A hitman hired to murder a woman was instead foiled by her Staffordshire bull terrier Princess after the loyal dog woke her owner up with a ‘long growl’.
Intended victim Tracy Devonshire, 43, awoke to see hitman Trefor Jones, 38, standing over her in her flat in Hitchen in Hertfordshire.
He tried to excuse himself by saying: ‘I wanted to give your dog a kiss.’
Jones, of Hampshire, and Ms Devonshire’s ex Mukhtar Lail, of Stotfold in Bedfordshire, were convicted at St Albans Crown Court of conspiracy to commit murder by giving her a fatal drug overdose.
A hitman hired to murder a woman was instead foiled by her Staffordshire bull terrier Princess after the loyal dog woke her owner up with a ‘long growl’ (file image)
Lail, of Stotfold and Jones, of Southsea denied conspiracy to commit murder between 27 December 2021 and 14th January last year, but were convicted by the jury.
Lail was also convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Prosecutors said Lail offered Jones £15,000 to kill Ms Devonshire with a lethal dose of heroin.
Ms Devonshire was saved when her dog, a Staffie called Princess, let out ‘the deepest, longest growl’ she had ever heard.
She drifted off to sleep again on the sofa only to be woken for second time by Princess. Again, Jones was standing over her.
Prosecutor Nathan Rasiah KC said Jones, from Southsea, had been offered £15,000 to kill Ms Devonshire by Mukhtar Lail, with whom she was in an abusive relationship in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Lail, aged 53, from Stotfold, Bedfordshire was said to have ordered the killing after Devonshire allegedly abused him in front of his young daughter.
The prosecutor told a jury St Albans Crown Court: ‘This case is about a plot to kill. Lail would pay Jones to kill her by giving her a fatal does of heroin.
‘For years they were in a relationship. It was an abusive relationship. Lail dealt in Class A drugs and she was addicted to heroin.’
They parted and although she had seen him in Baldock and Letchworth they had not spoken.
In December 2021 she saw him in Baldock and asked Lail if she was ‘f*****g’ a woman she knew. He replied: ‘No I am married.’
When she was with her brother in Letchworth town centre, she saw Lail with his child and asked him if he had been with the same woman recently.
Lail responded by saying ‘F*** you.’
This, said Mr Rasiah, was the trigger for Lail to decide to have her killed.
He said he contacted Jones, who had moved from the area to the south coast. In the past he had allegedly used him to attack someone’s home with petrol.
Mr Rasiah said: ‘Lail offered Jones £15,000 to kill Tracy Devonshire. The plan was to give her a fatal dose of heroin to make it look like an accidental overdose.”
Lail is said to have given Jones heroin and cocaine to take to her flat. Ms Devonshire let him in. She had been clean from heroin for two years and did not take any.
Jones, of Hampshire, and Ms Devonshire’s ex Mukhtar Lail, of Stotfold in Bedfordshire, were convicted at St Albans Crown Court (file image) of conspiracy to commit murder by giving her a fatal drug overdose
Both of them had cocaine before Ms Devonshire, who was also on sedatives, fell asleep on the sofa.
The next day, after failing to deliver a lethal injection, Jones told her ‘I am here to kill you.’ He said Lail was to pay him £15,000, but then he realised she was not such a bad person.
Ms Devonshire called her brother and sister who, secretly at first, recorded a conversation with Jones in which he told them of the plot. When Jones left, the police were called.
The prosecutor alleged Lail had tried to persuade Ms Devonshire not to go to court by sending two men to her flat on February 3 last year. They arrived in surgical masks.
One said he was from the council and was there to give her a covid test. She was on the phone at the time and told the person she was speaking to to called the police. Money was also offered to her, it was alleged.
Lail’s address was searched on January 13 and heroin and cocaine were seized, along with over £20,000 cash and a large quantity of Euros. He answered ‘no comment’ to police questions after he was arrested.
When Jones was arrested he gave the police a prepared statement in which he said he had agreed to create a threatening message for Tracy Devonshire so that she could get the council to move her. Jones did not give evidence.
In the witness box, Lail said he was in a relationship with Tracy Devonshire in April 2003.
In March 2005 he was arrested for drugs offence and was jailed for 6 years. The relationship did not continue after that but he saw her in town on occasions.
He said that when she accused him of having a sexual relationship with another woman he simply said: ‘whatever’ and walked on.
Lail told the jury he had been supplying Jones with drugs to sell and had never asked him to kill Tracy. He denied trying to pay her and her family off.
Judge Richard Foster will sentence them at a later date.
