GUILTY UK - Kempsey, found in a septic tank, Jul'19, missing in 1982 - Brenda Venables *husband arrested*

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This is why every police force should have an active major crime review unit to review missing person cases.
Too often they are allocated to cid to ‘have on their books’. Do ‘annual or bi-annual’ reviews. Which I imagine seldom get done.
CID are just dealing with what they can.
Too many major come review units only look at undetected murders. They need to look at domestic mispers.
Mr venables may be innocent, may be guilty, court can decide that on the evidence.
Just my opinion
 
www.dailymail.co.uk

Farmer 'murdered wife' in 1982 so he could rekindle affair, court told

David Venebles, 89, is alleged to have killed his wife Brenda and hidden her remains inside a septic tank on their farm in Kempsey, Worcestershire, in May 1982.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk


An 89-year-old retired pig farmer has gone on trial accused of murdering his wife and hiding her body in septic tank so he could rekindle an affair with his mother's former carer.

David Venables is alleged to have killed his wife Brenda, and hidden her remains in the tank at their home in Kempsey, Worcestershire, in May 1982.

He reported his wife, who was 48 at the time, missing, but no trace of her was found until nearly 40 years later when police found remains, including a skull, as well as a bra and knickers, in a cesspit at their former farmhouse in July 2019.

A court heard that Venables told police she had been depressed, but detectives launched a murder probe after his nephew moved into the property and found her remains 37 years later.
 
The story previously was that DV woke up, his wife was missing and he phoned the police.
Now it seems he did not call the police until Brenda's friend came round to take her to lunch and she then prompted him to call them - or left him no alternative more likely.

Very similar to Ian Stewart ( Helen Bailey murder ) who didn't call the police until Helen's brother said he would call them.
 

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/live-updates-david-venables-trial-24182925​

​

11:15 Second day of murder trial begins​

The trial has now started again today (Tuesday) and Michael Burrows QC for the prosecution is addressing the jury.
He is continuing his opening of the case.
The jury is being shown various photographs of Quaking House Farm, its surroundings, the septic tank and also a picture of Brenda Venables.

The items found inside the septic tank revealed​

Mr Burrows is telling the jury details of what was found in the septic tank.
These included half a pair of knickers, a bra, tights, a sweater and leather shoes.
A number of bones were also found, Mr Burrows told the court. The prosecutor also added the bone in the throat which doctors often use to see if someone has been strangled was 'missing'.

Murder accused claimed his wife's murder was by serial killer Fred West​

Mr Burrows said during police interviews David Venables tried to blame his wife’s death on the serial killer Fred West. Venables claimed he knew a woman who told him she had been abducted by West in Gloucestershire but had managed to escape.
The prosecutor said Venables then explained that because Gloucestershire was on the Worcestershire border this is what may have happened to his wife.
He told police that his theory was that Fred West had abducted and killed Brenda Venables and then found out about the septic tank and put her body in it.
“He said this was just a theory of his and he had no evidence for it, but it was something he thought may have happened,” Mr Burrows said.
 
Last edited:
Alyce said:
The story previously was that DV woke up, his wife was missing and he phoned the police.
Now it seems he did not call the police until Brenda's friend came round to take her to lunch and she then prompted him to call them - or left him no alternative more likely.

Very similar to Ian Stewart ( Helen Bailey murder ) who didn't call the police until Helen's brother said he would call them.
Click to expand...
Interesting
 
Live blog, continued

12:21Jordan Coussins

Prosecution explains 'motive for murder'​

Mr Burrows told the jury that there was only one explanation for how Brenda Venables came to be in the septic tank. He said: “She didn’t end up in the tank by accident, this wasn’t a suicide as she had enough medication to take an overdose and the river was close by,” he said.
“She was a prim and proper lady - she wouldn’t have ended her life in a septic tank. The idea that she climbed in voluntarily and somehow shifted the heavy lid above her with no sign of disturbance is one we say you should reject.
“It is also fanciful that someone else came along and killed her and put her in that tank. There was nobody else there apart from David Venables and he had a motive because of his long-standing affair with Lorraine Styles.
“He wanted a divorce but knew that Brenda Venables wouldn’t give him one - she was an obstacle to him keeping the house and farm and starting a new life with Lorraine Styles. “The prosecution says you can be sure that it was David Venables who murdered Brenda Venables.”

