Murdered detective suspected danger

Barry Trigwell found out his wife had been paying for insurance policies

Barry Trigwell went from being a "positive man to a weak man" after suspecting that his wife might be having an affair.

Mr Trigwell had only been married to his South African-born wife Ethel for one year when she hired two men to kill him.

She was the victim's fourth wife but after only 12 months of marriage she decided that her husband was worth more to her dead than he was alive.

Ethel Anne Trigwell stood to gain £400,000 in insurance money if her husband died.

Private detective

Loren Sundkvist and Paul Ras were recruited from South Africa as assassins.

On 23 January 1995 Ras and Sundkvist travelled from their country to Birmingham where they carried out their mission.

But the 44-year-old Birmingham private detective suspected he was in danger.

During a phone call to his sister Mr Trigwell had told her to pass on a phone number to a friend "if anything happened to him."

Ethel Trigwell was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder

He also told his sister Julie Armener that he suspected his wife was having an affair and told her he was "devastated and very emotional."

Ms Armener told Birmingham Crown Court that her brother had "gone from being a very positive man to a weak man and he spent most of his time crying on the phone to me."

He also told his sister that he was upset because he had found out that his wife had been paying for insurance policies.

But Mr Trigwell's suspicions came too late and on 7 February 1995 he was struck repeatedly about the head while he sat on the sofa.

Freak accident

Ras and Sundkvist then stripped him and put his near naked body in a bath which they filled with water.

It was suggested in court that they may have wanted to make the killing look like some kind of freak accident but ultimately were not too bothered about covering their tracks because they knew that within 24 hours they would be thousands of miles away.

What they did not know was that Anne Trigwell had left a parcel containing keys and cash at a hotel in Erdington which would eventually, unintentionally, incriminate all three in the case.

The parcel was left at the Clover Hotel, Chester Road, Erdington, where Ras and Sundkvist had been staying but had checked out before the parcel arrived.

Life sentence

The assistant manager of the hotel Constance Wilcox told the court that a woman with a South African accent delivered a brown envelop which was addressed to Sundkvist.

At that time, she said, the two men were not staying at the hotel and that she and the other staff were "worried and suspicious" about the package, fearing it might contain drugs.

Ms Wilcox said they decided to open the envelope and inside found a freshly cut key which looked like a front door key and £300 in cash.

Ethel Trigwell was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in July 1996 and is currently serving a life sentence. in prison.