Hitman hired to murder a woman was foiled by her Staffordshire bull terrier ... trends now
A hitman hired to murder a woman was instead foiled by her Staffordshire bull terrier Princess after the loyal dog woke her owner up with a 'long growl'.
Intended victim Tracy Devonshire, 43, awoke to see hitman Trefor Jones, 38, standing over her in her flat in Hitchen in Hertfordshire.
He tried to excuse himself by saying: 'I wanted to give your dog a kiss.'
Jones, of Hampshire, and Ms Devonshire's ex Mukhtar Lail, of Stotfold in Bedfordshire, were convicted at St Albans Crown Court of conspiracy to commit murder by giving her a fatal drug overdose.
A hitman hired to murder a woman was instead foiled by her Staffordshire bull terrier Princess after the loyal dog woke her owner up with a 'long growl' (file image)
Lail, of Stotfold and Jones, of Southsea denied conspiracy to commit murder between 27 December 2021 and 14th January last year, but were convicted by the jury.
Lail was also convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Prosecutors said Lail offered Jones £15,000 to kill Ms Devonshire with a lethal dose of heroin.
Ms Devonshire was saved when her dog, a Staffie called Princess, let out 'the deepest, longest growl' she had ever heard.
She drifted off to sleep again on the sofa only to be woken for second time by Princess. Again, Jones was standing over her.
Prosecutor Nathan Rasiah KC said Jones, from Southsea, had been offered £15,000 to kill Ms Devonshire by Mukhtar Lail, with whom she was in an abusive relationship in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Lail, aged 53, from Stotfold, Bedfordshire was said to have ordered the killing after Devonshire allegedly abused him in front of his young daughter.
The prosecutor told a jury St Albans Crown Court: 'This case is about a plot to kill. Lail would pay Jones to kill her by giving her a fatal does of heroin.
'For years they were in a relationship. It was an abusive relationship. Lail dealt in Class A drugs and she was addicted to heroin.'
They parted and although she had seen him in Baldock and Letchworth they had not spoken.
In December 2021 she saw him in Baldock and asked Lail if she was 'f*****g' a woman she knew. He replied: 'No I am married.'
When she was with her brother in
