Kicked out by partner during murder trial, joiner whose mistress was stabbed to death
A JOINER whose lover was stabbed to death by her husband has been thrown out by his partner, a court heard yesterday.
Mark Prescott was kicked out by Ann-Marie Croft this week after she learned from reports of the murder trial that he had been planning to set up home with Mandy Gallear. Jurors were told that Mr Prescott had been due to view a bungalow with Mrs Gallear after their affair was uncovered when his partner’s adult children found incriminating text messages. But the 42- year- old accountant did not make the appointment and was instead killed by her husband Stuart, 51, as she emptied the dishwasher. He has pleaded guilty to her manslaughter, but denies murder. At the trial on Monday, Mr Prescott said he was now reunited with his longterm partner, Miss Croft. But when she gave evidence yesterday, she revealed that having read Press coverage of the case she had now kicked Mr Prescott out of their home. Asked why, she explained: Because ‘ my daughter showed me something on my phone, which was in the news, that he was going to view a bungalow with her. I didn’t know that until yesterday. I threw him out last night.’ Miss Croft confirmed that they had travelled to court on Monday and knew they were giving evidence but he had still not told her about the bungalow. She told the jury at Manchester Crown Court that she discovered the affair on October 3 last year when her adult children found text messages between Mr Prescott and Mrs Gallear. She said she kicked him out of the family home on that occa- sion and they separated for up to five weeks. On October 5, her son went to Gallear’s home in Hindley, Wigan and told him about his wife’s affair with Mr Prescott. Miss Croft said that the following morning, October 6, Gallear visited her home and said he understood they had both been cheated on for 18 months. She said: He walked in ‘ and we both just looked at each other. He was just devastated and I was. We were like zombies. I said to him, “Are you going to get him?” He deserved a smack. He replied, “Yeah I’ll get him and if I don’t I will get someone else to.”’ However, she denied asking Gallear whether he was going to kill Mr Prescott. The jury has heard that police found mother- of-two Mrs Gallear motionless on the kitchen floor with three deep wounds to her chest on the afternoon of October 6 after Gallear phoned for an ambulance. She was taken to hospital but doctors could not resus- citate her. In police interviews, Gallear admitted ‘unintentionally’ killing his wife, saying: ‘I didn’t set out to kill her this morning.’ The former warehouse manager said he ‘lost it’ and ‘went for her’ after she told him ‘we’re separating, I love him more than you’ as she emptied the dishwasher. ‘ I grabbed the knife, pushed her back towards the sink and just stabbed her two, three times,’ he said. ‘Then she said, “What are you doing? I still love you.”’ The trial continues.
‘What are you doing? I still love you’