Twisted lies of love triangle killer who proposed to his accomplice in the dock after brutally murdering rival
WHEN Amazon courier Mark Meadows made his New Year resolutions, they included a vow to be with lover Louise Grieve “by Valentine’s Day”.
But Grieve was already in a relationship with Keith Green, creating a complex love triangle that would leave one man dead.
True to his word, Meadows proposed marriage within a year — but in a surreal twist, he did it as they sat in the dock accused of killing innocent Keith.
Meadows has since been jailed for 23 years — and Grieve for eight — over their roles in February 2022’s fatal stabbing plot.
Now, as new U&Dave show Special Ops: To Catch a Criminal lifts the lid on the extraordinary case, Detective Superintendent Jon Capps revealed: “I’ve never come across a proposal in a crown court dock before.
“It’s staggering.
“They still thought they were going to get away with it, they were going to get found not guilty.
“And they were making plans for their new life.”
‘Laughing and joking’
Meadows was 24 when he hooked up with Grieve — 13 years his senior at 37.
The couple’s illicit relationship began in 2021, while Keith, 40, was living with Grieve in Banbury, Oxon.
The couple had two children.
Grieve became obsessed with Meadows, nicknamed Jesus because of his long hair and beard.
That summer, the secret lovers took a trip to Leeds, where Meadows — a huge fan of zombie TV series The Walking Dead — bought Grieve a blue-handled knife.
Six months later, the blade was used to stab Keith to death.
By all accounts, Grieve’s relationship with Keith was up and down.
But she continued to lead him on while messaging her toyboy about her “immense” love for him.
In fact, the court heard how jobless Grieve “really rather liked the two men in (her) life vying for attention, love and affection”.
However, by the autumn of 2021, she had kicked Keith out of their home.
He had come in to find Meadows there and attacked him, although assault claims were not pursued.
Once out of the house, trained carpenter Keith texted love rival Meadows, saying: “Well done mate, looks like you win.
“Just treat her right.”
But by Christmas, he was home again — as Grieve played him off against Meadows by turning up at his door and begging him to come back.
She continued to tell Keith she loved him, but messaged Meadows, referencing his nickname: “We need Jesus so much in our lives.
“I love you immensely.”
Jealous of Keith’s return home, Meadows began planning revenge on the other man — who he cruelly called Humpty Dumpty, as he was bald.
He even told his half-brother, Travis Gorton, just weeks before the murder: “There’s a war coming.”
“I’m down,” was Travis’s chilling reply.
Meadows then trawled the dark web in search of a gun and bragged to pals about beefing up in the gym.
On the day of the killing — February 13, 2022 — he texted a pal: “If he won’t just leave, we will make him.”
And he told his brother: “I’m in the mood to fight today.”
But Meadows feared Grieve may resent his actions — and in another message, he asked: “Is she gonna hate me?”
She and Meadows met later that evening at a pub just around the corner from Grieve’s terraced home.
CCTV played in court showed them cuddling and kissing as they shared a drink and played bingo with Gorton.
Even after she arrived at the Pepper Pot pub, Grieve was texting Keith: “Baby I f***ing love you, please remember that.”
But just an hour later, after Grieve, Meadows and Gorton had left the boozer together, Grieve returned to the family home and asked a baby-sitter: “Where’s Keith?”
Meadows and Gorton had sneaked into the garden through a side gate and were lying in wait for Keith at his garden shed workshop, where he was staying.
Ominously, a CCTV camera had also been switched off.
Unsuspecting Keith was stabbed as he returned to the shed after taking a shower, and the evil siblings then left him for dead.
An eye-witness told the court that he saw the suspects rushing back through the house.
Meadows had a large knife hanging from his belt and bloodstains on his leg, the witness claimed.
He added: “All they did was pop their heads round and said he was dealt with.”
As they made off in a van, Keith lay bleeding in the garden.
He had been stabbed at least eight times — the fatal wound piercing his heart.
At one point she was humming or singing the EastEnders theme tune out the window.
Det Supt Capps
Blundering Meadows left behind his phone and paramedics found it under the victim’s body.
When cops arrived, Grieve admitted her affair with Meadows and, at that stage, detectives treated her as a witness.
But they were still suspicious.
Det Supt Capps said: “There was always concern about her reaction.
“My opinion was that she was somebody who could turn her emotions on and off.
“At one stage, she was breaking down in tears with the paramedics and at other moments she seemed to be laughing and joking.
“I think at one point she was humming or singing the EastEnders theme tune out the window.”
Armed police arrested Meadows and Gorton at their home across Banbury within 90 minutes.
Detective Constable Chris Hatton told the documentary: “A murder investigation really is a race against time.
“Officers got to them so quickly that one of them was barely out of the shower.”
One of the knives used to stab Keith had been stashed in a speaker next to Meadows’ bed.
The other was in a drain beside the parked van.
It was damning evidence, but Meadows remained tight-lipped when quizzed by detectives.
‘No remorse’
“If you haven’t done it, I think you’d be shouting from the rooftops that you haven’t done it,” Det Supt Capps said.
Gorton, then 19, denied stabbing Keith, claiming he was asleep in the van until Meadows parked outside their flat.
Meanwhile, searches of the brothers’ phones made detectives increasingly suspicious of Grieve.
She was arrested a month after her lover.
Police officer Stephanie Chase had to break the news to Keith’s family.
“They weren’t surprised,” she said.
Also charged was Grieve’s son, Callum Johnson, although he was later acquitted, and a teenage girl who cannot be named for legal reasons.
When the case eventually came to court, Grieve and Meadows were “very relaxed”, Det Supt Capps said.
“No remorse. We saw their behaviour outside of court, laughing and joking.”
There were even reports the pair were kissing on the train as they travelled to court together.
It was a prelude to the extraordinary marriage proposal that Det Con Hatton said was “against their bail”.
Only Grieve gave evidence in her own defence.
She spent four days hitting back at claims she had played her two lovers against each other.
“I must be a bloody magician to be able to do all that,” the scheming 38-year-old mum said with a laugh.
In his closing speech, her lawyer accused prosecutors of making her out to be a “scarlet woman”.
All that mattered was what suited you.
Judge Pringle
Barrister Adrian Amer said: “Who are we to judge Louise Grieve’s personal life?”
But it was not enough.
The jury took a week to reach their verdicts and, at the beginning of 2023, Judge Ian Pringle sentenced Meadows to life in prison for murder, with a minimum 23 year tariff.
Gorton was ordered to serve at least 17 years for the same offence.
The teenage defendant who cannot be named was found guilty of manslaughter.
Grieve was cleared of murder but got eight years for manslaughter.
Judge Pringle told her: “There will be some who listened to this trial who may have concluded that it was your behaviour for the seven or eight months before Keith Green was murdered which led to the circumstances in which he was attacked and killed.
“It was you who sent amorous messages to both Mark Meadows and Keith Green and encouraged them both to continue to show you love and affection.
“It was you who was content for your partner to continue to be at home, yet you who wished to continue to see your lover, Mark Meadows.
“In short, all that mattered was what suited you.”
DC Hatton said after Grieve’s conviction: “That was one of my worries, that they wouldn’t think Keith’s partner had been part of the planning.”
- Special Ops: To Catch A Criminal starts on Sunday at 7pm on U&Dave, or stream on U.