Killer says daughter unaware of affair

(First Edition)

A MAN who killed his daughter and dumped her body in a moorland ditch told a jury yesterday she had not confronted him about his infidelity.

He said he was feeling ill and depressed and when his daughter criticised his work that was 'the last straw'.

He picked up a hammer and swung at her, hitting her 11 times at their home in Elland, West Yorkshire.

Then he put the body into a polythene bag and drove to Scammonden Moor where he dumped the body into a ditch. He was arrested by police 13 days later.

Derek Fleming, 51, denies murdering 23-year-old Linda Fleming, a trainee pharmacist, last January. But he admits manslaughter, a plea rejected by the prosecution.

The jury at Leeds Crown Court has been told Mr Fleming had been secretly seeing another woman for 16 years and that Linda had suspected.

The other woman, Anne Dearden, told the court that on the day before Linda died, Mr Fleming had showed her brochures of villas in Spain where they planned to live.

Benjamin Nolan QC, cross-examining Mr Fleming, asked: 'Did Linda confront you with her suspicions over your infidelity that morning?'

Mr Fleming replied: 'No and at no other time either.'

Mr Nolan: 'Did Linda find your property brochure for your elopement to Spain?'

Mr Fleming: 'If Linda did she never told me.'

Mr Nolan asked if the explanation Mr Fleming had given 'was good reason' to kill her. Mr Fleming said: 'When I got angry I was not responsible for what I was doing, so I cannot say.'

The trial continues.