SNOOKER ACE'S pounds 1m SCANDAL MANSION

WORLD snooker champion Mark Williams is buying the pounds 1million mansion where tycoon Stan Thomas's son brutally battered his Vogue model girlfriend

The walls of the whitewashed house were splattered with blood after Scott Thomas hit Kirsty Howells with a telephone during a drunken rage.

Thomas, 40, was jailed for the attack and friends say the family have decided to sell the house because it has too many bad memories.

Thomas senior is one of the richest men in Britain with a pounds 200million fortune, and the house stands in its own grounds in the upmarket Cardiff suburb of Old St Mellons with stunning views over the surrounding countryside.

Mark, 28, and girlfriend Jo Dent, 27, fell in love with the house as soon as they saw it despite its chequered history.

And they are due to move in next month before the birth of their first child, a son, in April.

It is Mark's third house move as his sucess at snooker has earned him a pounds 2million fortune.

At first he did not go far from home, buying a smart bungalow on the outskirts of Cwm, near Ebbw Vale - the village where he was brought up.

Then he moved 12 months ago to the upmarket suburb of Lisvane in Cardiff after he started dating Jo. He paid pounds 450,000 for the house which has its own indoor swimming pool. He also spent thousands more on a snooker room.

Mark and Jo lived quietly in the secluded house - neighbours were only aware they were there when he left in his high-powered Noble sports car, number plate CUE 1.

"He always seemed to rev it up as he drove off and it made quite a din," said a neighbour.

"His new house is in open countryside so it sounds as if it is more suitable for his car."

Mark and Jo were amazed when doctors told them their son is expected at the same time as the dad-to-be starts the defence of his world title in Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.

But the World No 1, who also holds the UK title, is under strict orders from fiancee Jo to stay at the snooker table

Mark said: "If anything starts to happen I will finish my match before shooting off home.

"We've been trying for a baby for a while so I am absolutely delighted at the idea of becoming a dad."

He added: "I've always liked the house we are buying. It will be an ideal family home and just right for bringing up a family.

"I've had my eye on it for a while. It's nice and quiet and suits us down to the ground."

The new house has two drives with locked gates and visitors have to use an intercom. As an added security measure, arc lamps fixed to the house to bathe the gardens in light.

One of their new neighbours said: "He will fit in well here - most of the residents are millionaires."

Scott Thomas, a friend of I'm A Celebrity presenter Tara Palmer- Tomkinson and pop star Simon Le Bon and his model wife Yasmin, was jailed for six months for attacking Kirsty, 31.

The court heard that he had been drinking vodka mixers and red wine with his bank manager shortly before he attacked Kirsty during a row.

Police found blood on the telephone and in the hallway at the mansion in Old St Mellons. The couple have since separated.

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