`Son lied over mother killing'

David Howells, the man accused with his sons of murdering their mother, yesterday alleged that his teenage son deliberately implicated him in order to escape the blame.

Mr Howells told Leeds Crown Court that he had never discussed ways of killing his wife, Eve, with his sons John and Glenn, despite John's claims in evidence that his father had talked about it several times in the year before her death.

Mrs Howells, 48, a teacher, was bludgeoned to death in the living-room of her home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in August 1995. The court has heard that Glenn attacked his mother with a hammer and John got rid of the weapon and bloody clothes.

Mr Howells, a maintenance engineer, was playing darts two miles away when she died and had "the perfect alibi". He told the court yesterday that he knew nothing of a pact until after his wife's death and had not plotted with his sons.

Franz Muller QC, for the prosecution, said that John had claimed that "we all put our points forward what to do" in relation to the killing.

He asked Mr Howells: "All that is wicked lies to get himself off the hook at your expense; is that the position?" Mr Howells replied: "It seems like that to me, yes."

Mr Howells told the court he thought John was "scared". "He was trying to make it easier for himself by maybe trying to spread the blame on to all three of us ... All I'm saying is I wouldn't have expected my son to say that."

The court heard that when Mr Howells was told by a neighbour after the attack that "something terrible" had happened at his home, he failed to ask how his wife was.

Mr Muller said: "This is the woman whom you loved and her death broke your heart, and you didn't even bother to ask what happened to her." David denied that this was because he knew exactly what had happened.

David, 48, Glenn, 17, and John, 15, all deny murder. Glenn admits manslaughter on the grounds of provocation. The trial continues.