Affair was just a blip, says murdered doctor's widow

A close-knit family with three sons, they enjoyed travelling the world and indulging a shared passion for luxury cars.

But, after 34 years of marriage, Dr Colin Shawcross's brief affair with a nurse was to lead to the family splitting up and, ultimately, to his untimely death.

The two doctors met in March 1974 at a student party, while both were studying medicine in Sheffield. As part of her studies, Dr Carol Shawcross spent three months of that year in Africa, and when she returned her then-boyfriend was waiting at the airport, where he proposed to her.

They married in March 1975 and, three years later, Dr Colin Shawcross took up a partnership at Firth Park surgery in Sheffield, where he stayed until his retirement in March 2008.

Their first child, James, was born in February 1979. Edward followed in June 1981 and Richard in February 1983.

Dr Carol Shawcross said: "He was extremely proud of his children and would assist in bringing up the boys."

When their sons went to university, the Shawcrosses continued to support them, sending an allowance and buying a home in Newcastle which two of the boys lived in as students.

The family also owned a third home in Thirsk, and the couple planned to move to North Yorkshire when they retired.

Even when she discovered the affair with Julie Hill in August 2008, Dr Shawcross said that she and her husband remained close.

She said: "Although Colin moved out, he didn't take the bulk of his possessions with him. He still had access to the family home and would come frequently, three or four times a week."

On November 9, 2008, the pair met up for a walk at the Chesterfield canal. During that trip, Dr Colin Shawcross asked his wife if he could return home.

She said: "I told him that he would have to give up Julie Hill totally. The following Sunday he told me he and Julie were going to set up home together."

Just a week later, however, he returned to the family home on Riverdale Road to ask if his wife would take him back.

Dr Shawcross said: "He said Julie had returned to her husband, Andrew. I raised my concerns at allowing Colin to come home ."

It was then that Dr Shawcross received a telephone call from Andrew Hill through her GP practice in Totley, Sheffield.

"He asked me if I would get Colin to speak to him," she said. "He asked if I would take Colin back, as he then thought Julie would go back to him.

"He spoke of how he was desperate to have Julie back."

Further telephone calls followed from Hill, and by the third call his wife had returned to him.

Dr Shawcross said: "He urged me to take Colin back. I never contacted Andrew Hill again."

During their separation, Dr Shawcross said, she and her husband spent "a lot of time together". The last time they met was 10 days before his death, when they went out for a meal.

That night the pair discussed a possible reconciliation, but Dr Shawcross told her husband that, if he wanted to come home, he would have to "sever all ties with Julie".

"He said he couldn't do this," she said. "Under these circumstances I refused to allow him to return home. He became very distressed and started hyperventilating. In our 34 years together I'd never seen him like this."

On the day her husband died, Dr Shawcross sent him a text, saying that he was welcome to use their home in Thirsk that weekend. That was the last contact she ever had with him.

She said: "Colin and I had a long, happy and loving marriage for 34 years. The last five months were a temporary blip.

"I'm confident, given time, we would have sorted out our marital difficulties and would have had a long and happy retirement together.

"He never took Julie Hill out socially with his friends or introduced her to our sons. This liaison was a small and short part of his life which he didn't share with anyone."

What the neighbours saw on the night husband murdered his love rival

In the hours before he killed Dr Colin Shawcross, Andrew Hill threw his wife's clothing out of the bedroom window and knocked on neighbours' doors to tell them about her infidelity.

Christopher and Hilary Morrison, who live opposite the Hills' family home, were long-time friends of the couple. Mrs Morrison also owns the house on Ashley Grove which Dr Shawcross had been renting.

Mr Morrison said that he was "very surprised" Hill turned up on his doorstep that evening to announce that Julie was leaving him for Dr Shawcross, as they had never discussed personal issues before.

He added: "He was very upset and anxious. He was ordinarily a very calm person."

Sarah Evenden, who was dropping her mother Carol Firth off on Walseker Lane that evening, accidentally drove over some of Mrs Hill's clothes that were lying in the street.

She said: "I told him I was so sorry that I had run over the clothes. He told me that, for all he cared, I could have driven over them a few times as they were his wife's clothes and she'd been having an affair."

Neighbour Helen Elcock tried to calm Andrew Hill down that night while Mrs Hill and her son George took refuge at her house. She said: "I asked Andrew why he thought Julie was having an affair with Colin Shawcross and he said, 'well, it's the money'. I said money wasn't everything.

"He mentioned about getting a private registration plate for Julie, and a new sports car."

Hill had put down a 200 payment on the number plate prior to his arrest. Dr Shawcross also had a private registration plate on his S-type Jaguar.Fatal attraction started with colleagues meeting for coffee

DOCTOR Colin Shawcross had known nurse Julie Hill for some years before they went from being friends to lovers.

They met at the endoscopy unit of Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, but grew closer after Mrs Hill left that job in January 2008 to begin working at the Northern General Hospital.

Even before her husband told her about the affair, the change in him was clear to see, said Dr Carol Shawcross.

She said: "He'd always been a really smart dresser, but he began wearing casual clothing such as stonewashed jeans, cargo pants, 'hoodies' – the sort of clothing he ridiculed his own sons for wearing."

At around the same time, she said, he shaved off his moustache and became "obsessed with looking younger".

During a holiday in Belgium, the GP told his wife that he had a "female friend", but said he was not having an affair.

"He told me his friend was Julie Hill and they met for coffee," Dr Shawcross said. "This shocked and hurt me as I thought we had a very happy and solid marriage.

"Colin did say he didn't want to leave me. When I found out they were still meeting I told him I couldn't cope with this and asked him to move out of the family home, to give us breathing space."

It was then, in August 2008, that Dr Colin Shawcross moved into a house on Ashley Grove in Aston, arranged by Mrs Hill.

In October, Julie Hill told her husband she was leaving him to be with Dr Shawcross. However, she only left for a weekend and returned home to Walseker Lane when Hill threatened suicide.

When she tried to leave again, on January 23 last year, he threw her possessions out of the house before driving to Dr Shawcross's home and beating him to death.