Woman jailed after hiring hitman to kill colleague

Helen Hewlett, 44, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after she paid Bitcoin worth over £20,000 to a website on the dark web called ‘Online Killers Market’, all in an effort to get Paul Belton, 50, murdered in what would appear to be an accident.

It came after the pair had a brief fling, before Mr Belton spurned the married mum-of-five’s advances.

Jurors were told how she and Mr Belton had flirted with each other when they were both working at a food factory in Fakenham, Norfolk.

Judge Katharine Moore told Hewlett today: “You were angry and upset when Paul Belton did not wish to pursue a relationship with you.

The trial heard how Hewlett became “utterly fixated” with Mr Belton and repeatedly sent him emails begging to see him again, as well as nude photographs of herself, but he constantly made it clear he did not want anything to do with her.

Even after Mr Belton was made redundant and got a new job, Hewlett got a job in the same factory to pursue him.

Management rejected her claims as “malicious” after Mr Belton showed them emails she had sent him.