Farmer ‘dumped wife’s body in septic tank’
Jury hears he wanted ‘prim and proper wife out of the way’ as he was having affair with his mother’s ex-carer
A PIG farmer, who was having an affair with a nurse, murdered his “prim and proper” wife and hid her body in a septic tank, where it lay undiscovered for almost 40 years, a court has heard.
David Venables, 89, went to police in May 1982 claiming his wife Brenda had disappeared after becoming depressed because she could not have children.
But Worcester Crown Court was told Mr Venables – who was aged 48 at the time – had killed his wife because he “wanted her out of the way” so he could rekindle a long-standing affair with Lorraine Styles, a nurse who had looked after his elderly mother.
Mr Venables is accused of disposing of his wife’s body in the “perfect hiding place”, a septic tank in a secluded and overgrown corner of his sprawling farm in Kempsey, Worcestershire. Her remains lay undiscovered for 37 years until his nephew bought Quaking House Farm from him and workers discovered a human skull while cleaning the tank for him.
When Mr Venables was questioned by police he hinted that Fred West might have been involved in his wife’s disappearance and detectives later found a book about the notorious serial killer in his dining room.
Michael Burrows QC, opening the prosecution case, told the jury that at the time of his wife’s disappearance, Mr Venables had been in a relationship with Ms Styles. The romance, he said, had begun around 1967, but had been on and off for more than a decade, and Ms Styles had marred another man at one point.
But over Christmas 1981, months before his wife disappeared, Mr Venables rekindled the affair. The couple split permanently in December 1982 – seven months after his wife went missing – when Mr Venables was said to have “lost interest” in his mistress.
Mr Venables reported his wife missing at Worcester police station May 4, 1982. Mr Burrows explained: “He said he had awoken that morning and that his wife was not in bed nor in the house. He also said she had been depressed.”
A police investigation failed to find any trace of Mrs Venables and it was assumed by some that she had taken her own life. She had suffered from mental health problems and had seen a psychiatrist after becoming depressed.
Mr Venables lied to police about the affair and later downplayed its significance, insisting his wife had been depressed because she had been unable to have children. But Mr Burrows went on: “The truth, say the prosecution, is that it was David Venables who killed her. He wanted her out of the way: he wanted to resume his long-standing affair with another woman.
“He knew about the septic tank in its secluded location. It was for him almost the perfect hiding place.
He added: “And for nearly 40 years, it was the perfect place and he got away with murder.”
The jury heard that when he went to the police to report his wife’s disappearance, one of the officers noted that he “did not seem anxious in any way and was quite calm”. Another officer said he was “cold and showed no emotion and did not seem worried in any way”.
Ms Styles also said her lover remained “quite composed” and “calm” after his wife went missing.
The police concluded there was no evidence he had murdered his wife and her disappearance remained a missing person’s enquiry.
In July 2019 contractors clearing out the septic tank found bones including a human skull and when police later contacted Mr Venables to confirm they had discovered his wife’s remains, he pointed out that the septic tank had been cleaned out several times before.
The pensioner denies murdering his wife between May 2 and May 5, 1982, and the trial, which is expected to last up to last six weeks, continues.