Man Jailed for NOT Killing Woman

Woman Wanted To Be Killed, Jails Man Who Failed to Do It
Updated: 11:09, Tuesday January 17, 2006

A suicidal woman who paid a man to kill her has had him jailed for failing to carry out the murder.

Christine Ryder paid Kevin Reeves a total of £20,000 to end her life when she was feeling depressed.

He promised to find a hitman, and then even offered to do it himself.

However, all he did was keep the money - so Mrs Ryder filed a complaint for breach of contract.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the pair met when they were being treated for mental health problems in hospital.
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She told him she wanted to die, and he offered to arrange for a professional murderer to kill her.

But she ended up handing over increasingly large sums of money for "hitmen" who failed to turn up and do the job.

At one point Reeves promised she would be killed in a drive-by shooting on a certain date, but then rang her to say he had had to kill the hitman and pay her money to his widow.

Instead of carrying out the murder, he took his wife on an expensive holiday to Tenerife, the Times reported.

A jury found him guilty of deception. He was jailed for 15 months and ordered to pay his would-be victim £2,000 compensation.