By Dave Gudgeon

Last updated 11:48, Friday, 14 November 2008

Murder-accused Robert Wilson visited a top racehorse trainer just weeks after his wife’s death and told him “money was no object”.

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The Cumbrian farmer wanted to place a horse with Mark Johnston, who charges fees of £25,000 a year and only takes top horses.

Wilson, who was 41 yesterday, took a woman to the stables in Yorkshire and told the trainer that she was there to “advise” him.

Wilson, of The Croft, Kirkandrews-on-Eden, near Carlisle, is on trial at the city’s Crown Court where he denies murdering his wife Jane on December 1 last year.

The prosecution team, led by Brian Cummings QC, say he killed his wife and then covered up the crime by staging a “fake” tractor accident in a barn at their farm.

The jury had evidence read out to them yesterday from Middleham-based trainer Mark Johnston who was contacted by police in June.

He told how Wilson, a former worker with Story Rail, had contacted him about training a horse for him. He (Johnston) only took on very good horses and knew Wilson’s would not be good enough.

He told him not to invest his money that way but he said: “I did not put him [Wilson] off in any way. He said he had come into money.”

Mr Johnston described how Wilson visited him on January 29 with a female who was a bit younger than him.

He told police: “I thought they were in a relationship. But I remembered his wife had died and he said she was there to advise him.”

Mr Johnston said he told Wilson to contact Mark Dwyer who was involved in the pre-training of horses and whose fees would be much less than his.

But he said Wilson then told him that money was no object. He had set aside money for training after his wife’s death.

A statement given to the police by Mark Dwyer was also read to the jury by prosecutor Tim Evans.

Mr Dwyer described how he had taken a call from a Bob Wilson about a horse called Cinderland. He described how Wilson visited his premises at Malton on March 27 with a female that he (Wilson) described as a friend.

She was about 5ft 6ins, with brown hair and a large chest. She was aged about 40. The couple arrived in a fairly new BMW.

The jury heard earlier in the trial, which is expected to run into next week, that Wilson had a secret lover called Kathy McNeil.

Yesterday the six men and six women heard how he received more than £400,000 in the weeks following his wife’s death in insurance payouts.