The axe killer

Divorcee Jan Charlton, 36, struck Danny O'Brien 20 times with the large, double-handed weapon and left it embedded in his body after she realised their relationship was coming to an end, a court was told.

She later told police Mr O'Brien had threatened to kill her and her four-year-old daughter Amy and said: " I just hit him and hit him," the court heard.

Mr O'Brien, 40, owned a gas repair and fixture company in the Rossendale Valley and lived in Holme Terrace, Townsendfold, Rawtenstall, until he sold the business to British Gas three years ago.

Charlton yesterday admitted killing her lover when she appeared before Leeds Crown Court. She denied murder and the trial continues.

Paul Worsley QC, prosecuting, told the court Mr O'Brien was "executed" by Charlton because she knew their relationship -- which he said some may think of as "sexually depraved" -- was coming to an end.

He told the jury she was a "callous killer and consummate actress."

Earlier the court heard Mr O'Brien's body was discovered at his large £300,000 detached home at Midgley, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on May 23, 2001.

He had been hit more than 20 times with a large double-handed axe and the bedroom was splattered with blood and brain tissue.

Mr Worsley told the court Charlton originally claimed to have discovered the body when she returned home to meet her ex-husband Tony, who was due to pick up Amy.

But about five weeks after the murder she went to a police station and admitted killing him with the axe.

She told detectives she found the axe in a dressing room off the master bedroom and attacked Mr O'Brien after he said he intended to molest her daughter.

Charlton said she was surprised when he got up and said: "If he hadn't stood up that would have probably been all I would have done.

"But he stood up and just thought he's going to turn round and grab the axe off me."

Her statement continued: "Danny fell to the floor then I just hit him and hit him and I'm just so shocked because everybody's saying I hit him 20 times."

According to Mr Worsley, Charlton told police she had earlier committed a sex act on Mr O'Brien as he lay blindfolded, wearing handcuffs and a gag to try to calm him down.

He said she told the interviewers she hit him with the axe as he was kneeling down in a submissive position.

Later, Robert Smith, defending, admitted on behalf of Charlton she killed Mr O'Brien.

He then told the jury they had to decide first, whether she was acting in "lawful self-defence" and then, if not, whether she was provoked.

The court heard how Charlton and Mr O'Brien were both members of a Nottingham-based internet contact agency, UK Escorts Limited.

Giving evidence, director Colin Newby-Smith said Mr O'Brien had a £50-a-year "gold" membership since April 1999 and stated Mr O'Brien had an interest in meeting men, women, couples, transvestites and transsexuals in Yorkshire.

Mr Newby-Smith said Jan Charlton had signed up to be an escort with the company, calling herself Natasha. Mr Worsley said Charlton had stopped being an escort when she moved into the house in Midgley.

Mr Worsley said Mr O'Brien had made a note in his diary which said: "car £67K". He said the prosecution believed this referred to the amount of cash he needed to return to Charlton if she left.

He told the jury: "The defendant claimed in interview to police that she acted in reasonable self-defence of herself and her daughter. If that's right then you will find her not guilty of any offence.

"If, however, the prosecution makes you sure she is a callous killer and consummate actress who carried out an unprovoked and planned attack on a man who no longer loved her then you find her guilty of murder."