WARSOP MURDER TRIAL: Murder accused says wife of dead man asked if he ‘knew anyone that would kill him’

Transcripts of police interviews with Stephen Shreeves were read at Nottinghamshire Crown Court this morning, where he on trial with his friend Kelvin Dale and Charlotte Collinge for killing Clifford Collinge,

Mr Collinge (61) was found dead at his Sandy Lane home on the evening of 8th October, 2011.

He had been beaten to death with a guitar and a joiner’s sash lamp.

It is alleged that Charlotte Collinge (48) had lured both Shreeves (43) and Dale (30) back to house that she shared with her husband with the promise of sex, and arranged with them to kill her husband.

All three deny murder.

During the trial today, the transcripts of Shreeves’ interviews in the days following the death were read out by prosecutor Steven Coupland and Detective Constable Stephen Barnes, who had originally conducted the interviews and was giving evidence in the witness box.

Shreeves, of Laurel Avenue, Warsop, said he had met Charlotte Collinge in the pub that night and said she had been acting in a ‘provocative’ manner, kissing him.

She eventually invited him and Dale, of Forest Road, Warsop, back to her house on Sandy Lane.

Shreeves said Collinge told the pair that there was nobody at the house, but found Clifford Collinge and his friend, Stephen ‘Stan’ Boardman sat downstairs watching TV.

He told officers that he, Charlotte Collinge and Dale went straight upstairs to her bedroom.

However, he said her flirtatious manner stopped when they got to the house, with Shreeves telling detectives that he felt it was ‘something that had been set up’ and that he had become ‘frosty’ towards them at the house.

“She said she hates her husband and if we know anybody who would kill him. We started laughing,” Shreeves said.

In a later interview, he added: “The penny started to drop that she was a little bit more dangerous than we thought.”

Shreeves told police that he thought Collinge was attractive and was tempted by her, but said: “I think she was a golddigger, and just after a bit of money.”

He described the situation at the house as ‘uncomfortable’, and he and Dale decided to leave after claiming Charlotte Collinge left to buy cocaine with a third man, Robert ‘Bobby’ Proud, who had turned up at the house minutes after they arrived.

Shreeves then told police that he and Dale got into an altercation with Clifford Collinge and Stephen Boardman as they went to leave the house, but added: “They were alive when we left.”

The trial continues.