A WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN, WHO FLEW ACROSS THE ATLANTI
A WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN, WHO FLEW ACROSS THE ATLANTIC AND
KILLED HIS WIFE’S LOVER, WAS JAILED FOR THREE YEARS ON THURSDAY
KNOWING HIS WIFE NEVER WANTS TO SEE HIM AGAIN.
JOSEPH ROBB, 41, CONFRONTED MICHAEL HORTON, 41, IN A FIVE
STAR LONDON HOTEL AFTER JETTING IN FROM HIS CANADIAN HOME.
BUT HIS
HIGH LIVING RIVAL MADE THE FATAL MISTAKE OF NOT TAKING BALDING,
BESPECTACLED ROBB SERIOUSLY AS HE PLEADED WITH HIM TO END THE AFFAIR.
‘HORTON WAS AMUSED AND EVEN CHUCKLED SLIGHTLY,’ SAID ROBB.
HUMILIATED AND ENRAGED, ROBB STABBED HORTON OVER 20 TIMES
IN A JEALOUS FRENZY.
BUT HIS CRIME OF PASSION HAS DESTROYED HIS FAMILY.
ROBB’S BARRISTER MR RICHARD FERGUSON QC SAID: ‘HE FAILED TO
ACHIEVE THE OBJECT HE CAME TO THIS COUNTRY FOR – TO KEEP HIS FAMILY
OF A WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN TOGETHER.
‘THERE IS NO REALISTIC PROSPECT OF ANY RECONCILIATION
BETWEEN ROBB AND HIS WIFE.
THE FAMILY UNIT HAS BEEN SHATTERED.
‘
HIS 41-YEAR-OLD WIFE SHIELA HAS BEGUN DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS
TO END THEIR 22 YEAR MARRIAGE.
ROBB’S 19-YEAR-OLD SON FINTON WATCHED FROM THE PUBLIC
GALLERY AS THE OLD BAILEY JURY OF NINE MEN AND THREE WOMAN ACQUITTED
HIS FATHER OF MURDER.
AFTER TWO HOURS DELIBERATION, THEY FOUND HIM GUILTY OF THE
MANSLAUGHTER OF HORTON, A PUBLIC RELATIONS EXECUTIVE, ON THE GROUNDS
OF PROVOCATION.
ROBB TOLD THE JUDGE, THE RECORDER OF LONDON SIR JAMES
MISKIN: QC: ‘I AM TRULY SORRY FOR WHAT HAPPENED.
I WAS SORRY
IMMEDIATELY IT HAPPENED AND REMAIN SORRY.
I WILL ALWAYS DO SO.
‘
JAILING THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL SUPERMARKET
CHAIN, NORTHERN FINE FOODS INC.
OF CANADA, THE JUDGE SAID: ‘THIS
SENSIBLE JURY ALL AGREED THAT YOU LAUNCHED THIS APPALLING ATTACK
BECAUSE YOU LOST YOUR SELF CONTROL.
‘YOU TRIED TO PERSUADE HORTON OUT OF THAT AFFAIR AND WHEN HE
DECLINED FURTHER SENSIBLE ADULT TALK YOU SUDDENLY AND COMPLETELY LOST
CONTROL.
‘
THE JUDGE ADDED ROBB’S PAST LIFE HAD BEEN ‘IMMACULATE’.
HE
CAME FROM ‘HUMBLE’ ORIGINS BUT BY HARD WORK HE GOT TO THE TOP OF HIS
PROFESSION.
ROBB, HEAD BOWED AND DRESSED IN A SMART BUSINESS SUIT,
SHOWED NO EMOTION AS HE WAS LED TO THE CELLS .
HIS EXPLOSION OF JEALOUS FURY HAS PROBABLY NOW DESTROYED HIS
CAREER.
THE CHAIRMAN OF HIS COMPANY TOLD THE COURT THEY CANNOT KEEP
HIS JOB OPEN ‘INDEFINITELY.
‘
BELFAST-BORN ROBB MET HIS WIFE WHILE THEY WERE BOTH AT
TRINITY COLLEGE AT DUBLIN UNIVERSITY IN 1965.
AFTER A WHIRLWIND
ROMANCE THEY MARRIED IN 1968.
TEN YEARS LATER, TO FURTHER HIS CAREER
ROBB AND HIS WIFE EMIGRATED TO CANADA.
TO EVERYONE WHO SAW THEM THEY LOOKED THE PERFECT COUPLE.
THEY HAD EVERYTHING ANYONE COULD WANT FOR.
THEY OWNED A SIX BEDROOM
#300,000 HOUSE IN TORONTO AND A BEAUTIFUL FIVE BEDROOM LAKESIDE
COTTAGE JUST OUTSIDE THE CITY.
BUT THE LATE HOURS ROBB KEPT BEGAN TO DESTROY THEIR
RELATIONSHIP.
HIS WIFE BECAME BORED AND IN 1981 GOT A JOB WORKING FOR
HORTON’S PUBLIC RELATIONS COMPANY MARSTELLER BURSON.
