A mechanic was accidentally killed by his friend who was hired by his mother-in-law to seek revenge after he fought with his wife.
After Marc Jepson, 40, split up with his wife Sandra, 41, in September, 2011, his mother-in-law Irene Hodgkiss, 63, of Farnworth, near Bolton hired her nephew Carl Hodgkiss, 28, to "do her bidding" by giving Jepson "a couple of slaps," Metro reported.
However, the nephew did not slap the son-in-law but instead battered, stabbed and strangled him until he died. The hitman happens to be Jepson's friend.
A neighbour was worried when they saw Jepson's door wide open and called the police, who found Jepson's body at his home in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
Based on the tests, Jepson had suffered 50 injuries, fractured voice box and neck bone after he was throttled with force and also several stab wounds to his leg and lower abdomen.
Text messages had had been sent between the victim's wife and his mother-in-law in the run up to the killing, police found out. In one of the messages, the mother-in-law said she had a "dark alley" in mind for Jepson. In another text message, the wife said, "My mum just wants to go round Jeps' house with a baseball bat lol."
Judge Michael Henshell cleared the mother-in-law conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm but found her guilty of conspiracy to commit actual bodily harm.
Aside from a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years, the mother-in-law will also be put under supervision for 12 months. Her nephew will serve at least 14 years of a life sentence after he was found guilty of murder, Mirror reported.