A woman who hatched a plan to have her husband "bumped off" by a hitman after becoming infatuated with one of his younger workmates was jailed for five years today.

Karen Quinton, 44, of Willingham, Cambridgeshire, admitted soliciting a man to murder coach driver Alan Quinton, 59, the father of her two children and her husband of 12 years.

The High Court in London heard that the plan failed after the object of her affections - Andrew Brett, 29 - tipped off police, who deployed an undercover officer to pose as a hitman.

Mr Quinton - the intended victim of the hit - was sitting in the public gallery with their eldest daughter Louise, 22. In a twist described as "unique", he has forgiven his wife and had begged for her to be spared prison.

Judge Roderick Evans, passing sentence, told her: "Whether it is a result of your manipulation of him I do not know, and cannot comment. But if the reconciliation is genuine, you are indeed a fortunate woman."

The court heard how Quinton became obsessed with Mr Brett but their relationship had never progressed beyond flirtation and kissing.

She became determined to have her husband killed in order to inherit their £250,000 home before starting a proper relationship with Mr Brett. In a phone call in November last year she told him that she wanted to "unwrap" him for Christmas.

Quinton told Mr Brett of her plan to hire a hitman to run her husband down as he walked his dog. "Once he’s dead, nothing can stop us being together....I want permanent," she said

She said his death had to be made to look like an accident: if it looked like suicide, his life insurance would not pay out. If it was too obviously a murder, she feared that the finger of suspicion would point to her.

Horrified, and increasingly reluctant to continue their relationship, Mr Brett went to the police.

Detectives launched an operation to prevent the killing, and an officer posed as a hitman calling himself Dave.

Their paths were engineered to collide and on November 11 last year Quinton withdrew £150 from her account as a downpayment, telling 'Dave' he would get the rest of the agreed £15,000 fee when she sold the house.

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