Wife wrote 'whore' on rival's car, court told

A cheating husband was in a business meeting when he received a text message from his wife saying she had shot his mistress, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

Paul Salmon, who had conducted a two-year affair with Lorna Stewart, said his wife, Rena, texted him minutes after his lover was killed. He said the message read: "I have just shot Lorna. This is not a joke."

Mr Salmon claimed he immediately rang his wife: "I said, 'What have you done?' She said, 'I have shot Lorna.' I said, 'Is she dead?' She said, 'I do not know.' I asked, 'Where is she?' She said, 'She is lying on the floor.' The gun is on the floor at the side.' I said, 'Leave it there. Go outside and give yourself up.' She said, 'I am waiting for the police.' I told her, 'The police are there.'"

Mr Salmon told the jury he had breakfast with his mistress that day and had talked to her about 30 minutes before the shooting to discuss what they would do later in the afternoon.

He nearly broke down as he recalled the series of chilling conversations he claims followed the shooting of Ms Stewart, allegedly with his shotgun, at her beauty salon in Chiswick, west London, on 10 September last year.

Rena Salmon, 43, from Great Shefford, near Hungerford, Berkshire has denied murdering her love rival.

Mr Salmon told the court: "I actually sent Lorna a text asking her if she was OK. Then my phone rang. It was Martine, a woman who had worked with Lorna for many years. She said, 'Can you come down? Rena has shot Lorna'." He said he immediately hung up and went back to tell his boss: "I have got to go. My wife has just shot my girlfriend."

As he drove to Chiswick, he tried to find out what had happened from the police, but his mobile telephone's battery ran out. When he was arrived, he said he was "frantic" and was arrested by officers.

He told the court that his wife became violent after his mistress's husband found an e-mail between the lovers. The two couples both lived in Great Shefford and had been friends. On one occasion, he said his lover telephoned him to say his wife had arrived at her home. He told the jury: "I could hear in the background Rena banging on the door shouting 'Lorna, Lorna, let me in, you bitch'. She somehow managed to get in the door. I heard Lorna starting to scream because my wife had attacked her."

Mr Salmon said he went to Ms Stewart's home and had to wrestle his wife away from his mistress. He alleged Mrs Salmon later returned after "dragging" his children out of bed in their pyjamas.

"My children were standing there," he told the court. "My son was very distraught. She said, 'Now you can see what sort of man your father is'. My wife hit me on the head with a bunch of keys, slashed me across the chest and ripped my shirt. This was all happening in the garden ... I called the police." He said Ms Stewart's car was parked near by. "Rena had scrawled the word 'whore' down the side."

The trial continues.