Life for greedy trio who murdered woman for her life insurance and money

Rafal Nowak, 31, Anna Lagwinowicz, 32, and Tadevsz Dmytryszyn, 38, hatched a plot to get their hands on Catherine Wells-Burr’s £123,000 life insurance and her half-share in a £137,000 house.

The murder was driven by greed and the result of months of secret meetings and phone calls between Nowak and Lagwinowicz, with Miss Wells-Burr oblivious to her part in the so-called love triangle.

Nowak and Lagwinowicz, who had been in a two-year relationship, met up for sex and to plot the killing on up to 87 occasions and exchanged hundreds of phone calls on pre-paid SIM cards.

Nowak smothered his 23-year-old girlfriend with a pillow as she slept in the bed they shared in their new home in Chard, Somerset on September 12 last year.

Lagwinowicz – who was described by the judge as simmering with the desire for revenge over being dumped by Nowak for his English girlfriend – was joined by Dmytryszyn in disposing of Miss Wells-Burr’s body at a local beauty spot.

They placed it in the driver’s seat and set fire to the car at 6am with five litres of petrol purchased days earlier – 20 minutes after Nowak had clocked into work at Numatic International, providing him with what he thought was the perfect alibi.

The Polish defendants spent months leaving a false trail for detectives, creating fake profiles for Miss Wells-Burr on adult websites and sending texts to her phone from a supposed mystery lover.

But their web of lies was uncovered by police shortly after the badly burned body of the Bath Spa University graduate was discovered at Ashill, near Chard.

Nowak, Lagwinowicz and Dmytryszyn all denied having played any part in the death but were convicted of murder and yesterday jailed for life.

Mrs Justice Sharp at Bristol Crown Court told the defendants – who showed no emotion as they were told they would serve a minimum of 32 years in prison – the murder was “a dreadful, pitiless crime committed in cold blood in grotesque breach of trust”.