ASTONISHING details of how poisoner Heather Mook stole thousands of pounds from her mother-in-law and nearly killed her husband as she attempted to cover her tracks have been revealed in transcripts of police interviews just released.

The Press has been given exclusive access to the interviews between detectives and Mook as they quizzed her over the attempted murder of her husband John.

They reveal how she wrote a begging letter after her arrest to Mr Mook - her third husband - admitting what she had done and why she did it, including blaming him for not loving her and stating that she only fed him four of the tablets which nearly ended his life.

A jury convicted Mook, 58, formerly of Heslington Road, York, of two charges of poisoning her husband with the anti-depressant Amitryptyline with intent to endanger his life and one of giving him rat poison with intent to harm him. She had previously admitted two more charges of giving him the anti-depressant with intent to injure him and 19 fraud offences.

The judge gave her an indefinite jail sentence, which means she could spend the rest of her life behind bars, and she is unable to apply for parole for at least five years.

The sentence came after a court heard how she laced her husband's spaghetti bolognese with rat killer and stripped her mother-in-law Freda of her life savings, stealing more than £32,000.

As well as the letter to John, the transcripts show how: She was finally caught when her step-daughter spotted her feeding John tablets while he lay close to death in York Hospital. It was then that John's family and medical staff at the hospital contacted the police. She was even walking around the hospital with rat poison in her handbag.

When police searched the marital home in Boroughbridge Road, York, they found a cool box in which Mook had stashed evidence, including her mother-in-law's bank card, cheque books, bank statements, details of her mother-in-law's investment portfolio and even an empty box of Amitryptyline.

Mook operated four bank accounts and used her mother-in-law's bank card to siphon off £17,930 from cash machines across York.

She had previously stolen her husband's redundancy money, but John forgave her that time.

She used nearly £4,500 of her mother-in-law's money to pay for a breast reduction at the Nuffield Hospital in York - claiming to her family that she had breast cancer.

She forged letters in a bid to cover her tracks, finally attempting to pay £43,000 back into her mother-in-law's account to deflect attention, but the cheques she wrote bounced.

In a total of three hours and six minutes of interviews, despite the evidence against her, Heather Mook replied "no", "no comment" or simply refused to answer on 340 occasions. She did, however, reply "mmm" to one question.

Sergeant Alan Rowan, who conducted many of the interviews and who was praised by the judge after the trial, said: "It was a very demanding and challenging case to work on but it was a team effort.

"As an investigation, it was interesting because of the number of avenues we had to go down. There was so much to it.

"I didn't find it surprising that she did not co-operate despite the sheer amount of evidence stacked up against her.

"It was a small and dedicated team who worked on this and we have all found it satisfying that the jury convicted her."


The letter

The letter from Heather Mook to the husband she nearly killed read: "To my darling John, the reason I didn't tell you about Freda's money was you said last year if I had touched it then it was over between us, so I couldn't tell you.

"Then I thought since October you didn't love me anymore as you changed towards me and I rightly or wrongly thought you had worked it out about Freda's money.

"So I just clung in there hoping something would sort itself out and it would be okay again. I have asked Anna and Paula to give you this letter as I do not want the police to see it as it for you. I suspect by now they already know all there is to know.

"I did only give you four Amitryptyline and I could not believe what happened. John, my darling, you have always known I have trouble where money is. I'm scared of failing in front of anyone."


Ruling releases court documents

The transcripts of interviews between detectives and Mook have been released for the first time to The Press after we used a recent ruling to allow us access to material the public has never before seen.

The new protocol has been drawn up by the Crown Prosecution Service, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Attorney General's Office and the media to ensure "greater openness in the reporting in criminal proceedings".

The new working guidelines have been outlined by the CPS which says: "Our overriding objective is to provide an open and accountable prosecution process, by ensuring the media have access to all relevant material wherever possible, and at the earliest opportunity.

"The aim of the CPS is to ensure that the principle of open justice is maintained - that justice is seen to be done."