Crime
Farmer denies shotgun threats to estranged wife
A FARMER pointed a shotgun at his estranged wife in a terrifying late-night showdown after accusing her of having an affair, a court was told yesterday.
Tony Whitehead had been served with divorce papers by wife Sharon three months before the incident in August last year and was said to have been furious when she had a night out with friends.
The couple and their children still lived together at their farm on the outskirts of Darlington, for financial reasons, but mother-of-five Mrs Whitehead was looking for a home to rent.
A jury at Teesside Crown Court was told that Mr Whitehead became bitter about the set-up and his 40-year-old wife spent as much time as possible away from home to avoid confrontation.
Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said Mr Whitehead convinced himself his wife was having an affair, and told the jury: "That suspicion and bitterness is at the heart of what the defendant did next."
On the night of August 20, when Mrs Whitehead met her sister and friends, her husband bombarded her with menacing text messages demanding to know who she was with.
Some of the messages suggested he believed she was with another man, said Mr Newcombe, and one of them read: "I have a big fire and all your clothes are going on it."
Mrs Whitehead returned to the Lea Close Farm, in Great Stainton, County Durham, shortly after 10pm and was told by her daughter, Shenade, that her husband was outside with his shotgun.
The jury heard that she saw him in the cab of a tractor sending her more text messages, and she watched from an outbuilding as he went back into the farmhouse with the weapon.
Mrs Whitehead said she tried to sneak around the outside of the house and wait until he went to bed, so she could flee with Shenade, 19, and their six-month-old daughter, Gabrielle.
But she said her husband heard her, confronted her outside with the gun and pointed it at her.
She said: "I thought he had lost the plot ... I thought he had lost his mind ... he was mad."
"For Tony to get a gun and point it at you, I thought he was not himself. I thought he was going to shoot me. I thought I was going to die," she added.
After his arrest, Mr Whitehead claimed his wife had made up the story as a "bargaining chip" or "tactical ploy" to boost her financial settlement from the divorce, Mr Newcombe said.
The prosecutor added: "The prosecution case is that the defendant, on an isolated and lonely farm in Darlington, raged at his wife, accused her of having an affair, threatened to burn all her clothes and ended up pointing and aiming a shotgun right at her - a shotgun which she feared was loaded, a shotgun which she feared would be used - and his acts made her terrified for her life."
Mr Whitehead has pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without a certificate, but denies possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
The trial continues today.
3:03am Wednesday 7th May 2008
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