Two men jailed for life for plotting New Forest murder of father’s ex-partner
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Version 0 of 1. Two men who plotted the “savage execution” of a mother-of-five as she tended her horses at an idyllic spot in the New Forest to stop her repeating allegations of sexual assault have been jailed for life. Benjamin Carr, 22, recruited Justin Robertson to kill his father’s former partner, Pennie Davis, because he feared she was intent on resurrecting a claim that he had carried out an indecent assault when he was 14 and was worried she would disrupt his father’s upcoming wedding. Robertson was paid just £1,500 to carry out the killing and repeatedly stabbed Davis, a recently married supermarket worker, leaving her bloodied body to be found by her horrified husband. Carr, a scaffolder with no previous convictions who was hoping to get a job working with cared-for children, was told he will serve at least 30 years before he is considered for parole. Robertson, 36, a habitual petty criminal, will spend a minimum of 32 years behind bars before he can be released. Outside court, members of Davis’s family said they did not feel they had received justice despite the long sentences. They said the picture painted of her in court by the two men who had plotted against her as they tried to save themselves was nothing like “our warm, loving, protective, determined, funny mum who loved her children more than anything”. One of her daughters, Georga Pead, 19, said: “They will both still have people waiting for them outside. We have got to live here without her every single day. I don’t think that is justice at all.” Pennie Davis’s husband, Pete, 50, added: “They will still get the chance to come out and have families. Now I just hate everything. Going down to the horses, seeing people holding hands, enjoying the sun. It hurts because that’s what me and Pennie used to do. “And it is hard for the children too because they are all having their first birthdays without their mum and that is heartbreaking.” John Montague, senior district crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This is a tragic case where a mother-of-five who has just remarried died from a savage pre-planned execution.” DS Paul Barton of Hampshire police described Robertson as “an evil and cold killer who was motivated by a relatively small amount of money”. He added: “Carr had a long-term hatred for Pennie. He tried to silence her once and for all and knew Robertson would do anything for money. Carr planned her death in detail, ensuring he was out of the way at the time and had an alibi. This cold, calculated plan, in my view, makes him just as evil as Robertson.” Sentencing the pair, Mr Justice Popplewell said aggravating factors included that the murder was carefully planned, that a helpless woman was targeted in a remote location and that the attack was “brutal and ferocious, causing no doubt terror and physical suffering before she died”. He said Robertson had shown no remorse and his conduct in the witness box was “deplorable”. He said he had addressed his victim’s family directly in a way that was bound to cause them greater distress and openly made threats to kill Ben Carr. Police traced Robertson, 36, because he dropped a set of keys at the murder scene. Officers linked him to Carr and discovered that the younger man had a long-standing and deep hatred of 47-year-old Davis. Carr admitted he had hired Robertson but said he only wanted him to scare off Davis, not to physically harm her. But Carr was found guilty of conspiracy to murder while Robertson was convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder. A third person, Samantha Maclean, was cleared of conspiracy to murder. The jury was told that Davis and Carr’s father, electrician Timothy, were together for six years. Carr also lived with them and when he was 14 Davis accused him of a sexual assault. Police investigated but took no action and Carr, who is from Southampton, has always strongly denied the allegation. Davis later separated from Carr’s father but in August last year she repeated the allegation after hearing that Carr’s father was going to remarry, the court heard. From the witness box, Robertson turned to Carr and said: “Ben, I swear to you I am going to chase you around every jail in this country. I promise you, I am coming for you.” |