Woman guilty of plotting to kill love rival

A YOUNG woman locked in a love triangle with two Sports Direct colleagues was yesterday convicted of soliciting the murder of her rival.

Whitney Franks, pictured, tried to hire a hitman to kill her colleague Ruut Ruutna after the 29- year- old joined the retail chain and started an affair with their boss – who Franks was already dating.

After the jury reached its verdict, Judge Paul Dugdale told the 26-year-old: ‘ You have been unanimously convicted of soliciting murder, it is a very serious offence. It is an offence for which I will have to pass a fairly lengthy sentence.’

Reading Crown Court had been told Franks became ‘rampantly jealous’ after Miss Ruutna began an affair with general manager James Prest, a father of two.

She posted messages on the dark web in August 2020 offering to pay £1,000 in BitCoin to have Miss Ruutna killed.

Franks, from Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, was remanded in custody until she is sentenced on September 9.