How wife and lover's plan to kill husband went so badly wrong...

THE owner of the holiday park rushed to the caravan where armed intruders had reportedly burst in and assaulted someone.

- JASON EVANS

But when she arrived, the victim's wife was sitting on the sofa calmly scrolling on her phone. Something was "odd".

It's not known exactly what was going through the wife's mind as she sat there fiddling, but the plan to murder her husband had just gone wrong.

And the man she was having an affair with had fled into the night.

The subsequent police investigation revealed an astonishing tale of the murderous plot which played out that night - a story which even detectives says has "all the makings of a TV drama".

On the evening of September 20 last year, Christopher and Michelle Mills were in their caravan at the Argoed Meadow camping and caravan site in Cenarth near Newcastle Emlyn.

They had eaten a meal and watched a documentary about the Titanic on the television, and by around 11.30pm they were preparing for bed. Then came a knock at the door.

Many of the people with pitches on the site knew each other, and though the hour was late it was not unknown for neighbours to call from time to time.

When Mr Mills answered the knock he was confronted by two men dressed in dark clothes, wearing balaclavas and brandishing handguns. Mr Mills would later describe the men as looking like you might imagine IRA terrorists from the TV to look.

The first raider immediately struck Mr Mills to the face with his weapon and shouted "get back!" and then a struggle ensued as the three men fought on the floor of the caravan.

During the tussle Mr Mills tried to gouge the eyes of one of the men and was able to grab the gun being brandishing by the second man and turn the weapon on the assailant. He then managed to squeeze the man's gun hand so the trigger activated. The weapon "clicked" but did not fire.

Mr Mills would later tell the trial of those accused of conspiring to murder him that as he struggled with the intruders he was "fighting for my life".