MODIAK SERVED 14 YEARS FOR LEAVING EX-WIFE BLIND AND DISFIGURED
FORMER model Louise Duddy was just 16 when she met career criminal Gordon Modiak, who was eight years older and apparently wealthy from his shady lifestyle.
The pair married in 1982 and a year later she gave birth to their first son, Deane. But the marriage was violent and Modiak was an obsessive, possessive bully who kept Louise away from her family and friends.
A second son, Ryan, was born in
1989 but the marriage disintegrated and Louise eventually left Modiak and took out a court order banning him from coming near her.
Three months after their divorce, he began plotting the attack against his former wife.
Eight days after he was released from prison for breaching the court order, he paid hitman Kelvin Greenhalghse £3000 to throw concentrated sulphuric acid in Louise’s face while he watched from a nearby getaway car.
The attack, on February 13, 1991, took place as the mum, then 26, was putting her two children into a car in Slateford, Edinburgh, after a shopping trip.
The acid left her horribly disfigured and blind. It burned the enamel off her teeth and she was left with scarring on her legs.
Pictures of Louise’s injuries shocked the nation when the case came to court.
Her two children were also injured in the attack.
Modiak was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding it. He spent 14 years locked up before he was released in 2005.
Greenhalghse was also jailed for 20 years.
After his release, Modiak changed his surname to Wood and moved to Blackpool to start a new life. But in 2013, he was jailed for life after he tried to stab a nightclub doorman in the town.
The drunk thug lunged at the doorman with a large knife but missed.
He was ordered to serve a minimum of five years and 124 days before being eligible for parole.