Woman ‘locked in Sports Direct love triangle sought a dark web hitman to bump off rival’
A SHOP worker tried to hire a hitman to murder a colleague rivalling her for the romantic attention of their boss, a court heard yesterday.
Whitney Franks, 26, became ‘rampantly jealous’ when Ruut Ruutna joined Sports Direct and started an affair with the manager – who Franks was already dating.
As tensions rose, Franks allegedly turned to the dark web – a secret part of the internet only accessible by special software – to find a hitman and offered at least £1,000.
However the internet messages were spotted by a BBC investigative journalist who tipped off the police.
Franks went on trial yesterday at Reading Crown Court on a single charge of soliciting to murder.
Andrew Copeland, prosecuting, said: ‘Whitney Franks and Ruut Ruutna were work colleagues together with James Prest, who was general manager at Sports
Direct in Milton Keynes. They were not only work colleagues but love rivals of James Prest and both were romantically involved with him at the same time. Both knew James Prest had a long-term partner with two young children.
‘They were not concerned about that but were concerned about each other.
‘They both knew that James Prest was not prepared to leave his long-term partner or their children.
‘He tried to play them off against each other. What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.’
Mr Prest started working at the store in August 2014 and was joined there a year later by Franks.
They soon became romantically involved and their relationship continued until 2017 when Miss Ruutna joined the same branch.
She started a relationship with Mr Prest in 2018. Mr Copeland added: ‘Those relationships were episodic – they would split and then get back together again.
‘In 2018, Whitney Franks left the branch at Milton Keynes and worked in Sports Direct in nearby Bletchley. By 2020 James Prest would, while his partner and children were in bed, frequently leave his house and go to Ruut Ruutna’s house. On August 17, 2020, Whitney Franks showed up at the Milton Keynes Sports Direct. It wasn’t a workrelated visit, but personal.
‘James Prest was clearly upset and she made a comment about him sneaking around at night. She must have been following him. Why would she be doing that? Out of jealousy?’
Police were then contacted by the BBC’s Carl Miller, who had been researching the dark web. He was concerned by a message that included Miss Ruutna’s address in Milton Keynes, her Facebook profile and her description.
The message read: ‘I’m looking for the murder of a woman. I have £1,000 and I am willing to pay more.’
Mr Copeland said Franks had set up a cryptocurrency account, allowing her to make anonymous purchases online.
He added: ‘This was not a drunken act. The Crown would suggest she was deadly serious.’ Police visited Miss Ruutna at work and she named Franks as the probable author of the appeals for a hitman.
She was moved into protective custody out of concern for her safety.
Franks was arrested by officers in September 2020. She denies soliciting murder and the trial continues.
‘She was deadly serious’