Sex assault allegation ‘motivated paddock murder’
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Version 0 of 1. A mother-of-five was stabbed to death as she tended her horses in the New Forest by a man recruited by a former lover’s son to stop her accusing him of an indecent assault, a court has heard. Pennie Davis, 47, who worked at a supermarket, was found dead by her husband on 2 September in a field at Leygreen Farm, Beaulieu, Hampshire. Justin Robertson, 36, of no fixed address, who denies murder and conspiracy to murder, was traced by police after he dropped a set of car keys at the murder scene, Winchester Crown Court was told. Benjamin Carr, 22, and Samantha Maclean, 28, are also charged with conspiracy to murder, which they deny. Richard Smith QC, prosecuting, said: “Penelope Davis went to tend her horses at a farm near Beaulieu. “Whilst there and alone in a small paddock within the horse field, she was attacked and repeatedly stabbed by the defendant, Justin Robertson.” Mr Smith continued: “Mr Robertson had agreed to kill Penelope Davis for money. He had agreed to kill her for the defendant Ben Carr.” Mr Smith said Carr had wanted Mrs Davis “silenced” because he believed she would tell police that he had indecently assaulted someone. He said: “Why would Ben Carr want Penelope Davis killed? The answer to that question... probably lies in the fact that Ben Carr believed that Mrs Davis was going to go to the police, as she had done before, and allege that he had previously indecently assaulted [someone]. Mr Carr had a “lasting hate and anger” towards Mrs Davis after she made a complaint to police about the allegations of sexual assault against him when he was 14, the jury heard. The case continues. |