26-Year-Old Woman Jealous Of Colleague Tried To Hire Hitman To Murder Her For Dating Their Boss

A 26-year-old woman, who was described in a court as "rampantly jealous," allegedly tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her colleague.

Whitney Franks allegedly posted an advertisement on the dark web offering 1,000 pounds ($1,202.90) or more for the hit, reported Daily Mail. Prosecutor Andrew Copeland told the Reading Crown Court in England that the advertisement read that Franks was looking for the murder of a woman, who has "caused a lot of problems for myself and others." The address, Facebook profile and description of her colleague Ruut Ruutna was also posted alongside the advertisement.

Ruutna was Franks' colleague who joined the Milton Keynes store, the court heard. She began an affair with general manager James Prest, so the two women were competing for his attention.

Instead of being taken up by a budget hitman, the online advertisement was seen by an investigative journalist.

Franks had reportedly created a cryptocurrency account to make anonymous purchases online, and she allegedly bought 282.57 pounds ($339.89) worth of Bitcoin on August 20 but withdrew the amount three days later.

The office romance reportedly started in 2016, a year after Franks began working at the store. It continued when Ruutna joined the team in 2017. Copeland said the two women were not only colleagues, but "love rivals of James Prest and both were romantically involved with him at the same time."

Prest, who has a long term partner with two young kids, tried to "play them off against each other" and that his relationship with both women was "episodic," the court was told. On Aug. 17, 2020, Franks showed up at the Milton Keynes Sports Direct to confront Prest about his relationship with Ruutna. He was upset when she made a comment about him "sneaking around at night." Later, Franks sent her boss an email asking him to give her another chance.

The day after she wrote the letter to her manager, cops got a call from Carl Miller, who had been investigating corners of the dark web. The online post had been made anonymously, with cops only able to identify that Ruutna was in danger. Police continued the investigation after they took her to a safe house for her protection.

According to Express, Ruutna stressed that she had not got any threats from Franks. But Ruutna told police that she had a "hunch" who was behind the listing. This led to Franks' arrest on Sept. 10, 2020. She is now on trial, and she denies one count of soliciting murder between Aug. 17 and Sept. 1, 2020, reported The Sun.