THE hitman who claims he was offered £10,000 to murder a painter and decorator has been accused of seeking revenge on the man who allegedly hired him. Mikail Ward, 42, told Hull Crown Court he was hired by Darren Wilson to kill his lover Lisa Fairpo's husband Andrew Burr with a knife.
Ward told Hull Crown Court he was supposed to lure Mr Burr to an empty house on the pretext of asking him for a quote for a job, before stabbing him to death.
Ward told the jury: "Darren Wilson asked me to get rid of someone. He didn't say who, he didn't give names, just that it was someone he knew. I was to lure this person to an address and kill them with a knife.
"I said it would be easier with a gun because I'm ex-Forces and I know how to use a gun. I suggested a Browning 9mm but he was not very keen on the idea. It would make too much noise and he wanted to use a knife to make sure the man suffered.
"I agreed with him at the time to kill him because of the money that he was going to pay me. He said he would give me £10,000 and clear the debt I had with him.
"I was very nervous about it and I didn't want to go through with it. I called the police because I couldn't go through with it and someone was in danger. I figured if I didn't go through with it, someone else would."
Ward has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. Mrs Fairpo and Mr Wilson are both on trial at Hull Crown Court accused of conspiracy to commit murder. They deny the charge.
• Wife 'hired hitman to kill husband', court hears
The court heard Ward had been running a cannabis factory in his flat in Duesbury Street, west Hull, and was due to be paid £4,000 by Mr Wilson and his brother Dean Armstrong when it was harvested. However, he told the jury someone broke in and stole all his plants.
Barrister John Thackray has accused Ward of making the conspiracy up as revenge against his client Mr Wilson because he believed the brothers had stolen his cannabis factory. Ward has also been accused by Mr Thackray of being responsible for petrol bombing a house in Grove Road, west Hull, allegedly on Mr Armstrong and Mr Wilson's orders.
It is alleged the brothers paid someone to firebomb the house to scare the tenants into leaving so they could use it to grow cannabis. The jury was shown CCTV footage of Ward and Mr Armstrong buying a phone card used to send a threatening text message to the family who were targeted in the arson in a bid to make them leave their home.
In cross-examination, Mr Thackray put it to Ward: "You were in that arson up to your neck and you were worried when you go back to the police station, they would charge you with arson and that's why you came up with this elaborate plot about someone being killed.
"You thought if I go to the police about an elaborate plot for murder, that will get me off the arson. But you didn't realise when you said that to the police, simply agreeing to kill someone would get you into trouble.
"At the same time, it allowed you to get revenge on Mr Armstrong and Mr Wilson because you believed that when that cannabis was stolen and you lost your £4,000 profit, you believed they had taken it."
Ward denied he was acting out of revenge.
He told the court: "It is not about getting revenge. It was about my concern about what I was involved in and concern about that man."
The trial continues.
