A former Lympstone Royal Marine has been jailed for using his car to mow down his wife after a fierce argument.

Thomas Higgins was filmed on local authority CCTV as he revved up the Kia Sportage and deliberately aimed it at his wife Tammy in Redruth, Cornwall, in May last year.

She was hit by the car and ‘went flying’ for 10 or 12 feet, but was relatively uninjured, and was able to walk away.

The couple were later reconciled and she did not help the police or support Higgins’s prosecution.

Plymouth-based NCO Higgins, aged 40, who trained at the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, admitted dangerous driving but denied attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent. He was found guilty by a jury at Truro Crown Court in January.

 He was jailed for three years by Judge Peter Johnson, sitting at Exeter Crown Court, and disqualified from driving for 16 months after his release.

 The sentence means that his wife and family are likely to be made homeless because they are living in service accommodation which they will lose when Higgins is dismissed from the Royal Marines.

 The judge told him: “This is a very sad sentencing exercise and one which I have approached with an extremely heavy heart. I am aware of the effect of the sentence but I am obliged to follow sentencing guidelines.

 “You are a man who is in the Royal Marines and has been serving his country for a number of years and were spoken of highly by two officers who have provided references. You are a man of good character.”

The judge added that Higgins had readily accepted, when he gave evidence, that the collision with his car could have caused his wife ‘extremely serious injury in the form of broken bones, or even worse, damage to her head and possible death’.

Miss Francesca Whebell, defending, said Higgins had been under some pressure at the time due to the strain of parenting a child with ADHD.

 He had been due for promotion this year but his career had been set back after part of one of his ears was bitten off during an attack in Glasgow, leading to him needing reconstructive surgery.

She said dismissal from the forces would automatically follow on any immediate jail sentence and is likely to have drastic effects on his family, who will lose their accommodation and be made homeless with little chance of finding anywhere else without his income.