Man, Lover Kill Wife For Rebuffing Sexual Proposition

A 30-year-old man facing trial in the United Kingdom has been accused of colluding with his mistress and murdering his wife, for refusing to participate in sexual acts involving the three.

The deceased, 29-year-old Kelly Franklin, was stabbed 30 times by her husband, Torbjorn Kettlewell, during a street attack in Hartlepool County, Durham, on Aug. 3, 2018 at 9 p.m. (4 p.m. EST), the jury at Teesside Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jamie Hill told the court the accused planned the murder by conniving with his 48-year-old paramour and neighbor Julie Wass, with whom he began a relationship in 2017.

"She was his close friend and paramour. She took part in a joint plan that was hatched. Julie told him where Kelly was. She then waited for him while he carried out the stabbing and then drove him [Torbjorn] to a predetermined hiding place in the woods," Hill said.

According to a Mirror Online report, Kettlewell cheated on his wife with other women during their 12-year-old relationship. The couple also had three kids, Hill said, whose custody they lost after the man shot the youngest, aged two years, in the face with a "high powered air rifle while cleaning it."

"Kelly covered for him while the child was taken to hospital but social services stepped in and children were taken into their care in 2017," the prosecutor said.

Describing Kettlewell as self-centered and narcissistic, Hill informed the court that the former would surround himself with expensive computer equipment and even changed his birth name Ian to Torbjorn, a character from his favorite video game, through a deed poll. "He did little or nothing to help the children and rather chose to spend his life surrounded by expensive computer equipment, drinking and gaming and trying to draw Kelly into his sexual fantasies involving other women."

"He also had a fascination with knives and anything to do with the army," Hill said.

The prosecutor told the court the victim left the accused in Jan. 2018, but would receive text messages frequently, asking her for sexual favors. "His obsession with sex led him to try and persuade Kelly to get involved in sexual activity with him and other women. She was resistant to this."

He said anyone who watched the proceedings wouldn’t doubt Kettlewell’s intent of killing his wife. "We say this [is] a terrible case of the defendant who decided 'if I can’t have her, then nobody will'," Hill added.

Both Kettlewell and Wass have denied murdering Franklin. However, the 48-year-old has admitted helping the accused. She reportedly approached the police after the attack took place and marked herself as a witness.

"He just cracked up, he had his kids taken off him, he was just stabbing her loads of times, when she fell on the floor ... that’s when I drove off," she told the police. The accused was arrested on Aug. 4, a day after the murder, from one of his girlfriend’s house, who informed the police about his presence.

The trial is expected to continue for a fortnight.