Mum-of-5 ‘ killed by ex who feared losing children and house’
‘She was leading a happy life’
A MISSING mother- of-five was murdered by her former partner, who feared losing their house and custody of their children, a jury heard yesterday.
Beautician Sarah Wellgreen, 46, had ended her relationship with taxi driver Ben Lacomba, 39, and was hoping to buy a new home when she vanished last year. Her body has never been found.
Lacomba is accused of killing her in the house they still shared and disposing of her body at night. The court was told he had turned off the CCTV at the property and failed to report Miss Wellgreen as missing for 48 hours. The jury heard he applied for an interim court order to have custody of the couple’s three children just a week after her disappearance.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said Miss Wellgreen, who had been seeing other men, had just found a new job with a ‘good salary and company car’ and was in a ‘positive frame of mind’.
Her final text message, sent to a friend hours before she vanished, read: ‘There is always something to look forward to – you just need to open your eyes a bit more and dream.’ Woolwich Crown Court was told when he was arrested on suspicion of murder Lacomba did not ask police how she had died or where her body had been found. He remained silent during interviews.
He also refused permission to examine his mobile phone and later revealed he had thrown it in the Thames. The jury heard that Miss Wellgreen and Lacomba met online in 2004 and later shared their home in the village of New Ash Green in Kent.
But their strained relationship had ‘tension and problems’ and they were living separate lives when Miss Wellgreen vanished in October last year.
Miss Morgan alleged Lacomba murdered Miss Wellgreen in a ‘calculated manner’.
She added: ‘It may never be possible to know what was running through the defendant’s mind in October 2018 when he decided to kill Sarah.
‘It appears, however, that the potential loss of that family home... and the potential loss of custody of his children motivated his actions.’ She said police carried out extensive searches in the village but no trace of Miss Wellgreen has ever been found.
Miss Morgan told the jury: ‘She was the mother of five children. She had just secured a new job and was leading a happy life with much to look forward to. That night she was not abducted and murdered by a stranger. She did not leave her home voluntarily, abandoning her children, for whatever reason, never to return.
‘She was murdered by this defendant – her former partner. He then disposed of her body.’
The court was told after the couple split up in 2014 Miss Wellgreen met other men, but for much of the time she continued to live with Lacomba in an ‘on-off’ relationship.
In 2016 she moved in with another man, but she later returned to Lacomba to ‘coparent’ their children.
The day before she disappeared she landed a new job which would give her further independence from Lacomba. Miss Morgan explained this would have forced Lacomba out of the home, leaving him with limited access to his children.
Miss Wellgreen messaged her current boyfriend telling him she had informed the taxi driver of her new job and salary.
In one text she referred to her former partner as a ‘fat t**t’ and said her new job had lifted a ‘huge weight’ from her.
The court was told Lacomba told police he had not left the house during the night of the disappearance, but his car was picked up on CCTV nearby.
A new shovel was found in his shed but the garden had artificial grass and paving stones.
Lacomba denies murder. Today members of the jury will be taken on a visit to New Ash Green. The trial continues.