LOVERS who plotted the death of lorry driver Reginald Southall to cover up their affair and steal his money have each been sentenced to life imprisonment.

As first reported yesterday, Judge Colman Treacy QC said that Muriel Southall, aged 60, and Michael Whitcombe, 59, had carried out a wicked murder and should spend a minimum of 18 years in custody before they can be considered for parole.

The pair, who were wearing hearing aids to hear the judge’s sentence at Worcester Crown Court, showed no emotion as they left the dock for the cells.

Muriel Southall, of Redstone Lane, Stourport, and Whitcombe, of Worcester Road, Stourport, had contested the case through every stage during the six- week hearing.

The judge said that 62-year-old Reginald Southall had been cuckolded and lured to his death in the icy waters of the river Severn in December 2007. After his disappearance on a riverside walk, his badly injured body was found floating 12 days later.

The defendants had been “blinded by passion for each other” and decided to get rid of Mr Southall when he discovered what had been going on. Both had contested their guilt and had been revealed as liars and perjurors. They had shown no regret or remorse.

They had attempted to deflect the police investigation by lying to cover up what they had done.

The judge said there had been planning and premeditation. For at least a day before Reginald Southall’s death, they had been planning what they were going to do. Their motivation was to cover up their affair and financial gain was a subsidiary concern.

Mr Southall had been like a brother to Whitcombe in helping him to cope with the death of his wife from cancer. Mrs Southall had betrayed her husband of 42 years, father of her son and grandfather of her grandchildren, not only by her adulturous affair but by luring him to his violent death.

The only mitigation was their ages and the fact that they had no previous convictions.

The pair had met at Stourport Caravan Park in Redstone Lane, Stourport, in 2007 when the Southalls bought a £50,000 caravan after selling their home in Brierley Hill. Whitcombe was the site warden and later moved to the Four Acres caravan park in Worcester Road, Stourport.

The prosecution alleged that £20,000 of Mr Southall’s nest egg from the house sale was being used without his knowledge to buy a new caravan for Whitcombe.

The pair had also gone to great lengths to cover up their affair although they did admit in the witness box that they had become lovers after Mr Southall’s funeral.

The police: What they said

A POLICE investigation, codenamed Operation Tower, into the murder case lasted several months.

At its height more than 100 detectives and officers were involved in inquiries and searching the riverbanks and countryside within a 12 square mile radius of Stourport.

A specialist team of police divers from South Wales was also brought in to trawl the riverbed.

The investigation, led by Detective Superintendent Michael Brunger – who has since retired from the force – culminated in the arrest of Muriel Southall and Michael Whitcombe on April 16, 2008.

They were charged two days later.

Following sentencing, the deputy senior investigating officer in the case, Detective Inspector Dean Jones, said: “We are pleased that justice has been done today for Reginald Southall.

“He was a decent, modest, hard-working man who had a vision of retiring to an idyllic and tranquil life at Stourport with his wife, who he loved to bits.

“However, that was not to be and he became, as we now know, the tragic victim of his wife’s greed and lust for someone else.

“This was an unusual and complex case that was particularly challenging because at the outset we had no witnesses to Mr Southall’s disappearance, no forensic scene and due to the quiet riverside location, no CCTV.

“However, traditional detective work combined with modern technology, forensics and expertise enabled us to slowly piece this case together.”