| 'Lottery win may have prompted wife murder' |
A court has been told a National Lottery winner may have murdered his wife to avoid splitting the cash with her after she began divorce proceedings.
Michelle O'Leary was strangled in the house she shared with husband Michael in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside.
O'Leary admitted sitting on his wife and putting his hands on her throat but told detectives he was acting in self-defence after she tried to hit him. He denies murder.
Liverpool Crown Court heard O'Leary, 53, was obsessed with the idea his wife was unfaithful and allegedly claimed to have just a few pounds to his name.
But a financial investigation revealed he had won £400,000 on the National Lottery in November 1995.
Prosecutors claim O'Leary had spent less than £50,000 and spread the rest of the cash in small deposit accounts and investment funds.
Charles Chruszcz, QC, prosecuting, said O'Leary may have killed his 39-year-old wife to avoid splitting the cash after learning she wanted a divorce.
He said: "I don't say that is why he killed his wife, obviously all the circumstances will have to be considered. But something caused him to do what he did that night.
"His wife saw her solicitor on the 20th of March and on the 6th of April she was dead."
The jury heard the O'Learys shared the same house but lived separate lives.
The trial continues.
Story filed: 17:41 Tuesday 2nd October 2001
| National Lottery draw for: Saturday, 27 October 2001 |
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