A husband with a secret gambling addiction tried to kill his wife by running her over with a sandwich van so he could claim on her life insurance policy.

Martin Hewlett, 45, was secretly debt-ridden and knocked his wife Ann 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.

On February 27 2008, it is alleged, Hewlett stole a Mega-Byte sandwich delivery van that had been left outside a shop with the engine running. Police were unable to trace the vehicle until it was used to try and kill Mrs. Hewlett, as she rode from work two days later.

Hewlett’s wife, a 36-year-old nurse did not die as a result of the collision bur suffered horrific personal injuries and will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

It was revealed that Hewlett had spent months plotting his wife’s death, secretly arranging a life insurance policy in his wife’s name that would cover his mounting debts.

Prosecutor Richard Barton said of the case: “Had his plan worked and she had died, he would have solved all his problems. He would have been left with the house, the children and the large sum of money from the life insurance policy to pay off the mortgage.

"It was the desperate act of a gambler, a last roll of the dice, knowing he had everything to lose at the forthcoming divorce hearing."

On the evening of April 8 2007, Mrs. Hewlett was injured in a hit-and-run incident, but lawyers cannot be definite that it was her husband, but can say at the very least it gave him the inspiration for his plan to kill his wife off.

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 trial continues.