JAILED: Two women found guilty of Sadie Hartley murder
Two women have been jailed for life for murdering Lancashire businesswoman Sadie Hartley.
Two women have been jailed for life for the murder of a Lancashire businesswoman.
35-year old Sarah Williams of Treborth Road, Chester must serve a minimum of 30 years and 56-year old Katrina Walsh of Hare Lane, Chester was ordered to serve 25 years after they were both convicted unanimously at Preston Crown Court.
60-year old Sadie Hartley was found dead at her home in Helmshore, Rossendale in January.
LISTEN: Our reporter Amy Scarisbrick has been following the case at Preston Crown Court and has this special report:
Here is CCTV footage that Lancashire Police used in their investigation into Sadie Hartley's murder.
In the video above, you can see Walsh buying the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, from Tesco, footage of the pair buying flowers they used in their reconnaissance mission and them travelling on the Pride of Hull Ferry as they made their way to Germany to buy a taser.
Williams and Walsh though they had got away with it - but within 48 hours police raided Williams' home and arrested her.
Not only did they find Sadie's DNA in her bathtub and on her glasses, but her accomplice Katrina Walsh had documented the whole thing in her diaries:
The diary extracts have been read out to the court during the course of the trial. In September 2015 she wrote:
“I may get to be instrumental in removing the awful woman"
“I’m going to be involved now. I’ve got no qualms – just a series of don’t get caught twinges”
Two months later (November 2015) she wrote:
“Struggling to wind down. All the excitement of plotting the perfect murder.”
When Walsh was arrested by police, she confessed that she had helped Williams and showed police where she had buried the knife, the taser and boots used in the murder, at a farm in Cheshire that she worked.
Throughout the seven-week trial, Williams has been described as a "bunny boiler," as unhinged and as "pyschotic."
SADIE'S FAMILY
"Kind" "inspirational" "loving" - those are some of the words used by Sadie Hartley's family to describe her.
Her son Harry spoke outside court and says losing their mum has left a hole in their lives:
Sadie's partner Ian Johnston broke down in tears as he talked about Williams' and Walsh's actions as being "unforgiveable":
On sentencing, the judge said that Williams had carried out "not a crime of passion, but a crime of obsession, arrogance, barbarity and pure evil."
He described Walsh as a "willing and enthusiastic accomplice" who was the perfect "partner in crime" and as "morally degenerate as Williams."
He added that Sadie was "killed for their amusement in a clinical assassination" and they showed no remorse at all as they were sentenced to life in prison.