TV boss ‘hired three hitmen to kill partner after falling for prostitute’

A FORMER producer on The Bill tried to hire three different hitmen to kill his wealthy partner so he could run off with a younger lover, a court heard.

David Harris allegedly wanted Hazel Allinson dead so he could get his hands on the £800,000 village home they shared.

The 68-year-old is said to have racked up debts after lavishing thousands on a mistress he met in a brothel.

But his attempts to offer three ‘hitmen’ up to £250,000 each to bump off long-term partner Miss Allinson backfired, the Old Bailey heard.

His first hoped-for assassin tried to warn the alleged victim, the second told the police – and the third was an undercover officer who recorded everything, it was claimed. When the retired TV executive was arrested in bed with his prostitute girlfriend, he claimed his alleged attempts to contact hitmen had simply been ‘research’ for a novel.

Jurors were told that both Harris and partner of 30 years Miss Allinson worked on longrunning ITV police drama The Bill – she as a script supervisor. In 2010 she sold her £1million semi-detached home in Earlsfield, south London, and moved with Harris to picturesque Amberley, West Sussex.

Prosecutor William Boyce QC said the pair appeared to settle into village life, with 68year-old cancer-survivor Miss Allinson serving as a parish councillor and singing in the church choir and Mr Harris presenting himself to neighbours as quiet and reserved.

In reality, it is claimed, he was leading a double life with a vice girl mistress and relying on what he regarded as a miserly allowance from his much wealthier partner, who had a generous pension.

Mr Boyce said: ‘He found a new girlfriend, a much younger woman. Hazel Allinson had the money, he didn’t.

‘He wanted both the younger woman – and the older woman’s money. If he left her, he thought he wouldn’t get the money, and therefore he tried to arrange to have her mur- dered.’ Harris had been lavishing jewellery and other gifts on younger lover Ugne Cekaviciute after meeting her in a brothel and thought she was ‘too good to be there’, the jury was told. Mr Boyce said: ‘Their relationship grew.

‘He would spend money on her, increasing amounts of money it would seem, of gifts, flowers, movies, dinners, books for her studies, underwear and of course hotels.

‘He would also give her cash. On his own account it seemed he fell in love with her.

‘However, he was expending more money than he had. His understanding was that if Hazel Allinson died he would inherit her estate.’

The court heard Harris pawned watches and rings and borrowed up to £16,000 from neighbours before he sought out three prospective assassins between February and November last year.

Jurors were told that he provided details of her movements to and from church and her regular dog-walking route. He also handed over a photograph and the private registration plate of his partner’s Saab car and regular parking spots.

And he is said to have moaned of wealthy Miss Allinson to the hitmen: ‘Her pursestrings are so tight, it’s just so f****** unbearable.’ His first hoped- for assassin was mechanic Christopher May, who was contacted initially about help recovering a debt before being told: ‘I’m offering you £250,000 to kill my wife’, the court heard.

Mr May, of Kingston, Surrey, said he played along and was offered £10,000 in advance.

A hospital appointment in which Miss Allinson was due to have her ovaries removed would be the ideal occasion for a ‘hit’, it was claimed.

In a secret recording, Harris allegedly said: ‘I would like it to look like an accident or a mugging gone wrong.’

The court was told May went to Miss Allinson’s gym to give a warning – but missed her. The second prospective assassin, Duke Dean, said Harris told him ‘he had a missus and wanted to get rid of her’. In a later meeting the retired producer allegedly suggested ‘ she might be thrown over a cliff and it could be made to look like an accident… Sussex has a long coastline.’

But alarmed Mr Dean went to the police – who sent undercover officer ‘Chris’ to meet Harris. The pensioner patted down the secret policeman to check if he was ‘wearing a wire’ – but they then got into the undercover officer’s car to talk, and it was fitted with a recording device. Accused: David Harris with Hazel Allinson. Left, £800k home they shared The jury heard that Harris suggested a ‘car-jacking gone wrong’ to kill Miss Allinson, who also worked on the BBC Rowan Atkinson comedy The Thin Blue Line.

He is said to have added: ‘There are no blurred lines, I’m 100 per cent sure’ while offering ‘a monkey’ – £500 – in advance. Bespectacled Harris also allegedly said: ‘I want the next five years with a girlfriend, living by the sea, OK? That’s what I want.’

Harris was arrested in November last year when police tracked him to a bed and breakfast in Balham, south London – and burst in to find him in bed with Miss Cekaviciute. He claimed he had contacted underworld figures as research for a thriller novel he planned to write, although Mr Boyce said he had not written a word.

Harris told officers: ‘This is frankly ridiculous.

‘We are quite broke at the moment. It has nothing to do with her. I’m writing a book.’

He claimed his novel was about a middle-aged lawyer called Tom Noble who was unhappily married to a rich older women but in love with a younger girl.

Harris denies three charges of soliciting to murder Miss Allinson in 2016.

The trial continues.

‘A mugging gone wrong’ ‘Throw her over a cliff’