A HUSBAND discovered his wife's body after being given a lift home by
his lover who had murdered her just hours before, the Old Bailey was
told yesterday.
Mr John Shaughnessy's affair with Miss Michelle Taylor had begun
before his marriage to his wife Alison and continued afterwards -- she
was even a guest at the wedding, it was claimed.
However, when he told the infatuated Taylor, 21, that he would never
leave his wife, she hatched a plot with her sister Lisa to kill Mrs
Shaughnessy, 20, said Mr John Nutting, prosecuting.
The sisters lay in wait for Mrs Shaughnessy, a bank clerk, outside her
flat in Battersea, London, on June 3 last year.
''They gained access to the flat on some pretext and there on the top
of a flight of stairs, Alison was stabbed to death.'' A post-mortem
showed she was stabbed 54 times.
Miss Michelle Taylor and Miss Lisa Taylor, 18, of Forest Hill, London,
both deny murder.
Mr Nutting said Mr Shaughnessy worked at the Churchill Clinic in
Lambeth with Miss Michelle Taylor.
He worked his way up from a porter to assistant purchase manager
earning #10,000 a year, the court heard. Miss Michelle Taylor worked at
the clinic in the accounts department and later became a part-time
cleaner and moved into the staff wing.
''Some time before he became engaged to be married to Alison, he and
Michelle began to have an affair. That affair continued after his
marriage. Michelle became completely infatuated with him,'' Mr Nutting
said.
''She knew he would never leave Alison. He told her so.''
Mr Nutting said that, after Mrs Shaughnessy was murdered, the sisters
returned to the clinic and Miss Michelle Taylor gave Mr Shaughnessey a
lift home.
''He discovered the body of his wife lying where Michelle and her
sister had left it when they murdered her a few hours earlier.''
Mr Nutting said Mr Shaughnessy was his wife's first serious boyfriend.
''But once she met him, he became her life.'' They were engaged in April
1989. But from March 1989 until the time of the alleged murder, Mr
Shaughnessy and Miss Michelle Taylor slept together regularly.
Mr Nutting said Alison ''became somewhat vexed'' -- but unworldly and
immature, she did not suspect the true nature of their relationship or
the true feeling Miss Michelle Taylor harboured for Shaughnessy.
On June 23, 1990, Alison married Mr Shaughnessy in Piltown, County
Kilkenny. Miss Michelle Taylor went to the wedding, with all expenses
paid by her lover, the court heard.
When they returned from honeymoon, Mr Shaughnessy and his wife lived
at the clinic.
''Michelle and Shaughnessy continued to sleep together when the
opportunity offered, either in her room or the room which he shared with
Alison,'' said Mr Nutting.
To preserve her relationship with her lover, Miss Taylor maintained a
pleasant front with Alison, cultivating her company and accompanying the
couple to pubs.
''But the reality of Michelle's feelings for Alison were very
different,'' said Mr Nutting.
Her true feelings of ''suppressed jealousy and hatred for her rival''
were disclosed in her diary, which came to light after the murder.
''The writings reveal the loneliness of a girl who felt she was no
more than a bit on the side,'' said Mr Nutting.
''The diary entries also reveal a sinister forecast of what was to
come nine months later.''
In October 1990, Miss Michelle Taylor wrote: ''I hate Alison, the
unwashed bitch. My dream solution would be for Alison to disappear as if
she never existed and then maybe I could give everything I wanted.''
After Mr Shaughnessy had discovered the body, Mr Nutting said, Miss
Taylor ''affected horror and shock'' and went into a nearby pub shouting
hysterically: ''Please phone the police, my friend has been killed.''
The trial continues today.
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