Wife found guilty of contract killing plot

A FORMER hairdresser was yesterday convicted of hiring a contract killer to shoot her husband on the doorstep of their home. Jean Daddow, 53, hired Robert Bell, 33, an ex-soldier, to carry out the killing in Northiam, East Sussex, in November 1991.

She took money from an account she shared with her husband, Terry, and offered Bell the cash stuffed in a shoe box, Hove Crown Court was told.

Mr Daddow, 52, a former Lloyds Bank adviser, died instantly after Bell shot him through the heart from point- blank range while Mrs Daddow waited upstairs.

The court heard that Mrs Daddow had spent weeks plotting the killing with Roger Blackman, 23, of Biddenden, Kent, her son from a previous marriage.

They were convicted on a unanimous verdict of conspiracy to murder. Both had denied the charge.

Bell, of Headcorn, Kent, was convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder. He denied both charges. Mr Justice Hidden remanded all three in custody for three weeks for reports and warned them they faced very long fixed-term sentences or life imprisonment.

Camden Pratt QC, for the prosecution, had told the court how Mrs Daddow and her son had grown to hate Terry Daddow and decided to recruit Bell to get rid of him.

Mrs Daddow had considered divorce but had been worried about the financial implications, Mr Pratt said.

After the verdicts were announced, Det Supt Brian Foster said it was the 'likelihood' that Daddow had married her husband with murder in mind.