Breach of Contract to Kill

January 18, 2006

LONDON - Even a contract to kill is a binding agreement, a UK court said.

A woman who paid a man to kill her won back some of the money in a London court after the would-be hit man failed to uphold his end of the bargain.

Kevin Reeves, 40, was jailed for 15 months and ordered to pay £2,000 to Christine Ryder, 53, as compensation for breaching their contract, the Times of London reported.

Reeves could not be charged for murder because nothing ever happened. But the intended victim, who was so intent on dying she paid Reeves £20,000 in three installments to do the deed, was annoyed enough with the lack of progress to file a complaint for breach of contract.

The two met while both were being treated for mental health problems at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, in 2003.

The judge found Reeves had little intention of completing his end of the bargain in handing down her ruling. Reeves had in fact used the money to vacation with his wife on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Even Reeves’s lawyer, Steven Hadley, conceded: “It is a mean offence, preying on somebody who is vulnerable.”