Valentine’s Day shooting accused ‘called friend to say she’s dead’

A man accused of shooting his wife outside a pub on Valentine’s Day phoned his friend to tell him: “She’s dead, I love you. I’ll see you on the other side,” it has been claimed.

The BBC reported that the suspect phoned Leslie Thompson after Lisa Smith, 43, was killed outside The Three Horseshoes in Knockholt, Kent on Friday.

Kent Police believe the man, named as Edvard Stockings or Smith, fell from the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge that crosses the Thames at Dartford, and is searching the water to try to recover him.

Mr Thompson told the BBC that just under two hours after the shooting, he received a phone call in which his friend told him: “I can’t live, we’ve all gone together” and that “armed police will probably shoot me”.

He believed his friend had suffered a breakdown, and had been greatly affected by the death of his father two years ago.

Mr Thompson told the broadcaster he could not understand what had happened.

“They were both the life and soul of the party. We really don’t know why he has done it. I’m baffled.”