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Victoria Fabian, leaving Maidstone Crown Court in Kent on Wednesday 9 February 2011. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
Britain

Former soldier guilty of trying to kill pregnant wife with grenade

Nicholas Fabian, 33, has been sentenced to life for attempting to murder his wife, who was seriously injured in an explosion outside their home.

FORMER ARMY BOMB DISPOSAL expert Nicholas Fabian, 33, has been jailed for life for attempting to murder his pregnant wife by booby-trapping her car with a grenade, the PA reports.

Victoria Fabian, 33, was seriously injured when the device exploded underneath her car as she left the couple’s home with her eight-year-old son.

Her son and unborn child were not injured in the explosion, but Victoria sustained “horrendous injuries” to her legs.

She was forced to undergo painful treatment for her injuries without painkillers in case they would harm her unborn child, the court heard.

Sentencing Nicholas Fabian to 16 years minimum for attempted murder and a 15-year concurrent sentence for causing an explosion likely to endanger life, the judge said:

What you did in causing that explosion, with the consequences which flowed from it on 5 March last year, was wicked beyond belief.

You conceived a plan to rid yourself of your wife which demonstrated low cunning in its planning and preparation, and utter heartlessness and chilling ruthlessness in its execution.

The judge also described Fabian as an evil man who was a danger to the public.

Prosecutors praised Victoria Fabian for her bravery and courage and said her recovery was going well, but she may never fully physically recover from the blast, the BBC reports.

They also said that the emotional scars would take a long time to heal, “if at all”, because she loved her husband and was 24 weeks pregnant with his child at the time of the incident.