Last updated at 12:07, Wednesday, 05 November 2008

A debt-ridden Cumbrian farmer who lavished thousands on a secret lover murdered his wife before claiming £400,000 on her life insurance, a court heard.

Robert Wilson and Jane Wilson

Robert Andrew Wilson, 40, is accused of covering up the crime by staging a tractor accident at the Kirkandrews-on-Eden farm near Carlisle where he had lived with his 53-year-old wife Jane.

Wilson denies murdering her on December 1 last year.

Opening the case at Carlisle crown court, Brian Cummings QC gave a detailed account of events the prosecution say led up to the murder.

Wilson was said to have killed his wife over the weekend he was expecting a visit from his lover.

The barrister portrayed Wilson as a devious man, leading a “double life,” who spent lavishly on his lover, buying her an expensive car and a holiday in the Maldives.

He lied repeatedly to cover his tracks, the court heard.

Thirteen years younger than his wife, Wilson had been with her eleven years.

They were married for seven years.

Mr Cummings began the case outlining the horrific scene described by Wilson as he called emergency services to report the death of his wife, who was a horse rider and postal worker.

“At 6.15pm, on Saturday December 1 last year, the defendant called 999 from his mobile and requested an ambulance.

“He said he had run over his wife: they had been feeding cows and one of the cows must have knocked his wife and he had run over her with the tractor. He asked permission to drag her out of the way of the cows – otherwise they would stand on her.

“He said his wife’s head was squashed.”

Eight minutes later, an ambulance arrived, the paramedics finding the defendant hysterical, screaming: “I’ve killed her. I’ve killed her.”

They found her body in the barn. At first, the death was treated as a tragic accident.

Wilson said he had unwittingly ran over his wife as they were mucking out the barn. Though it was dark, there was light from the tractor. It was his wife’s job to keep unpenned cows out of the way.

The accident happened as he was taking fresh bedding on the tractor into the barn, he said. Afterwards, Wilson made the funeral arrangements specifying the body was to be cremated.

He also contacted his wife’s adult children Sharon and Lee Kennedy, asking them to come to the farm.

“Lee remembers the defendant saying: ‘We’ve worked so hard and for what? It’s all gone to waste.’”

The following day, said Mr Cummings, Wilson told Lee to move his mother’s clothes out of the farmhouse, saying it would be best to do it while they still felt numb.

“He made them empty the wardrobe and take [her clothes] to a charity shop. He burned her underwear and her Post Office uniform.”

Wilson gave Lee and Sharon Christmas presents bought for them by their mother, but not a vase and a jumper Mrs Wilson had bought for their grandmother, said Mr Cummings.

It was only after the funeral, on December 7, that suspicions were first raised – by Sharon and Lee Kennedy.

During a visit to The Croft, to collect the presents for their grandmother, a farm worker there said they could go into the house for them.

In his bedroom, they found a Christmas card next to their mother’s bed, saying ‘Happy Christmas darling, with love from Cathy xxx.’
They found other cards from the woman, including birthday and valentines cards, said Mr Cummings.

Sharon and Lee used a scanner device at the farm to make copies of the cards, and later contacted police.

Wilson later claimed he and the woman, Cathy McNeil, were engaged when he was 18 or 19. He had taken them out as it had been the anniversary of her death. That was why they were out in his bedroom, he said.

Mr Cummings said Wilson had a secret relationship with the woman.

He took out a £15,000 loan to pay for a “lavish” holiday with the woman in the Maldives but she knew nothing of Wilson’s marriage.

He also bought her a £22,500 Mercedes car, the court heard. Mr Cummings said Wilson met Ms McNeil during a holiday to Spain in October 2006, where she worked in a bar.

Mr Cummings said: “The defendant told her he was on holiday for two or three days, revisiting old memories about a happy holiday he had taken with his wife Jane, who died of lung cancer earlier that year.

“At that time, Jane Wilson was very much alive.”

In December 2006, the defendant took out a joint insurance policy for £200,000 on both himself and his wife. This was in addition to an existing life policy worth the same amount. “In effect, the defendant had just doubled his wife’s life insurance cover,” said Mr Cummings.

Between January and July last year, said the barrister, Wilson made six trips to Malaga to see Ms McNeil, and began a sexual relationship with her. She told him she was getting divorced and was due to get a divorce settlement worth £1.5 million.

A fluent speaker of French, he told her he was thinking of selling up and moving to France.

The way Wilson booked his holiday with Ms McNeil to the Maldives, in December 2007, showed how “devious” he could be, said Mr Cummings.

He initially booked it in his and his wife’s name, but then said his wife couldn’t go and he would take his sister-in-law – in reality Ms McNeil.

The prosecution accepted that Ms McNeil did not know about Wilson’s wife.

Her only concern was that Wilson was not telling anybody about their relationship, especially at home, telling her it was because he didn’t want to upset his wife’s relatives.

At the time of Mrs Wilson’s death Wilson had amassed debts of more than £100,000 – including bank loans and credit card debts.

A week before her death, Cathy McNeil had been planning to visit Wilson, and hoped to spend the weekend with him at the farm.

Mr Cummings said: “During the week beginning November 26, he telephoned her to say there was a problem about her staying.

“He said his mother’s brother and wife had been killed in a car accident and she wanted to bring the bodies home to his house. She was asking if he could dig the graves as the gravedigger was on holiday.

“He told her various relatives would be coming from far and wide and some would have to stay with him.”

She agreed to delay her visit. On the weekend after his wife died, Wilson went to Scarborough to visit Cathy McNeil.

He rang her a few days later to say the funerals were sorted out and she could visit the following week.

During her stay, said Mr Cummings, Wilson told Ms McNeil his wife had not in fact died from cancer.

He said she killed herself throwing herself under a tractor.

Ms McNeil thought Wilson seemed nervous at the farm, said Mr Cummings. In January, she again visited him, staying three or four days.
“One night over dinner, the defendant told in more detail about his wife’s injuries.

“He picked up a menu and said his wife’s head had been no thicker than that.”

For his part, Wilson claimed his wife had a low sex drive and she agreed he could have sex with other women, provided he did not do it at home.

“The defendant was leading a double life,” continued Mr Cummings.

“The prosecution say, essentially, that the two halves of that life were on an imminent collision course at that time.

“Jane Wilson died just when the defendant needed her to die. As for the circumstances, despite being experienced on the farm, Jane Wilson somehow contrived to fall under the front wheels of the tractor and the defendant somehow managed not to see her.

“His explanation of how this occurred does not tally with the physical evidence at the scene.”

The barrister said Wilson had deliberately run his wife over with the tractor or he killed her in some other way and staged the tractor incident later.

In a police interview, said Mr Cummings, Wilson told police it would have been better if he had died.

“He said he lived totally for his wife and his horses and that he no longer had anything to live for.

“It was following this opinion that the police said that they knew about his affair with Cathy McNeil.

“The defendant essentially denied having any real feelings for Cathy McNeil, saying he was simply using her and taking advantage of her French connections to assist him in buying a property in France.

“The prosecution say he was lying when he said that his wife permitted him to have sex with other women.

“The prosecution say that the timing and the circumstances of Jane Wilson’s death present too much of a coincidence.

“The defendant had been having an affair with the woman Cathy McNeil who didn’t know that he was still married. Jane Wilson, for her part, didn’t know that he was having an affair.”

The jury of six men and six women will next week visit the scene of the alleged murder at The Croft, after dark, so they can see it themselves.

The case is expected to last three weeks.

First published at 13:13, Tuesday, 04 November 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk