MARTIN HEWLETT

Debt-ridden Martin Hewlett, 45, knocked his wife Anne off her bicycle as she rode home from work one evening - then turned around and ran over her body a second time before driving off and leaving her for dead, jurors were told.

Miraculously, 36-year-old nurse Anne - who is mother to Hewlett's teenage son and daughter - survived the attack.

Hove Crown Court today heard Hewlett had spent months plotting the murder, secretly arranging a life insurance policy in his wife's name that would cover his mounting debts.

Prosecutor Richard Barton said Hewlett had borrowed more than £130,000 against the value of the couple's home without Anne's knowledge.

He said: 'It was an attempt on his part to avoid losing everything as a result of their ongoing divorce proceedings, which were due to be dealt with four days after the attack.

'He had borrowed a huge sum of money and increased their mortgage without Anne's knowledge. He did this to pay off his gambling debts and to keep from her the extent of his gambling addiction.

'Anne and the children saw nothing of the large sums of money he had secretly acquired.' He added the couple's marriage started to fall apart when Hewlett was forced to admit his secret debt and gambling habit.

Even after a settlement was reached with Hewlett's creditors, he continued to gamble online on his wife's laptop - so she barred him from using it, the court heard.

In retaliation, he removed her name from the insurance policy for the family car, forcing her to start using a bicycle to get to work at Worthing Hospital.

On the evening of April 8, 2007, Mrs Hewlett was injured in a hit-and-run incident with a red car that left her unable to work for two weeks.

Mr Barton told jurors: 'We cannot say for sure it was the defendant who was driving that car, but we say that at the very least it gave him the inspiration for his plan to rid himself of Anne.'

Jurors heard Hewlett then set up a life insurance policy backed by the couple's mortgage that would give him £125,000 in the event of her death.

The court was told Hewlett went to great lengths to keep his activities secret, repeatedly forging his wife's signature and setting up a PO box address for her mail so he could filter out incriminating bills and letters.

On February 27 last year, it is alleged, Hewlett stole a sandwich delivery van that had been left outside a shop with the engine running.

Police were unable to trace the van until it was used to try to kill Mrs Hewlett as she rode home from Worthing Hospital two days later.

Mr Barton said: 'She was found to have suffered multiple rib fractures, neck fractures, spinal fracture, lacerations to and bleeding in her internal organs and paralysis of the lower half of her back.

'There is no question that her injuries were life-threatening.'

Crash investigation experts examined the scene and concluded the van had collided with Mrs Hewlett head-on.

Mr Barton said: 'The van then turned around, mounted the pavement and was driven over Anne's prone body, dragging her underneath it for several metres, thereby inflicting the severe injuries she suffered.

'It is the opinion of the experts that this incident could only have occurred through a deliberate and sustained course of conduct by the driver of the van.

'It was no accident but rather the use of a van as a lethal weapon.'

Martin Hewlett, of Worthing, East Sussex, denies attempted murder. The trial continues. (Martin Hewlett)

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