Sadie Hartley Trial Latest

A friend of a woman accused of helping a female ski instructor to commit a murder of demonic savagery'' thought the co-defendants werea couple'', a jury has heard. Horse riding instructor Katrina Walsh, 56, is alleged to have aided Sarah Williams, 35, in her murderous mission'' to get rid of love rival Sadie Hartley. The 60-year-old company director was incapacitated with a stun gun when she opened the door of her home in Helmshore, Lancashire, and was then stabbed 40 times on January 14. The Crown alleges Williams began plotting the murder 17 months before when Ms Hartley's long-time partner Ian Johnston broke off their affair as she becamepossessive and difficult''. Walsh's friend Ann Riley told Preston Crown Court she had never met Williams but Walsh would talk a lot about her during horse riding lessons. Ms Riley said: She gave me the impression that they were a couple. They went on holiday together and spent a lot of time with each other.'' The court heard Williams would regularly visit her co-defendant's home with her dog and watch films on the bed. The witness said she was latersurprised'' to learn that Williams had a partner, David Hardwick, a man aged in his mid-70s, who has been labelled in court as her sugar daddy''. A former work colleague of Williams said the murder accused would talk about mena lot'', and she felt uncomfortable when she spoke of Mr Hardwick because he was married. Kerry Williams said she was later told of the affair with ex-fireman Mr Johnston. She said: The information I was aware of was that Ian was with somebody, a rich lady, but it didn't matter because he was going to leave her for Sarah.She was of the mindset that their relationship was progressing.'' She said she did not ask for further details and said to the defendant: It's just like deja vu. Here we go again, I don't want to know.'' She formed the view that Williams was ina fantasy world''. Michaela Burns, who knew Williams through their shared interest in horses, said the defendant worked part-time at a bank when she they first met eight years ago. She too knew of the relationship with Mr Hardwick, who she said was clearly very well-off''. Ms Burns said:Sarah was not shy about saying she was financially dependent on him and they seemed to live quite a good lifestyle.'' She said Williams had two houses and would go on skiing holidays a couple of times a year. The witness told prosecutor John McDermott QC that Williams eventually became unhappy'' in the relationship with Mr Hardwick. She said:I think they wanted different things. She said she wanted a baby but David didn't want one.'' Ms Burns said Williams told her she had a new man in her life around Christmas 2014 and who worked abroad a lot as a ski instructor and was seeing an older lady. She told me that she believed this chap was only in a relationship with Sadie for her money and that Sadie was buying him, taking him on expensive holidays and that was the only reason he was seeing her,'' she said. Williams, of Treborth Road, Blacon, Chester, and Walsh, of Hare Lane, Chester, deny murder.

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