The hitman and her

Dec 22 2006 By Rhodri Phillips, The Journal

A millionaire businesswoman was last night facing years behind bars after being found guilty of plotting to murder her former partner and his new wife.

Ann Hunter, who was managing director of the £30m firm which made Tommee Tippee baby products in Cramlington, Northumberland, was convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill the couple.

Hunter, 50, had denied inciting new lover, financial adviser Anton Lee, to order the killing of Colin Love and his bride Judith - saying that she still loved lecturer Mr Love, the father of her two children.

But Lee, 54, was duped into hiring an undercover police officer for the job and gave evidence against Hunter in the Old Bailey trial after admitting soliciting murder.

The court heard of a series of poisonous emails sent by Hunter to Mr Love, her partner of 22 years, after she developed an uncontrollable hatred of his new wife, who had been his teenage sweetheart.

Following the case Mr Love said: "I still find it almost impossible to believe that an intelligent and gifted woman would contemplate such a plan. She has wrecked her life as a caring mother, career icon and female role model."

Partner's horror at murder plot

A businessman spoke last night of his horror at finding out he and his wife were the targets of a contract killing ordered by his former partner.

Colin Love said he found it hard to believe that it was the mother of his two children who had wanted him and his bride, Judith, dead.

Mr Love, 59, was speaking after Ann Hunter, 50, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of inciting her new lover, financial adviser Anton Lee, 54, to hire a hit man.

Hunter was the managing director of a £30m company which made Tommee Tippee baby products in Cramlington, Northumberland, until her arrest last year.

Now of Chiswick, West London, she denied the charge but pleaded guilty to soliciting the man to cause Mrs Love grievous bodily harm with intent.

Hunter, who has been in custody for more than a year, shook her head as the jury of five women and seven men found her guilty.

Following the case, Mr Love said: "I still find it almost impossible to believe that an intelligent and gifted woman would contemplate such a plan without fully realising the downside of exposure and failure.

"In my opinion, she has wrecked her life as a caring mother, career icon and female role model."

Hunter told the court she could not have contemplated having Mr Love killed because she still loved him. The couple had been together for 22 years.

Lee, of Stanmore, Middlesex, who had initially been Mr Love's accountant and worked from Mayfair, pleaded guilty to soliciting murder.

Both were remanded in custody for reports and face long prison terms when they are sentenced on January 26.

Hunter was charged under her full name of Carol Ann Hunter and was known in business circles as Ann Hunter-Love.

The prosecution said she could not accept the end of the relationship with Mr Love, the father of her two children.

She sent a series of emails to Mr Love in which she referred to Mrs Love, 51, as the OBW (old bitch whore) and developed an uncontrollable hatred of her.

Things came to a head when Mr Love married the woman who had been his teenage sweetheart after they met again through Friends Reunited, and moved her into the £600,000 period home in Bedfordshire which Hunter still partly owned.

The court was told that Lee approached a friend who went to the Surrey police. An undercover police officer called Darren pretended to be a hit man and recorded their conversations.

Mr Love, who used to run an internet company and who lectures at universities, said: "In October 2005 my wife Judy and I were shocked and appalled to learn that my ex-partner had together with her boyfriend been arrested for incitement to murder and maim.

"I now understand that Judy and I were the intended targets. We are indebted to the professionalism and vigilance of the Surrey Police for intercepting and neutralising that plan.

"Over the past year the fall-out of these events has been immense.

"My children have been subjected to the most extreme pressures, coping with the fact that their mother has been held for 14 months on remand and not knowing what was likely to be the outcome.

"My wife Judy has lived with the constant fear that persons unknown to her were prepared to maim her for just being associated with me.

"My parents, in their 80s, have found the whole situation horrific and incomprehensible. Both have incurred irrevocable damage to their physical and mental health."

Appealing for privacy, he added: "On behalf of Judy and myself, we want to draw a line under this whole sad episode."

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Humphreys said: "We are very grateful to the member of the public who initially brought the scheme to our attention.

"Without his involvement this plot could have resulted in serious injury or death."

Ruthless in business and real life

Ann Hunter ran a £30m company, sat on numerous committees and led a globe-trotting lifestyle - but as she confessed in court, she was not so good at domestic life.

She remains well-known in North-East business circles from her time, from 1999 onwards, at Tommee Tippee, based in Cramlington, Northumberland, and owned by Jackel International, a baby goods manufacturer.

While there she lived in the North-East during the week, returning to London at the weekends, to be with partner of 22 years Colin Love and their two children, Amber, now 18, and Ashley, now 13.

She also sat on the councils of both the CBI and the North-East Chamber of Commerce and chaired the board of environmental organisation Groundwork Northumberland.

