife Sandra's car.

He said: "My wife told me last weekend, 'You were a different person then'.

"I was never an alcoholic. I drank as I was sat at home with depression. I want to get my acting back on track but this gives me something to do."

----------


## Perdita

Former Coronation Street star Bruce Jones has revealed he has changed his life by working as a mechanic.

The actor, who played Les Battersby, was axed from the ITV1 soap in 2007 with depression and alcohol problems.

He now earns Â£120 a week at Abergele Tyres and Exhausts near his home in Towyn, North Wales. 

Speaking about his new job, Jones said to The Sun: "I love it. I've learnt how to change tyres, strip exhausts, put them back and how to make a good cup of tea! Customers say, 'Thanks for fixing my tyre, Les!'"

Jones also got an eight-month suspended jail term in 2010 after he tried to yank the wheel of wife Sandra's car.

He said: "My wife told me last weekend, 'You were a different person then'.

"I was never an alcoholic. I drank as I was sat at home with depression. I want to get my acting back on track but this gives me something to do."

----------


## alan45

The pictures

----------


## alan45

The pictures

----------

Dazzle (09-05-2013)

----------

