The "burglars" who terrorised have-a-go dad Munir Hussain were thugs hired by a jealous man who wrongly thought his wife was having an affair with him, The Sun newspaper has revealed.

The sensational new twist emerged yesterday in a case which has triggered a nationwide debate about a householder's right to protect himself.

It means the motive for the knife gang's attack in High Wycombe, Bucks, was not robbery, but personal.

A woman whose jealous husband accused her of cheating last night insisted he knew the thugs who attacked Mr Hussain and his family.

She told how her husband, a businessman, was wrongly convinced she had "dishonoured" him by having a fling with Mr Hussain, 53.

The false suspicions resulted in him hiring the three knifemen who tied up and terrorised the Hussains.

And it is a sensational new twist to the case that has split Britain over a householder's right to defend himself and his loved ones.

The wife, who has been whisked to a safe house after police became concerned for her safety, said: "I do know Mr Hussain but I have no relationship with him. No affair, nothing.

"My husband used to threaten me, saying he has got people who can do things for him.

"I can say 100 per cent that my husband knew the attackers. But if the police can't do anything what can I do?"

There is no suggestion Mr Hussain or his family have misled police or the public over the background to the incident, which they firmly believed WAS a burglary.

The millionaire dad, his wife and three children were bound by the thugs and forced to crawl from room to room at their home.

They feared they would be killed. But Mr Hussain broke free - and chased and caught one of the raiders, 57-year-old Walid Salem. The dad's 35-year-old brother Tokeer, a neighbour in High Wycombe, Bucks, joined him in the pursuit.

They set about violent career criminal Salem with a metal pole and cricket bat, causing brain injuries that left the villain in a wheelchair and unfit to plead to charges.

Acoustics firm boss Mr Hussain, who has always believed he was just trying to defend himself from intruders, was jailed for 30 months.

But he was freed last week when the Appeal Court reduced his sentence to 12 months suspended.

Tokeer's stretch was cut from 39 months to two years, meaning he is still behind bars.

The accused wife is under police and local authority protection in the north of England after receiving death threats, allegedly from her husband.

She bravely told The Sun newspaper she met Mr Hussain when she and her husband set up a business together some years ago.

She said "I did call Mr Hussain every day. It was a professional relationship.

"He didn't know anything about my personal life, how controlling my husband was or anything.

"I told him, 'Would you not text me after 9pm.' I said my husband likes family time after that and he doesn't want me taking any calls. That was it."

But the husband still wrongly accused her of having a fling. The wife, who The Sun will not name, said "He said he knew I was having an affair with Mr Hussain because I had rung him up and called him.

"I don't know how he got the information or why he accused me.

"He couldn't see me happy. And that was the only time I was a little bit happier, working in the business.

"He was saying at that time, 'I'm going to kill her' because I had dishonoured him.

"I haven't dishonoured him. He has dishonoured himself." She added "The police feared he was definitely going to kill me so they wanted me to move out for my safety.

"I'm trapped in the middle of this. People who know me know what I am like. It's just one person who got things stuck in his head."

No charges have been brought against the husband.

But last night a source close to the have-a-go case said "The theory that Munir was the victim of an honour attack over false suspicions of an affair with another man's wife was certainly one line of inquiry for the police during the investigation."

And during Mr Hussain's trial, prosecuting QC John Price said "Whatever the motivation of the attack, it was something of a personal kind.

"It didn't seem it had been done out of a desire to steal anything, rather that it was directed at the people who lived there."

Witness Miranda McCoughlin told the court she saw the Hussain brothers beating Salem.

She described how one was crouched over the thug, hitting him and yelling repeatedly"Who sent you?"

On his first day of freedom, Mr Hussain called for the Government to re-examine the law over householders protecting themselves and their property.

The dad, whose conviction for GBH with intent was not overturned on appeal, told a relative "The law does need to be revisited. It is very, very ambiguous. It is not clear as to where the householder stands and it may be interpreted in many different ways."

Mr Hussain said he had never criticised the judge who sent him down.

He added "The only thing I have said is that maybe he should have given me a sentence that was suspended, as it is now.

"I can't criticise the judge so I can't criticise the justice system."