Best friends accused of Sadie Hartley murder ‘attempted to hire amateur archery fanatic as a hitman’
Sarah Williams and Katrina Walsh contacted Walsh’s ex Kevin because of his 'particular key skills'
AN archer was asked to be a hitman by his ex-wife and a pal plotting to murder a love rival, a jury heard yesterday,
Sarah Williams, 35, and Katrina Walsh, 56, allegedly contacted Walsh’s ex Kevin, 58, because of his “particular key skills”.
But Preston crown court heard warehouseman Mr Walsh realised she was “up to no good”.
He added: “She said she had a job for me that she reckoned would suit my particular key skills, whatever they were.
“She didn’t want to discuss what this job was over the phone. She wanted to see me in person and she was happy to come up to see me in Yorkshire.”
Mr Walsh said he was “very taken aback by this” and told Williams he would get back to her.
He said he was employed as a warehouseman and “not in the slightest” could he think what part of his “skill set” Williams was referring to.
But the jury heard how he later received a call from her and she was “pushing for this meeting.”
He added: “She had already said she didn’t want to discuss it over the phone so I was slightly suspicious.
“I had always been very dubious of her. Why did she contact me after eight years?”
He added: “The alarm bells were going off in my head.”
Walsh put details in a diary, writing: “Kev not going for the idea of being a hitman after all.”
Williams allegedly used a 500,000-volt stun gun on Sadie Hartley, 60, and stabbed her 40 times at her £450,000 home in Helmshore, Lancs.
Williams was said to be jealous after her lover dumped her for Sadie.
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The women, both of Chester, deny the January murder. Trial continues.