— and when he refused she burnt body and dumped it in woods’
A ‘vicious and scheming’ woman stabbed her frail boyfriend with broken crockery before burning his body and dumping it in woods after a butcher refused to help her dismember him.
Clare Humble, 50, of Bedlington, Northumberland, allegedly attacked her partner Peter Hedley in October last year, stabbing him with broken crockery, hitting him with a table top and gouging his eyes.
It is claimed Humble killed Mr Hedley at their rented flat in Bedlington and then transported his taped up body rolled up in a carpet in the back of a car to woods in Newcastle.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Humble then confessed to a self-employed butcher friend she had killed her lover, who was in poor health and suffered from brittle bones and epilepsy, because she’d ‘had enough of him’.
The court heard when her attempts to enlist the butcher’s help failed, Humble got in touch with her former boyfriend, Lee Nicholson, on Facebook and the pair bought a car from Gumtree.
Humble allegedly used cash from Mr Hedley’s bank account to buy a £250 Peugeot car from Gumtree and bought tools from a hardware store.
On November 5 the pair used the car to transport Mr Hedley’s body to the woods where it was set on fire and concealed with foliage.
The court heard the couple allegedly bought petrol cans, a shovel, heavy duty gloves, a torch and batteries in readiness for the grim task.
Mr Hedley’s burnt corpse was only found when dogs being walked in parkland at Newburn Riverside Park in Newcastle discovered it.
Humble became aware that police had found the body and rang Nicholson saying she was going to hand herself in, the court heard.
But The Chronicle reports she then allegedly rang police and claimed Nicholson had murdered Mr Hedley and that she was hiding in a bush ‘in fear for her life’ – an account prosecutors labelled a ‘sham’.
Nicholson, 39, of Newcastle, has admitted perverting the course of justice.
Humble admits perverting the course of justice but denies murder.
The court heard Mr Hedley suffered from depression, was an alcoholic and had been in a relationship with Humble for three or four years at the time of his death.
Prosecutor Nick Dry told jurors Mr Hedley was last seen alive by a handyman who visited the couple’s flat on October 30.
On November 1 Humble was seen buying sticky tape from the local newsagents and she later cancelled the workman’s return visit and told him they were going away.
Mr Dry said: ‘The significance of that is the defendant was setting about the cover up of what she had done, taping up Mr Hedley’s body for disposal and putting off visitors to the address with a false account about going away for a week.’
The court heard that same day Humble turned up at the butcher’s house.
Mr Dry said: ‘He was a self employed butcher known as ‘Butch’.
‘The crown’s case is Humble went to him with a view to having him dismember the body of her deceased partner in order to ease the process of it’s disposal.
‘He was surprised to see her. He was even more surprised when she told him she had killed Peter and needed help to dispose of his body.
‘He couldn’t believe she was serious. She went on to explain how she had ‘booted him all over’.
‘She said she had simply had enough of him.’
Humble later admitted to police that she had a fight with Mr Hedley while they were in their home but said his death was caused by an epileptic fit – a claim the prosecution reject.
A post mortem examination found Mr Hedley had 12 recent injuries to his face at time of his death – 12 to his back, a broken rib, a fractured cheekbone and brain swelling as well as eye injuries.
Three were consistent with stab wounds inflicted with broken crockery.
Mr Dry added: ‘It is a clear picture of a vicious and scheming woman whose only concern, having beating her frail partner to death, in his own home, was to dump his body, cover her tracks and set about evading responsibility.’
Jurors were told the cause of Mr Hedley’s death is likely to be an issue in the trial.
The trial continues.
