African 'hitmen' deny murder

Barry Trigwell's skull was "almost literally shattered", the court heard

Two South African men battered a private detective to death in his West Midlands home after they were hired to kill him by his unfaithful wife, a jury heard on Tuesday.

Paul Ras, 41, and Loren Anders Sundkvist, 48, murdered Barry Trigwell in "as plain and murderous a killing as you can imagine", Birmingham Crown Court was told.

The 44-year-old victim was found bludgeoned to death and partly stripped in the bath at his home in Walmley, Sutton Coldfield, on 7 February 1995.

The victim's fourth wife, Ethel Anne Trigwell, was jailed for life in July 1996 for her part in her husband's murder.

It was a wholly planned crime done by people who had never met Mr Trigwell Timothy Raggatt QC

Timothy Raggatt QC, prosecuting, said: "She hired men to do her dirty work."

Mr Raggatt said Mr Trigwell, who had been working for a Birmingham-based firm called Nationwide Investigations, died almost instantly when he was struck repeatedly about the head.

"His skull was almost literally shattered. And that happened while he was sitting on the sofa in his own lounge.

"It was a wholly planned, wholly premeditated crime done by people who had never met Mr Trigwell.

"They were, in short, hired killers."

Bloodstained hair

Mrs Trigwell had wanted her husband out of the way because she was seeing another man and stood to gain hundreds of thousands of pounds from his death, Mr Raggatt told the jury.

He said Mr Ras and Mr Sundkvist were confident that they would not be traced, as they planned to leave the country within 24 hours.

Mr Raggatt told the court that, by the end of 1994, Mr Trigwell suspected his wife of having a lover in South Africa and said their marriage was "in pieces".

Barry Trigwell's wife is serving life her part in his murder

The prosecution alleges Mrs Trigwell met Alex Mitri, a former Johannesburg nightclub owner, during a visit to South Africa in December 1994.

The jury was told that he agreed to find someone to kill her husband.

Mr Raggatt said that Mr Ras and Mr Sundkvist, who live in the same road in north Johannesburg, visited Sutton Coldfield on a reconnaissance mission early in 1995.

On a return journey in early February the pair collected a brown envelope left by Mrs Trigwell - containing a house key and £300 - from staff at the Clover Hotel in Walmley, where they had previously stayed.

The jury heard that a pair of shoes, a cigarette lighter and a tuft of bloodstained hair tied the pair to the crime.

'Nuisance' husband

The hair, found by forensic scientists in a hire car used by Mr Ras and Mr Sundkvist during their second stay, was Mr Trigwell's and put their involvement beyond doubt, the jury was told.

Mr Raggatt added: "In short, Mr Trigwell was worth almost £400,000 to her dead and a nuisance alive.

"It was more than enough for a motive for murder."

Mr Ras and Mr Sundkvist, who were extradited from South Africa last year, both deny murder.

The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, was adjourned until Wednesday.