He denied attempted murder but was convicted by a jury following the ‘terrifying’ attack
Laurence Worville was found guilty of attempted murder(Image: Humberside Police)
A revenge-seeking husband deliberately drove his car straight at his estranged wife as she walked along a Hull street – and then got out of the vehicle and viciously battered her with a baseball bat in a “terrifying attack”. Laurence Worville had earlier gone to great lengths to find out where the woman was living at the time, Hull Crown Court heard.
Worville, 51, of Spring Bank West, Hull, but recently in custody on remand, denied an offence of attempted murder on May 7 last year but he was convicted by a jury after a trial, following one hour and eight minutes of deliberations. He admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent, possessing a baseball bat as an offensive weapon, breaching a restraining order and burglary.
Nick Adlington, prosecuting, said that Worville was released from prison after earlier being jailed following a number of previous assaults on his estranged wife. “She had moved out of the family home and he didn’t initially know where she was living,” said Mr Adlington.
“He went to the family home looking for her. Earlier that day, he had gone to Sports Direct and bought a baseball bat.”
Worville had previously worked for the Royal Mail and, on May 6 last year, he broke into the company’s depot in St Peter’s Street, Hull, and stole mail redirection stickers, revealing where his wife was now living. The next day, he drove there, armed with the baseball bat in his car.
When he saw her, he deliberately drove his car onto the pavement and into her as she walked along. He knocked her to the ground and pinned her between the car and some iron railings.
“Then he got out of the car and attacked her on the floor with the baseball bat,” said Mr Adlington. “He carried on attacking her with the baseball bat until he was physically restrained by passing members of the public.”
It was a “terrifying attack” on the woman. She suffered a badly broken leg, a deep cut to the back of her head and a broken finger. “She was in hospital for 10 days,” said Mr Adlington.
“Had it not been for the brave intervention of members of the public, those injuries would have been fatal. The defendant had the settled intention to find and then to kill her and, if he had not been stopped by the members of the public who intervened, he would have done so.”
He was in breach of a restraining order, made at Hull Magistrates’ Court on April 17 last year, banning him from contacting his estranged wife. He had earlier admitted offences of assaulting the woman, causing actual bodily harm, and two assaults, in December 2024 and he had been given a community order, with the restraining order.
Sentence was adjourned for a report on the level of danger that Worville poses. He was further remanded in custody.
Judge John Thackray KC told Worville: “You face, inevitably, a very long sentence.”
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