connection with a minor drugs trial and was anxious to avoid the experience. Though her separation from Simon a couple of years before had been largely amicable and they’d continued to see each other socially because of the son they shared, as well as her other children who’d always got on well with him, since thentheir relationship had been very volatile. Money was a constant source of tension. Instead of a formal divorce settlement sorted by lawyers, the Luffmans had informally agreed to the £ 4,000 payment. And when Simon had dragged his feet about paying up, it had caused major rows, with both of them making threats against the other. Yvette didn’t at all relish the prospect of standing up in court against her ex-husband.
She and Wayne supplied Thomas Convery with a shotgun and ammunition as well as copies of the keys to the front door of Simon’s house and a description of his car. Their idea was that Convery should kill Simon in his home and make it look like a failed robbery.
What passed through Yvette’s mind as she painstakingly went through the details of her ex-husband’s routine with the man she’d hired to kill him? Did the fact that someone else was carrying out the deed make it seem somehow less real? Did she tell herself that she could pull out at any time and say she’d changed her mind? Or did she just divorce herself from the murder in the same way that she’d divorced herself from the victim himself? It’s unlikely that we will ever know. What is known, however, is that Thomas Convery decided he didn’t like the idea of killing Simon Luffman in his own home in Langley Mill. Instead, on 19 October he invented a drugs deal in an intricate plan designed to lure Yvette’s ex-husband to a disused section of Nottingham Canal, off Coventry Lane in Wollaton.
Now mostly used by walkers and nature lovers as well as the occasional fisherman, this is a scenic spot. If you want an area that’s accessible but where the chances of being spotted are slim, you couldn’t do much better than here, where the barely used towpath is flanked by a screen of trees providing privacy and blocking off any chance of escape. Simon Luffman would have assumed his shady new acquaintance had picked this spot to make sure they could talk well away from prying eyes. It would never have crossed his mind that the seclusion of the towpath at Wollaton was also perfect for disguising the sound of gunfire.
By the time Thomas Convery walked away from the Nottingham Canal, Simon Luffman was lying dead on the ground. He had been shot four times with a sawn-off shotgun: twice in the head and twice in the back. His body was found the next day. The murder of Simon Luffman caused a stir around the Nottingham bars and clubs where he’d been a well-known face. It wasn’t long before attention became focused on Thomas Convery, who was known to have talked to Luffman shortly before he was killed.
‘Yeah, I knew him – he was a regular in the bar,’ Convery told police. ‘Nice bloke, friendly.’ Convery’s story was that Simon Luffman had approached him about a potential business deal he had coming up. Something about it sounded slightly dodgy and he thought he might need a bodyguard. In the end, Convery insisted, he’d got cold feet and had decided not to go along with it. That’s whenSimon Luffman had been killed. But detectives weren’t buying Convery’s story, particularly not after traces of Luffman’s blood were found on his trainers.
In December 2004 Thomas Convery went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court for the murder of Simon Luffman. Though he continued to protest his innocence, he was found guilty of murder and jailed for a minimum of 20 years. In court to see justice done and acting every inch the grieving widow was Yvette Luffman. Sat in the dock, struggling with the knowledge that he’d spend the next two decades of his life in prison, Convery felt a growing sense of rage as he watched Yvette comforting her
She and Wayne supplied Thomas Convery with a shotgun and ammunition as well as copies of the keys to the front door of Simon’s house and a description of his car. Their idea was that Convery should kill Simon in his home and make it look like a failed robbery.
What passed through Yvette’s mind as she painstakingly went through the details of her ex-husband’s routine with the man she’d hired to kill him? Did the fact that someone else was carrying out the deed make it seem somehow less real? Did she tell herself that she could pull out at any time and say she’d changed her mind? Or did she just divorce herself from the murder in the same way that she’d divorced herself from the victim himself? It’s unlikely that we will ever know. What is known, however, is that Thomas Convery decided he didn’t like the idea of killing Simon Luffman in his own home in Langley Mill. Instead, on 19 October he invented a drugs deal in an intricate plan designed to lure Yvette’s ex-husband to a disused section of Nottingham Canal, off Coventry Lane in Wollaton.
Now mostly used by walkers and nature lovers as well as the occasional fisherman, this is a scenic spot. If you want an area that’s accessible but where the chances of being spotted are slim, you couldn’t do much better than here, where the barely used towpath is flanked by a screen of trees providing privacy and blocking off any chance of escape. Simon Luffman would have assumed his shady new acquaintance had picked this spot to make sure they could talk well away from prying eyes. It would never have crossed his mind that the seclusion of the towpath at Wollaton was also perfect for disguising the sound of gunfire.
By the time Thomas Convery walked away from the Nottingham Canal, Simon Luffman was lying dead on the ground. He had been shot four times with a sawn-off shotgun: twice in the head and twice in the back. His body was found the next day. The murder of Simon Luffman caused a stir around the Nottingham bars and clubs where he’d been a well-known face. It wasn’t long before attention became focused on Thomas Convery, who was known to have talked to Luffman shortly before he was killed.
‘Yeah, I knew him – he was a regular in the bar,’ Convery told police. ‘Nice bloke, friendly.’ Convery’s story was that Simon Luffman had approached him about a potential business deal he had coming up. Something about it sounded slightly dodgy and he thought he might need a bodyguard. In the end, Convery insisted, he’d got cold feet and had decided not to go along with it. That’s whenSimon Luffman had been killed. But detectives weren’t buying Convery’s story, particularly not after traces of Luffman’s blood were found on his trainers.
In December 2004 Thomas Convery went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court for the murder of Simon Luffman. Though he continued to protest his innocence, he was found guilty of murder and jailed for a minimum of 20 years. In court to see justice done and acting every inch the grieving widow was Yvette Luffman. Sat in the dock, struggling with the knowledge that he’d spend the next two decades of his life in prison, Convery felt a growing sense of rage as he watched Yvette comforting her
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