A CHEATING husband hired a man to kill his wife, a court was told.

Bruce Killick would have gained financially from his wealthy wife Susan Killick’s death, a jury at Hove Crown Court was told yesterday, but she survived the ferocious attack despite being repeatedly hit in the head with a screwdriver.

The 63-year-old, of Emms Lane, Horsham, is accused of hiring Karl Cruise, 59, of Brittany, France, to kill his wife in a £10,000 deal arranged by Graham Martin, 39, of no fixed abode.

All three deny conspiracy to murder 61-year-old Mrs Killick and conspiracy to cause her grievous bodily harm.

Killick who is accused of having an affair with an employee Angela Teear, accused his wife of ruining his business, Hove Crown Court was told. Killick allegedly texted Martin asking, “at what cost to make a person gone?”

He later claimed a payment of £10,000 to Martin was “for the purchase of two alpacas, as a surprise wedding anniversary gift for his wife,” the court was told.

Mrs Killick was home alone on February 18, when Cruise tapped the window, saying his car broke down, the court was told.

She went to get a telephone for him to borrow when he attacked her – first with a hammer, then screwdriver and knife.

A stun gun was also found at the scene. Prosecuting, Philip Bennetts QC said: “He began stabbing her head area with what she believed was a screwdriver, piercing the top of her head.

“He pulled her across the kitchen floor by her hair. The reason he did that was because he was making towards the knife block."

When she pleaded with him for her life and not to let her husband find her, Cruise allegedly said: ‘You ruined your husband, because you lost him contacts’.”

Cruise admits he attacked Mrs Killick in the afternoon of February 18 at the home she shared with her husband.

But he claimed he was only trying to warn her of a plot against her life, prosecutors said. Mrs Killick managed to escape after Cruise became unwell, the court was told.

She fled to a neighbour's house.

Cruise was arrested waiting for a ferry back to France from Portsmouth.

The trial continues.