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Toronto – Richard Wills has been found guilty of the first-degree murder of his mistress, Linda Mariani.

The former police officer was accused of hitting Mariani in the head with a baseball bat and strangling her with a skipping rope, then stuffing her body in a garbage bin and hiding it behind a wall in the basement of his home in Richmond Hill in February 2002.

The defence maintained Mariani, 40, died after falling down stairs at Wills’ home, while the Crown alleged he killed her because she wouldn’t leave her husband.

The 50-year old said he hid Mariani’s body because he wanted to bury her later near his family cottage in Wasaga Beach, as they had agreed in a secret lovers’ pact.

It took a jury a little more than a day to convict Wills following the five-month trial.

“It was a very emotional scene, once the jury left Linda Mariani’s family; her husband her mom, were all crying and the crown was actually crying. It’s been a very emotional and draining roller-coaster ride for all these people,” CFRB commentator and Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford said.

Blatchford has been following the trial and was in the courtroom when the verdict was read out.

“They were a very responsible jury and came to the right verdict for the right reasons,” Blatchford added.

Wills is facing a life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.