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6 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, Wednesday, September 7.1994 Section Two IfiOlfE M argaret Crump felt life was passing her by. There she was, decidedly decidedly plump, with ever so tiny crows' feet making their unattractive appearance beside her eyes, which in recent months had developed an involuntary squint. Margaret, who had seen four decades decades come and go, looked across the breakfast table at her husband of 14 years. Wasn't he a prize? she thought. David spent most of his time collecting money for worthy causes in and around Folkestone, England. When he wasn't complaining about the state of the Commonwealth, he was moaning about his ulcerated leg. Among David's more disagreeable traits, Margaret felt his bouts of depression ranked right up there as the most annoying. Sometimes David was so low he threatened to commit suicide. No one, least of all Margaret, took his threats seriously. The Crumps' marriage had produced no children. Year after dreary year, David collected collected funds for charity, while Margaret pursued her hobby of citizen's citizen's band radio. Each evening, after David took his sleeping pills and she could hear him snoring, she would plug in her equipment. Her CB handle was Maggie Boo. Her hobby was her one escape from her boring, loveless marriage. marriage. One fog enshrouded night in 1986, Maggie Boo received a response from Hawaiian Cruiser. It was like no other response she had ever received. Hawaiian Cruiser had a melodious sexy voice. He flattered Maggie Boo. What's more, he was suggestive. Maggie Boo said nothing to discourage the naughty boy. Each day she would wait to hear David snoring so she could exchange sweet sly insinuations with Max HAINES her Hawaiian Cruiser. It was agreed. The pair had to meet. Margaret hid those crows' feet as best she could and pulled out the few invading gray hairs. She and Hawaiian Cruiser met in a restaurant. restaurant. The sexy voice belonged to 20- year-old David Belsham, a skinny young man with a severe case of acne. If you can imagine Ichabod Crane, you pretty well have the picture. Despite the physical deficiencies and the discrepancy in their ages, Maggie Boo and Hawaiian Cruiser got along - famously. They met often and soon became lovers. Juices dormant these many years once again flowed freely within Margaret Crump. Life was worth living after all. Belsham was attentive, polite and, above all, terrific in bed. In time, Margaret introduced Belsham to her husband. David never suspected for a moment that this young lad was anything more than a fellow citizen's band enthusiast. Eventually Margaret met two of Belsham's friends, Stephen Farthing and Paul Thompson. When Belsham requested that the two men, who had recently been asked to leave their rooming house, move in with the Crumps, Margaret agreed it would be a good idea. Even David liked the arrangement. arrangement. They could do odd jobs around the place, allowing him more time for his charity work. For a while, all went well. Farthing , and Thompson had a roof over their heads, David had two built-in handymen, handymen, Belsham had done a favor for two Crime Flashback friends and, of course, we all know what Margaret was receiving in quantities she had once only fantasized about. In the deception deception business, one must realize realize that things can't go on forever. In 1987, David's ulcerated leg bothered him to such an extent that he had to be hospitalized. By this time, the relationship between Margaret and Belsham was such that he moved into the Crump house to keep Margaret company. Playing house appealed to Belsham. There is good evidence he had fallen in love with Margaret and dreaded the fast-approaching day when her husband husband would be released from hospital. He and Margaret discussed their predicament. predicament. They would do the honorable thing. They would tell David of their love for each other. No doubt, he would be civilized and drop out of the picture. After the divorce, they would marry and live happily ever after. Well, folks, David did come home from the hospital. Margaret and Belsham told him of their intentions. Rather than take the news calmly, David said he would rather die than grant his wife a divorce. In addition, loud and clear, he ordered Belsham and his two buddies out of the house. No one left the Crump residence. In the next few days, you could cut the tension with a knife. Each evening, David went to his room, took his sleeping sleeping pills and went to sleep alone. Downstairs, Belsham, Margaret, Farthing and Thompson plotted his death. They would make the murder appear to be a suicide. After all, David had suffered from depression for years and had often mentioned suicide to anyone who would listen. On July 16,1987, David went to his room. He extracted several sleeping pills from a bottle on his night table and took them with a glass of water, as was his custom: Margaret, realizing that he would take his usual large quantity of sleeping pills as he read his Bible in bed, brought him up a cup of coffee. She had solicitously dissolved several sleeping pills in the coffee before taking it upstairs. David grumbled grumbled a thanks and drank his coffee. Next morning, Stephen Farthing found David dead in bed. He called an ambulance. The ambulance attendants noted the empty medicine bottle, observed the room was otherwise neat and tidy and concluded David had committed committed suicide by means of an overdose. overdose. Nothing would have been done about the open-and-shut case had a relative of David's not called the Folkestone Police Station the day following his death with the information that David had written her two weeks before, informing her that he believed the four conspirators living in his house planned to kill him. He also told her of his wife's ongoing affair with Belsham. Evidently, David had sneaked downstairs downstairs one night and had overheard the entire plot. Although he was alarmed, he couldn't bring himself to believe that his wife and her friends would actually kill him. David was wrong. An autopsy was performed. The results indicated that David had taken a large quantity of barbituates, about 12 pills, several of which had not been absorbed into the bloodstream by the time death occurred. The attending pathologist also discovered cotton fibres in David's nose, mouth and lungs, indicating to him that the victim could have been suffocated with a pillow. pillow. The investigation might have bogged down at this point had David Belsham kept his mouth shut. However, like so many killers before him, he had an irresistible urge to tell someone that he had committed the perfect murder. Belsham chose a buddy in a pub. He related in detail how Margaret had laced the coffee with sleeping pills. They had waited awhile before climbing climbing the stairs and finishing the job with a pillow. Belsham's drinking buddy scampered down to the Folkestone Police Station and told what he had heard. All four conspirators were arrested, tried and found guilty of David Crump's murder. Because of his youth, Paul Thompson received an indefinite prison term, while Stephen Farthing, Maggie Boo and Hawaiian Cruiser were sentenced to life imprisonment. Autographed copies of Max's latest book, Multiple Murderers, are now available through Canada Wide, a division of the Toronto Sun. 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