A woman accused of murdering her love rival after the breakdown of an affair was obsessed with her former lover and wanted to rekindle their relationship, a court has heard.
Sarah Williams, 35, is standing trial alongside Katrina Walsh, 56, jointly accused of the murder of Sadie Hartley in January this year. Hartley, 60, was paralysed with a stun gun and stabbed at least 40 times, allegedly by Williams who wanted to resume a relationship with Ian Johnston, Preston crown court has heard.
People who worked with Williams at a travel agency in the Chill Factore indoor ski slope in Manchester described her extreme levels of infatuation with Johnston, 57, a keen skier who was a regular at the slope.
Colleagues told the jury that Williams once turned up at Johnston’s house, forced her way in and refused to leave, and then climbed into his bed naked and waited for him to return.
Natalie Chapman, who worked with Williams at the Crystal Ski Holiday company, said: “She told me that she was in love with him and that she wanted to marry him.”
In August 2015, Williams allegedly learned from Johnston’s Facebook page that he had returned from a holiday. Williams told colleagues she would go to Johnston’s home, the court heard.
Describing a conversation the day after the visit, Chapman said: “I got the impression that she told him that she wanted to see him but he said no. She went anyway and when she got to the house she barged him out of the way and sat on the sofa and cried.”
Williams refused to leave despite Johnston telling her he was due to go out, Chapman said. “He left her a key in case she needed to get out of the house. But after he left she got undressed and got into his bed and waited for him to return.”
The next morning, the court heard, Williams boasted to work colleagues that they had had sex. Williams had three copies made of keys to Johnston’s house and showed them at a works party, the jury was told.
Chapman said that after another encounter with Johnston, Williams “was very excited because she had seen Ian and because he had touched her arm, and she said that she was not going to wash it because he had touched her”.
In November 2015, Williams told colleagues how the previous night she had let herself into Johnston’s home, setting off the alarm, Chapman said.
Ignoring advice from her colleagues, Williams went on to write a letter to Johnston’s partner in an attempt to split them up, the court heard.
Another colleague, Nicola Botham, said Williams had been obsessed with Johnston, talking of him constantly and looking at pictures of him on her phone and on social media.
Botham said Williams once spotted a picture on Facebook of Johnston wearing a sweater she had bought for him, and took this as a sign that their relationship could be rekindled. In a Facebook message after seeing the photo, Williams said: “I am smiling like someone who is ever so slightly mentally ill.”
Richard Savery, a ski instructor who regularly met friends at Chill Factore, told the court that Williams had previously made threats to kill a friend’s partner.
Recalling a conversation between the defendant and her then boyfriend, David Hardwick, Savery claimed Williams had been “very protective” of a woman in the ski group who was apparently being emotionally abused by her partner.
“Sarah had threatened to kill him, in front of me. David became slightly agitated and asked her not to say something like that because people believe it. He was really worried it would be carried through,” Savery said.
He said Williams confided in him about her affair with Johnston, and he believed she had been infatuated with him. Savery told police she was a bizarre character, “unhinged” and “psychotic”, who regularly described Hartley as an “evil bitch”.
The court has previously heard that Johnston ended his affair with Williams after she became “possessive and difficult”. Williams harboured a “delusional hope of a dream life with her ideal man” and spent 17 months plotting the murder of Hartley with her friend Walsh, it has been alleged.
Williams and Walsh, both of Chester, deny murder and will seek to blame each other for the crime, the court has heard. The case continues.
