Jean Ritchie

Dena wasted no time going to see his boss at the newspaper office to claim his £36,000 death-in-service benefit, turning up the same day. She was described as ‘cold and unemotional’

At first, he said, he was shocked to find she had lost her sparkle, but when she told him that her first husband beat her up and stalked her, and her second husband had died (this time she said from an overdose of steroids), he felt sorry for her. This, compounded by the fact that she said she was being treated for terminal cancer of the kidney, and had just weeks to live

Halifax Building Society

Lee Wyatt

Sean the Leprechaun

multi-million-pound

(the documentation needed to work in the States)

The devastation caused by Dena Thompson, dubbed The Black Widow, was summed up by the judge, who described her as ‘one of the most fluent liars I have ever come across’. He said: ‘You no doubt thought you would benefit financially from Mr Webb’s death. What you did was utterly ruthless and without pity. Nothing can excuse you for the wickedness of what you did.’

women are far more likely to be killed by their husbands, partners, lovers or ex-lovers than by a stranger.

Love spawns some of the greatest higher feelings, but it also leads to the most debased acts of vengeance.