Wife 'urged nephew to kill husband'

Mr Button was walking his dog when he was hit

A 20-year-old man was encouraged to kill his aunt's husband so she could pay off debts of nearly £200,000, a court has been told.

George Button, 53, was battered about the head as he walked his border collie down a country lane near his home in West Rainton, County Durham, in March this year.

A passer-by found Mr Button - who had been hit at least six times - and he died in hospital two days later.

Police initially thought the blows had been caused by a passing vehicle.

Simon Tannahill and his aunt Christina Button, 32, both deny murder.

Newcastle Crown Court was told Mrs Button had racked up debts on 14 credit and store cards and the couple had re-mortgaged their home as a result.

She was 31 and he was 53 and she hoped to benefit significantly from his death Toby Hedworth QC

Opening the case for the Crown on Tuesday, Toby Hedworth QC said Mrs Button, who denies murder, had persuaded Mr Tannahill to kill her husband so she could gain a £450,000 life insurance pay-out

Mr Hedworth told the jury: "Mr Button was killed as he walked the family dog along a dark country lane not far from the family home in West Rainton.

"It may have been hoped that his death looked as if he had been struck by a passing vehicle but, in fact, he had been bludgeoned to death with a heavy, blunt instrument.

"That instrument, say the Crown, was wielded by the defendant Simon Tannahill.

"He died, we say, probably at the behest of, and certainly with the connivance and encouragement of, his aunt, Christina Button who, despite her protestations, had tired of her older husband.

"She was 31 and he was 53 and she hoped to benefit significantly from his death.

"At the time of the killing, the Crown will submit, Mrs Button was not far away, and secreted somewhere in the area of the lane itself or in the vicinity of the village to make sure that the task was carried through."

Mr Tannahill lived with the Buttons at the home they shared with daughter Laura, seven, in St Mary's Drive, West Rainton.