Jealous wife denies hammer murder - The Sun

A WOMAN who suspected her husband was cheating bludgeoned him to death and later said: "If I can't have him, no-one can", a court heard.

Georgina Challen, 57, allegedly launched a "frenzied" hammer attack on retired businessman Richard, 61, as he ate lunch at their former marital home in Ruxley Ridge, Claygate, Surrey.

Though the couple had been living apart and were attempting to patch up their marriage, Challen was convinced her husband's efforts were a "ruse" dreamt up after they penned a post-nuptial agreement.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry told the jury at Guildford Crown Court that mother-of-two Challen, who was known as Sally, arrived at the house on August 14 with a hammer in her handbag.

The pair, who had been married for 31 years, had planned to clear out the property ahead of a visit to Australia, and hoped to move into a new home together once they returned.

But a suspicious Challen picked up the telephone to find out who her husband might recently have called. Dialling 1471, she heard a female voice, jurors were told.

Richard, a former car dealership owner, had phoned a woman he had met through dating agency Dinner Dates while his wife was out getting food. He had cancelled a planned trip on her boat the next day.

The prosecutor said: "She made her husband some lunch and, as he ate, she fetched a hammer which she had brought to the address from her handbag and hit him repeatedly over the head in what was an attack of extreme ferocity.

"Taking a weapon from the tool box at her home, as she told police, and bringing it that day to Ruxley Ridge, indicates, you might think, some degree of planning or premeditation.

"At the time she killed him, she believed that he was having an affair and that his attempts at a reconciliation were a ruse."

Challen then cleaned herself up, tidied the dishes away and covered her husband's body with old curtains.

She drove home, switched on her computer and wrote out her suicide note. She then returned to Ruxley Ridge where she allegedly looked through her husband's briefcase, listened to messages on his phone and checked his computer for emails.

The next day, Challen drove 70 miles to Beachy Head, in East Sussex, a notorious suicide spot.

She called her cousin to admit the killing and told her she was "going to jump".

When a suicide team and chaplain were dispatched to the cliff top, she repeated the admission and said she was "certain" her husband was dead.

The prosecutor said: "When asked how it happened, she said: 'I killed him with a hammer. I hit him lots of times',"

"She added: 'If I can't have him, no-one can'."

Police later found the 61-year-old's bloodied body on the kitchen floor. A hand-written note placed upon it read: "I love you, Sally."

Challen left her husband in autumn 2009 but she called off the divorce last June and the pair drew up a post-nuptial agreement.

The contract was Richard's suggestion, in order to ensure his wife "could never walk out on him again", the court was told.

During interviews, Challen told police that her husband had continued to use the dating agency and she "still had the feeling that she was being set up".

Challen denies murder.