A wealthy businessman was today jailed for 21 months for attacking a sex worker he fell in love with after offering her £50,000 to quit her job and marry him.

Love-struck Jonathan Kovacik, 58, was 'besotted' with young Rose Pitcher, 21, but shot her when she ended their relationship after he paid for her £6,000 boob job.

A judge today called the case 'extraordinary' and that Kovacik had fallen for a girl who 'had her own agenda' who had 'taken him in'.

The court heard Ms Pitcher, an adult webcam worker, was 'stringing him along' for his money and persuaded the former parish councillor to fund her breast enlargement operation.

But Kovacik was desperate for her to get away from the life she was leading and accepted the fact the girl he fell in love with was working on a website called adultwork.com.

The pair began a relationship and Kovacik, who affectionately described her as 'my world' and 'far out of my league', offered her £50,000 to quit her job and be with him.

The figure was what she told him she earned in a year through her work on the website, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

And during their three-month relationship, Kovacik lavished her with expensive gifts, including a car from his car rental company he owned on the Isle of Wight.

However, on December 21 last year, he visited her home in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight armed with a Walther CP88 competition air pistol and diving knife with a 6inch blade.

He then accidentally shot her with a pellet fired from the gun and hit her five times over the head with the weapon, the court heard.

Daily Echo: Miss Pitcher's injuries after the attack

It came after their relationship broke off once Ms Pitcher received the money from Kovacik to enlarge her breasts from an A cup to a D cup.

Jailing Kovacik for 21 months, Judge Roger Hetherington, said: "By any standards this was an extraordinary incident and it was an extraordinary case.

"It seems that you have become besotted with your relationship you have formed with this young woman, aged 21, who was described during the course of the trial as a working girl.

"She had her own agenda and I think to an extent you were taken in by her.

"But I accept that you genuinely did believe that the two of you were in a loving relationship which unfortunately appears to have come to an end in the middle of December."

Kovacik, of Shanklin, claimed he was temporarily insane at the time of the attack on Ms Pitcher and said voices in his head were telling him to arm himself.

He believed Ms Pitcher's father Lee Pitcher would attack him because he wrongly believed Kovacik had got his daughter pregnant.

However, Judge Hetherington said he did not believe this to be the case.

Instead, he accepted Kovacik would have been under some 'acute stress' because of the state of his finances and ongoing flood repairs at his home.

He continued: "You set about her with the pistol and accidentally fired a pellet from it that hit her head from close range so that the pellet penetrated her skin and lodged in her skull.

"You then hit her on the head with the gun, which she was trying to protect with her arms and hands, several times causing some nasty wounds to her head, wrists and fingers as well."

Kovacik was handed 18 months for his conviction of unlawful wounding against Ms Pitcher, as well as a restraining order preventing him from ever contacting her again.

His sentence was extended by three months because of a further conviction for possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence against PC Matthew Rumsey in a standoff later that night.

Kovacik was also given six months to run concurrently for having an article with a blade or point.

Daily Echo: Kovacik

The businessman, who owns a number of flats and two farms on the Isle of Wight, was cleared of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger Ms Pitcher's life.

Richard Onslow, mitigating for Kovacik, pointed out his client was of a previous good character and that the incident was an isolated episode.

He added that Kovacik plans to go to Africa to carry out charity work once his sentence is finished.

Mr Onslow said: "This 58-year-old man was plainly gripped by genuine emotion for Rose Pitcher who he wished to marry and by whom he wished to have children.

"For those of us from the outside that may have been unrealistic."

Kovacik was arrested after a standoff with police, the court heard, and admitted to cops in an interview: "There's no fool like an old fool."

Ms Pitcher, who interacted with customers over the internet and met with some for drinks, denied the two of them were in a relationship, instead saying they were 'friends with benefits'.

She told a court how she dropped to her knees and screamed for help as Kovacik pointed a gun directly at her head.

The court heard she is continuing her career as a 'working girl' through the website.

Kovacik told the court during his trial: "I was desperate to get her away from the life she was leading.

"I said if you were to work for 12 months how much do you earn a year. She said £50,000.

"I said well if you want, if you stay clean of drugs and don't work for 12 months and on the day after the 12 months I will give you a cheque for £50,000 to end that life."

He added: "Rose was my world. Everything that mattered to me was that girl.

"I wish she was here for me to apologise to her. To me, she was my world, she was everything to me and the last thing I would ever want to do is to hurt her."

Kovacik must also pay £2,000 in costs over the next six months.