Cheating wife and ex-Marine lover jailed for 38 years over plot to murder soldier husband to cash in on his life insurance

A cheating wife and her secret ex-Royal Marine lover were today jailed for 19 years each for plotting to murder her husband.

46-year-old Michelle Mills and her 47-year-old boyfriend Geraint Berry prepared a ‘kill set’ to get the unsuspecting Christopher Mills to get his life insurance.

Berry recruited Steven Thomas, also 47, to help carry out the attack on September 20 last year.

In 2,301 messages sent between them, Mills and Berry discussed smothering him with a pillow, putting foxglove in his salad and even putting antifreeze in his dressing.

The ‘creepy’ pair then decided to kill Mr Mills during a mock gun raid on the couple’s holiday caravan in Cenarth, Carmarthenshire, in September last year.

They even prepared a fake suicide note in which the husband confessed to raping and beating his wife; He knew it was a lie.

Mr Mills was attacked in a static caravan he shared with his wife by Berry and Thomas, who were masked, carrying imitation pistols and carrying gas masks, pliers and cable ties in a rucksack.

Although Mr Mills was seriously injured, he managed to fight off his attackers and the pair escaped. His wife called 999 shortly after 23.30 and reported that her husband had a head injury and that he did not know who the masked attackers were.

The botched murder plot was carried out just weeks after a Help For Heroes life insurance policy came into force for ex-soldier Mr Mills, with his wife becoming the 100 per cent beneficiary of the £124,000 payout.

Mr. Mills believed he was happily married and was stunned to learn that his wife was planning to kill him.

At Swansea Crown Court today, Mr Justice Nicklin KC sentenced Mills, of Llanelli, Llangennech, and Berry, of Clydach, Swansea, to 19 years each for conspiracy to murder.

Mills was also given a concurrent 18-month prison sentence for perverting the course of justice, while Berry was given the same sentence for possession of an imitation firearm, a charge he had previously admitted.

Thomas, of Blaengwynfi in the Afan Valley, who the judge said played a ‘secondary role’ to Berry, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for possession of an imitation firearm, to which he had previously pleaded guilty.

Christopher Mills was targeted just weeks after his life insurance policy took effect and his wife became the 100 per cent beneficiary of the £124,000 payout

Ms Mills’ lover Geraint Berry, 47, was also part of the plot

Sentencing the pair, Judge Mr Justice Nicklin KC told Mills: ‘You and Geraint Berry planned to kill Christopher Mills.

‘Geraint Berry may have been largely responsible for devising the method of killing your husband, but you encouraged him to carry out the plan.

‘The evidence strongly suggests that in the weeks leading up to the attack you developed and exploited Mr Berry’s hostility towards your husband and encouraged him to find a way to get rid of him; not as a fantasy, but as reality.

‘From the text messages he sent you, you knew the chilling truth that Geraint Berry was heading for Cenarth that night.

‘The speed with which you attempted to destroy evidence of the messages sent after the plan failed shows that you knew full well they were incriminating you.’

The judge told Berry it was clear from the items he was carrying on the night of the botched murder plot that he intended to kill Mr Mills ‘possibly by gassing him’ and make it look like a suicide.

“No matter how incompetent the plan was in its formulation and execution, and no matter how unlikely it was to be carried out, your intention was to kill,” the judge continued.

‘The steps you took in preparation to achieve this goal were not imaginary. These were a chilling truth.

‘Your plan was foiled due to the extraordinary bravery and bravery of Mr Mills, who fought you and your accomplice.’

Former Help for Heroes charity worker Mr Mills said he could not believe the ‘cold and calculated’ plot to kill him and believed he was happily married.

Prosecutor Nicholas Gedge said: ‘He was devastated when he was informed of the background to the incident and that his wife was having an affair with Mr Berry.

‘He no longer feels safe in his own home and has had his locks changed and security cameras installed.’

Photos from the scene showed a terrifying load of gas masks, cable ties, balaclavas and guns that the 6-foot-10 Berry had packed together with ex-soldier Steven Thomas, 47, to carry out the raid.

Prosecutor Jonathan Rees KC said Berry was “jealous” and her messages about killing Mr Mills after her lover had “added fuel to the fire” were “becoming increasingly graphic”.

The court heard Mills told Berry that her husband had tried to touch her sexually and even “held her against her will”; but Berry denied this was an attempt to “provoke” him.

Mr Rees said: ‘Michelle Mills and Geraint Berry had engaged in a clandestine sexual relationship which, on Geraint Berry’s part at least, increasingly intensified.

‘Encouraged by Michelle Mills, Berry became increasingly preoccupied with hostile thoughts about Christopher Mills.’

The court heard Berry promised in the messages to ‘throw Mr Mills on the f***ing floor’ and also said he would ‘make it look like a suicide’.

A fake suicide note shown to the jury by the CPS was addressed to ‘Dear Babs’, the nickname Mr Mills gave his wife.

It read: ‘I’m truly sorry for everything I did to you, that is, for laying my hands on you every day when I drank too much alcohol…

‘I’m not happy with what I did to you, beating and raping you, Babs, and I shouldn’t have done that.

‘When you get this letter I’ll be gone because I can’t live with myself because every time I look at you I can see that I’m hurting you.’

A sealed white envelope containing the fake suicide was found in Berry’s pocket, with his lover’s DNA on it.

PC Jack Herbert said the fake letter contained a fake ‘apology’ from Mr Mills which included false admissions of ‘assault’ and ‘rape’.

The court heard that after the attack, his wife Mills texted her lover Berry, telling him to leave the scene and adding: “Delete all communications from both phones.”

‘I won’t say a word,’ he later said, as Berry and Thomas fled the scene after being repelled by the 20-stone Mr Mills inside the caravan.

Berry and Thomas surrendered after hiding in bushes, and officers found their gas masks along with filter canisters, cable ties, pliers, rags and a telescopic gun sight in their backpacks.

Footage from the bodies of police officers at the scene shows the men being handcuffed after being spotted by the police helicopter before the murder case was opened.

Mills claimed she believed the plan was a ‘fantasy’ and that she only intended to divorce her husband.

She said: ‘There was no plan to kill my husband. This was all part of a fantasy with Gaz.

‘We had no plans to kill Christopher. All we wanted was for me to be safe. Leaving Christopher, divorcing and leaving.

‘It was an escape from reality. It was unplanned and unintended.’

Mr Mills said he had ‘no idea’ his wife was having an affair and that he was arrested after she made domestic violence allegations against him following the masked attack – which he denied.

He said: ‘It was such a shock but it first came to my attention the next day. I was arrested. That’s when I realized Michelle was involved. My heart sank.’

The court heard Mr Mills denied allegations he was violent towards his wife, saying: ‘I never laid a finger on her.’

He added: ‘I didn’t do anything to Michelle. In my opinion, we had a happy marriage. ‘We had new passports and were saving money to go on holiday.’

Berry, 46, of Clydach, Swansea Valley, and Ethel Michelle Mills, of Llanelli, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

Thomas, 47, of Blaengwinfi in the Afan Valley, was also cleared of the same charge.

Mills was also found guilty of attempting to pervert the court of justice regarding the deletion of her account and phone messages she gave to police.

Berry and Thomas previously pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to create fear.

David Elias KC, defending Berry, said: ‘This was a very ill-conceived plan.

‘There was no clear plan on how the murder would be carried out and the attack was foiled very easily.’

Mills and Berry were each sentenced to 19 years in prison and told they must serve at least two-thirds of their sentences behind bars.

Thomas was sentenced to 12 months in prison for his ‘secondary role’ but had already spent that time in remand.