A Sports Direct employee who struck up a relationship with her boss tried to hire a hitman to kill her love rival, a court has heard.

Whitney Franks, of Two Mile Ash, Milton Keynes, is accused of soliciting murder after paying almost £300 in Bitcoin on the dark web in a bid to take out her lover’s partner - an allegation she denies.

Reading Crown Court heard how Franks, 26, was ‘definitely serious’ about having Ruttna killed as she had ‘caused a lot of problems’ for her relationship with James Prest.

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'They were concerned about each other'

Prest and Franks got into a romantic relationship around 2015 after they started working together at Sports Direct at Midsummer Place shopping centre, Milton Keynes, a year earlier.

Assistant manager Prest, who was living with a long-term partner and children at the time, then also got into a romantic relationship with Ruttna - another Sports Direct colleague - in 2018.

Franks and Ruttna only met once, a court heard, and never worked together after the former left to work in Bletchley in 2016.

But Franks and Prest’s ‘episodic’ relationship continued at the same time, Reading Crown Court heard, and the man ‘played them against each other.’

Prosecutor Andrew Copeland said: “They both knew he had a long-term partner with young children.

“They were not concerned about that. They were concerned about each other.”

'I could give you the world, James'

By 2020, Prest was slipping out of his home when his children and partner were asleep to go and see Ruttna one night a week.

In August of that year, Franks came to see Prest at Sports Direct and made a comment about him ‘sneaking out’ to see Ruttna, something he had not told her about.

Mr Copeland suggested Franks had been observing Prest out of ‘jealousy’, but the defendant claimed Ruttna told her about the man’s endeavours in a police interview.

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On September 1, 2020, Franks sent Prest an email: “I could give you the world, James, if you just give me the chance.

“I could help you be the happiest you have been in your life.

“I truly mean it, more than I ever have in the last five years.”

In the same email, Franks said she had tried different things to ‘sort out’ her anxiety and had ‘found a few things that could help.’

On September 2, 2020, Karl Miller, a BBC journalist investigating the dark web, contacted police to say he had come across a website that dealt with murder.

On this website, a request had been submitted from Franks to kill Ruttna in which the latter’s address and Facebook details were provided.

A note attached to the request read: “I’m looking to hire for a murder of a woman.

“I can offer £1,000 but willing to pay more once I get paid monthly.

“This woman has caused a lot of problems for myself and others. Please could you help me resolve this.”

Franks bought £282 of Bitcoin as payment but later tried to withdraw this money, the court heard.

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Prosecutor Mr Copeland said: “This was not a moment of madness.

“It is not a question of a drunken act.

“The prosecution says she was definitely serious.”

'Wracked with jealously'

Police went to the address Franks had provided in her request but Ruttna was not there, so they were directed to Sports Direct.

Here, officers took Ruttna aside and told her of the threat to her life. Ruttna gave officers Franks’ name as a ‘hunch’ she could be behind the plot.

Ruttna was taken to a safe space for the coming days and Franks was arrested on September 10, 2020.

In a police interview, Franks admitted to being interested in dark web pages and claimed she clicked on the murder website to see if it was a scam.

But Mr Copeland argued: “She was wracked with jealousy and she intended to take away her love rival.”

Referencing Franks’s email to Prest, which included the line ‘I have found a few things that could help’ regarding her anxiety, Mr Copeland asked the jury if soliciting murder might have been one of these things.

'Someone that loved me'

On the first day of Franks’s trial, her former lover James Prest took to the witness box to give evidence.

He said Franks and Ruttna only met each other once, when Prest and the latter were having a drink together after the former had left Sports Direct.

Prest claimed Franks became suspicious of his and Ruttna’s relationship and she resorted to waiting for him outside Sports Direct ‘unexpectedly.’

Franks started weeping from the dock when Prest described their relationship.

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He said: “She was someone who was hard-working, fun to be around, friendly, and someone that loved me.”

However, Prest agreed with defence barrister James McCrindell that Franks never expressed a desire to harm Ruttna in their time together.

PC Nicholas Timms, who was first to tell Ruttna about the threat to her life, also gave evidence on day one of the trial.

He agreed that the journalist who exposed the murder website was of the opinion that it was a scam page.

Franks denies one count of soliciting murder.

The trial continues at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday, July 19.