HORTON BECAME HER BOSS AND SHE SAW IN HIM EVERYTHING HER
HUSBAND WAS NOT.
HE LOVED THE HIGH LIFE WHILE ROBB DEVOTED HIS SOCIAL
ACTIVITIES AROUND THE FAMILY.
ROBB TOLD THE COURT: ‘SHE CRITICISED ME FOR NOT BEING
INTERESTED IN FAST CARS AND GOOD WINES.
I TRIED TO PLACATE HER BY
BRINGING HER FLOWERS.
‘
ROBB DID NOT EVEN REALISE THE RELATIONSHIP WAS IN TROUBLE
UNTIL HIS WIFE TOLD HIM SHE WAS LEAVING AND HAD BOUGHT A FLAT IN
TORONTO.
SHE DID NOT TELL HER HUSBAND SHE HAD BEEN FLYING TO LONDON
FOR ROMANTIC WEEKENDS WITH HORTON.
IT WAS ONLY WHEN ROBB FOUND LOVE
LETTERS FROM HORTON IN HIS WIFE’S BRIEFCASE THAT HE REALISED ANOTHER
MAN WAS INVOLVED.
HE DECIDED TO FLY TO LONDON TO PERSUADE HORTON TO STOP
SEEING HIS WIFE.
NIGHT AFTER NIGHT HE HAD TRIED TO PERSUADE HIS WIFE HER
PLACE WAS WITH HIM AND THEIR TEENAGE SON AND DAUGHTER.
BUT SHE
INSISTED THEIR MARRIAGE WAS OVER.
ROBB FLEW TO LONDON MISERABLE, SUFFERING FROM LACK OF SLEEP
AND UNDER TREMENDOUS STRAIN.
HE SAW HIS MEETING WITH HORTON AS THE
FINAL CHANCE TO KEEP TOGETHER EVERYTHING HE HAD SPENT HIS LIFE
WORKING FOR.
BUT IN ROOM 838 OF THE CHURCHILL HOTEL, MARYLEBONE, STANDING
FACE TO FACE WITH HORTON, HE KNEW HE HAD LOST HIS WIFE AND THAT HIS
LIFE WAS IN RUINS.
ROBB TOLD THE COURT: ‘HE WAS AMUSED WHEN I ASKED HIM TO
WITHDRAW FROM THE RELATIONSHIP.
HE WAS CHUCKLING SLIGHTLY.
I FELT
CHILLED BY IT.
‘I BECAME EXREMELY ANGRY.
HE DID NOT APPEAR TO BE
SYMPATHETIC AT WHAT WAS INVOLVED WITH MY WIFE AND FAMILY.
HE STARTED
TO LEAVE AND I GRABBED HIM BY THE LAPELS.
‘
HORTON WAS SMASHED OVER THE HEAD WITH A BOTTLE OF MINERAL
WATER AND THEN A BOTTLE OF GIN.
ROBB THEN PICKED UP THE PENKNIFE HE
USED TO SHARPEN HIS PENCILS AND SLASHED AT HORTON’S HEAD AND NECK
AGAIN AND AGAIN.
WEEPING ROBB PHONED AN AMBULANCE AND CALLED THE POLICE
SAYING: ‘THERE HAS BEEN A FIGHT.
I THINK I HAVE KILLED SOMEONE.
‘
HORTON, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE EUROPEAN DIVISION OF THE
NEW YORK BASED COMPANY MARSTELLER BURSON, DIED LATER THAT NIGHT IN
HOSPITAL.
HORTON, OF DEVONSHIRE MEWS, MARBLE ARCH, LONDON, HAD MORE
THAN 20 STAB WOUNDS INCLUDING TWO FATAL PUNCTURES OF THE JUGULAR
VEIN.
ROBB TOLD POLICE AFTER HIS ARREST: ‘HORTON PERSONIFIED
EVERYTHING THAT HAD HAPPENED, THE DECEIT, THE ALIENATION, THE FACT
THAT MY WIFE HAD GIVEN ME THE COLD SHOULDER FOR EIGHT WEEKS.
THIS MAN
HAD BEEN INTIMATE WITH MY WIFE.
I SAW HIM IN FRONT OF ME.
HE
REPRESENTED ALL THAT.
I JUST WANTED TO KEEP ON HITTING HIM.
‘
AFTER THE CASE, ROBB’S SOLICITOR ISSUED A STATEMENT WHICH
READ: ‘MR ROBB IS EXTREMELY REMORSEFUL FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED.
IN PARTICULAR HE REGRETS THE GRIEF CAUSED TO HORTON’S FAMILY AND HIS
OWN RELATIVES AND FRIENDS.
‘ HE IS SORRY A LIFE WAS LOST AND APPRECIATES THE SUPPORT
HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND BUSINESS COLLEAGUES HAVE SHOWN TOWARDS HIM
THROUGHOUT THE TRAGEDY.
‘
ENDS
