Walsall mother 'plotted to kill partner'
A mother who repeatedly cheated on her long-term partner plotted to have him killed, a jury heard.
Kelly Cliff tried to recruit former neighbour Dalton Bowen – a man with an alleged reputation for violence – to either cause or arrange the death of Carl Gallagher, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
But Mr Bowen was so shocked by the suggestion that he went to the police instead and they arrested the 40-year-old, it was claimed.
Hugh O'Brien Quinn, prosecuting, said: "She wanted him dead. She wanted to be rid of him, rid of him permanently. It was a cold blooded and calculated decision which she had thought about for two years."
Cliff, of Aldridge, and Mr Gallagher had been married, divorced and reunited during a turbulent 22 year long relationship punctuated by numerous splits, the court heard.
"These were caused by the defendant's affairs with other men," revealed the prosecutor who added: "Then Carl Gallagher forgave her and they would get back together again."
The mother of two left to live with another man in September last year but moved back into the family's home at Brookfield Road, Aldridge, around Christmas, it was said.
Mr O'Brien Quinn continued: "In April this year she was seeing another man. She said it was just a bit of fun and nothing serious but against that background she decided to be rid of her partner once and for all."
Cliff chose to recruit Dalton Bowen, a 45-year-old father of five who had lived in the same street as Mr Gallagher and her over ten years previously, it was claimed.
The prosecutor explained: "He was trusted as a friend, was a man of violence and somebody who was unlikely to speak to the police."
The defendant 'turned up out of the blue' at his home in Boswell Road, Bilston, on April 3.
Mr Bowen told the jury: "She said she wanted her partner killed, wiped off the face of the earth."
Cliff saw him twice on April 3 and again two days later. He went to the police after the April 5 meeting with Cliff and she was arrested later that night.
Cliff denies soliciting Mr Bowen to kill Mr Gallagher between April 2 and April 6.
WThe trial continues.
