The daughter-in-law from HELL
Jacqui Crymble, daughter-in-law from hell
Wednesday 1st August 2007
Talk about chalk and cheese. I liked going to church, pruning my roses and reading. My daughter-in-law, Jacqui, 34, liked seeing how fast she could get to the bottom of a bottle of vodka, and had a mouth on her that would make a navvy blush. But she'd been married to my son, Paul, 35, for 15 years and we'd got used to our differences.
Then one day, in May 2004, Paul called in a right state.
'Mum!' he'd cried. 'Something awful happened last night.'
He explained how Jacqui had been out and he'd been woken in the night by masked raiders armed with spades.
'They were going to kill me,' he cried.
Luckily, Paul had jumped up and scared them off. Police investigated and Paul got extra locks put on the doors. But it shook him to the core. And me.
Perhaps this was why, a short while later, Jacqui had turned up for a heart-to-heart? Maybe it had made her realise how precious her life was with Paul. She even asked me if I could babysit so she could take Paul out for a meal when he got back from a boys' holiday in Barcelona.
'Of course,' I said. 'He'd love that.'
So the next day, Paul and Jacqui dropped the kids off at ours and arranged to pick them up the next morning, 20 June 2004.
'Father's Day, in case you'd forgotten,' Paul winked.
'How could we forget?' smiled Jacqui.
I had a lovely evening with the kids making Father's Day cards. The next morning I was clearing the glitter off the kitchen table when the phone rang. Eric answered it… and seconds later ran out of the house. What on earth?
Minutes later he was back with the pastor from my church and was ushering the kids into another room.
'Sit down,' said the pastor gently.
'What's happened?' I panicked.
'Paul's body has been found dumped in a lane,' he said.
I put my hands to my face and wailed like a wounded animal.
Hours later I was still in the same position when Jacqui walked in.
'Jacqui,' I sobbed, throwing my arms around her.
But she didn't hug me back. Instead, she just stood frozen to the spot.
'What happened?' I sobbed.
'I need to talk to the kids first,' she said in a daze.
I can't tell you much about the rest of the day, although I do remember the kids' screams and Jacqui furiously chain smoking outside in the garden. A week later we buried Paul at the Church of the Nazarene, Carrickfergus. Jacqui threw herself, sobbing, on top of Paul's coffin.
But a few days later an officer arrived on my doorstep.
'Jacqui's been arrested for Paul's murder,' he said.
'No!' I gasped, stumbling back.
He went on to explain that Jacqui had been having an affair for 11 months and had plotted to kill Paul with her lover, Roger Ferguson, 31.
'No,' I howled.
How blind could I have been?
Three years later, in January 2007, Jacqui and Roger Ferguson stood trial, charged with murder. I sat in Armagh Crown Court and heard how they'd hit Paul with a blunt instrument before taping up his face with a black bin liner and masking tape. Then they'd tied up his hands and feet with cable ties.
And do you know what that cold-hearted woman had done then? She'd watched as he'd squirmed, fighting for breath, and then driven him, still twitching, in his car and dumped him in a country lane.
Another man, Colin Robinson, 21, was also charged with assisting an offender, after being acquitted for murder. Jacqui tried to claim four masked men had broken into their home and tied her and Paul up before murdering Paul. She reckoned she'd dialled 999 with her tongue and there was even a transcript of the phone call.
But no-one believed her lies. She'd had her lover to stay when Paul was in Spain. Apparently, they'd killed him so they could start a new life together with Paul's £300,000 insurance money. And the masked attack weeks before his death? The prosecution thought this was a first attempt but Paul had scared them off.
After a four month trial, Jacqui, 36, and Ferguson were found guilty of murder. Jacqui was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Six months on, I hope my gentle Paul is up there with his sister, resting in peace. And, here on earth, I hope that evil woman will never know a single moment's peace. To murder a man who has shown you nothing but love and devotion is beyond words. To watch as his dying body twitched before her leaves me speechless.
Read other stories of violent crime featured in Pick Me Up
Forced to witness my daughter's rape
Chainsaw massacre
The killer in our midst