Stepmother jailed over circus clown death plot

AN EMBITTERED stepmother who hired a circus clown named Banjo to murder her stepson and his wife, and dispose of the bodies, was jailed for nine years yesterday. Her accomplice in the plot - a millionaire property developer who introduced her to the supposed "hitman" - was also jailed for nine years

Sylvia Paterson, 55, had resented Paul and Sarah Paterson since marrying Kenneth Paterson, who is 22 years her senior, in 1993, Manchester Crown Court was told. When her husband handed over a controlling interest in his metal business to his son and grandson without telling her, and also allowed his son to take over the main family home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, Sylvia was infuriated. She also blamed Paul and Sarah for a deterioration in her marriage to Mr Paterson.

In January last year, Sylvia discussed killing the couple with her friend John Holmes, 43, who introduced her to Banjo - real name Paul Thorlsog. Holmes, who had a reputation as a "fixer", told Paterson that Mr Thorlsog, 49, was "your man" for the hit. Sylvia wanted Paul and Sarah Paterson to "disappear", believing that after seven years they would be declared dead, and ownership of the family business would revert to her husband.

But Mr Thorlsog changed his mind two weeks before the intended attack and contacted police. An undercover police officer joined the plot, secretly recording the discussions, and Paterson and Holmes were arrested.

During the trial, Holmes was heard on tape talking about getting some "Ruud Gullitts" - rhyming slang for bullets - and said the word "hit". He also talked about someone being sent to the "warm place", which was taken to mean a grave. Holmes, of Halebarns, Greater Manchester, insisted there had been no mention of the words "murder" or "kill". Paterson, of Wilmslow, said she had paid Mr Thorlsog pounds 1,150 in cash only to carry out surveillance of her husband.

The defendants' wealth, the court was told, made both of them fixtures among the so-called "Cheshire Set". Paterson had acquired the trappings of wealth from a rich Lebanese businessman, to whom she had been personal assistant, and sent her son and daughter to expensive schools. She flew her own plane and drove a Mercedes car with the registration CLA 55Y.

She met Holmes shortly after divorcing her first husband in 1981, and they became partners in a series of property projects. They attended charity functions alongside Holmes's wife, and their photographs regularly appeared in the society magazine Cheshire Life.

Holmes, who put his fortune at "pounds 2m-pounds 3m", had been sentenced to two months' jail in 1998 for indecently assaulting a 16- year-old waitress, and while in prison met Mr Thorlsog, a petty criminal and fantasist. When Mr Thorlsog contacted Holmes after his release from jail to take him up on an offer of work, Holmes decided that he was the man to help Paterson get rid of her stepson.

Sentencing the pair for conspiracy to murder, Judge Sir Rhys Davies said: "It is clear from what has transpired in this court that ...you, Sylvia Paterson, are the stronger character and probably the driving force. You, John Holmes, wealthy as you are, possessed of a certain charm you may be but you wholly lack judgement."

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