A Co Armagh woman who killed her husband has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a crime the judge in her case described as the "ultimate act of treachery and betrayal - of biblical proportions."
Jacqueline Crymble (35) murdered her husband Paul with the help of her lover Roger Ferguson on Fathers' Day three years ago. Ferguson was told he will serve at least 18 years of his life sentence.
Armagh Crown Court judge Mr Justice McLaughlin, sitting in Belfast, described the murdered father of two as a dedicated and loving father.
Neither Crymble, of Edenkennedy Way, Markethill nor Ferguson (31) of Cabragh Road, Tandragee showed any emotion at their sentences.
Their 21-year-old co-accused Colin Robinson of Riverside Apartments, Gilford, convicted of helping them, was jailed for three years, after agreeing to serve a further year on probation.
Ferguson's 57-year-old mother Dawn, also from Tandragee, who provided her son with a false alibi was freed on a 12-month conditional discharge.
Mr Justice McLaughlin said he was "satisfied the death of Paul Crymble was planned in advance by both of you".
Mr Justice McLaughlin told Crymble she was "guilty of the ultimate act of treachery."
"You vilified your husband repeatedly to people you knew well and some you barely knew, and - flaunted your affair with Roger Ferguson and, finally, you took away his life."
Mr Justice McLaughlin said that when Crymble and Ferguson finally got her husband alone and helpless in his Ballybreagh Road home in Ahorey, Co Armagh, they acted like an executioner.
"Like an executioner, you and Roger Ferguson put a black bag over his head, sealed it around his neck, watched as he struggled to breathe and waited for him to die.
"The cruelty implicit in what you did," said the judge, "defies belief." Mr Justice McLaughlin said that the murder plan "emanated from your greed and hatred of your husband - your betrayal of him was of biblical proportions". Turning to Ferguson, the judge said any suggestion that he killed because he was "ensnared by Crymble" was false.
"The reality is you killed because you wished to gain from Paul Crymble's death, you took part willingly and whilst you were in full possession of your faculties," said the judge.
However, Mr Justice McLaughlin said earlier he had found it more difficult to analyse why Ferguson, a hard-working man from a good and law-abiding family, turned killer.
"It is hard to think of a less likely image of a murderer," said the judge, who added the only reason could be, as was said, that he became "besotted by Jacqueline Crymble and the reality of easy sex and the prospect of a life of comparative luxury led to your downfall."
Mr Justice McLaughlin added: "If I am correct you demonstrate how otherwise good people are capable of committing the most appalling acts when certain circumstances combine especially powerful ingredients such as love, sex and money."