A mother-of-one who ran her boyfriend over after finding out he was a convicted rapist with a long-term partner and family has been spared jail.

Linda Shaw believed Barrington Sinclair was the perfect gentleman after the pair met online, a court heard.

But, over the course of their nine month romance, she firstly discovered he had a rape conviction, and then that he was living with his long-term partner and their two children – just five miles from her own home in Dukinfield, in Tameside, Greater Manchester.

The 31-year-old ran him down while he cycled to work as a market hall night porter. As Mr Sinclair, 32, lay in the road, she screamed at him: “Look what you’ve made me do”.

She admitted grievous bodily harm and was given a suspended sentence at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

Judge Bernard Lever told her: "You were treated very badly by this man. I was going to send you immediately to prison but, just by a whisker, I am able to suspend this sentence because of the wholly exceptional circumstances.

"The facts of this case are wholly exceptional and there is wholly exceptional mitigation. I hope you can put these tragic circumstances behind you.”

Brian Berlyn, prosecuting, told the court Shaw had met Mr Sinclair on the Plenty of Fish dating site.

Although he was using a false name, she later found out he had served a seven-year prison sentence for raping a woman in an alleyway following a New Year's Eve party.

But it was when she discovered he was living with a partner and their two children in nearby Droylsden that she saw red.

She lay in wait outside his home and ran him over as he set off for work at 1.50am on 15 December 2017, before fleeing the scene.

He suffered a fractured leg, now walks with a limp, and has since lost his job.

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Rachel Shenton, in mitigation, told the court: "She went to the house because she felt she was going mad and believed he was in a relationship with somebody else and went to see with her own eyes.

''He was cycling around her vehicle and was goading her whilst she was in a state of distress. In many ways it was a perfect storm.”

She added that the impact between car and cycle had occurred at no more than 5mph.

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