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City banker texted mistress 'I'm smiling' hours before wife's murder
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent30 Sep 2009
A senior City banker texted his mistress with the words "I'm smiling" on the day he allegedly murdered his wife, the Old Bailey heard today.
Neil Ellerbeck had a two year affair with Julie Ring while believing his wife Kate was having an affair with three other men, the jury was told.
Mrs Ring said he expected there might be a divorce and she helped him move money into one of her friend's bank accounts "just in case".
She described this move as "prudent" and "something most people would probably think of doing."
Ellerbeck, 46, is accused of strangling his wife at their Enfield home in fear that an impending divorce would cost him the wealth he made as a senior HSBC executive at Canary Wharf.
On the morning she died he texted Mrs Ring saying "I'm smiling this morning, it's a good morning," said Mrs Ring.
"He was with his daughter Amy and this was an indication of the mood he was in," she told the court.
Later he texted her that Amy's exam that morning had apparently gone well, but Mrs Ring was unable later to contact him again.
She said they had first met when they were bankers together in their 20s and had gone out together for a couple of years before splitting up and going their separate ways.
In 2002 when Ellerbeck had been married for some years they "bumped into" one another again.
Asked by Edward Brown QC, prosecuting, if they started an affair, she replied: "We did. Initially it was probably for a couple of years. For the first year it was meeting up and then it just developed into something more.
"We saw each other just as friends but for the last couple of years we started a relationship."
Mrs Ring said that Ellerbeck suspected his wife of having affairs with tennis coach Patrick McAdam, an old schoolfriend Martin Perry and a third person.
Mr McAdam has told the court of his two year affair with Mrs Ellerbeck but Mr Perry said they did not go further than heavy petting although he had wanted her to divorce and marry him.
Today Giuliano Vilardo, a chef at the Ritz hotel, said he too had flirted with Mrs Ellerbeck.
He had sent her a text in Italian saying her would like to give her "a long slow kiss wherever you like."
"Unfortunately I'm a little bit flirty," he told the jury.
Mrs Ring also told the court that Ellerbeck wanted to keep his family together for the sake of his children but "accepted" there might have to be a divorce.
"He fully accepted the situation with Kate. He overheard a conversation that Kate was having with someone else and he thought it would be prudent to put some money aside just in case," she said.
"It was something that most people would probably think of doing. Neil had no contact with my friend Debbie Landells but I explained to her as a close friend and she said she had an account that she didn't use to use and if that was useful then to use it."
Ellerbeck of Enfield has pleaded not guilty to murder.
The case continues.
