A failed businessman who tried to hire an underw

A failed businessman who tried to hire an underworld hit man to
‘terminate’ his wife was jailed for nine years at the Old Bailey
today Monday.

Malcolm Stansfield, 52, hoped to pocket more than half a million
pnds stlng through the cold-blooded murder.

But instead of finding an assassin, local underworld figures got in
touch with a Sunday paper which in turn called in the police.

The hitman the father-of-three was introduced to was actually an
undercover detective, who secretly recorded the callous murder plot
through a hidden microphone.

Jailing Stansfield, Judge Richard Lowry QC said a severe prison
sentence was essential for the ‘dreadful’ crime.

The court was told the defendant and his wife Lorraine had fallen
into financial difficulties after he was made redundant from his
management job in Reigate.

Matters were made worse when his blundering attempt at property
development came unstuck and he found himself being hounded by people
wanting money from him.

He then pounced on the idea of having his 48-year-old wife killed
in a bogus hit and run ‘accident’ so he could reap the rewards from
her life insurance, said Mr Andrew Baillie, prosecuting.

Stansfield canvassed the idea with locals he thought had underworld
connections and was introduced to a man named ‘George’ who would do
the job for him.

‘He told George he wished him to run his wife over with a truck to
make it look like a hit and run.

‘In return he was to be given pnds stlng 30,000.

‘
Unknown to Stansfield, ‘George’ was an undercover detective
secretly taping the gruesome conversation.

The court heard the callous banter between the two men, with
Stansfield agreeing that he had a ‘problem’ and wanted his wife
‘terminated’.

George said: ‘We’re talking about completely killed, no hanging
back?’
He replied: ‘I don’t need anything like a hospital job.

I need it
zappo.

‘
On October 4, Stansfield arranged for a night at a West End theatre
so George could see his intended target.

The next day he asked Lorraine to meet him in the Bell pub, Outwood
Road, Outwood, Surrey, adding strict instructions for her to park some
distance away and walk along the footpathless road.

‘She thought it was a little odd but agreed to do so,’ counsel
said.

‘Although it was raining, she did park as asked and there is a
bundle of photos that show her walking along with the lorry driven by
George coming up and passing a few feet away from her.

‘It would the easiest thing in the world for the lorry to have
driven a little off the road and knocked her down with nobody around.

‘
Only as she left the pub after giving up waiting for her husband
did the police step in and break the news to her about what he had
intended to happen.

While Stransfield thought his wife was being murdered, he was
playing golf with a friend.

He was arrested after he returned to his
home nearby in Ivy Cottage, Horley.

He declined to say anything until confronted by his wife.

He told
her: ‘I could see light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m a shit.

Get a
divorce.

‘
She said she had had no inkling that their 28-year marriage was
unhappy until the shocking revelations, the court heard.

Detectives later found three insurance policies which would have
netted him pnds stlng 560,000 if she died.

In court, Stansfield admitted soliciting to murder.

Mr Michael Hubbard, QC, defending, said the original idea had not
been Stansfield’s but had been enthusiastically adopted by him.

‘It was not a product of his mind.

The script was in part written
by others and, in our submission, orchestrated by an intermediary.

‘It made a good story.

‘It is an old, old story of the burden of debt that drove a man to
do something totally unthinkable.

‘He still loves his wife.

‘
Judge Lowry told Stansfield: ‘Someone planted the idea that a
possible solution was the killing of your wife.

Were she to die, most
of your debts would have been paid and you would have had a handsome
sum of money in your hands.

‘With skill and courage, that police officer acted his part.

‘It is not suggested in any way that he was an agent provocateur.

‘You had many opportunities to change your mind over a period of
several days.

‘Even when you were considering how to break the news to your
daughter of your mother’s death, you did not desist from your plan.

‘The evidence against you was overwhelming.

‘For this dreadful crime a severe sentence is necessary.

‘
Stansfield, who was immaculately dressed and hung his head
throughout the hearing, did not react as he was jailed for nine years.

Outside court, a detective said the defendant’s wife and daughter
did not attend.

ENDS