Jealous husband 'battered doctor to death'

The killer, telecoms worker Andrew Hill from Rotherham, turned violent when his wife Julie announced she was leaving him after a six-month affair with married GP Colin Shawcross, Sheffield Crown Court was told.

After throwing his wife's possessions out of their home, prosecutors say Hill went to Dr Shawcross's home in Ashley Grove, Rotherham, and beat the GP to death before bundling his body into the doctor's beloved Jaguar, which had a personalised number plate.

The jury was told he then drove the S-type car to nearby Loscar Woods, dug a grave and buried the body, before attempting to burn the Jaguar. When he failed, he drove it back to Dr Shawcross's house, abandoned it and returned home.

Hill, 49, of Walseker Lane, Woodall, who is charged with murder, was arrested the following day and has always denied the killing.

Opening the case against him yesterday, Charles Garside QC , prosecuting, told the court Dr Shawcross, 58, who worked at Firth Park surgery in Sheffield before retiring in March 2008, had also carried out endoscopy work at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

He was married to Sheffield GP Carol Shawcross and they lived together in Riverdale Road in Sheffield, until their marriage ran into difficulties and he moved out in August 2008.

Mr Garside said: "One of the nurses who worked on the endoscopy unit with Dr Shawcross was Julie Hill. For many years she and Dr Shawcross were colleagues.

"In January 2008, when Mrs Hill left the Royal Hallamshire to work at the Northern General Hospital, the two had lunch together and their relationship developed over time.

"By August 2008 they were having a sexual relationship that was known to both the defendant, Mr Hill, and to Dr Carol Shawcross."

In October 2008, Mr Garside said, Dr Shawcross and Mrs Hill went away for a romantic weekend together. Mrs Hill had told her husband she planned to leave him, but that weekend received texts from him threatening he would kill himself if she did so.

As a result, she changed her mind and returned to their home in Walseker Road, which they shared with her young son George.

On January 23 2009, however, Mrs Hill once again told her husband she was leaving. He lost his temper, threw her possessions out of the bedroom window, smashed her mobile phone and stole her car keys to prevent her from driving away.

She went to spend the night with a neighbour, taking her son with her, and arranged for Dr Shawcross to pick her up the following morning.

When he didn't arrive she went to the house, let herself in with her own door key and found a half-eaten evening meal from the previous night still on the table.

Then she found a huge amount of blood, in the shape of a body, on the ground.

Bloodstains showed where Dr Shawcross's body had been dragged around the side of the house to his car.

Mr Garside said: "The cause of death was extensive fractures to his skull, caused by repeated blows with a heavy blunt instrument.

"There is no doubt about it that he was murdered. He was subjected to a lethal, violent and overwhelming attack."

The trial continues.