Murder accused moved in to victim's home

A MAN who had his girlfriend living in his garden shed spoke of how easy it would be to kill his wife and dispose of the body, a murder trial jury heard yesterday.

After several weeks in the hut, the girlfriend moved into the house, and was seen walking hand in hand with the man. A few days later, the wife's body was found in the cellar, the High Court in Edinburgh was told.

A friend of the dead woman, Carol Jarvis, 47, said Harry Jarvis, 61, had talked of "getting her out of the road". At first, he had seemed to be joking but it became more serious. "He said he could smother her, snap her neck just like that," Jacqueline Stewart, 49, told the jury.

Mrs Stewart said she saw Jarvis and Rita Heyster, 57, together at the house and had believed, until the body was found, that Mrs Jarvis had accepted "the other woman" into her home because she was so besotted with her husband that she would do anything not to lose him.

Heyster, of Livingston, West Lothian, is on trial, accused of acting with Jarvis and murdering Mrs Jarvis "by means unknown" in September 2009 at the family's home in Bathgate, West Lothian, and hiding the body, taped up in a blanket.

She blames Jarvis for any crime against his wife.

Mrs Stewart said Mrs Jarvis had been her best friend. Mrs Jarvis had known of affairs her husband, also called James, had with other women.

"She loved him. She would do anything for him, anything. When he went away, she would go running after him to try to find where he was because she wanted him back, no matter what. James knew that. He knew she would put up with anything," said Mrs Stewart.

The trial continues.