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 setup
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 sixmonth-
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.
12:51pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
Print 
Email this
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
