A woman and her fianc were today starting life sentences after being convicted of the brutal torture and murder of her ex-lover.

Tracey Kyte and Bryne Lincoln kidnapped and murdered Sean Wearmouth after suspecting that he had made Kyte's teenage sister pregnant.

After luring him to a beauty spot near Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, the two lovers beat Mr Wearmouth with a scaffold pole and tortured him with a knife.

He died after being hit on the head with a car battery. His naked body was found in a water-filled ditch near a lay-by on the A421 at Stratton Audley, near Bicester, last year. Mr Wearmouth, 29, a scrapyard worker of Hambling Place, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, was a former boyfriend of Kyte's.

When they split up, he befriended her 16-year-old sister, Emma. When Emma became pregnant, suspicion immediately fell on Mr Wearmouth.

Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, told the jury at Oxford Crown Court that Kyte visited Mr Wearmouth's mother, June Wearmouth, the day after he disappeared to take her a sympathy card. But she denied knowing he was dead until she was arrested a week later.

Kyte, 29, of Rodeheath, Luton, Bedfordshire, denied murder and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but was found guilty yesterday. Former soldier Lincoln, 27, of the same address, admitted the murder at the start of her trial on Monday. Kyte, a security guard at Luton airport, admitted luring Mr Wearmouth to a meeting with her and Lincoln, but said she only wanted to 'scare' him.

Jeremy Roberts, defending Kyte, told the jury that she had confronted Mr Wearmouth about the pregnancy, but had not expected him to be hurt.

He added: "She merely thought he might be slapped about a bit."

Story date: Saturday 08 April

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