A 4,500 pound loan was applied for by a woman supposedly for home improvements but, the money was to pay for a hit-man to kill her husband. Zelda Kennedy claimed that she wanted to install a new bathroom in her home and the finance company that she asked duly gave her the loan. It turned out that she had actually recruited her lover and neighbour, Les Waters, to make the arrangements for her husbands' demise for the princely sum of 10,000 pounds.
She failed to raise the full amount however, as she was turned down by two other lenders, Tesco Personal Finance and Northern Rock. Seemingly, the 44 year old care workers' gripe against her husband was that he 'smothered her in love' for which she wanted him killed off so that she could claim the life insurance of nearly 34,000 pounds.
Waters, who professed to be a gangster, made claims to being connected to the right people and would be able to arrange a professional hit-man. He was a complete phony and daydreamer and he took the 3,000 pounds as a down payment that she gave him and kept it for himself.
Kennedy, from Croydon, South London, tried to borrow money from her family to pay for the homicide but she was arrested then convicted of perpetrating murder, the maximum sentence for which is life.
However, Mr Kennedy, 42, is still under the illusion that she is innocent and is standing by her. During the hearing, he went along ever single day, with her sons from a previous marriage, and when the Old Bailey jury delivered their verdict of guilty, he wept.
The problems started for the couple when Mr Kennedy's mother died and he turned all his affection to his wife. In 2006 Mrs Kennedy started having an affair with Waters who lived with his pregnant wife next-door. They shared intimate texts and met at a local pub for a drink on several occasions. Only a matter of weeks into the liaison Mrs Kennedy asked her lover if he would be able to organise the death of her husband.
Waters told the jury: 'I was quite shocked. She asked if I knew anyone that could get rid of somebody. 'Zelda said I looked like a bit of a rogue and the sort of person who would know someone like that. I told her I could try to sort it out.
'I tried to convince her that I could do it. She asked me how much it would cost and I just bounced a figure off my head, I said 10,000 pounds. Zelda said she hadn't got that kind of money, but she said she could get about three or four thousand. I didn't ask her where from.'
Zelda Kennedy wrote down information that would help the hit-man to find him at his job at Alpha Catering and wrote a list of bookmakers that he visited. Her unflattering description of him described him as '6ft with an ugly big nose.' She secured a loan from Welcome Financial Services supposedly for a bathroom for 4,500 pounds and when she did not manage to procure the rest of the money she asked her brother Richard for some money saying, 'I want to have Tim done over. I hate him.'
She pestered her brother texting him desperately to say, 'They need to know if I have the rest of the money, otherwise they won't go through with it.' Once her brother realised that she was actually serious he told other family members who told the police and she was arrested. Having agreed to testify against Kennedy Waters got off with a caution.
Kennedy said during the trial that she just wanted him 'out of the way' and had hoped that hiring a hit-man would frighten him and he would leave, she said, 'Tim loved me too much. He smothered me.'
The judge on the case, Gregory Stone QC, cautioned her that she may face a prison sentence and remanded her in custody.
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