The victim: Loving, full time mum was stuck in controlling marriage

ANITA Whitehead and Alan Stead were living on the same Whitmore street when they started going out with each other.

They met in 1985 and following the birth of their first daughter in 1991, moved into the Slindon Close house which years later Stead set on fire.

Anita was a keen horse rider who was well known in the Whitmore, Baldwins Gate and Maer areas.

She gave up her job to become a full-time mum, with neighbours often commenting on how well-behaved her children were.

But it was clear to many friends and relatives that Anita was becoming deeply unhappy with her marriage.

It was never suggested that Stead physically abused his wife, but witnesses said he kept her on a very tight leash, not allowing her to spend money on herself and becoming suspicious if she ever wanted to go out with friends.

Some witnesses told how the couple had terrible rows, often over Stead's attitude towards his mother-in-law, Betty Whitehead, who he had banned from visiting the family home.

But when Anita finally decided to seek a divorce, witnesses such as her sister, Christina Maclean, reported seeing a big change in her personality, as if she had come out of her shell and was finally standing up for herself.

Following the case, Anita's father, Bert Whitehead, said: "She was a very experienced horse rider, riding with her school and farming friends and with the hunt.

"Now these same friends, some of whom have been witnesses during the trial, are in a state of distress themselves along with many others, such was Anita's popularity.

"The word processing on the Whitmore & District Parish Walks available in Newcastle library was done by Anita only four weeks prior to the tragedy."