Wife 'killed days before payout'
A mother-of-four was stabbed to death by her 'mean' estranged husband the day before he was due to give £133,000 to her solicitors, a jury was told.
A mother-of-four was stabbed to death by her 'mean' estranged husband the day before he was due to give £133,000 to her solicitors, a jury was told.
Ex-miner Jim Ingram faced losing his home if he did not hand over the money to his wife of 38 years, Stafford Crown Court heard.
Ingram, aged 63, disappeared for nearly three months after the murder, it is claimed.
Mr Philip Parker QC, prosecuting, said Ingram worked hard, spent very little and saved up a "small fortune."He told the jury yesterday: "Throughout the marriage he had been indescribably mean."
Ingram, of Don Grove, Cannock, denies murdering 61-year-old Diane Ingram on March 13. Mr Parker described Mrs Ingram as a bubbly character who "wanted out" of the marriage, left her husband in 2005 and started divorce proceedings.
He alleged that as well as being mean, Ingram had from time to time been violent. He once went to her flat in Avon Road, near the matrimonial home, and kept her there. He tried to have intercourse with her and tried to strangle her, alleged Mr Parker.
By 4pm on March 14 Ingram had, by order of the court, to hand over the £133,000 .
"If he did not he would have to leave the former matrimonial home," said Mr Parker.
On March 13 he left a note through his brother's letterbox saying the thought of handing over the cash made him "pig sick."
Mr Parker said Ingram had bumped into his wife and gone to her flat. When she was found later she had suffered "quite a beating". She had also been stabbed in the chest and the neck with a screwdriver.
During his time missing he sent a birthday letter to his son Matthew in which he wrote: "Blood sucking solicitors and barristers and a wife I have married for 40 years just get their hands on my money." Ingram was arrested in Derby nearly three months after the death. He told police that Mrs Ingram had told him she had a new man and he went "crazy." But he said he only realised she was dead when he read about it in the Express & Star at Lichfield library. The hearing continues.
