Man, 29, faces life for killing lover’s husband

Brian Cox was unanimously found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court yesterday of murdering Mark Webb, 40, on March 4 this year in a confrontation outside a house in Stuart Road, Acomb, York.

Mr Webb’s estranged wife Susan had been seeing Cox for several weeks and had told him that earlier that afternoon .

Mr Webb of Cornlands Road, York, had been drinking before he went to the house where his estranged wife was visiting, saying he wanted to see his children.

The jury heard that she inflamed the situation by swearing at him. It was then that he tried to get into the house, and was assaulted outside by Cox, who was armed with a Stanley knife.

Mr Webb staggered away bleeding from his neck and collapsed in the garden of his former matrimonial home in Middleton Road, Acomb. His jugular vein had been severed.

No ambulance was summoned for him and he was only discovered around 50 minutes later when a policeman followed a trail of blood after being called to a “domestic” by Susan Webb.

Richard Mansell QC prosecuting told the court after the verdicts that the doctor who pronounced Mr Webb dead at hospital said had he received prompt help with pressure being applied to the vein he may have survived.

Cox, 29, will be sentenced today after Mr Justice Foskett said he wanted to consider the minimum sentence overnight.

Susan Webb, 30, was found guilty by the jury on two charges of doing acts intending to pervert the course of justice, by cleaning up blood from the scene of the assault and making a false witness statement that Mr Webb’s injury was self inflicted.

She was cleared on a third charge of removing the knife or blade from the scene. Her case has been adjourned for a pre-sentence report.

Dawn Heather Coates, 50, of Chapel Terrace, York, the mother of Cox’s son, was also found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice by washing a jacket worn by Cox at the time.

After the case Mr Webb’s mother, Dianna Atkinson and his sister, Julie Twamley said: “We have been robbed of a son, dad, brother, uncle and granddad in the most violent and brutal way imaginable.

This verdict means that we are now able to mourn the loss of Mark, knowing that the man responsible for his death has now been held accountable, along with those who tried to cover up the truth.”