Husband hired hitmen to kill pregnant wife

A businessman who hired two hitmen to kill his pregnant wife was jailed for life yesterday for conspiracy to murder.

David Cullinane, 34, from Colchester, Essex, left his Moroccan-born wife Soumia, 27, in the hands of two men at a Kent railway station after becoming convinced she was having another man's child. Mrs Cullinane's body was found "considerably disfigured" with head and neck injuries in Dene Park, near Tonbridge, Kent, on 16 March last year, Croydon Crown Court was told.

Gordon Hoppie, 41, and Michael Stapley, 21, both from Tonbridge, who were paid £10,000 to kill Mrs Cullinane, were also found guilty of conspiracy to murder and were jailed for life.