TV producer guilty of fixing to kill partner
A RETIRED producer of TV drama has been convicted of trying to hire three men to kill his partner of nearly 30 years after becoming besotted with a woman 40 years his junior.
David Harris offered £200,000 to murder Hazel Allinson so he could inherit her fortune, sell her £800,000 home and live out his days with Lithuanian Ugne Cekaviciute, who he met in a brothel.
The 68-year-old admitted he got into a tangle of elaborate lies and mounting debt as he lavished expensive gifts on the 28-year-old former professional basketball player during their five-year affair.
He denied wanting retired scriptwriter Ms Allinson dead and claimed he only wanted to talk to hitmen as research for a murder mystery novel, before he was snared in an undercover sting.
But an Old Bailey jury took five hours to reject Harris’s explanation and find him guilty of three charges of soliciting murder .
Ms Allinson was not present to see him sitting in silent prayer as the verdict was given.
It can now be reported that she refused to co-operate with the prosecution and even offered to give evidence to back up part of his defence.
Judge Anne Molyneux QC adjourned sentencing until July 14 for a report on whether Harris has a personality disorder to explain his “callousness” and “lack of empathy”.
She said he had lied to his partner and girlfriend, to neighbours and friends: “He has demonstrated a lack of empathy and he has demonstrated a callousness and willingness to do what is necessary to achieve his own ends.”
Ms Allinson has not yet provided a victim impact statement but was expected to write directly to the judge ahead of sentencing.
Tim Moloney QC, defending, said Harris would be out of his relationship “very soon”, adding: “This was a three-way relationship.”
The trial heard how Harris blew £50,000 of Ms Allinson’s retirement savings and used her reputation as a parish councillor and church chorister to borrow thousands of pounds from neighbours in the upmarket West Sussex village of Amberley.
Harris pretended to umpire matches for Arundel Castle Cricket Club to play away with his young lover and also told breast cancer survivor Ms Allinson he was tending to his sick brother in a mental hospital.
In a show of “complete contempt”, Harris sneaked his lover into her home and photographed her naked on a bed with Ms Allinson’s three spaniels, jurors heard.
The first hitman tried to warn Ms Allinson of the danger and the second – who was promised £200,000 – reported him to police instead. He was then introduced to an undercover officer “Chris”, who secretly videoed the meeting in Sainsbury’s car park in Balham, south London.
As they discussed the murder Harris said: “I will be suitably distressed because I will be distressed there’s no doubt about it. I know what I’m asking. I know there’s no way back but likewise there’s no way out for me. That’s the bottom line.”
Asked if he was sure about it, he said: “I’ve never been more deadly serious about anything.”
The next day police went to arrest Harris and burst into a room at the Balham Lodge Hotel to find him lying naked in bed with Ms Cekaviciute.
Giving evidence, Harris claimed he was researching a murder mystery novel. But Andrew Hadik of the CPS said that was itself a piece of fiction, adding: “He was serious about having his partner of nearly 30 years killed so he could inherit her house in Amberley and start a new life with his younger lover.”