Sarah Williams denies murder plot with friend

Alleged stun gun killer Sarah Williams has said there was no plot with her friend to murder businesswoman Sadie Hartley.

Her co-defendant, Katrina Walsh, 56, is said to have played a key role in helping Williams, 35, to "get rid of" her love rival and kept a diary of their plans as they developed.

But Williams told a jury at Preston Crown Court she had no idea what Walsh put in her diary entries and she had "no control or interest whatsoever" in them.

The Crown say Williams' obsessive desire for Ms Hartley's partner, Ian Johnston, 57, led to her knifing Ms Hartley to death on the early evening of January 14 this year.

The 60-year-old victim had been incapacitated beforehand with a 500,000-volt stun gun as she opened the front door of her home in Helmshore, Lancashire.

It is alleged that Williams placed a tracking device on Mr Johnston's car in the weeks before the murder and discovered that the couple were living together in Sunny Bank Road, Helmshore.

On Thursday, Williams told the court it was Walsh's idea to buy the stun gun and the tracker and she did not know that the horse riding instructor had bought the murder weapon.

Her barrister, Gordon Cole QC, took her through entries recorded in diaries that were recovered at Walsh's workplace.

In September 2014, Walsh wrote: "Sarah came round so got caught up in endless murder plots for Ian's other half."

Mr Cole asked Williams: "Were there any murder plots discussed between you and Katrina Walsh?"

The defendant replied: "No, not at any time in any way."

Another diary entry from Walsh was: "We're also seriously talking of getting rid of her opponent. I agree is probably a good play ... she does seem to be a totally evil bitch."

Mr Cole said to Williams: "Have you any idea why she wrote things like that?"

She said: "I couldn't account for what she wrote and why."

The jury has heard that the two defendants visited Germany on December 10 last year where the stun gun used in the murder was purchased.

Williams said the plan for the journey was to visit a Celtic museum and the Christmas markets but that Walsh instead took her to a shop and bought the stun gun.

Mr Cole asked: "Did you know the reason for the purchase?"

She replied: "I asked and the reason was that it would be good for self-defence."

Williams said she thought Walsh bought the tracker because of her "excessive and obsessive" interest in the Channel 4 progamme Hunted - in which teams of people try to avoid detection by "going off the grid".

Williams went on: "She said they were pretty useful and really interesting for checking out what people were up to or are up to."

She said Walsh had a number of "hare-brained" business schemes over the years, the court heard.

Williams said: "One of them was she would set up a private detective agency. It has been referenced a number of times. It was probably brought up again about the time the tracker was purchased."

Williams said she never had physical control of a tracker and at no stage had put a tracker Mr Johnston's Subaru vehicle.

"Exactly how they worked I could not tell you," she told the court.

The jury heard that calls from her phone were made to the business that sold the tracker but she said it was "common practice" for her to lend Walsh and others her phone if asked.

Mr Cole asked her: "Any discussion between you and Katrina Walsh when Hunted was beiing watched in relation to anything by way of harming Sadie Hartley?"

Williams replied: "No discussions of harming anybody, full stop."

Mr Cole asked: "Was a murder plot ever discussed between you?"

She replied: "No."

Williams said she visited the Helmshore area "a handful of times" in December 2015 and January 2016 to see if Mr Johnston was home and because she had an interest in buying property in the area.

Ten days before the murder, Williams sent Walsh a text which read: "Don't forget to crack on with your shopping ... suddenly it's time."

The next day Walsh bought the knife used in the murder on her Tesco Clubcard.

Williams explained that the text referred to a planned holiday together to the French Alps and the need to buy appropriate luggage and clothing.

She denied driving to Ms Hartley's workplace in Knutsford on Jaunuary 6 and said she visited the town on her day off where she bought a cream tea from a Victorian tea room and called in at "a nice shoe shop".

The jury has heard that Walsh told police she never believed Williams would carry out the murder and that she thought they were playing a game of Hunted.

Williams later admitted going with Walsh, known as Kit, to deliver flowers to Ms Hartley's house on January 7, a week before she was killed.

The prosecution claim this was a dry run to scout out the address in preparation for the murder.

Mr Cole asked: "What was that all about?"

Williams replied: "It was Kit's idea. She wanted to see what Sadie looked like, having not seen her."

The defendant said Walsh delivered the flowers while she stood on the pavement 30 yards away.

She said she only realised who actually lived there earlier that day after a conversation with Walsh about the tracker device and how she "knew what Ian was up to" as his car was spending a lot of time at the address.

Mr Cole then asked about the purchase of a Renault Clio, which the prosecution say was bought as transport to use for the murder mission.

"It was Kit's idea. It was Kit's car," Williams told the jury.

She claimed Walsh told her her own Astra car would not get through its MoT so she purchased the Clio.

Williams said she accompanied Walsh to buy the second-hand car but did not hand over any cash and drove the Astra away, with Walsh in the Clio.

Tony Cross QC, defending Walsh, accused Williams of telling "lie after lie after lie".

He warned Ms Hartley's family sat in court that he wanted Williams to look again at post-mortem photos showing the 50 injuries she suffered.

Ms Hartley's daughter Charlotte, ex-husband and other family briefly left the public gallery, along with Mr Johnston, in tears, accompanied by his relatives.

Mr Cross, referring to one photo, continued: "Stabbed right the way through the lady's neck. You did that didn't you? It was you, wasn't it, who shoved the knife through this lady's neck?"

"No," Williams replied.

After Williams was arrested she told police that a week before the murder, on the evening of January 7, she had been in the Helmshore area near the crime scene to sit, "like a saddo", outside Mr Johnston's former house.

But in court she admitted lying to detectives and changed her account, telling the jury that on that evening she had been with Walsh to deliver flowers to Ms Hartley at the house she shared with Mr Johnston in Helmshore.

Mr Cross said: "Does lying come easy to you? You lied because you wanted to get away with the killing of this lady."

Williams replied: "No."

Mr Cross continued: "When you were telling these lies, did you think about any of these people sitting to your left, the family of this lady?"

Williams replied: "It never occurred to me that I would end up in this position instead of the person who killed her."

"Are you sorry about lying to the police?" Mr Cross asked.

"Yes," replied Williams.

Mr Cross then asked who she thought murdered Ms Hartley.

Williams replied: "I have not seen it happen and I have not been told by whoever has done it, they have done it."

Mr Cross continued: "Do you have somebody in mind?"

Williams said: "I can assume, only on the evidence I have been shown since this has started, some of it points towards Kit."

Williams and Walsh both deny murder.