Jean Demontford is a successful estate agent who was married to the victim for 15 years. The marriage was mostly happy, but towards the end of the union, Dooley?s extreme political activism caused him to withdraw and he became more solitary.
Unable to tolerate his behaviour anymore, Jean moved out and quickly fell in love with someone else. Julian Hague, a divorced barrister in his 50s. Jean and Julian are head over heels and keen to remarry, but Dooley refuses to accept the marriage is over and therefore won?t agree to a divorce. Jean now uses her maiden name.
Over the last two years Jean, her legal representative and even her son Jeremy have pleaded with Dooley to agree to a divorce, but his spiteful and stubborn nature has meant they?ve been unsuccessful.
Prior to the murder, Jean had been receiving anonymous threatening letters which she suspects had been coming from Dooley as an angry response to Jean?s more formal legal letters.
On the day of the murder Jean, claims to have been showing a client around a property. However, as she?s essentially self employed no one has been able to verify this.