A WOMAN has denied plotting to murder her husband. Lisa Fairpo is on trial with her lover Darren Wilson, accused of conspiring to murder her husband Andrew Burr to get a £750,000 life insurance payout. It is alleged they offered to pay hitman Mikhail Ward £10,000 to kill Mr Burr.
Giving evidence, Mrs Fairpo told Hull Crown Court she did not ask her husband to increase his life insurance cover. She said Mr Burr had lied to her that a gang was sending him death threats and were after him. This, claims Mrs Fairpo, prompted the couple to look into getting life insurance.
She said: "We both agreed I would get him a life cover quote. I didn't insist he had it. We never did it, I'm lazy."
She told the court they talked about getting £1m life insurance to benefit their children in case something happened to either of them.
"It was a family joke – we are unusual," said Mrs Fairpo. "The children would joke about killing me and him and running off with all the money."
Judge Michael Mettyear put it to her: "You did not have any money. It is a strange topic of conversation when you have no money and there is nothing to inherit."
Mrs Fairpo, 36, denied she had ever conspired to kill her husband.
She said: "I had said to Darren 'he (Mr Burr) is doing my head in', but I did not mean I wanted my husband to get killed, ever. I never wanted him to be killed. I don't think you should hurt people. I don't like violence.
"I never had life cover. It was just a husband and wife talking about general life cover."
Mrs Fairpo told the jury she had told Mr Wilson they were discussing getting life cover.
When asked if she thought Mr Wilson would plot to kill her husband she replied: "I don't know, why would he?"
The court heard she had known Mr Wilson, 45, for four years. She described him as her "best friend" and had slept with him once last October.
Mrs Fairpo said: "Andrew is like a big friendly teddy bear. We were in love and we cared a lot about each other and we worked well as a family. But when you are jealous it just causes arguments. He is really good-looking and I'm really plain and simple.
"We then realised we had fallen out of love and were just friends."
Mrs Fairpo, of Northside Road, Hollym, and Mr Wilson, of Appin Close, Bransholme, deny conspiracy to murder.
Woman said lover could have hurt husbandLISA Fairpo told the jury she believed her lover could have hurt her husband.
Mrs Fairpo said her lover Darren Wilson could have harmed her husband Andrew Burr.
She is accused of conspiring with Mr Wilson to kill Mr Burr for a £750,000 life insurance payout.
Prosecutor Mark McKone said: "Do you think if you had told Mr Wilson that Andrew had hurt you, and you asked him to hurt him, do you think he would?"
She replied: "Yes, I do, or he would have got someone else.
"He told me he used to take people out for £50,000."
The prosecution allege she was seeking to have her husband murdered in revenge for leaving her blind, as well as for financial gain.
The court heard she claimed he had "punched her hard" in the eye but in cross-examination claimed it was a "poke".
Mr McKone put it to her: "You are now playing down that punch."
The trial continues.
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