Mistress accused of killing rival warned: I’m a vengeful bitch
THE ‘bunny boiler’ accused of Sadie Hartley’s murder described herself as a ‘bitter and vengeful bitch’ in a letter to another ex-lover’s wife, a court heard.
Sarah Williams, 35, said she revealed her ten-month affair with Thai martial arts expert Somapat Sitiwitjana, 47, to his wife Janet, 45, because she ‘thought that she should know’.
In her first day giving evidence in her defence, ski worker Williams explained how she told the couple she was pregnant with Mr Sitiwitjana’s baby and even sent a picture of her friend’s baby scan pretending it was hers.
Williams is accused of recruiting close friend and co-defendant Katrina Walsh, 56, to help plan the ‘perfect murder’ of businesswoman Mrs Hartley, 60, in order to rekindle her relationship with the victim’s partner Ian Johnston, 57.
In January, mother-of-two Mrs Hartley was found stabbed to death after being paralysed with a stun gun at her house in Helmshore, Lancashire.
The jury previously heard how Williams had become ‘obsessed’ with Mr Johnston after they broke up and sent a letter to Mrs Hartley revealing their year-long affair.
Yesterday Williams gave evidence in front of Mrs Hartley’s grown-up children at Preston Crown Court.
Under questioning from Gordon Cole QC, defending, she told the court she had referred to Mrs Hartley as ‘a bitch’ in conversation with friends.
But she said she had no ‘feelings of animosity’ towards her love rival and had never had a ‘bad word’ to say about her. Williams told the court she regretted sending a letter revealing her affair with Mr Johnston and that it ‘was a crap thing to do’.
She said she had directed her ‘venting’ at the wrong person.
The court heard that two years earlier she had an ‘intense, passionate’ relationship with Mr Sitiwitjana.
After breaking off the affair because he was allegedly cheating on her with a younger
‘Intense and passionate’
woman, she sent his wife a letter, the jury was told.
It read: ‘Dear Janet, I think you should know about the sort of scumbag you are married to … You may think I am a bitter and vengeful bitch’.
Asked why she had sent it, Williams said: ‘I suspected from things he said to me that he had told numerous lies, I thought she should know.’
Mr Cole asked her whether she was ‘bitter’ and ‘vengeful’. Williams replied: ‘The letter was probably vengeful in a way.’ Williams said she let down Mr Sitiwitjana’s car tyres at the car park of the indoor ski centre where she worked.
The court previously heard how Mr Johnston ended his relationship with ‘clingy’ Williams after she became obsessed with him. Former friends described her as a ‘she-devil’, ‘psycho’, and ‘bunny boiler’.
But when asked to describe her ‘general character’ yesterday, Williams said: ‘I’m quite easy-going and friendly. I can get on with people relatively easily … I would not say I’m aggressive at all.’
Williams met Mr Johnston while skiing at the Chill Factore centre in 2011, but it wasn’t until two years later that they first had sex at his house, the court heard.
She said he told her he was ‘trapped’ in his relationship with Mrs Hartley. Williams told the court: ‘He mentioned on a number of occasions he was concerned about whether he was going down the wrong road … by continuing to have a relationship with her.’
Williams and Walsh deny murder. The trial continues.