A man thought he was in a blissful marriage, oblivious to the fact that his wife and her lover were allegedly hatching plans to kill him, one of which involved adding foxgloves to his salad.

Christopher Mills, a 48-year-old former soldier, was in the midst of planning a vacation and house renovations with his wife, Michelle Mills, 46. Meanwhile, her lover, Geraint Berry, supposedly conspired with a friend, Steven Thomas, to murder him, as was heard in Swansea Crown Court.

The plot included staging a fake armed robbery, complete with imitation firearms, at the couple’s holiday caravan in a scenic rural location. The plan fell apart when the 20-stone Mr. Mills reportedly fought off the attackers, leading to their capture by police.

Additional cunning murder schemes mentioned in court involved slipping crushed sleeping pills into his drink, suffocating him with a pillow, incorporating foxgloves into his salad, and adding anti-freeze to his gravy.

Throughout this alleged murder conspiracy, Mr. Mills claimed he remained completely unaware, believing he was in a ‘happy marriage’ with Michelle Mills.

However, he did notice that his wife was spending an increasing amount of time at her job as the South Wales manager for the homeless veterans charity Alabaré. It was there she met Berry, 46, who was staying in the charity’s accommodation, a job shared by her husband as well.

Mr Mills asked her, ‘Are we alright?’ and she reassured him their relationship was fine and put her longer hours down to staff sickness.

He told the court on Wednesday: ‘She started to go to work extremely early at about 7am and wouldn’t come home until late. She seemed a bit preoccupied and a bit stressed.’

The court heard Mr Mills asked his wife why she had been spending so much time with client Berry, but she always claimed it was work-related.

He said: ‘I thought, “yes ok, she is stressed out. She has got no staff.” I kind of put it out of my head.

‘She reassured me at the time there was nothing going on. She said it is literally just work related and “I love you”.’

Mr Mills said the couple would stay at their caravan, which they had bought for £58,000 in August 2023, in Argoed Meadow campsite in Cenarth, Carmarthenshire, after finishing work on Fridays and spend the weekends there together.

The court heard the former soldier, who works for Help For Heroes, did not find out about the three-month affair between his wife and Berry until after the armed raid.

Mr Mills was arrested following the masked attack in September last year after his wife made claims of domestic violence against him, which he denied.

He said: ‘It was a massive shock but the first time it came to my attention was the following day. 

‘I was arrested. At that instant I realised then that Michelle was involved. My heart sank.’

Mr Mills denied every being violent towards his wife, saying: ‘I have never laid a finger on her.’

He added: ‘I have done nothing to Michelle. As far as I was concerned we had a happy marriage. We had new passports and we were saving up to go on holiday.’

Mr Mills told the jury he opened the boot to his wife’s Volkswagen Passat car days after the attack to find metal cable ties, three pairs of gloves and a roll of duct tape.

The court heard the three defendants had conspired together to murder Mr Mills, but all three deny the charges. 

Michelle Mills also denies attempting to pervert the court of justice in relation to deleting phone messages and her account to police.

Berry and Thomas, 47, have previously pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear.

The plan came just one month after a life insurance policy for Mr Mills had come into effect, naming his wife as the sole beneficiary of a £124,000 payout in the event of his death, the court heard.

The policy was a result of his charity work first with Alabare and later Help For Heroes.

Michelle Mills allegedly said she wanted her husband dead so she and her lover could ‘move forward’ together. 

Armed officers and police dogs rushed to the scene at Cenarth, Carmarthenshire in Wales on September 20, 2024 before a police helicopter spotted the duo and they gave themselves up.

Michelle Mills told officers she never wanted her husband to be hurt and claimed killing him was ‘just a fantasy that she could escape to’.

The court heard Berry and Michelle Mills were in a sexual relationship and sent extensive text messages in the months leading up to the murder attempt.

These included a message from Berry to his ‘queen’ Michelle Mills saying he would put her husband ‘in the f***ing ground’.

He also allegedly said he would ‘f***ing kill him’ while talking about arranging for hitmen to carry out the killing of Mr Mills. 

Michelle Mills told Berry that her husband was violent towards her during sex and had threatened to ‘break her in’ on the night of the raid.

She told police in interview that she could not leave him because she believed she would ‘end up on the street’ with nothing.

Mr Rees said: ‘Michelle Mills and Geraint Berry had embarked on a secret sexual relationship which, on Geraint Berry’s part at least, had become increasingly intense.

‘Berry, encouraged on by Michelle Mills, had become increasingly occupied by hostile thoughts about Christopher Mills.’

He added: ‘She said she was concerned that if she left Christopher Mills he would sell up everything they owned and she would have been left with nothing.’ 

The court heard Berry had messaged an Army supplies shop to ask for advice on how to ‘blow up’ a Mini Cooper S – the same car driven by Mr Mills.

Berry had also enquired about a gun suppresser and bullets while saying: ‘I need to get rid of someone.’

He claimed that there had been two ‘aborted’ visits to the caravan on separate nights before the alleged attack took place. 

After the failed attempt, Berry and Thomas fled the scene before being stopped by police and found with gasmasks containing filter canisters, as well as cable ties, pliers, cloths and a telescopic gun sight in their rucksacks.

There was also a fake ‘suicide note’ made to look like it was written by Mr Mills and addressed to his wife, whose nickname is ‘Babs’. 

The court heard Michelle Mills sent a message to Berry shortly after the raid telling him: ‘Police have been called. Get away. Delete all contact on both phones. I love you.’

She told police in the aftermath of the incident she did not know the men and could not think of a reason why anybody would want to rob the couple. 

The allegedly unfaithful wife later told officers her ‘fantasist’ lover Berry said he would ‘make it look like suicide’ before she printed out the bogus suicide note he sent her.

Mr Rees said: ‘Michelle Mills said she had no input into the writing of the fake suicide letter.

‘She accepted she printed off the letter but said she didn’t read it. She then gave the letter to Geraint Berry.’

The court heard Michelle Mills told police: ‘He (Berry) did mention about suicide and things you know, to make it look like Chris had committed suicide, but I thought it was all fantasy.’

Mr Rees said Michelle Mills told officers she had a sexual relationship with Berry but denied that she loved him and claimed she ‘never thought she was encouraging him’.

Mr Rees said: ‘She accepted there was a jealousy element to Geraint Berry that she was aware of but she didn’t accept that she fed his jealousy.

‘She denied that she was stoking the fire.’

The trial at Swansea Crown Court before Mr Justice Nicklin is expected to last three weeks.