MURDER ON

Janet says she killed business partner who raped her but there’s no proof... and even the police don’t believe her

can. I don’t want to go to prison, but I wanted to set the record straight.” that the pipeline was installed, but this was a very thorough investigation.”

Testimony from Fred’s daughter Lynette Chapman seems to support Janet’s claims that Fred attacked her. She says her father was violent and erratic and “obviously very troubled”.

Lynette once caught him holding her mother by her face. She says he had squeezed her throat and badly bruised her face, putting her in hospital.

“He once threatened me,” adds Lynette, who says she picked up a knife and told him not to intimidate her.

But another theory is that Janet, who has a criminal record for embezzling money, cooked up the story for monetary gain. It was suggested not only that she wanted Fred’s farm, but she wanted a better ending for her autobiography, ghostwritten with Helen Parker – the journalist who suggested she seek therapy.

Janet claims she made no money from the farm or book deal, with any proceeds going to a donkey sanctuary.

She says: “I’ve never made a penny. I did serve time in prison for stealing money. I don’t defend that but I do feel that isn’t who I really am. I think 1976 changed me.” Detectives worked tirelessly on the case in 1976, re-opening it after Janet’s confession. Paul says: “We wanted enough certainty to put it to bed one way or the other. In the old days confession was everything but, although it gives you a big arrow, it’s not. People can admit offences for a whole range of reasons.

“One line of enquiry was that she was trying to get publicity for her book. One argument is she’s done it and we’ve never found the body, but we’ve not found evidence to support that.

“She was described as quite strong because of being quite active on the farm, but you’re talking about dragging a body into a wheelbarrow, wheeling it round a farm, digging a hole in semifrozen land – the weather was freezing.

“These are very unlikely things to have happened. The facts to support her claim just weren’t there.” He adds: “Technically the case is still open b u th an C Ja Ja ri h th

ei an th co sh