Shaftesbury widow's sentence cut to 20 years on appeal
The widow of the Earl of Shaftesbury, whose body was found on a patch of wasteland on the French Riviera in 2006, has had her sentence reduced from 25 to 20 years at a court of appeal in Aix-en-Provence.
Issued on: Modified:
AFP - The widow of the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, convicted for plotting to murder the British aristocrat in 2004, had her sentence reduced from 25 years to 20 on appeal Thursday.
The jury in the French city of Aix-en-Provence took four hours to reach their verdict.
Jamila M'Barek and her brother Mohamed were jailed for 25 years in 2007 for plotting to kill 66-year-old Anthony Ashley-Cooper, out of fear an impending divorce would threaten Jamila's inheritance.
Believing her to be pregnant, the earl wrote Jamila into his will when they married in 2002, leaving her a large chunk of his multi-million dollar estate. But in 2004 their marriage broke down and he was seeing another woman.
The earl's decomposing body was found in April 2005 on a patch of wasteland on the French Riviera, five months after he disappeared from his home in Cannes. Forensic tests showed he had been strangled.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe