Late wife of Wisbech murder suspect David Newton confirmed she believed that husband took Una Crown’s keys to get one cut for her -court hears

The wife of a murder suspect accused of killing his elderly neighbour confirmed that she believed her husband had taken Una Crown’s key to get a new one cut for her.

The trial of David Newton, 70, of Magazine Close in Wisbech, continued briefly today at Cambridge Crown Court. He denies murdering Una Crown more than 12 years ago.

Today, the jury was played a video of Newton’s wife, Janet Newton, being interviewed by inspectors on January 21, 2013.

Crown prosecutor John Price KC told the jury that Mrs Newton would have normally been called up as a live witness, but that she had died in July 2018.

In the video interview, Mrs Newton confirmed that she and the defendant had been married for 34 years and they lived alone together in their home on Magazine Close.

Mrs Newton said despite them living together, they lived “separate lives” from each other for many years, including having separate bedrooms.

She said she didn’t know anything about Una Crown before her death, only as somebody to say hello to.

When asked if her husband had previously had any involvement with Mrs Crown, Mrs Newton said: “He spoke to her before because he mended her gate, she got the key stuck in the lock.

“She gave him her key and he said ‘I will phone you’ to her.

“He said he had to go to the locksmiths to get a key for Una, as he got the broken key out of the door for her.”

Mrs Newton was also asked about her and her husband’s whereabouts on the night of Una Crown’s death.

She recalled going into Wisbech town centre during the day before getting the bus home and spending the rest of the day watching television.

She remembered her husband coming home at around 4pm and that they watched the snooker together.

She recalled her husband going out for about an hour that evening to walk the dog.

Mrs Newton remembered hearing about Mrs Crown’s murder on the television a few days later.

She said that she and her husband had discussed it, but that it “wasn’t a big topic”.

A statement was also read out in court provided by another one of Una’s neighbours, Derek Mason, also known by the name Jason.

He confirmed that he would often do odd jobs for Mrs Crown, and recalled a time helping to get a stuck key out of the lock.

He said that Una had come round to his house, concerned because she got the wrong key jammed in her back door and couldn’t get back in.

Mr Mason said that he had grabbed some tools and went to repair the door. He said that a piece of the key had got stuck in the door, but he managed to fix the door so Mrs Crown could get the right key inside and operate the door.

He recalled another time when Una said to him: “That man that plays snooker said he was going to come round for tea.”

Mr Mason said that Una said it in a “careful way” and that he knew she was talking about Newton as he is the only snooker player in the area.

Not up to date with what’s been said in court? Click the following links to find previous coverage of day one, two three and four of the trial last week as well as Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

The trial continues.