Wife and secret lover plotted to murder husband in caravan attack

A woman and her ex-marines secret lover have been found guilty of plotting to kill her husband.

Christopher Mills was attacked by two masked men with guns, gloves and cable ties at the caravan he shared with his wife in Cenarth, Carmarthenshire, in September 2024.

Ethel Mills, 46, known as Michelle, from Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, conspired with lover Geraint Berry, 46, from Clydach, Swansea, who was also found guilty.

Steven Thomas, 47, from Blaengwynfi, Neath Port Talbot, was found not guilty of conspiracy to murder, but had previously admitted possessing an imitation firearm. The three will be sentenced on 19 December.

Christopher Mills was attacked in his caravan in September 2024

Mills, who was also found guilty of perverting course of justice, met Berry and Thomas at a block of flats in Clydach while she was south Wales manager of Alabaré homeless charity for veterans.

Both men lived there.

The trial at Swansea Crown Court heard Mills and Berry worked together and had been having an affair for three months.

In the weeks leading up to the attack, text messages between the pair revealed Berry had said Mr Mills should "just die". He urged Michelle Mills to smother him with a pillow or poison him by putting antifreeze in his gravy.

Police helicopter footage of Geraint Berry, and Steven Thomas who were hiding in undergrowth

In one text message, Berry mentioned putting sleeping tablets in Mr Mills' drink. When asked why Michelle Mills had not rebuffed her lover's suggestion, she said she "did not want to lose him".

Jonathan Rees KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Berry had told Michelle Mills 16 times in texts that he wanted to kill her husband.

Mills said she only believed this to be purely a "fantasy" and an "escape from reality".

She had also claimed to police officers that her husband was "abusive" and "controlling".

The court heard that when Mills was arrested she told officers: "I'm going to prison for this, aren't I?"

Jurors heard the 999 call made by Mills, during which her husband could be heard asking for an "immediate armed response".

"I'm ex-forces," he said, "I've taken the guns off them. They might still be here. It's pitch black here".

Police later found Berry and Thomas hiding nearby, one carrying a forged suicide note supposedly written by Mr Mills to his wife.

Gas masks recovered by police

Mr Mills told the court that on the night of the attack, he and his wife had eaten dinner together in their caravan. They had listened to music and enjoyed a few drinks, before a knock at the door at about 23:30 BST.

"Michelle had been on her phone," he said. "I assumed she was playing a game. Apparently not.

"As I opened the door he literally hit me right in the face with a pistol, 'get back', 'get down', he was saying.

"I punched him in his face. I pulled his pistol off of him. He was dressed in overalls, with balaclavas. He was a lot bigger than me," Mr Mills added.

Cable ties recovered by police

He said there was someone else there too, who he fought off, and then his wife called the police.

Speaking after the hearing, Det Insp Samantha Gregory, senior investigating officer at Dyfed-Powys Police, said: "While this has all the makings of a TV drama, at the heart of it is a victim of a real conspiracy to take someone's life, and there were potential fatal consequences to the planned attack on September 20th."

She said Mills and Berry had plotted "not one, not two but three attempts to take Mr Mills' life and I have no doubt they would have continued to come up with these plans had they not been caught that night".

"They will now face the consequences of their actions," she added.

She thanked Mr Mills "for his integrity and cooperation throughout the criminal justice process".

Christopher Mills was attacked at a caravan he shares with his wife in Cenarth, near Newcastle Emlyn, by two masked men with guns, gas masks, gloves and cable ties

Geraint Berry, during his arrest - from police video