Love-split businessman is fined after ugly doorstep row with his estranged wife as he dropped off bag of sweets for their nine-year-old daughter

• The rude slanging match took place in the heart of the sought-after cul-de-sac 

A love-split businessman was embroiled in an ugly doorstep row with his estranged -wife as he dropped off a bag of sweets for their nine-year-old daughter resulting in a hefty fine. 

Simon Hayes, 51, was charged with public order offences after he got into the unedifying slanging match in the street with business partner spouse Louise outside their £865,000 detached house on an exclusive Cheshire cul-de-sac.

When Mrs Hayes told her former husband – who is currently dating another woman – to leave the treats on the doorstep and leave, the feuding pair traded insults with Hayes shouting: ‘Well you’re scum. You’re such a d***.’

The seven-minute exchange in the affluent town of Wilmslow was captured on a mobile phone by 45-year old Mrs Hayes as their daughter looked on. 

Mrs Hayes subsequently filed a complaint to police.

Simon Hayes arrives ahead of the sentencing at Warrington magistrates court yesterday

Louise Hayes (pictured) filed a complaint to the police following the confrontation outside their £865,000 detached house

Last year Hayes who earns £50,000 a year as managing director of the family’s recruitment firm was found drunk at the wheel of his stationary Tesla after drinking whisky inside the £58,000 Y Model car out of fear of bumping into his estranged wife at the property. 

He was later convicted of being drunk in charge of a motor vehicle but was spared a road ban.

In a statement Mrs Hayes. who is a director of the firm. said: ‘Simon’s behaviour put me constantly on edge. I was always second guessing about the mood he was going to be in. This was such an upsetting and stressful time when I needed support from him to help with the children.

‘This has made my anxiety the worst it has been in a while, and hasn’t been helped by the recent loss of my mother to cancer. I also felt shame at the way he said he had been watching me when I was at my mother’s house, it was horrible to feel I was being watched without my knowing.’

‘The names he called lowered my self esteem and I felt worthless after it. I do not wish for any further interaction with Simon.’

At Warrington magistrates court, Hayes who runs a recruitment firm in Wilmslow was fined £640 plus £184 in costs and a victim surcharge after pleading guilty to using abusive behaviour.

JPs refused Mrs Hayes’s request for a restraining order. It is thought the couple’s divorce has been finalised and the former family house has since been sold.

The former couple who share four children together are also closely involved in the same family business

The couple who have four children, aged six, nine, 12 and 14 were said to have endured a ‘very difficult’ split last year with Hayes moving to a property around the corner from his former family home near Lindow Common.

Tom McLaughlin, prosecuting said: ‘On the 26th of May 2022 the defendant walked around to his former family home from his current address nearby. He had received a message from his nine year old daughter to bring round some treats and he soon after turned up at the doorstep with a shopping bag full of treats.

Recruitment boss drunk at wheel of his £58k stationary Tesla avoids jail as he suffered ‘breakdown’

‘His former partner opened the door to him and told him bluntly to leave the treats on the doorstep and leave. She said that he couldn’t see the children and an argument ensued.

‘The pair traded insults and the defendant said words to the effect of ‘you’re such a d***, you’re a d***’ and ‘Well you’re scum. This interaction was recorded by the complainant on her phone and during the entire argument their nine-year-old daughter was present.

‘The argument lasted for seven minutes and after this the defendant departed for his own home. The complainant filed a complaint about the incident after the defendant left. She was concerned how this distressing moment would affect her children.’

In mitigation Hayes’ lawyer Paul Hodgkinson said: ‘This was the result of an acrimonious break-up but there was no suggestion of any difficulty with regard to arguments or interference with the children.

‘In fact my client loves his kids. He just walked round the corner with a shopping bag full of treats for his daughter who request them. But when he got to the door his former partner said you can leave them on the doorstep, and that he couldn’t see the kids.

‘There was shouting going both ways and the language used was not unusual in the relationship, although he does not condone or seek to condone the language he used.’

The father-of-four from Wilmslow was charged with public order offences following the slanging match

Last November Hayes was given ten points in his driving licence and fined £960 with £484 by JPs at Crewe after he tested almost three times the alcohol limit the previous September having earlier parked up next to Lindow Common to drink Haig whisky at the wheel so he could delay going home after another row with Mrs Hayes.

The court heard how earlier that day he had been cleared out his own belongings from the family home in preparation for the house sale and one of the children was described as having a ‘breakdown.’

Mt Hodgkinson who also represented Hayes on that occasion said at the time: ‘He had gone through a very painful day and the children were incredibly upset, not just with the upheaval of marriage breakdown but losing the family home where they had grown up.

‘The reason he was in the car park was that his wife still had access to the family home. Because they were emptying the family home and it was an acrimonious split, the defendant could not go to his home because he would have met his wife and things would have gotten into trouble.

‘He thought discretion was the better part of valour so he stayed in the carpark and he began to drink the whisky. Lots of his belongings were in the vehicle because he had spent the time before clearing out the family home.

‘Perhaps this puts a different gloss on what appeared to be the case at first blush. This is not a defendant who has a problem with alcohol. He made a terrible mistake.’

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