Jealous lover cut mooring lines on rival’s motor boats

A JEALOUS lover caused £11,500 of damage to two motor boats because he claimed he had seen his girlfriend of five weeks performing a sex act on the owner, a court heard.

Dave Taylor, 54, said he saw them through a porthole of Michael Hay’s £450,000 60ft boat Coco. He then cut the mooring lines, causing the pair to float down the River Tyne.

Married millionaire Mr Hay, 58, and Taylor’s former dancer girlfriend Hannah Brookes, 26, denied having an affair.

Taylor, an electrician, also cut the lines on Mr Hay’s smaller £100,000 boat called Vortex in November last year.

The boat hit the quay repeatedly until it was caught by a pontoon, having sustained £11,490 worth of damage.

The fire brigade, coastguard, police and other boats were called out to retrieve it, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Taylor, of Trimdon Grange, County Durham, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage. Yesterday he was handed a nine-month sentence suspended for 18 months, made to pay £3,000 in compensation and also ordered to complete 200 hours of community work.