‘I thought Fred West had killed my wife’
Farmer’s claim after body found in septic tank 37 years on
A RETIRED pig farmer accused of dumping his wife’s body in a septic tank blamed Fred West following the discovery of her remains 37 years later, a court heard yesterday.
David Venables, now 89, had already written a statement suggesting serial killer West was involved in the disappearance of his wife Brenda when police officers arrested him on July 30, 2019.
Prosecutor Michael Burrows, QC, has claimed Venables, of Kempsey, Worcestershire, ‘got away with murder’ for nearly 40 years until his wife’s bones were found in 2019, five years after he sold the former marital farmhouse.
His arrest came a fortnight after the tank was drained and the remains of his wife were discovered. She was 48 when she disappeared in May 1982. It is alleged Venables murdered her so he could rekindle his relationship with an on-off mistress.
In the note which names West, who killed at least 12 people between 1967 and 1987 in neighbouring Gloucestershire, Venables claimed his wife disappeared one morning after they had spent the previous night watching a television report about the Falklands conflict.
In the statement found in Venables’ car, read by Mr Burrows, Venables wrote: ‘We went to bed at 10.30pm and about 6.30am I woke up and she wasn’t there... At the same time as Brenda’s disappearance, Fred West of Gloucester was picking up women.
‘In fact, after Brenda went missing, I had a phone call from a lady to say that she had been picked up by West and had escaped. Since then, I have often thought that... could have happened to Brenda.’
Venables added: ‘There was a public footpath three to four metres from the tank, it would have been very easy to gain knowledge of the tank without suspicion... A vehicle could have easily driven right to the tank. This is purely a possibility.’
The statement was headed: ‘This is a true and honest statement of fact with regard to the disappearance of my wife.’ Mr Burrows told Worcester Crown Court that Venables had obviously been expecting to be arrested and was preparing what to say.
The court was told the 5ft 6indeep ‘secluded’ tank, in overgrown land behind the couple’s home, represented the ‘perfect hiding place’ for the body.
On Monday, the prosecutor told the court during his opening of the case that the idea Mrs Venables, who could not swim and ‘hated water’, would commit suicide in a septic tank or was killed by someone else was ‘fanciful’.
Mr Burrows said: ‘She wouldn’t choose to end her life in a septic tank, nobody would.’
He added: ‘[Venables] had a motive to kill her. He had a longstanding affair with another woman, Lorraine Styles.
‘In 1982, he was telling Lorraine Styles he wanted to live with her and get a divorce. Brenda Venables knew he would never leave the house or farm.
‘He knew that Brenda Venables knew about the affair and he knew that she would never divorce him. To him Brenda was an obstacle.’
Venables denies murder. The trial continues.