Mistress who lived in shed helped hide body of lover's wife

A WOMAN who lived in her lover's garden shed is now in a prison cell after being convicted of helping him hide his murdered wife's body.

In a bizarre trial, the likes of which a judge said he had never seen before, a court heard that Rita Heyster stayed in the hut and at night sneaked into the family home of Harry and Carol Jarvis.

Jarvis, 61, killed his wife, 47, a mother of four, and dumped the body in a cellar below their living room, before fleeing with Heyster - his "princess Marguerita". He was convicted at a trial earlier this year.

Heyster, 57, a once-wealthy widow, was also accused of the murder but was acquitted after the judge, Lord Brailsford, ruled there was insufficient evidence against her. She remained charged with trying to cover up the killing and was convicted yesterday by a jury's unanimous verdict.

Mrs Jarvis's sons Graham, 26, and Kevin, 25, attended the High Court in Edinburgh to see Heyster being remanded in custody to await sentencing next month.

They said: "It is bad enough losing one parent, let alone two. We all believe the jury reached the right decision in respect of our dad," said Graham.

"Mum was very family conscious, and we all want to make a success of our lives as a tribute to her … to make her proud of us," said Kevin.

Mrs Jarvis was in poor health and was cared for by her husband. By September 2009, the children, Susan, 28, Graham, Kevin, and Kimberley, 20 - all university educated - had left home.

Jarvis was a heavy drinker but his wife had chosen to overlook it, and also welcomed him back after he had gone off with other women, the latest being Heyster, of Peebles, whose family in her younger days had been behind the Jus-Rol pastry brand, but who ended up homeless and living on benefits.

On 14 September, 2009, the children discovered their mother was not at her Bathgate home, and made a missing person's report to the police.

Jarvis and Heyster had gone to Perth. The decomposing body of Mrs Jarvis was found in the cellar. The cause of death could not be determined.

Jarvis and Heyster were traced and detained. He had written several notes, in which he referred to "my princess Marguerita". In one note he wrote, "Drugs are doing job, just took longer than I thought," and in another, "Carol is dying as I write … then we have house to ourselves and sell all in it to move on. With no money we don't stand a chance. This way we will be away and happy."

Tests were carried out but no evidence could be found of a drug-related cause of death.

At his trial, Jarvis was convicted of murdering his wife "by means unknown".He was ordered to serve at least 15 years of a life sentence.

Heyster's lawyers had argued successfully for a separate trial, which ended yesterday with her conviction on a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.