Man who drove car into ex wife and attacked her with baseball bat jailed for 24 years
An “obsessed” man who drove his car into his ex-wife and attacked her with a baseball bat as she lay on the ground has been jailed for 24 years.
Laurance Worvill found out where she was living after he was released from prison last April for assaulting her by sneaking into a Royal Mail depot and finding out where her mail had been redirected.
Early the next morning the 51-year-old saw her on Chanterlands Avenue, in Hull, and “deliberately accelerated”, pinning her against metal railings as his VW Polo mounted the pavement.
She suffered a badly broken leg and a deep cut to her head.
Worvill would have continued the attack “and almost certainly killed her” had members of the public not bravely intervened, Judge John Thrackray KC said.
Sentencing at Hull Crown Court, Judge Thackray said Worvill would always pose a very high risk of serious harm to his ex-wife.
He had not shown a “jot of genuine remorse” during the trial at which he was convicted of attempted murder last month.
He had the “astonishing temerity” to try and justify the attack by saying she hadn’t looked after his koi carp while in prison for attacking her.
Worvill, he said, plotted to kill his wife over a number of days prior to the attack and had not seen her by chance on Chanterlands Avenue, as he claimed. He said: “You were actively looking for her in order to kill her and that was the purpose of carrying the baseball bat.”
Judge Thackray said CCTV of the attack was shocking: “The cries and screaming of your wife as she was pinned to the railings and then attacked with a bat were truly horrific. You showed no remorse, on the contrary, you repeatedly shouted that you hoped the injuries were hurting her.”
In a statement read to the court, the victim described both the physical and psychological scars she has been left with. She has been left with a limp from her broken leg and still checks every room in her home that no one is there and when she walks down the street she sticks to the side of the path furthest away from the road.
She said later: “I never thought I would ever be put in this position, or that something like this would ever happen to me. Without the heroic actions of those who came to my aid that day, it would have been a very different outcome; I have no doubt that they saved my life.”
She thanked Humberside Police, the Domestic Abuse Partnership, the NHS and family and friends, urging “anyone who recognises themselves in this situation or has been affected after hearing what happened to me, please reach out and talk to someone”.
Judge Thackray commended the five members of the public, including one man who disarmed Worvill and restrained him in a bear hug until the police arrived.
Detective Inspector Helen Collier said she was pleased Worvill would be behind bars for a very long time, but said this did not take away the trauma and pain his victim would continue to face on a daily basis. Worvill will be required to remain on extended licence for a further four years upon release.