The informer
would come from Hazel’s life assurance and the sale of their £1million home.
Chris secretly recorded Harris urging him: “I want to get this done and the sooner the better. If we can do it this week, leading up to March 1, the car can be in your hands and 10 grand in your hands by the weekend.
“There is no doubt I’ll sell the house as quick as possible. It’ll look like an accident, a mugging gone wrong or something.”
Chris said he went to warn Hazel at a gym where Harris had urged him to kill her – but she drove off too quickly for him to see her.
He said he then sent her anonymous emails, warning her of the plot.
He said: “The last thing I heard from Harris, he told me he had made up with her and they were sorting things out.” But Harris had simply become tired of waiting for Chris to act and turned to another potential “hitman”, Duke Dean, who promptly told police of the plot, putting both Chris and Harris in the frame.
Chris said: “I thought it was all finished with but the police contacted me last November and asked if I knew Harris. I told them he had tried to get me to kill his partner.
“I have never been in trouble with the police and you don’t lie to them. Three days later they knocked at my door at 7am and arrested me on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
“For the next six months I was scared out of my wits. My solicitor said that I could end up doing life in jail if I was convicted.
“I had deleted the recordings but thankfully police IT people were able to recover them.
“It wasn’t until April this year that the police knocked on my door to tell me the Crown Prosecution Service was not going to charge me and that I could get on with my life.
“I know I should have gone straight to the police but it shows what happens when you try to do people a good turn.”
Chris’s recording helped to convict Harris, who told jurors their meetings were “research” for his crime novel Too Close To Kill.
Chris said he is shocked that Hazel stood by Harris as he was sentenced.
He added: “I feel sorry she had to go through all of this. I wish she would have listened to me when I emailed her.
“I don’t understand why she is standing by him but he is very manipulative. I hope she can rebuild her life. I’ve certainly had to.”