Soldier tried to kill wife with grenade

A former soldier has been found guilty of trying to murder his pregnant wife by booby-trapping a car with a hand grenade.

Nicholas Fabian, 33, planted the grenade in the driver's footwell after his wife, Victoria, confronted him over an affair. It went off when Mrs Fabian, a 33-year-old nurse, started to drive away in the borrowed Mazda near the family home in Vigo, Kent, on 5 March last year.

She suffered severe burns to her legs, but her eight-year-old son, who was also in the car, and her unborn child were unhurt. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy three months later.

Fabian, who was a reservist after serving in the Army, stole the grenade during a training exercise.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court found him guilty of attempted murder and causing an explosion likely to endanger life. He is due to be sentenced today.