'Femme fatale'

CHEATING housewife Anthea Jane Jones was labelled a 'femme fatale' yesterday in court as the murder plot case that stunned Abergavenny drew to a close .

In his closing speech at Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Mark Evans, QC, pointed to the 'sinister' circumstances surrounding the case.

Jones, 37, of Blackrock, Clydach denies soliciting her ex-boyfriend, Lenny Loveridge to murder her 60-year-old husband, Francis Jones.

Mr Evans painted a picture of a marriage of convenience which would enable the defendant and her disabled son to live a life of luxury.

But, he said, she quickly tired of it and hatched a deadly plan to end it, even though Mr Jones had taken on massive commitments, such as the adoption of her child.

The prosecution alleged she confided in friend, Debra Benjamin about her attempt to get Mr Loveridge and others to bump him off.

"Why would she tell Debra Benjamin?" he said. "Is it perhaps revelling in the role of femme fatale?"

The court heard Ms Benjamin phoned the police after Jones repeatedly spoke of her wishes. Mr Evans also described an unusual marriage which saw Jones having a sexual encounter with her husband's son, Magnus, on their wedding night.

He said "It was a most extraordinary beginning to the marriage. "It carried on, we suggest, as a sexual relationship. It's hard to understand unless, below the surface, there was a wish to hurt Francis Jones."

Mr Evans described a string of affairs including ones with former soldier, Robert Routledge, Lenny Loveridge and fishmonger, Richard Gafney. "Was it just a bit of fun or was it each time driving a nail into the coffin of their relationship?" he said.

Mr Evans described how Jones asked Mr Routledge and Mr Loveridge to kill her husband.

Methods included hitting him over the head in a fake robbery or running him off the road while he was driving home from work.

The prosecution said the sinister conversation made Mr Loveridge end the relationship.

"This conversation made him turn his back and walk away" said Mr Evans.

Mr Evans urged the jury to take evidence given by prosecution witnesses seriously, despite the dominatrix revelation surrounding Miss Benjamin earlier in the trial.

He said her in-depth knowledge about the personal movements of Mr Jones such as his working hours and route home from work could not have been made up and must have come from Jones.

"She (Miss Benjamin) had nothing to gain and everything to lose by making these revelations which point to the truth of what she said," he said.

The prosecution say other conversations including a taped chat Jones had with Miss Benjamin and a drunken conversation between the defendant and her brother also pointed to her guilt.

During the phone call Jones confirmed she had mentioned the sum of £20,000 to her brother if he ran Mr Jones off the road.

Mr Evans said Jones also had a convenient knack of forgetting details of the case during police interview. Richard Smith, QC, defending, said Jones was not serious about someone killing her millionaire husband.

"There is a cavernous leap between infidelity and asking Lenny Loveridge to kill her husband" he said.

"There was no serious intention. Exchanges had more of a humorous context than anything else.

"If that was her desire or intention, why would she have been so loose- tongued about it with so many?

"Where was the persuasion, begging or demand for someone to do it?" (Proceeding)