During her time at Tommee Tippee turned the company around from a loss-maker into a profitable market leader. She cut jobs, moving the manufacturing process to China and cutting the workforce from 500 to 186.

It was during 2005 that her relationship with Mr Love began to disintegrate, eventually leading to yesterday's verdict at the Old Bailey.

The daughter of a Yorkshire businessman and a jewellery designer from British Guyana, she spent her childhood moving from Africa to Greece, and on to Canada, Australia and the Middle East.

It was a cosmopolitan, entrepreneurial background which shaped the young Hunter.

In an interview with The Journal last year Ann, also known as Carol, who used the surname Hunter-Love in business circles, said: "I am the product of globe-trotting parents. I was very lucky to live in a very entrepreneurial culture. It makes you flexible and adaptable, and open to change. It set me up for my adult years."

Hunter, who was 50 last Sunday, studied fashion, design and business. Realising she was not going to be "the next Yves Saint Laurent" she joined the world of retail with Simpsons of Piccadilly as a trainee buyer and then worked briefly for her parents in Australia before joining cosmetics giants Avon in 1979. After five years at Avon she was head-hunted to be the head of marketing at the rival Schering Corporation, and when one of their products - Rimmel - was bought up by Unilever two years later Hunter became their head of European marketing. During her time at Unilever she wielded the axe with characteristic ruthlessness - closing five factories in two years. She later used the same determination she showed in her business life to plot to have her partner killed.

Staff at Jackel said they had noticed a change in her. She became forgetful and quick-tempered, although no-one could have predicted she would plot to kill the father of her two children.

Hunter remained MD of Tommee Tippee until her arrest at the end of last year. When she spoke to The Journal in June 2005 about her business career and her family life there was no sign her relationship with Mr Love was under strain. Given what has happened since some of her answers from that interview now make for chilling reading. When asked who or what made her laugh she answered: "Colin". And in reply to the question "How would you like to be remembered?" she said - "With a smile".

Campaign of hate by email

Ann Hunter was the epitome of a cool-headed businesswoman - but underneath she was seething with rage.

Her true feelings were revealed in a series of emails to Colin Love in which she vented her anger at Judith Love, his new wife.

One, in March last year, said: "You carry the corruption and stench of the whore whenever you come down to see the children."

Hunter called her a "money-grabbing, calculating bitch, scum of a whore".

In August, she wrote: "The gutter is too good for her, she would destroy it."

Two years after the break-up, she wrote that the "overweight old whore" would be celebrating at the cost of the destruction of a family.

Talking about Mrs Love's former husband, who had suffered a stroke, she said: "Her underhand way to get a meal ticket, by lying on her back and whispering sweet words. I guess the old bitch whore (OBW) is jumping for glee... her last meal ticket close to kicking the bucket and she does not even have to now she has a new meal ticket. All the lottery came up at once for the bitch."

She described Judith as a carrion crow who was condescending, calculating and callous.

Mr Love said he received one email in which Hunter referred to his wife as "that two-legged dog of yours".

He added that when he received the emails he let any insults they contained "just wash over me. I ignored them."

A glimpse into the world of Ann Hunter

Questionnaire with Ann Hunter-Love featured in The Journal on June 13, 2005.

What car do you drive?

A BMW X5 Sport.

What's your favourite restaurant?

Gianni Pedrinelli in Porto Cervo, Sardinia.

Who or what makes you laugh?

My partner, Colin.

What's your favourite book?

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

What's your favourite film?

Casablanca.

What was the last album you bought?

Around the Sun by REM.

What's your ideal job, other than your current one?

Interior designer and restorer.

If you had a talking parrot, what's the first thing you'd teach it to say?

"No, I don't need any double glazing. I like draughts."

What's your greatest fear?

Fear itself.

What's the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

"In strategy, everything is in implementation." Napoleon (Not received in person!)

And what's the worst?

"Trust me."

What's your poison?

Long Island Ice Tea and Dom Perignon. Preferably not together.

What newspaper do you read, other than The Journal?

The Financial Times & Daily Mail. One always needs balance in life.

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?

I worked in the "Way-in" section of Harrods, as Saturday and sale staff. Atmosphere memorable, salary not.

How do you keep fit?

I have a personal trainer.

What's your most irritating habit?

Apologising needlessly.

What's your biggest extravagance?

My children and antiques (bronzes & rugs).

With which historical or fictional character do you most identify?

Leonardo Da Vinci.

And which four famous people would you most like to dine with?

Marlene Dietrich, Johnny Depp, Carl Jung and Gandhi - to feed the body, heart, mind & soul.

How would you like to be remembered?

With a smile.