A bitter mum has been found guilty of trying to have her ex husband killed so she could win back custody of their daughter.

Victoria Breeden tried to persuade three different men to murder Rob Parkes after their relationship broke down and he won custody of their daughter.

The “bitter and angry” 39-year-old offered one of the men £5,000 to kill Mr Parkes.

'Bitter and angry' Victoria Breeden has been remanded in custody after a jury found her guilty on three counts of soliciting a murder. She is pictured leaving Chelmsford Crown Court on March 4

Rob Parkes with his new wife Victoria on their way to hear the verdict against his ex-wife, Victoria Breeden. Between 2014 and 2019 Breeden tried to have Parkes killed on three separate occasions

A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court unanimously found Breeden guilty on three counts of soliciting to murder Mr Parkes between 2014 and 2019.

Christopher Paxton QC had told the jury Breeden’s determination to carry out the attacks was borne out of a desire to get revenge on Mr Parkes after he won custody of their teenage daughter following the breakdown of their marriage.

He said: 'The defendant had both the motive and means to solicit others to killer or murder Mr Parkes on her behalf.

'It is through good fortune along that her plans have not been fulfilled.

'The defendant was in a relationship with some of the men who she sought to help her with this deadly plan, others were just friends.

'These were not empty words she spoke in a pique of temper, she had the financial means to fund her plan.

'Each of the solicitations to murder had or concerned one target and that was her ex husband.'

Breeden, who uses a wheelchair, was cleared on a fourth count of plotting to kill her former partner.

On one occasion she was recorded discussing the prospect of arranging a killer to take Mr Parkes' life.

Mr Paxton told the court: 'It is through good fortune that her plans have not been fulfilled.

'The defendant was in a relationship with some of the men who she sought to help her with this deadly plan, others were just friends.

'These were not empty words she spoke in a pique of temper, she had the financial means to fund her plan.

'Each of the solicitations to murder had or concerned one target and that was her ex husband.'

Breeden and her ex husband met at university in 1999 before marrying in 2004.

Their marriage broke down between 2006 and 2008 and in 2014 Mr Parkes won custody of the couple’s only child, the jury heard.

Graham Wall leaves Chelmsford Crown Court after giving evidence at the trial of Victoria Breeden. In October 2018 Breeden asked her then partner, Graham Wall, to help to arrange to kill Mr Parkes

Mr Paxton told the jury the loss of the court case appeared to cause 'bitterness and anger' in Breeden, who has two more children from other relationships.

He said: 'This drove her, or drove her in part to seek retribution against Mr Parkes.

'The fact that he lived does not mean the defendant was not serious in what she sought to do.'

Breeden first asked a friend Hamish Martin, to ‘sort out’ her ex husband, whom she described as 'a b******'.

Mr Paxton said: 'She said she could get together £5,000 if he knew someone who could do it for her.'

Breeden repeatedly asked him about arranging something and he then had to tell her he did not want to have any more conversations about the matter.

In October 2018 Breeden asked her then partner, Graham Wall, to help to arrange to kill Mr Parkes, describing her ex as a 'dangerous, deceitful and influential,' man.

She told him that with Mr Parkes 'gone', she would have access to her daughter again.

'If you can’t do that, then you are of no use to me', she told him.

Mr Paxton added: 'Mr Wall believed that if he had said ‘yes’ the defendant would have gone through with it.'

Last year Breeden asked a third man called Earl Gernon to kill Mr Parkes.

Mr Wall captured the alleged instructions in a mobile phone recording he made because he was suspicious that Breeden was cheating on him with Mr Gernon.

She did not name her ex hubby to Mr Gernon who did discuss what details would be required in order for an attack to take place.

Breeden, of Littleport, Cambridgeshire, has denied four counts of soliciting to murder her ex husband.

She was convicted on three counts and cleared on a fourth count.

The attempts took place during a five-year period between 2014 and last year.

A decision on when sentencing will take place is set to be made this afternoon.

Breeden was remanded in custody.