Solicitor Accused of Hiring Hitman to Kill Partner

Thu, 22 Apr 2010

A solicitor is standing trial accused of hiring a hit man to kill his business partner. 54 year old John Cort from Leicester and 37 year old Brian Farrell from London both deny murdering Vina Patel. The 51 year old was found at Cort and Co solicitors on January 15th 2009, though Mr Cort’s dire financial position initially raised suspicions that he may have been responsible. Nottingham Crown Court heard how Mr Cort stole £220,000 from clients in addition to legal costs in the months surrounding Mrs Patel’s death as he sought to pay off his supposedly considerable debts .

It is alleged that when Mrs Patel discovered her business partners misdemeanours, the lawyer could not tolerate the possibility of his crimes being revealed, so hired hit man Brian Farrell to kill Mrs Patel, constructing it so that it would appear that she had fallen down the stairs.

The two were partners at Cort and Co law firm, and in the weeks prior to Mrs Patel’s death, the business insurance policy on Mrs Patel’s life was upped from £500,000 to £1.5 million in the event of the lawyer dying.
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