Selfish tears of a scheming killer
SEVENTEEN months ago Sharon Hancock broke down in tears as she watched the coffin of her husband Jon being
carried at his funeral.
Yesterday she was sobbing again, but this time it was as a jury found her guilty of manslaughter
for her role in the plot that led to his murder.
Widow with a guilty secret |
The courtroom resounded to a cheer of ‘yes’ from the public gallery as the jury returned their verdict. It
was the decision Mr Hancock’s family had been praying for.
Now everyone would know what they believed all along –
that Hancock had played a pivotal role in her husband’s murder.
Mr Hancock, 29, died six days after being brutally
beaten by two thugs at the request of his wife’s boyfriend. But it was Hancock who supplied details that allowed the
attack to be carried out.
After watching the men accused alongside Hancock being found guilty of murder, Mr Hancock’s
family said justice had been done.
His mother, Joy Sims, sobbed with relief as she watched from the public gallery.
Afterwards
Mrs Sims, 56, said: ‘I feel an amazing sense of relief that they’ve all been found guilty. No matter how much
you know they are guilty you still worry about what the jury will come back with.
‘Sharon is a vicious, evil woman.
‘I
think Jon would have been heartbroken to think that she would do something like this. He married her and he loved her.’
Sick
She added: ‘I don’t know how people do forgive someone who’s
done something like that. We will never forgive her.
‘She held him in her arms at the hospital and told him she loved
him – I feel sick at that thought now.’
The 11-strong jury had heard how Sharon Hancock, of Forsythia Close
in Denvilles, Havant conspired with her lover Michael Beagley to have ‘nuisance’ Mr Hancock given a ‘talking
to’ by hired thugs from London.
Mr and Mrs Hancock had split in 2002, and at the time of Mr Hancock’s death
they were five and a half weeks away from divorce.
Hancock claimed her husband had pestered her, repeatedly sending her
text messages and pleading for her to take him back.
But it was an argument on the phone that was to prove fatal. Her lover
Beagley, of Meadow Close, Hounslow, muscled in on the telephone call and became enraged with Mr Hancock.
Beagley then
called in Mark Collett, of Manor Grove, Richmond, London who hired championship kickboxer Robert Busby and boxer Angus Robinson
to do the dirty work.
Roamed
The two thugs roamed the streets of Portsmouth on August 15, 2003, before
finally catching their target outside his flat in St Ronan’s Road, Southsea, about 10pm.
Robinson and Busby caught on CCTV as they hunted for Jon Hancock |
Mr Hancock was returning from an evening out with girlfriend Sally James.
Busby of Spelthorne Lane, Ashford, Middlesex
and Robinson of Lambert Avenue, Richmond carried out such a savage attack Mr Hancock was beaten unconscious and fell into
a coma, dying six days later.
While her husband was being attacked, his wife was nearly 50 miles away. Beagley had taken
her and her children to Carrington Caravan Park, near Lymington in the New Forest. The pair thought the trip would offer them
an alibi.
But Busby and Robinson were captured on CCTV when they approached Deborah Gibson near the Strand roundabout in
Southsea to ask for directions to an off-licence in Osborne or Palmerston Road. Mr Hancock was manager of Elly’s Wine
Store in Osborne Road.
And the police soon linked the attackers to Collett, Beagley and Hancock.
Judge Michael Brodrick
sentenced the four men to life imprisonment and ordered that they serve at least 16 years. Hancock was given a four-year sentence
later.
Vicious
He told the four men: ‘You all played a part in what turned out
to be a vicious attack on Jonathan Hancock. He was rapidly rendered defenceless and unconscious and fighting for his life,
a fight which of course he lost.’
Hancock, Beagley, Busby, Robinson and Collett had all denied murder. Busby had
admitted manslaughter while the other four denied the charge. The prosecution had rejected Busby’s plea.
