GWENT housewife Anthea Jane Jones asked a former soldier if he knew anybody who could 'bump off' her wealthy husband, a court heard yesterday.

Robert 'Bob' Routledge, who served in the armed forces for 24 years, first met the defendant in 2000 while he was working at Countrywide Agricultural Merchants in Abergavenny.

They soon began meeting for sex at Jones' marital home on Saturday mornings while her husband was at work.

Mr Routledge said that during one of these meetings she would question him about his time in the army, asking him if he had ever shot anybody, and on one occasion described how she wanted her husband dead. "She said, 'I wish I could have him done in,' and asked me if I knew anybody who could do it," he said.

"I said no, get a divorce, it's easier." Mr Routledge told the court that Jones would complain about how her husband kept on moaning. "She said he would moan about his tax returns, and how she wished he would run his car off the road," he said. "She said she wished he would drop dead, because she had had enough of his whingeing."

The jury was told one of Jones' friends had read her tarot cards. The defendant said the cards showed that somebody would die before her next birthday, the court heard.

"She said it was her husband," said Mr Routledge. After Jones was injured in a horse-riding accident, the former soldier would visit her in hospital.

She eventually left her husband and they carried on seeing each other, but Mr Routledge said their two-year relationship ended when Jones wanted more than just a sexual relationship.