Vicar of Dibley saved woman's life

A jealous husband rigged up a homemade bomb under his wife's bed after discovering she was having an affair, a court heard today.

Douglas Gadsby allegedly set the device on a timer to coincide with her bedtime to try to ensure she would be blown up in her sleep.

But his wife Deborah, 27, avoided death after staying up to watch The Vicar of Dibley, a jury was told.

When she retired for the night she heard something hissing - and found the bomb almost ready to explode.

Gadsby, 39, allegedly built the device using an electric camping stove and a digital timer taken from security lights at the couple's home. He fastened petrol in two plastic bottles onto the stove's rings and set the timer to turn them on after he thought his wife would be asleep.

Then he crammed the rest of the space underneath the bed with cuddly toys so the bomb "had something to ignite", it was claimed.

Leicester Crown Court heard how Gadsby discovered his third wife had secretly rekindled an old relationship. Their seven-year marriage had been in crisis since November 2002, when he first learned of the affair - which ended when he tried to hang himself.

But Mrs Gadsby started seeing her lover Andrew Porter again in August last year, leading to the couple living "separate lives" in the same house.

Stuart Rafferty, prosecuting, said Gadsby "set out to plan his revenge".

He told the court: "He didn't want to lose his wife, but he didn't want anyone else to have her. Therefore he set out quite cold-bloodedly and quite deliberately to murder her."

The court heard that barman Gadsby set up a series of incidents to make it appear someone else had been in the house at Stocking Farm, Leicester. But Gadsby, who also ran two kissogram agencies, refused to call police when his wife told him she was worried.

On 10 September last year Gadsby, who had been sleeping on the sofa, went to work as normal at about 6pm.

Mrs Gadsby, a sandwich shop worker, told the jury she was usually in bed by 10pm but on this occasion stayed up until 11.10 to watch the Vicar of Dibley.

After hearing what she thought might be an aerosol can hissing, she saw smoke wafting from under her bed and found the bomb bubbling. She called her husband, who phoned the police and claimed someone had tried to kill him.

Gadsby, now of Hinckley Road, Leicester, who denies attempted murder, admitted buying the stove but said he had no idea who had rigged the bomb.

Mr Rafferty told the court that the bomb contained 10 times more petrol than was used in a police simulation, which produced a ball of flame within five minutes.

The trial continues.