Jilted, cuckolded . . . convicted

A JILTED husband has been given a suspended jail sentence over a revenge attack on a defenceless double amputee war hero he caught in bed with his wife.

Florist Harry Pattison snapped when he found Afghanistan veteran Tom Lawlor enjoying a night with wife Gemma five weeks after they had split up.

After sneaking in to the former marital home by the back door, he punched Lawlor in the head as he lay on the marital bed, a court heard.

Lawlor had his legs blown off by a Taliban bomb while on foot patrol in Basharan, Helmand Province, when he was 19.

The former infantry private, now 24, met Gemma Pattison in his hometown of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the same evening the attack took place. The 26year-old waitress was on a night out with friends and invited the ex-soldier — who is a local hero — back to her place.

They headed up to her loft attic room, leaving his prosthetic limbs downstairs, Scarborough magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Kathryn Reeve said Pattison, 28, had also been out drinking with friends when he called his estranged wife asking to see their dog.

The back door had been left unlocked and Pattison let himself in at about 4.30am. Gemma heard the door open and jumped out of bed naked.

Reeve said: “She came across the defendant at the bottom of the stairs. He was very upset she had got another male only a few weeks after splitting up after a long-term relationship.”

Pattison found Lawlor in bed and started punching him, as the ex-soldier yelled that he had left his legs downstairs.

Pattison was given a three-month jail sentence suspended for a year, a threemonth curfew, 24-month restraining order and a £1 156 (R20 500) legal bill.

Lawlor said: “It was just a domestic incident I got caught in and that was all.” —©