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- Mistress hated lover, not his wife, murder jury told
MICHELLE Taylor was prepared to kill her lover's wife rather than
lose him, it was alleged at the Old Bailey yesterday.
Miss Taylor, aged 21, conceded that by June 3 last year the day
of the murder her lover John Shaughnessy, aged 30, had told her
he wanted to spend more time with his wife Alison and that they
had talked of starting a family.
John Nutting, prosecuting, alleged: "You feared on June 3
that you were going to lose him and that is why you planned Alison's
death." She replied: "There was no relationship by then
so I didn't have to fear anything.
Me and my sister did not kill Alison." Miss Taylor, a cleaner
at the private Churchill Clinic in Lambeth, south London, and
her sister Lisa Tayor, aged 19, both of Forest Hill, south London,
deny murdering Mrs Shaughnessy, aged 21 at her home in Battersea.
Mrs Shaughnessy was stabbed 54 times in what the Crown alleges
was a jealous frenzy. Earlier, Michelle Taylor said her feelings
towards Mr Shaughnessy changed after she found out he was two-timing
both her and his wife, and had taken out a third woman.
She told the jury: "I did not feel jealousy or hatred towards
Alison any more. As time went on I realised it was not Alison
I hated, it was John." The court heard that she hated her
lover leaving her after they had sexual intercourse.
She agreed with Mr Nutting that on one occasion when Mr Shaughnessy
spent the night with her it gave her a tremendous sense of happiness.
"All I wanted was to be cuddled," she told the jury,
Asked by Mr Nutting about diary entries on her relationship with
Mr Shaughnessy, Miss Taylor agreed that for a time she was very
jealous of Mrs Shaughnessy.
Asked whether she felt hatred for her, when she learned of her
engagement to Mr Shaughnessy, she replied: "I think I hated
John at that moment." Mr Nutting: "You were jealous
of the time she spent with him?" She replied: "Yes."
He asked: "When you reflected on the future of your relationship
that all you had were memories did it make you feel a sense of
despair?"
Miss Taylor: "I hated myself." The trial was halted
briefly when a defence witness, Tessa Jordan, aged 17, appeared
to collapse in the witness box. She quickly revived when court
staff went to her aid.
Miss Jordan said she had been invited to go shopping in Bromley
on June 3 with Lisa Taylor, a good friend, and Michelle, but was
unable to go.
Lisa had telephoned her at about 5.30pm, saying she had been unable
to find any dresses she liked, she said. Part of the sisters'
alibi is that they were shopping in Bromley on June 3.
The trial continues today. |
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