Hire hitmen to kill partner? I was researching a thriller
A RETIRED television producer accused of approaching three ‘hitmen’ to murder his partner was simply exploring the world of ‘sleaze’ as research for a thriller he was writing, he told police.
David Harris, 68, a former location manager for ITV police drama The Bill, needed to trawl East End pubs and meet ‘underworld’ characters for his crime book, he claimed.
But he said he had not made any notes – or told anyone about his plans for the novel – for fear of being ridiculed by his ‘literary’ friends, the Old Bailey heard.
Harris is accused of conspiring to murder his long-term girlfriend Hazel Allinson, also 68, so he could inherit her £800,000 home and run off with the lover he met in a brothel.
But in an interview with police, he denied wanting Mrs Allinson dead – and said he was simply planning to write a book about an older man with a younger girlfriend who wanted to kill his wife for her money. He said any profits would be for Mrs Allinson, who he said was his ‘soulmate’ and a ‘lifesaver’ after rescuing him from alcoholism.
Harris was arrested in November at a bed and breakfast in London where police found him naked in bed with Lithuanian Ugne Cekaviciute, 28. It came hours after he met an undercover officer posing as an assassin for hire. Harris had previously met two other men but the first ‘hitman’ he approached and offered up to £250,000 tried to warn Mrs Allinson, while the second told police.
In transcripts of police interviews read out in court yesterday, Harris said the idea of writing a book came after he was given a Kindle two years ago and began reading a lot of thrillers. He told officers: ‘For a long time I’ve wanted to earn money for Hazel.
‘I thought, well, if they can do it, why can’t I? I don’t have a huge imaginative thought process, but I thought by reading these thrillers I might be able to write a thriller, earn some money, and maybe sell the film rights. I decided it would be a murder mystery.’
Harris said he tried to find people who could direct him to ‘sleazy pubs, sleazy bars, sleazy cafes, rundown garages’.
He said he used himself and Mrs Allinson as the basis for his characters. Harris added: ‘The storyline for the book was based on my life – a guy meets young girl, falls in love, can’t be with young girl because he can’t afford to be, but knows he could inherit if something happened to his partner.’
He claimed that when the ‘hitmen’ asked for pictures of the target for a ‘fatal accident’ he gave them photos of Mrs Allinson and her car, plus details of her movements, because they were all he had to hand.
Asked why he had not written any notes for his ‘book’ despite months of research, and why he had not told anyone, Harris told police: ‘I thought people would find it laughable – we live in quite a literary society. People don’t read thrillers like I do, so I felt quite embarrassed about it.’
He said that after Mrs Allinson suffered breast cancer a few ago they had no sexual contact. He turned to Miss Cekaviciute for his ‘sexual needs’ but then fell in love.
Harris admitted that Mrs Allinson owned their £800,000 home, while he survived on his state pension, ‘a measly £1,300 a year’ private pension, and a £300 monthly allowance from his partner, who he described as ‘very generous’.
Harris, who lived with Mrs Allinson in Amberley, West Sussex, denies three counts of conspiracy to murder. The trial continues.