Wife and lover accused of killing Worcestershire man
Timothy Raggatt QC, prosecuting, told the jury the pair had “clearly fallen for one another” in the summer of 2007 and had ultimately worked together to “get rid of the unwanted husband”.
They had met after Mr and Mrs Southall sold their home in Pensnett, Dudley, and moved to a caravan park where Mr Whitcombe, a widower, worked as a warden. After a time Mrs Southall and Mr Whitcombe embarked upon a clandestine affair, Mr Raggatt said, meeting up when Mr Southall, a lorry driver, was at work.
The prosecutor said the pair worked together in a “joint enterprise” to kill Mr Southall, motivated by “two of the oldest reasons – sex and money”.
He said: “Reginald Southall was done to death as a result of the joint concerted activities of his wife and her lover, because that was who Mr Whitcombe was at the time.”
The jury heard Mr Southall died as a result of drowning but post-mortem results showed he had sustained significant injuries before he entered the water.The extent of those injuries and the fact that he could not swim would have rendered him “effectively helpless”, Mr Raggatt said.
(Proceeding)
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