A COUPLE murdered a Chester man to wipe out the debt they owed for the purchase of a high-performance car, a court has been told.
Scott Davidson, 23, shot victim Martin Ithell at close range in the chest in the hallway of his Frodsham home and his girlfriend Rachael Horton, 19, of Hawthorn Road, Little Sutton, then stabbed him repeatedly in the neck, it was alleged at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday.
Prosecutor Michael Chambers QC said 49-year-old Mr Ithell, of Robinsons Croft, Great Boughton, would have been killed by either the shotgun wound to the heart or the stabbing.
He argued it was irrelevant which weapon proved fatal as the murder on Friday, March 11, had been planned by both parties.
Davidson and Horton, who had been engaged, both deny the charge.
Davidson, a doorman in Chester, had known Mr Ithell because he too had worked on the doors.
He had borrowed a large amount of money from the victim to buy a Subaru Impreza car but Mr Ithell was exerting pressure to get his money back.
Mr Chambers alleged the pair, who were renting a house in Hawthorne Road, Frodsham, had regarded the debt to Mr Ithell as a joint debt.
And the couple, who had intended to get married and have a family, were struggling to repay the debt because of the high interest rate.
As they became increasingly desperate there was evidence they had planned an armed robbery together but this came to nothing.
Davidson was having an affair with another woman but Horton, who worked in telesales for a Deeside bed company, was besotted with him and, Mr Chambers alleged, would do anything for him.
“The removal of Ithell would mean the removal of the debt,” argued the prosecutor.
Ithell was ‘lured' to their house with the false promise of money. Plastic sheeting was placed in the hallway to catch the blood and paint purchased to cover any splashes on the magnolia walls.
Mr Chambers said there was an element of fantasy to the couple's behaviour and in the preparation for the murder as though in a film.
As planned, Davidson drove the body away on the rear seat of the victim's own BMW car.
Horton was due to clear up and follow on in their Vauxhall Astra with the shotgun and a can of petrol so they could meet at a remote location and ‘torch' the evidence.
But Ithell had ‘smelt a rat' and gone with a listening device enabling two male friends waiting round the corner to eavesdrop using their mobile phones.
When Mr Ithell arrived they heard: “Hi, have you been doing some painting?” Then they heard a strange noise and the line went dead.
They saw Mr Ithell's car being driven off by a man they didn't recognise and to their horror found a large amount of blood on the steps of the defendants' house so went to nearby Frodsham Police Station to raise the alarm.
Horton, who was living with her parents in Hawthorn Road, Little Sutton at this time, was arrested at the Frodsham house just after 8pm after phoning her boyfriend to let him know ‘the game was up’.
He drove around for several hours, including as far as Sandbach, before handing himself in at Blacon Police Station at 2am.
Horton initially admitted she stabbed the victim but later retracted this when questioned, saying she had been protecting Davidson.
Davidson initially claimed he carried out both the shooting and stabbing, but in self-defence as he alleged Mr Ithell had turned up with a handgun although no gun was ever recovered.
He had not realised the shotgun, which was taken from his father's house in Elton, was loaded and it had gone off by accident.
But in a dramatic turn of events he changed his account last Thursday to state that while he shot Mr Ithell in self-defence, it was Horton who stabbed him with a kitchen knife which was when he fell to the floor.
Mobile phone and text message data will feature heavily in the case.
One text from Horton to Davidson reveals the mess they were in.
She texted: "No probs. Just really busy. As for gangster, I would not like the idea of owing him £11,000! We struggling to pay £500."
The jury will go on a site visit in Frodsham this morning (Thursday).
The case continues.
