A cheating wife accused of plotting with her lover and his daughter to murder her terminally ill husband claimed she was brainwashed, a court heard.

Hayley Weatherall said Glenn Pollard had tried to convince her she would be better off without husband Ray.

Weatherall, 32, said Pollard gave her £500 to stay silent and assist him in the plan to bump off her ailing husband.

She and former garage boss Mr Weatherall – Pollard’s best friend for more than 20 years - had been married less than two years when the affair started.

She and Pollard are alleged to have devised a scheme to kill Mr Weatherall, 53, before he was shot in the face at Sandwich Marina on November 29 last year.

Other plots included giving the diabetic an overdose of sleeping pills and insulin and pushing him overboard on a fishing trip, a jury at Maidstone Crown Court was told.

Mr Weatherall, who has brain cancer, suffered extensive burns when a boiler burst into flames at his home in Ash, near Canterbury. The victim claimed in his evidence that Pollard, 49, could not be responsible for that incident.

Pollard was also said to have involved his “devoted” daughter Heather, then 19, in the plot to kill her great uncle Mr Weatherall.

Her Citroen car was parked near the marina during the time of the shooting.

Internet searches found on her phone included “techniques on silent killing”, “creative ways to kill”, and “16 ways to kill someone and not get caught”.

The three were arrested after the affair between the mother of Mr Weatherall's three youngest children, and Pollard was discovered.

In a police interview in March this year, Weatherall wept as she claimed the “innocent affair spiralled out of control”, but she was too scared to tell anyone.

When she heard her husband had been shot, she said she realised Pollard was behind it.

"I knew instantly who could have done that because of what he said to me,” she said. “He said he was going to get rid. I had a gut feeling that it was Glenn or he had paid somebody else to do it.

"If he could pay me to keep quiet, could he pay someone else to shoot him? At that point I had a feeling but I couldn't prove it. But I was too scared to say anything, fearing for my safety and my kids' safety.

"I sent him a text message saying: 'They didn't do a good job, did they?’ He replied 'I'm not paying them the full amount.

"That told me he paid somebody. If he could hire somebody to kill my husband off, what could he do to me? I was scared. I didn't know where to turn, who to talk to.

"I couldn't talk to Ray because I was too scared to. I couldn't come to you (the police) because I was scared he would find out, and now I'm in this mess."

"I had a gut feeling that it was Glenn or he had paid somebody else to do it..." Hayley Weatherall

Weatherall denied she had arranged the shooting with Pollard.

She spoke of her feelings for both her husband and Pollard.

She claimed she was also “a victim” and she had been used by Pollard.

"I was being told stories about what Ray was like, how he treats women,” she continued. “I was brainwashed I guess because he (Pollard) had known him for more years than I had.

"He said Ray treats women like dirt. Glenn was telling me things like: ‘He doesn't care about you'. I started to think: 'You have a point'.

"He made me believe I was better off without Ray, the kids were better off without him. I couldn't think what he meant by it.

"Glenn was giving me some attention and I took it. I started having an affair with him, and thought it was an innocent affair until he said to me: 'I want to do Ray in. I want rid of him'.

"I said 'What do you mean?' and he said 'Kill him'. It still didn't click in my head. I didn't twig what he was on about."

Weatherall said Pollard asked where her husband would be working. After the friends went on a fishing trip, Pollard texted her: “Couldn't do it, too many people about.”

"Then he offered me money - £500 to keep quiet,” she said. “I said 'Keep quiet for what?’ and he said 'I'm going to kill Ray.' I said: 'You can't. That's the father of my kids. You can't do that.'

"He said 'There's £500 there'. I said 'I don't want it'. He said: ‘I want you to keep quiet.' I said: 'What if I don't?' and he said: 'You'll find out'.

"I was thinking if he can kill Ray, he can kill me. I was scared to tell Ray, I was scared to tell anybody. I thought if I told anybody and they went to the police, he would do something to get rid of me.

"I couldn't tell anybody. I bottled it all up...He (Pollard) has ruined my life, my family's life, my kids' life."

Weatherall told officers she had initially viewed Pollard as “a safety net” for when her husband died.

Former garage owner Mr Weatherall was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2015 and given 18 months to live in early 2016.

His wife said she knew of a life insurance policy but did not know what she stood to inherit.

She claimed she was never sexually attracted to Pollard but thought he could be her future once her husband had died.

"I thought Glenn would be someone I could turn to, someone I could talk to,” she said. “Ray was not going to be around forever. I suppose he was a safety net.”

After their first sexual encounter she felt “dirty and cheap”.

"I couldn't see it at the time but now I believe I was being brainwashed - to leave my husband and have a better life.

"I felt like I had been used. It felt like I was brainwashed, used as a target to get around me to kill Ray, to take my children's father away from them."

Weatherall said her husband meant the world to her and denied that she planned to leave him.

Weatherall, of Molland Lea, Ash, and Glenn and Heather Pollard, of Church Lane, West Stourmouth, all deny conspiracy to murder between June 1 2017 and March 31 this year.

The trial continues.