A SENIOR council official was yesterday convicted at the Old Bailey of
murdering her husband to stop him exposing her double life as a
prostitute and gambler.
Florence Samarasinha, 41, also stood to gain thousands of pounds from
pension policies and the equity on their home. She is to be sentenced on
December 17.
The Croydon Council housing benefits chief recruited a ''hitman'' to
ambush and kill her husband Nimal, 37, an aircraft engineer, outside
their house in a suburban Surrey street.
Nigerian-born Samarasinha had lied her way into her #30,000-a-year job
claiming she had five A levels and a BA honours degree from Cambridge
University. In fact, she had no qualifications.
She enjoyed the trappings of power. She drove a silver Mercedes, sent
her daughter to a fee-paying school, and spent a #100 a day on gambling.
''She frequently spent more than half the working day in amusement
arcades, making false excuses to her staff to explain where she was,''
Mr
David Calvert-Smith, prosecuting, told the jury.
When her addiction to gaming machines and bingo plunged her into debt,
she turned to prostitution -- charging #100 a customer.
But in 1990 her 12-year marriage broke down and divorce proceedings
started with a battle for custody of their daughter, now 14.
Already suspicious about her activities, her husband hired a private
detective to arrange an appointment with her through an escort agency
and video what happened.
Samarasinha realised she would lose her job and the custody of her
daughter if details of her secret life were revealed. She was #34,000 in
debt at the time.
She approached three men before finding a man prepared to murder Mr
Samarasinha as he returned to their house in Wallington. Police are
still seeking the killer.
Mr Calvert-Smith said: ''The circumstances of the killing prove it was
an assassination. She is a strong-willed and manipulative person,
prepared to say and do anything to achieve her own ends.''
She had denied having anything to do with the murder -- or approaching
anyone to kill her husband.
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