William and Angela Taylor married in 1997. Photo / Supplied
William and Angela Taylor married in 1997. Photo / Supplied
A woman accused of killing her "very wealthy", older husband had discussed an alleged murder plot with her lover in a series of violent messages, a court has heard.
Angela Taylor, 53, and her partner Paul Cannon, 54, are both on trial after the body of the woman's husband was found in a river February this year.
Millionaire farmer William Taylor, 69, from Hertfordshire, England, vanished in June 2018, just days shy of his 70th birthday, reports News.com.au.
Several days before his disappearance, his Land Rover had been badly damaged by a mysterious fire caused by a towel soaked in accelerant, the UK Guardian reports.
Mr Taylor was officially reported missing, but it took eight long months before his remains were spotted in a river by a member of the public.
All three have denied murder and conspiracy to murder, and charges against Mr Griffiths have since been dropped.
However, a series of horrific and damning WhatsApp messages allegedly sent between the lovers have been heard by St Albans Crown Court.
In one exchange, The Mirror reported Mr Cannon as writing: "You know what I'd like to do … make love to you on his kitchen table … with him tied to a chair so he had to watch!!!!!!! Then send him to hell."
Mrs Taylor allegedly replied: "Think that would kill him, last thing he saw was us making love."
Another message sent by Mr Cannon included the phrase: "torture the c**** … nail their feet to the scaffolding", although it is not known whether that was a reference to Mr Taylor, while Mrs Taylor also texted she wanted to "get shot" of her husband.
The shocking message have been heard by a UK court. Photo / News Corp Australia
This week, Mrs Taylor dismissed the incriminating messages as "meaningless" and "rubbish chat", argued they were simply examples of she and her partner "venting frustrations".
"It was just a phrase you say … I don't mean actually shooting someone," she told the court, according to the BBC.
Mrs Taylor also described her marriage as "very difficult", but said she had wanted to keep her illicit affair secret as she did not want to "hurt" her husband.
"I didn't want anyone to know, I didn't want to hurt the kids, I didn't want to hurt Bill," the mother-of-four said, according to the BBC, adding she was "embarrassed and ashamed" to have them read in court.
TROUBLED MARRIAGE
Mr and Mrs Taylor met in 1992 and married in 1997.
They had three children together, and both also had children from prior relationships.
Last month, the court heard the couple's marriage had first encountered problems in 2014, when Mrs Taylor decided she wanted to leave her husband.
Mr Taylor agreed to give his wife a "large financial settlement including two properties", according to the UK's Telegraph, but would not consent to an official divorce.
Then, in 2017, Mr Cannon — a farm labourer — moved into the couple's home as a lodger, which is when the affair began.
It had earlier been alleged Mrs Taylor and Mr Cannon developed a "venomous hatred" and "bitter resentments" after Mr Taylor refused to divorce his wife even after he was left "angered and distressed" when her affair was exposed.
"It will become apparent, we say, that he and she shared and encouraged each other in a venomous hatred for William Taylor. They loathed him," prosecutor John Price QC told the court last month, according to the Telegraph.
