Lover denied Lennie murder

From the archive, first published Friday 10th Feb 2006.

A woman on trial for murdering her lover reacted with disbelief when she was arrested for the crime, a court heard.

Tracey Cameron told police: "I haven't murdered Leonard Fulbirg. I have no involvement in murdering him," a jury was told.

Cameron, 40, of Dunsford Avenue, Bierley, Bradford, is accused of plotting with her new partner, Graham Haylett, also 40, of Wilson Wood Street, Batley, to lure him to his death. They deny murder.

Mr Fulbirg, 49, was never seen again after going to meet mother-of-three Cameron at McDonalds in Rooley Lane, Bradford.

His dismembered remains were found on Oxenhope Moor above Keighley in March 1997. He was identified by DNA tests in 2003.

Yesterday, the jury at Leeds Crown Court heard police statements by Cameron. She told officers: "I don't believe it," when she was arrested.

She said she met Mr Fulbirg a few days before his disappearance to tell him that their relationship was over.

She said they visited pubs in Keighley and she dropped him off near his brother Robert's home in Coldbeck Drive, Buttershaw.

Cameron agreed that she had arranged to meet Mr Fulbirg, the father of her youngest daughter, outside McDonalds on Sunday, August 11.

But she said she decided not to go after Haylett and her older daughter asked her not to.

She said she did not ring Mr Fulbirg to cancel their date. "I chickened out," she said.

She said Mr Fulbirg could be very intimidating and had knocked her around a few times.

Cameron told police that when Mr Fulbirg disappeared she thought he had changed his name and "gone underground".

"Len was a bit of an escapologist. He just wandered off for a few days at a time," she said.

Haylett said she did not tell him that she and his friend Haylett had become lovers because "I value my health".

She told of her shock when she read that the torso bones found on the moor were Mr Fulbirg's.

She agreed that she and Haylett began living together at her address in Hyne Avenue, Bierley, soon after Mr Fulbirg vanished.

She said Haylett assured her Mr Fulbirg would not bother her again. He told her: "He's gone off to Brid. Everything's all right now," she said.

Cameron told police her relationship with Haylett began after he pestered her for sex. She said she wasn't in love with him and now: "I just don't like him whatsoever."

The trial continues.

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