Woman accused of ‘demonic’ murder of love rival ‘consulted Tarot Cards and called herself a She Devil’
Murder suspect Sarah Williams dubbed herself a 'little psycho' in texts
A JILTED woman accused of murdering a love rival with "demonic savagery" consulted Tarot Cards and called herself a "She Devil" and "little psycho" in text messages, a court heard.
Sarah Williams, 35 and her horse riding pal Katrina Walsh, 56, are alleged to have plotted a "murderous mission" to kill Sadie Hartley.
The court heard Williams and her co-accused allegedly consulted mystic, fortune telling Tarot cards as they plotted the killing.
A series of texts recovered from the phone of Williams after her arrest for the murder of businesswoman Miss Hartley, 60, at her home in Helmshore, Lancashire, in January.
They showed secret exchanges with ex-fireman Ian Hartley, 57, who had dumped "obsessive" Williams for Ms Hartley but continued an illicit affair, Preston Crown Court heard.
The text messages showed Williams messaging Mr Johnston, beginning in September 2013, reading: "I went to bed thinking about you, then woke up at 3am wide awake. Nice thoughts, shame you weren't there."
Later the texts reveal Mr Johnston agonising over the affair. In a message back he tells Williams: "I was not looking for or expecting you to appear. Sadie has been through hell. I've spent my life making people safe. I can't tolerate hurting people. Sometimes I just hate who I am."
Williams then confides in a text to a friend, "fireman is just totally awesome...I'm hook line and sinker," as she tries to progress the relationship.
She adds: "It's too early to have this conversation, being the little psycho that I am I want to push it along very quickly. By his own admission he should not be with her and does not love her."
In November 2013 in a text to co-accused Katrina Walsh, 56, Williams says: "The fireman has feelings for the golden haired, brilliantly creative and creatively brilliant She Devil.
"I'm screaming at a pitch where only dogs and bats can hear me."
The court then heard of a long exchange of texts between Williams and Mr Johnston on Christmas Eve 2013, with the defendant seemingly eager to spend Christmas with him.
Mr Johnston texts: "Sarah, please get that I can't have you here at this time. This is too difficult. Sorry."
A second one states: "You knew I was seeing Sadie when all this started. It's not about you, it's about me."
In a series of texts Williams replies: "I'm just never good enough...I should not be feeling like this and sobbing my heart out. I'm sorry for loving you, I'm sorry for caring..."
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Mr Johnston tells her he has "no idea" how she finances her lifestyle of foreign holidays, travel and horse-riding, in an apparent reference to her "Sugar Daddy", a wealthy man in his 70s called David Hardwick.
Williams texts back: "The relationship with David has been dead for a very long time.
"I don't f*** him for money to finance my life style so if I have any sex it is with you and absolutely nobody else."
Mr Johnston tells her Sadie has been "kind and caring" and he will not just "blow her out", before adding: "I do like you but this is way too heavy."
Williams replies: "I'm sorry I want to love and be loved and be happy. I'm sorry it would be much better for you if I just wanted a sh*g."
Mr Johnston tells her: "I like sex with you, the best ever."
Williams replies: "Sex with you is amazing, I love it and I want you all the time."
Earlier the court heard friends say how the co-accused Walsh and Williams acted like a lesbian couple.
The jury heard Walsh used Tarot Cards with Williams during the time they planned the "perfect murder".
The pair are said to have stunned Miss Hartley, 60, with a cattle prod before stabbing her 40 times at her home in Helmshore, Lancashire, in a meticulously planned murder plot.
Walsh's friend Ann Riley told Preston Crown Court she had never met Williams but Walsh would talk a lot about her during horse riding lessons.
Ms Riley said: "She gave me the impression that they were a couple.
"They went on holiday together and spent a lot of time with each other."
The court heard Williams would regularly visit her co-defendant's home with her dog and watch films on the bed.
The witness said she was later "surprised" to learn that Williams was going out with a male partner, Mr Hardwick.
Prosecutors say Williams began plotting the murder 17 months before when Ms Hartley's long-time partner Ian Johnston broke off their affair as she became "possessive and difficult".
A former work colleague said Williams would talk about men "a lot", and she felt uncomfortable when she spoke of Mr Hardwick because he was married.
Kerry Williams said she was later told of the affair with ex-fireman Mr Johnston.
She added: "The information I was aware of was that Ian was with somebody, a rich lady, but it didn't matter because he was going to leave her for Sarah.
"She was of the mindset that their relationship was progressing."
She said she did not ask for further details and said to the defendant: "It's just like deja vu. Here we go again, I don't want to know."
She formed the view that Williams was in "a fantasy world".
Michaela Burns, who knew Williams through their shared interest in horses, said the defendant worked part-time at a bank when she they first met eight years ago.
She too knew of the relationship with Mr Hardwick, who she said was "clearly very well-off".
Ms Burns said: "Sarah was not shy about saying she was financially dependent on him and they seemed to live quite a good lifestyle."
She said Williams had two houses and would go on skiing holidays a couple of times a year.
The witness told prosecutor John McDermott QC that Williams eventually became "unhappy" in the relationship with Mr Hardwick.
She said: "I think they wanted different things. She said she wanted a baby but David didn't want one."
Ms Burns said Williams told her she had a new man in her life around Christmas 2014 and who worked abroad a lot as a ski instructor and was seeing an older lady.
"She told me that she believed this chap was only in a relationship with Sadie for her money and that Sadie was buying him, taking him on expensive holidays and that was the only reason he was seeing her," she said.
Williams, of Treborth Road, Blacon, Chester, and Walsh, of Hare Lane, Chester, deny murder.
Earlier in the trial, the court heard that Williams taunted her victim claiming the affair with Johnston was on-going and they were still having "incredible sex".
Friends of the accused described her as "obsessed" with Johnson and told how she had a set of his keys cut so she could wait naked in his house while he was out.
The trial continues.
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