Wife accused of love triangle murder plot says it was a ‘fantasy’

A woman from Carmarthenshire accused of plotting with her secret lover to murder her husband said it was only a “fantasy”, a court has heard.

Ethel Mills, 46, known as Michelle, is standing trial alongside Geraint Berry, 46, and Steven Thomas, 47, accused of conspiring to kill Christopher Mills.

Mr Mills was attacked at a static caravan he shared with his wife in September 2024 by two masked intruders, bearing imitation handguns and carrying gas masks, pliers and cable ties in a rucksack.

Swansea Crown Court heard Berry, an ex-marine who is alleged to have been one of the attackers, had been engaged in a secret relationship with Mills for around three months prior to the assault and had shared his fantasies with Mills about killing her husband.

Text messages

The court previously heard excerpts from text messages between Mills and Berry in the weeks leading up to the attack, in which he urged her to smother her husband with a pillow or poison him by putting antifreeze in his gravy.

In another message read to the court, Mills told Berry she did not want either of them to kill her husband, but said someone else doing it was “not an issue”.

“It was an escape from reality,” Mills told the court.

“It wasn’t a fact, it wasn’t going to happen, we never discussed killing Chris as an actual thing to happen.

“I never wanted Chris killed, [Geraint Berry] had no intention of killing Chris, as I had no intention of killing Chris.

“It was a fantasy.”

Life insurance

The court heard the incident happened weeks after Mr Mills’ £124,000 Help for Heroes life insurance policy came into effect, making his wife the sole beneficiary.

“I wasn’t aware he had life insurance,” Mills said.

Mills and her husband, also ex-forces, married in 2018 and lived together at Maes Ty Gwyn, Llangennech, but the attack took place at a static caravan they shared in Cenarth, Carmarthenshire.

The court heard that while Mr Mills was not aware of any problems with their relationship, his wife was said to have begun an affair with Berry in June 2024.

On the night of September 20 2024, Mr Mills and his wife were sitting in the living room of the caravan when he answered a knock at the door.

He was met by two masked men armed with guns, who proceeded to enter the caravan and launch an assault on him, striking him in the face, the court heard. Mr Mills fought off his attackers, who fled the scene.

“The police attended shortly afterwards, and the two intruders, Geraint Berry and Steven Thomas, were discovered hiding in undergrowth near to the caravan site,” said Jonathan Rees KC, prosecuting.

The court heard one of the men was found to be carrying a forged suicide note, purporting to be written by Mr Mills and addressed to his wife.

Berry, of Clydach, Swansea, and Thomas, of Blaengwynfi, in the Afan Valley, have admitted to possessing an imitation firearm but pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder.

Mills, of Llangennech, Llanelli, has also denied conspiracy to murder and a further charge of perverting the course of justice by deleting messages from her phone and giving police a false account.

The trial continues.