UK man 'killed on wife's orders'

A debt-ridden woman and her son masterminded the contract killing of her husband in a calculated move motivated by a "combination of greed and loathing", a court heard yesterday.

Nigel Bacon, 50, was found in his remote bungalow in Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire in November last year. He had been stabbed repeatedly and died in hospital.

He had six wounds, including a fatal blow that severed his jugular vein in what jurors were told was a "planned, determined and cold-blooded killing".

Mr Bacon's widow, Susan Bacon, 55, his son Michael, 21, his father-in-law Sean Woodcock, 42, and Peter Jacques, 29, all deny murder.

Nottingham Crown court was told Mrs Bacon and her son hatched the plot and "decided he had to be killed". They recruited Peter Jacques, an associate of Woodcock, to commit the murder.

Mr Bacon, a gamekeeper who owned his own company, is believed to have amassed more than 200,000 pounds in savings. Mrs Bacon, the court heard, had debts of more than 60,000 pounds.

Peter Joyce QC, prosecuting, said Mrs Bacon was in "dire straits whilst her husband was wealthy".

He said the Bacons tried unsuccessfully to hire other individuals as killers before settling on Mr Jacques, who was himself thought to have accrued more than