A New York housewife has been arrested for allegedly offering a hitman almost £40,000 worth of rare stamps to kill her unemployed husband.

Elena Sava-Adams, 57, was arrested in Brooklyn in a police sting operation last Thursday.

Prosecutors have accused her of master-minding the killing of husband Irving Adams - a former executive at the Israel Discount Bank in New York - after he was fired five years ago.

She allegedly wanted to collect the 66-year-old’s insurance policy when he died.