A COCKTAIL of hatred and fear is what drove the former stepson of Pennie Davis to concoct an “evil” plot to have her killed, a court heard.

After a break in proceedings over Easter, the murder trial of mum-of-five Pennie Davis resumed at Winchester Crown Court yesterday, with the start of closing speeches.

Prosecutor Richard Smith QC started telling jurors it was a “genuinely tragic case” that saw the 47-year-old brutally executed in a field near Beaulieu.

He said she was killed at the hands of Justin Robertson in what was a planned murder “hatched” with Ben Carr, who wanted to silence her to stop her resurrecting historic claims that he had indecently assaulted girls, which threatened his future.

Mr Smith said Carr recruited 36-year-old Robertson to execute Pennie and Samantha Maclean assisted with the plan, through transport and communications.

The prosecution say Carr, now 22, persuaded Robertson, a fellow drug dealer, by manipulating him with a story that Pennie was a paedophile.

It was “justification” which was repeated by Robertson when he allegedly confessed to the killing to two people and said by 28-year-old Maclean to her childminder days after the murder.

Mr Smith told jurors it was a “meticulous” plan that may well have succeeded if Robertson had not dropped the key of Maclean’s car beside Pennie’s body in Leygreen Farm.

He said: “It was the key to the whole discovery of those involved.”

Mr Smith said there is “overwhelming” evidence pointing to career-criminal Robertson’s guilt and that any suggestion that he was in Beaulieu on that day, September 2, last year, to burgle was “incredible”.

He said Carr had come up with a story to “fit” the evidence and that he would have only needed an alibi if the plan was to kill Pennie, as she would not be alive to say it wasn’t him.

Mr Smith said: “His emotions has led him to do something that ordinarily he wouldn’t have done. It’s tragic but it’s true.”

Mr Smith admitted that Maclean’s involvement may have been less than Carr and Robertson, but he said her decision not to give evidence from the witness box was because she knew her answers would not stand up to cross examination.

Robertson’s barrister Rupert Pardoe gave his closing speech yesterday afternoon, telling jurors that the prosecution had not proved without reasonable doubt that his client was the killer.

He told jurors there was no forensic evidence linking Robertson to Pennie’s killing and that when he was picked up by his friend from Beaulieu that day, she did not notice any blood on him.

He also pointed to evidence of another horse owner who said she saw Pennie alive at around 3.20pm, after Robertson had been picked up.

He admitted the car key was a “difficult issue” for Robertson’s case, but suggested it could have been planted by Pennie’s body.

He also suggested that a 6ft, big nosed man seen by the gate of the field, by lorry driver Jason Plank, just before 4pm, could not be ruled out as being the killer.

He added that Carr has put all the blame on Roberston to exonerate himself.

Robertson is charged with murder and conspiracy to murder. Carr and Maclean are charged with conspiracy to murder. They all deny the charges.

Proceeding.