'Hitman' hired by woman to kill husband was a reporter

The former wife of an internet entrepreneur was locked up yesterday after admitting attempting to hire an undercover reporter posing as a hitman to kill him.

Shelley Molyneux invited the "killer" for coffee at her mansion in Romford, east London, and suggested ways to murder her husband, Jon, a non-executive director of Scoot.com, before picking up the children from school.

Carjacking might be an option, she said, before explaining that he travelled on a deserted country lane when he went to fly helicopters in Kent.

She described the target as a diminutive 5ft 3in and always clad in Armani, assuring the "hitman" her husband was "an easy target" before handing over two recent photographs. "I want him gone for ever," she said, agreeing a £20,000 fee.

The hired killer turned out to be an undercover reporter and yesterday Molyneux, 41, who has four children, wept at the Old Bailey as she swapped her luxurious life for a jail cell.

Having been refused bail, she was remanded in custody until sentencing on 18 October. She had earlier admitted soliciting the reporter, Roger Insall, although her defence barrister insisted the case was a classic example of "agent provocateur" with Molyneux being "entrapped".

The court was told how the housewife had set about planning the contract after her marriage of 21 years collapsed last year, and her husband moved in with a younger girlfriend. They have since divorced.

Mr Molyneux, a former managing director of Apple Computers UK, earned £175,000-a-year as the chief operating officer of Scoot.com, one of the great successes of the internet boom whose shares have since plummeted.

His estranged wife stood to gain £600,000 in insurance payouts, their £500,000 house and a further payout of £230,000 from his death.

Crispin Aylett, for the prosecution, explained that Molyneux was introduced to Mr Insall after telling Gavin Burrows, a private investigator, that she wished her husband dead. "That was followed up, and he [Burrows] rang her back on the evening of February 11 this year. The second conversation was tape recorded and she made it clear that it was her wish that it was taken further," Mr Aylett said.

"The following day a newspaper reporter posing as a hitman visited her and a discussion took place as to the terms and conditions, and she provided him with material whereby he might kill her husband."

In an article in the Sunday People newspaper, Molyneux was said to have told Mr Insall: "He is an easy target I would think, being 5ft 3in. And he's flash. He wears Armani suits and he drives an Audi. I am looking at a hijacking. I am looking at a mugging."

Molyneux agreed the fee and then flew to Canada for a holiday with her new boyfriend and three youngest children. But she was arrested after Mr Insall passed a videotape of their meeting to police.

Rebecca Poulet QC said her client insisted the idea of the hit had been suggested to her by the private investigator.

Molyneux denied soliciting Mr Burrows between 1 December 2001 and 13 February this year, as well as an undercover police officer between February 17 and 24. Those two charges were left on file.