Wife and nephew jailed for murder

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/dec/06/martinwainwright

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Christina Button, 32, stared stunned at the judge at Newcastle crown court as he called her a "cold and calculating killer".

Mr Justice Royce said that the mother of one, who had 14 credit cards and was heavily in debt, had worked on her nephew Simon Tannahill, 20, who was also sentenced to life. Tannahill bludgeoned George Button, 53, to death as he walked his collie dog. They had both denied murder.

The judge said: "George Button was a kind and gentle man. It is difficult to conceive of a more cold and calculating killing. There is only one sentence that I can pass and that is one of life imprisonment."

The court heard that Christina Button had run up debts of almost £200,000 and the couple had been forced to remortgage their home in West Rayton, County Durham, where they lived with their seven-year-old daughter, Laura, and Tannahill. They had taken the young man in after he had quarrelled with his father, and he became "besotted" with Button.

The jury was told that George Button had been left with terrible head wounds. He was found by a passer-by who thought he had been hit by a car. He died in hospital two days after the attack in March.

Toby Headworth QC, prosecuting, said that Christina Button had a long history of financial profligacy. She had met the unmarried Mr Button shortly after the death of his parents, whom he had looked after for many years, while he worked as a colliery electrician and then for Sunderland city council.

She collapsed at the end of the trial on Thursday, when the jury brought in a guilty verdict, and sentencing was postponed until yesterday.

Mr Headworth told the trial: "The mathematics of this murder were straightforward. Christina Button was acutely aware of the benefits to her of her husband's death. She had told neighbours that, thanks to insurance polices and her husband's age, she would one day become a very rich young widow."