William Taylor trial: Wife 'shared violent fantasies on WhatsApp'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-49965522

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A wife accused of murder used violent language to "let her stress out" in a "fantasy world", a court has heard.

The body of farmer William Taylor, 69, was found in a river near Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in February - eight months after he was reported missing.

Angela Taylor, 53, her lover Paul Cannon, 54, and another man are accused of murdering Mr Taylor which they deny.

St Albans Crown Court heard how in one WhatsApp message Mrs Taylor said she felt like "beheading" her husband.

In the weeks and months before the disappearance of Mr Taylor, who was a farmer, the lovers shared many violent and sexually graphic messages, the court heard.

Mr Cannon told the jury: "We got off on that sort of stuff.

"Violence and sex, that was our fantasy world, it has no boundaries.

"You can do whatever you want in a fantasy."

He said that their violent exchanges provided Mrs Taylor some respite from the unhappiness in her marriage.

Mr Cannon, of Pirton Road, Hitchin, added: "She could open a tap and let her stress out.

"She was calm the next day, a different woman."

Messages sent between the lovers in the weeks before the 69-year-old's disappearance include Mrs Taylor telling Mr Cannon: "I feel like going up there right now and [expletive] beheading him."

John Price QC, prosecuting, said: "You invite the jury to conclude that the two of you were trying to become sexually aroused by the messages."

The court previously heard Mrs Taylor, of Charlton Road, Charlton, met her husband in 1992, they married in 1997 and had three children together.

Several days before he went missing, Mr Taylor's Land Rover was seriously damaged by fire after a diesel-soaked towel was set alight inside it, the court heard.

Mr Cannon, Mrs Taylor, and another man, 60-year-old Gwyn Griffiths, of Lucy Avenue, Folkestone, all deny murder and conspiracy to murder.

The two men also deny arson of the farmer's Land Rover.

The trial continues.