KEY POINTS:
A French nightclub hostess standing trial for the murder of the millionaire 10th Earl of Shaftesbury transferred 100,000 pounds into her brother's bank account just weeks after his death, a jury was told yesterday.
Jamila M'barek, 45, is accused of paying her brother to kill the flamboyant aristocrat Anthony Ashley-Cooper in November 2004 after she found out that he was planning to divorce her and cut her out his will.
The prosecution also alleged that in October 2002, Ms M'Barek convinced the earl that she was pregnant with his child.
As a result, he made a new will leaving her valuable properties in Ireland and France.
But by November 2004, the couple's relationship was on the rocks, divorce proceedings had begun and Ms M'Barek feared losing her valuable inheritance.
By having her husband killed, the prosecution said, Ms M'Barek stopped the divorce in its tracks and guaranteed she would not be disinherited.
The court in Nice heard that in the weeks after the earl's death, Ms M'Barek transferred 140,000 euros into her brother's bank account.
But Ms M'barek, who denies murder, yesterday told the court that her marriage to the earl was "cursed" and that she did not need his money.
She said: "Money was never an issue at home. I was brought up to give, not to take. I had always been prosperous. Marrying him was a curse. God bless his soul."
Her brother, Mohammed, 43, also denies murder but admits killing the 66-year-old earl during a drunken fight in November 2004.
Psychiatric reports given to the court showed that Mohammed and Jamila M'Barek had both been affected by the violence and alcoholism they witnessed at home while they were growing up.
According to the report, Mr M'Barek was "cold" and had two distinct sides to his character - an affectionate family man at one moment and violent and aggressive the next.
But in an emotional plea yesterday he begged the Dorset aristocrat's family to forgive him.
Turning to the public gallery he said, in broken English: "I am sorry to you. Pardon, please. It was only an accident. I hope that the family of my brother-in-law forgive me, his son, Lady Frances - pardon, please. He's my brother-in-law, I am sorry for you. I'm too sad."
He said he had smoked cannabis and drunk whisky before the fight, and that he alone was responsible for what happened.
Asked about the events of November 5, 2005, Ms M'Barek said an argument blew up between her brother and her husband - who were both drunk, she said - after Mr M'Barek tried to embrace the Earl in greeting.
The Earl recoiled, and an argument ensued, Ms M'Barek told the court.
The argument escalated into a fight, she said, with the pair struggling on the floor.
She said: "It was an accident between two people who had been drinking, that's it, quite simply."
She told the court of her horror at the killing, saying she could not tell whether the blood on the floor was her brother's or her husband's.
Mohammed threw up, she said, and kept repeating "I love you Anthony".
After the fight, she said Mohammed forced her to help him to put the earl's body into the boot of his convertible BMW.
It wasn't until April 2005 that his badly decomposed body was discovered in a ravine in the south of France.
The disappearance of the millionaire playboy earl in November 2004, first reported by his lawyer, gripped the French Riviera.
Described by one friend as a philanthropist, the thrice married Ashley-Cooper specialised in rescuing lap-dancers.
In 1999 he settled in the south of France where he met Jamila M'barek.
Yesterday the lawyer for the Shaftesbury family, questioned Ms M'Barek about her claims - printed in British newspapers - to have had romantic liaisons with celebrities including former tennis champion Bjorn Borg.
She said she met Borg at the Paris Masters tennis tournament before she met Lord Shaftesbury.
She claimed they met often at a hotel in Monte Carlo, and that the Swede showered her with gifts.
In a speech, this time to the jury, her brother said he took full responsibility for the death: "I am ashamed, I am ashamed. I can't find the words. If I deserve punishment, then give it to me.
"I take full responsibility for what happened. It was an accident, nothing more. It all happened in one minute. I did everything I could to try to save him - I gave him mouth-to-mouth.
"My sister is also a victim - I am the only one who is responsible for this affair."
The trial continues.
- INDEPENDENT
