The husband of a woman who was having an affair took revenge on her lover by damaging his convertible car with a key, after spotting it parked at his local pub.

Gary Malone, 48, spotted Steven Hodge’s blue Audi Convertible parked in The Cricketers car park in Sturdee Avenue, Gillingham, and decided to exact revenge.

He walked into the pub’s car park and took a key which he used to punch holes in the soft top of the Audi before scratching the vehicle along the sides.

But his actions were caught on the venue’s CCTV cameras.

Mr Hodge was trying to sell the car, worth about £20,000, and the person who had taken it on a test drive had parked the car outside the pub.

When the Audi was returned to Mr Hodge, he saw the holes in the roof and the scratches on the side and after speaking to the potential buyer realised the damage must have occurred when the vehicle was parked in the pub’s car park.

As a result, Mr Hodge decided to do his own detective work and asked the pub staff if he could look at the CCTV recordings. He immediately recognised Malone as being responsible.

He contacted Malone and asked him to pay for the damage and gave him 10 days to do so, but Malone failed to pay up. Mr Hodge contacted the police and Malone was later arrested.

Malone, of Kingswood Road, Gillingham, was later charged with criminal damage and admitted the offence when he appeared in court on July 29, when a pre-sentencing report was ordered.

He returned to Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on September 5 to be sentenced and magistrates heard the incident happened on June 24, last year.

Mr Hodge had presented an invoice for the damage to his vehicle for £11,293.03, but this amount was disputed by Malone who claimed the damage would cost no more than £3,000 to get repaired.

Debbie Jones prosecuting said: “Mr Hodge was selling the convertible car and he let someone take it for a test drive, but when the vehicle was returned the next day, there were holes in the roof and it was scratched.

“The owner then went to the pub and asked to see the CCTV and the defendant was identified as the person responsible from the footage at the pub.

“The car owner contacted him and gave him 10 days to pay, but after that time there was no contact, so Mr Hodge contacted the police.”

Magistrates also heard the car was later written-off in an unrelated crash and it was not known if the damage Malone had caused to it had ever been repaired.

Simon Holmes defending added: “The damage was about £3,000 and the invoice (for £11,293.03), was a fraudulent document and that’s being acknowledged and is with the police.

“The company quoted for the damage (on the invoice) had not been in business at the time, it went out of business years ago and the damage was less than was stated on it.

“He is not heavily convicted, he has some old convictions, but there was provocation, the owner was in a relationship with my client’s wife and the car was parked at his local pub and on seeing the vehicle, in the heat of the moment, he reacted.

“He and his wife are now back together, they have reconciled, but the complainant had been having an affair with her.”

The court also heard, Malone, a father-of-one was a self-employed carpenter who earns about £700 a week.

Mr Holmes added: “It was an impulsive act, there was no planning, he did it with a key, his emotions were very high.”

Magistrates told Malone he should be setting a better example to his child and decided to place him on a 12-month community order which will see him complete 80 hours of unpaid work, he was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £114 and £85 costs.