King's Lynn woman guilty of trying to hire hitman after fling

A woman who tried to hire a hitman to kill a former work colleague after a fling has been found guilty of soliciting murder.

Helen Hewlett, 44, of King's Lynn in Norfolk, paid £17,000 as a deposit to a website used for recruiting contract killers, her trial heard.

She was arrested after police linked her to payments made to the site.

The court heard her target was a 50-year-old colleague with whom she had become infatuated after a brief affair.

Norfolk Police issued this screengrab of the message placed on the website used by Helen Hewlett

The jury was told Hewlett had placed an order on the dark web stating "need someone killed in Norfolk", adding it was "vital it looks like an accident".

Hewlett and Paul Belton met when they worked at the Linda McCartney Frozen Food factory in Fakenham and had a kiss in his car.

Helen Hewlett used the dark web to try to hire a killer to take out a man she had become obsessed with

During the trial, Mr Belton said Hewlett had "become obsessed with him" and over a period of two years until August 2022 she bombarded him with emails and texts, urging him to meet her.

These included sexual images and videos of herself.

Hewlett became obsessed with a work colleague after they had a kiss in the Linda McCartney car park where they both worked

When Mr Belton left to work at the nearby Kinnerton chocolate factory, Hewlett managed to secure a job there too.

While at Kinnerton, the court heard Hewlett filed two complaints against Mr Belton to his employers, accusing him of harassment, homophobia and racial abuse.

The firm told him there was no case to answer, and he was advised to go to the police.

Asked by prosecutor, Marti Blair, why he eventually went to the police, Mr Belton said: "I just wanted it to stop. I just wanted to be left alone."

Hewlett followed her victim to the Kinnerton factory, securing a job there, after he joined the firm

The court heard the police visited Hewlett and she stopped trying to make contact with Mr Belton for a few days, but she resumed emailing soon afterwards saying she was "sorry".

Prior to posting the request on the website, Hewlett placed money into an escrow third-party account.

In her attempt to find a killer, she gave Mr Belton's home and work address and other personal details, the court heard.

Hewlett took out a number of loans to pay for the hitman but investigators were unable to say if the cash went to a potential hitman, or if the online killers market site was a scam.

Det Insp Paul Morton said it had been a complex case

Following the verdict, Det Insp Paul Morton said: "This has been a very complex and technical trial with a huge amount of information to consider.

"This is a rare type of offence and it just shows the dark web is still not a safe place for criminals to hide."

The defendant was cleared of stalking, involving fear or violence to cause serious alarm or distress, but she was found guilty of a lesser charge of stalking, without serious alarm or distress, between January 2021 and August 2022.

Hewlett is expected to be sentenced in April.