wife who plotted with secret lover to murder her husband jailed for 19 years

It read: ‘I’m really sorry for everything I have done to you ie laying my hands on you when I have been drinking a lot of alcohol every day…

‘I’m not happy with what I have done to you Babs ie beating you and raping you and I shouldn’t have done that too.

‘By the time you get this letter I will be gone because I can’t live with myself cause every time I look at you I can see I have hurt you.’

Mills claimed she believed the plan was ‘fantasy’ and only ever intended on divorcing her husband.

She said: ‘There was no plan to kill my husband. It was all part of a fantasy with Gaz.

‘We had no plan to kill Christopher. All we wanted to do was for me to be safe. To leave Christopher,get a divorce and go from there.

‘It was an escape from reality. It was not planned and it was not wanted.’

Mr Mills said he had ‘no idea’ his wife was having an affair and arrested following the masked attack when his wife made claims of domestic violence against him – which he denied.

He said: ‘It was a massive shock but the first time it came to my attention was the following day. I was arrested. At that instant I realised then that Michelle was involved. My heart sank.’

The court heard Mr Mills denied every being violent towards his wife – and said: ‘I have never laid a finger on her.’

He added: ‘I have done nothing to Michelle. As far as I was concerned we had a happy marriage. We had new passports and we were saving up to go on holiday.’

David Elias KC,defending Berry,said: ‘This was a plan that was very badly thought out.

‘There was no clear plan as to how the murder was to be carried out and the attack was very easily foiled.’