Woman ran down cheating husband

A woman who ran down her husband outside his mistress's home escaped jail yesterday.

Anne Marie Lenehan drove into her husband Joseph as he goaded her in the street, Manchester Crown Court was told.

Mr Lenehan was thrown into the air and hit his head on the ground, causing blood to seep into his brain. He was detained in hospital for over a month, but he and his wife are trying to save their marriage and she is expecting their fourth child in July.

That saved Lenehan, 30, from jail, said Assistant Recorder Nicholas Gilchrist as he gave her a suspended prison sentence of 18 months.

"This case well illustrates that a motor car is a potential lethal weapon, every bit as dangerous as a gun," the judge said. Lenehan had admitted causing grevious bodily harm.

Rowena Goode, for the prosecution, said the couple married in 1983 and had three children, Callum, nine, Laine, six, and Shannon, two.

But the marriage deteriorated and Mr Lenehan left the family home in Chorlton, Cheshire, and had a series of affairs before beginning a relationship with Michelle Bowen.

Following an altercation at Miss Bowen's home in Chorlton on Boxing Day, 1994, in which the two women exchanged blows, Lenehan and her husband got back together and she thought she was pregnant. But one night last June she was told her husband's car was outside Miss Bowen's flat.

Lenehan went round with the children, threw a bag of his dirty clothes into the hall, and drove off. Two hours later she returned and her husband stood in front of the car goading her to run him over. She hit him at between 10-and 20mph, knocking him over the bonnet. Lenehan later gave herself up to police.

Philip Curran, for the defence, said Lenehan had been a devoted mother who suddenly found out her husband was having affairs. "It is not surprising that on that night she was agitated to say the least. It would have taken a super-human effort to keep her cool."