Twisted Sarah Williams’ meticulous planning for brutal murder of love rival Sadie Hartley
Williams, 35, and friend Katrina Walsh, 56, zapped rival with a 500,000-volt cattle prod and stabbed her 40 times
OBSESSED Sarah Williams murdered her love rival in an “orgy of violence” — stabbing her at least 40 times with a kitchen knife.
Williams, 35, and friend Katrina Walsh, 56, zapped Sadie Hartley with a 500,000-volt cattle prod as she answered her front door before launching the frenzied attack.
Sadie’s partner Ian Johnston had an affair with Williams, described by friends as “a bunny boiler”. But after he tried to call it off, obsessed Williams and sidekick Walsh spent 17 months planning Sadie’s death.
Mr Justice Turner, who jailed Williams for at least 30 years yesterday, told her: “You plotted the murder of a woman whose only crime was to love the man you wanted for yourself.
“But let no one make the mistake of thinking this was a crime of passion. It was a crime of obsession, of arrogance, of barbarity but, above all, a crime of pure evil.”
The judge said Walsh, who was jailed for a minimum of 25 years, had been an “enthusiastic” helper.
He added: “You, Walsh, are every bit as morally degenerate as Williams. No wonder you have been the best of friends so many years.
“You have so much in common being not merely indifferent to the suffering you inflict on others but positively revelling in it.
“You knew all along that this was no game or fantasy. Sadie Hartley died for your amusement.”
The pair showed no emotion as they were sentenced at Preston crown court.
Williams had a string of relationships with older men before setting her sights on retired fireman Ian.
But he spurned her for mum-of-two Sadie, 60, although he and Williams continued to meet for occasional sex and exchanged texts.
In September 2014 Williams tried to split the couple up by sending businesswoman Sadie a letter telling of her affair with Ian, saying they had “unbelievably fantastic sex”.
She added: “I think you should know that Ian has been cheating on you for over a year.
“We have never been able to get enough of each other.”
The letter failed to have the desired effect and Ian and Sadie moved in together.
So Williams and Walsh, who shared a fascination with witchcraft and the violent, sex-filled TV series Game of Thrones, began to plan the “perfect murder”.
They spent the following months meticulously plotting how to kill Sadie. Walsh, a tattooed biker with alopecia, kept a diary that recorded their progress. Plots were codenamed “Operation Scare the Bitch Senseless” and the “Assassination of the Bitch”.
One entry read: “Sarah came round. Got caught up in endless murder plots for Ian’s other half.”
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On December 9 last year they began putting the plan into action. CCTV recorded them boarding a ferry to Rotterdam. From there they went to Germany to buy the stun gun.
Days later keen skier Ian, 57, and Sadie went to a Christmas party at an indoor ski slope where Williams worked as a holiday sales rep.
Williams took the opportunity to put a GPS tracker on Ian’s car to find out where he and Sadie lived.
When Ian went on a New Year’s ski holiday, Williams and Walsh decided to strike. On January 5, Walsh was caught on camera at Tesco buying the £6 knife used to murder Sadie.
The next day Williams staked out Sadie’s business premises and her home in Helmshore, Lancs, watching the house through binoculars.
On January 7 they carried out a dry run for the killing — buying a bunch of flowers from Tesco and taking them to Sadie’s house late in the evening.
As Williams hid in the bushes, Walsh left the flowers before scuttling out of sight. Sadie told a friend she felt alarmed by the anonymous delivery — but ignored the advice to call the police.
A week later Walsh and Williams returned with the knife and left Sadie dying in her hallway from multiple stab wounds.
Williams, who referred to herself as “a little psycho” and “she-devil” celebrated by watching the Abba movie Mamma Mia with Walsh.
But their perfect plot swiftly unravelled. Police found Walsh’s diary outlining the plan and Sadie’s DNA was discovered in Williams’ bath and on her spectacles.
CCTV from a neighbour’s home had filmed Williams arriving at Sadie’s and then leaving just four minutes and 40 seconds later.
Sadie’s daughter Charlotte yesterday revealed in a statement read to the court how she is haunted by the thoughts of her mum opening the door to her killers.
Charlotte, who had rung Sadie 24 hours before the murder to say she was getting engaged, added: “The sight of the wounds on my mum’s poor helpless body were horrific. I’ll never be able to forget how frightened and scared she would have been that night.”
The two killers both denied murder — and turned on each other after their arrest.
Williams claimed she was ill in bed on the night of the murder and her friend had acted alone.
Walsh told police Williams saw herself as the evil priestess Melisandre from Game Of Thrones, who uses sex to ensnare men. She said: “I think she’s a psycho and I think she’s identifying herself as Melisandre. I was in mortal dread of her.”
But the jury saw through both women’s lies and found them guilty of murder. Both got life terms.
Detective Superintendent Paul Withers said after the trial: “While it may have been Williams who carried out the actual killing, there can be no doubt Katrina Walsh helped her every step of the way and was up to her neck in the planning of this brutal slaying.”