Spurned husband took revenge from beyond the grave: Millionaire who tried to murder wife hatched plot to keep his fortune from her before killing himself



Peter Mason had his bank accounts emptied so his wife Debbie would be left nothing

Mason earned £200,000 a year as an account director at Hewlett Packard



He was found dead in his cell as he awaited trial for the attempted murder of his wife and Michael Longden



The childhood sweethearts had got back in touch via social network Friends Reunited



The husband: IT boss Peter Mason is alleged to have stabbed his wife and her lover

A millionaire who killed himself in prison after trying to murder his estranged wife and her lover co-ordinated a sinister plan from behind bars to stop her getting her hands on his money.

As his dying wish, computer boss Peter Mason had his bank account emptied and arranged for his two country mansions to be stripped of their luxury furnishings so that his wife, Debbie, would be left with nothing.

Mrs Mason, who has two young children and is still undergoing hospital treatment for severe stab injuries, has now spoken to police after she tried to access their shared funds and was distraught to discover everything was gone.

A will Mason wrote last May, which handed all of his money to their children Emelia, 11, and Dylan, seven, is also said to have been hidden.

Mason, 58, earned £200,000 a year as an account director at Hewlett Packard and previously worked for Royal Mail and the NHS.

He was found dead in his cell on January 19 as he awaited trial for the attempted murder of his 45-year-old wife and Michael Longden, a childhood sweetheart she had got back in touch with via Friends Reunited.

He was accused of stabbing them in a frenzied attack last July after she fled the £500,000 family home in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, with the children to start a new life with her lover.

While on remand in prison following the attack, Mason is said to have orchestrated a ‘pyrrhic victory’ over his wife, confiding in a fellow prisoner that he wanted to make sure she could not access the wealth he had earned as a successful IT boss.

Mason slipped two notes under his new friend’s cell door, one containing his online banking details and another authorising the man to enter his two homes and ‘remove any of my personal items on my behalf’ as soon as he had served his sentence.

These valuables are said to have included a rare stamp collection, antique William Beilby wine glasses, paintings, furniture and tortoise shell tea caddies.

Mrs Mason recently attempted to access the bank account but thousands of pounds had been taken, leaving it completely empty.



Electrical goods had also been bought using the money, including an iPad.

She reported what had happened to police who had investigated the July attack, but is said to be frustrated that nothing has been done to get the money back.



The family suspects Mason also had money hidden in other accounts which his former wife cannot access.

Lovers: Debbie Mason (left) and Michael Longden (right) had dated at sixth-form college in Herefordshire



Andrea McConchie, Mrs Mason’s sister, said ‘sizeable amounts of money’ had been removed.



‘We know bank accounts have been accessed,’ she said. ‘They have bought electrical goods, an iPad, spending several hundreds of pounds in each case. They have emptied his bank account.

‘Great lengths were taken to try to deceive my sister and her lawyers. There are large amounts of money in other accounts but we don’t know where they are.

‘We want that money to be able to provide long-term for the children. Her [Mrs Mason’s] priority is the children now. She just wants to put this behind her. It has been a tough year.’

A friend of the prisoner who was handed the bank details by Mason said he had since visited the homes and tried to access the account.

‘He [Mason] said to him: “My wife is going to divorce me. She’s going to take all my money. She had an affair”,’ he added. ‘He said he wanted him to have everything, to do whatever he wants with it. He said: “I just don’t want my wife getting anything”.’

Mason was found hanged in his cell next to a picture of his children and a goodbye note. He was due to stand trial this month charged with two counts of attempted murder.



At an earlier hearing, magistrates heard how his marriage ended in January last year when his wife left with the children to live with Mr Longden in Ledbury, Herefordshire.



Scene: Peter Mason is alleged to have travelled to the new home of his estranged wife Debbie where he stabbed her and her lover Michael Longden

The lovers had previously dated at sixth-form college.

In July, Mason travelled to Ledbury to meet his wife of ten years in a pub to discuss financial matters and the sale of their homes.

Peter Mason was found dead in his cell as he awaited trial for the attempted murder of his wife and her lover

After she left, he allegedly followed her to her new cottage and stabbed her and her new partner multiple times.



Mason then tried to flee the scene in his car and hit a motorcyclist, who was uninjured, before being arrested.

Mrs Mason suffered a punctured lung and serious injuries to one of her hands. Her new partner also sustained serious stab injuries to his body, head and back.

Friends of Mason, who was married twice previously, said he had become ‘obsessed’ with his wife not receiving his money after she left him.



A former business partner, who asked not to be named, said: ‘There had been a lot of wild talk. He felt his entire life had been taken away from him and she had left him with nothing.

‘He was very much against giving Debbie any kind of financial support. He was determined he wasn’t going to give her any money.

‘He had put the house on the market but had stopped doing the gardening because he said he couldn’t be bothered any more. I think it was his intention to let it be repossessed.

‘He would rather pull the house down and destroy it than give her anything. It was like he was harming himself in order to harm her. He wanted to create a kind of pyrrhic victory.’

Mason’s sister Adele, a dressage trainer, said: ‘He’s not got the chance [to defend himself] and I am not him. It is just very mixed feelings.’