A businesswoman accused of paying a hitman to kill
A businesswoman accused of paying a hitman to kill her husband told police she did not want to end their relationship, the Old Bailey heard today (FRI).
Angela Bristow, 50, denied resenting having to bail out his business with cash from her ‘breadwinner’ bakery in Whyteleafe.
And she claimed in a police interview that she never discussed the idea of leaving Mario Commatteo with anyone except his sisters.
It is claimed Bristow paid ‘fixer’ Paul Hayter, 34, to contract out a ruthless killer to gun down her common-law husband.
Bristow allegedly feared she would lose her comfortable lifetime and pnds stlg 200,000 house if she left the 48-year-old baker.
She also stood to gain life insurance payments of more than pnds stlg 150,000.
Detectives interviewed Bristow after her arrest in June last year.
She told police Mr Commatteo, who hails from Cardiff, was domineering and treated her badly but insisted she never wanted to leave him.
‘We worked hard to end up where we did.
I had no intention of leaving him.
I just accepted my life.
‘His sisters said they know he can be difficult so why do you put up with that.
Why don’t you leave him?’
Asked if she told anybody she wanted to leave him, Bristow replied: ‘No, never.
‘
She then told how money from her business in Whyteleafe was used to help out his bakery in Merstham, Surrey.
‘We were working together to build our Merstham shop.
It cost a lot of money.
It was just being pumped into that.
‘His shop made about 290 pounds, 230 to 290, something like that.
He had no hot food and I’m sure if he had he would have done twice as much as my business.
‘It is a bright, attractive shop.
.
.
but mine was the breadwinner.
We were paying the mortgage out of this, we were spending the money to repair his car.
‘We were wanting to improve the shop, get an ice cream machine, a cappuccino machine.
That took a lot of cash.
‘
She was asked: ‘Did you feel resentful of that?’
Bristow replied: ‘No I didn’t feel resentful.
I trusted him from the beginning.
‘
The jury then heard her describe the events in their house the day Mario was killed.
Bristow said she went into the shower as soon as the alarm went off early in the morning.
‘He goes straight to the toilet, sit there for a good ten minutes and have a puff [cannabis].
‘I got dressed, he sat at the table and had a coffee, sat there until I go.
It is the same thing every day.
‘He was the one who locked all the doors, turn the telly off, you know, blah, blah, blah.
‘
She said she left the house at 5.
30am.
Neighbours heard a ‘dull thud’ at around 5.
45am and Mr Commatteo was found dead later that morning, the jury heard.
Ryan, of Whitebeam Court, Warren Road, Purley, Bristow, of Whyteleafe Hill, Whyteleafe, and Hayter, of Valley Road, Kenley all deny murdering Mr Commatteo on March 30 last year.
The trial continues.
ends
