??/??/?? - Hit's a living
By Sarah Stephens

SOLICITOR'S wife Judy Summer broke down in tears as she played back her husband's message on the phone answering-machine ... it confirmed her worst fears. "Don't wait up, love. I've got to meet a client for dinner. I'll probably be very late home."

Muffling her sobs so as not to wake their young son, Judy took a tatty piece of paper from her handbag and dialled the number written on it. "This is Mrs Summer," she said, her voice trembling with anger. "I've made up my mind. Do it.

"I want my husband hurt really hurt. Break his legs if you have to, I don't care, just make sure he pays for dragging me and the kids through this hell." The man on the other end of the phone noted the address of her husband's office, where he parked the car and what time he would leave work. He demanded half his money up front the rest when the job was done.

It cost Judy £500 to have her husband battered and his legs broken with a baseball bat. Even if she had changed her mind at the last minute it would have been too late. The call had been made.

The deal struck. Judy, previously a law-abiding woman, had hired a hit man a professional like the one who walked into a crowded East London pub last week and shot dead "Big" Jim Moody himself a contract killer who once worked for the Kray twins.

Judy discovered her husband was having an affair through a friend at a dinner party last Christmas Eve. At first she did not believe it. Then after checking up on his excuses for being late home, she spent a further three weeks not wanting to believe it.

Judy really only accepted the truth after her husband, Edward, lied about having to escort a client's mum to court, and missed their son's second birthday party. Now it was her turn to get even. The alarming story was uncovered during a News & Echo probe.

The price list of pain

Verbal threat - service includes monitoring the movements of, and threatening to kill, members of the target's family £300.

Physical attack - ranges from "mild" assault, where target is roughed up a little, to terror rides and beatings - £400 - £500.

lasting damage - blinding, cutting off an ear, knee-cappings, brain damage (with a baseball bat) - £600.

Murder - £8,000 - £10,000