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Leeds murder accused 'went on spending spree with payment'
A man went on a £25,000 spending spree after being paid to murder his friend's possessive male partner from Leeds, a court heard.
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Simon Mullen, 39, of Farding Square, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, spent thousands of pounds on items including electrical goods, furniture and vehicles after Christopher Hartley was shot dead in September last year, Bradford Crown Court heard.
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Alistair MacDonald QC, prosecuting, told the court it was the crown's case the money came from the fee he received from Mr Hartley's partner, David Large, for carrying out the murder.
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Mullen and Large, 35, of Rona Croft, Rothwell, Leeds, went on trial on Wednesday each charged with the murder of Mr Hartley, who was found with gun shot wounds to his head and chest in a lay-by on a secluded road near Clayton West.
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The court heard that Large had been in an "intimate" relationship with Mr Hartley for 15 years, but had recently begun another relationship with Dawn Mallison, a woman he met on Facebook.
Mr MacDonald said Mr Hartley, from Batley Road, Tingley, was the "dominant partner" in the relationship and was sometimes abusive and violent. "He was jealous and possessive of his partner and deeply resented Large having anything to do with anybody else," he told the court.
The jury, of six men and six women, was told that when Mr Hartley found out about the new relationship, he smashed the window of Large's Mercedes car and made threatening phone calls to Miss Mallinson.
The court heard how Large ordered his friend Mullen to carry out the murder after luring Mr Hartley, a manufacturer of illegal drugs, to the rural location on Litherop Lane under the guise of a drugs deal.
Mr MacDonald said Large had earlier asked Miss Mallinson for her Facebook password so he could contact Mullen. She logged on to the social networking site at the same time and saw a conversation between the two men referring to a door and a hinge. Large later told her that these words were code for gun and bullets, the prosecutor said.
Mr MacDonald added: "It is our case that Simon Mullen was the gunman and we say he had been recruited by Mr Large and paid a substantial sum of money to act as the person actually pulling the trigger."
The barrister said Large, who had been in London at the time of the killing on September 8, arrived at Miss Mallinson's home in the early hours of the next morning and told her: "It's done." He added: "It is the prosecution's case that the only way Large could see to ending the relationship with the deceased was by having him killed."
Miss Mallinson told the police that Large brought a bag to her home, which he said contained 100,000. Mr MacDonald said this bag was later seized by police and was found to contain 48,000 in notes.
He added that Miss Mallinson had said that Large took some money to Mullen on September 17. The barrister said that Mullen, a former offshore rig worker who was on benefits at the time of the murder, went on a "huge spending spree" just days later.
He said Mullen spent more than 3,900 on a 63in television and Blu-Ray home entertainment system on September 22 and paid 1,500 in cash the following day for a 50in television for his girlfriend.
He spent 2,490 on a stereo system for his car, 2,369 on furniture, 3,500 on a transit van, several thousand pounds on repairs to a car and 1,400 on a course to renew his offshore certificate.
Mr MacDonald said: "It is the prosecution's case that the money came from his fee for the killing of Mr Hartley."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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