First witness takes to the stand​

The prosecution has now finished its opening of the case and the first witness has been called.
He’s Douglas Robinson, a former worker at the Venables’ farms.
He has told the court how he got the job as the pig unit manager at Bane Hill Farm, one of the three farms the family ran in Kempsey, in 1977, and lived with his wife and children in a house on site.
In early May 1982 he and his wife went away for the bank holiday weekend and when they returned were told that Brenda Venables had disappeared.
He said the police were called and asked him a few questions, but beyond that he had no involvement with the search.
Mr Robinson, when asked by Mr Burrows how David Venables had been in the weeks following his wife’s disappearance, replied: “Mr Venables carried on as normal.”
He said Brenda Venables was “very pleasant” and “always made time to talk to me”.
 
Last edited:
ZaZara said:
IMO it doesn't get any better...

Retired farmer 'lied to police about wife's disappearance and affair' jury hears

A search of Venables’ home in Elgar Drive, Kempsey, took place and on the rear seat of the car was a notebook with a written note entitled: “This is a true and honest statement of fact with regard to the disappearance of my wife Brenda Margaret in May 1982”.

o_O
Click to expand...

That was after his first interview by the police, though. Makes sense that he'd want to get his version straight before they took any further action. He knew they'd be back.
 
Mistress's details of 'on-off' affair with ex-pig farmer accused of killing wife


Jurors at Worcester Crown Court heard details of David Venables’ “on-off” 14-year affair with Lorraine Styles.

Ms Styles died of lung cancer in 2017, the jury was told, but gave a statement to police in 1984 in which she gave a flavour of their relationship.

(....)

She said Venables came by her home “three or four nights a week” and that the relationship, as she saw it, was “quite serious”.

“However, on one night he called I noticed a lipstick mark and make-up on his shirt – we never discussed it because I was frightened of losing him,” she added.

“Several days later, I became very depressed having received a poison pen letter.”

She tried to take her own life but was later visited in her hospital bed by Venables who asked “why I’d done it”, said Ms Styles.

Weeks later, having now discovered Mrs Venables knew of their affair, Ms Styles went to the farmhouse “to clear the air”.

“Brenda pointed out David had no intention of leaving the house or family and my affair had not been the only time – she intimated others (had happened).”


BBM


No live blog that I could find today. Wonder what the prosecutor will bring up tomorrow :cool: - it is a good thing thta they kept the files from 1984 when memories and impressions were fresh.
 
Septic tank where wife’s body found ‘not searched’ in 1982, murder jury told

Police searching for a missing woman in 1982 walked within yards of the septic tank where her body was found 37 years later, a murder jury heard.

Police officers involved in the “high-profile” search for Mrs Venables after she disappeared in May 1982, described how dogs, boats and a helicopter were used to scour local waterways, fields, woodland and farm outbuildings.


Retired West Mercia Police constable, Peter Sharrock, was among the search teams but told how the septic tank was apparently overlooked.

Mr Sharrock said he was not aware any officers searched the underground chamber, adding “I certainly never took part in searching the septic tank”.

He described how 2019 media coverage about the discovery of human remains triggered a memory of what he now knew to have been the cesspit.

In his statement, read to court on Thursday, he said: “I am aware from recent newspaper reports a body has been found in a septic tank.

“As soon as I saw an aerial view of the site, I remembered that I’d seen then, what I saw now.”

He added: “I recall seeing a lump of concrete in the yard of the farmhouse."

Other witnesses have described how the septic tank was, in 1982, in a “wild” area of the yard, overgrown with grass and strewn with rubble.

Giving evidence in the witness box, Mr Sharrock was asked by Venables’ QC Timothy Hannam about more details of the concrete-topped tank.

“How far were you from it in 1982, when you saw it?” asked Mr Hannam.

“Probably about 20 to 30 metres away,” said the retired officer.

Asked why he did not go over to the septic tank, he said having grown up in “city areas”, a non-mains sewage system “wasn’t something I knew about”.

He added: “At the time, it just looked like a pad (area) of concrete and I didn’t pay it any attention.





BBM
 
Pig farmer's nephew was at home when 'nice and kind' aunt's remains found


THE nephew of David Venables, accused of murdering his wife Brenda, told a jury he was present when her remains were found at his property.

David's nephew Andrew Venables took the witness box on Friday, (June 17).


The jury heard Andrew’s wife Jessamy phoned Aqua Cleansing after a septic tank at their home, Quaking House, had been unusually full of water.
The firm sent out Alistair Pitt and Andrew said he kept an eye on his work as he wanted to understand how to stop blockages from happening.

Mr Pitt discovered a human skull and his pipe also became blocked by human hair.
“When he told me, I went to have a look,” Andrew said.
Prosecutor Michael Burrows QC asked: “You phoned the police?”
“Yes,” Andrew replied.

Andrew confirmed there was no contact with his uncle in the days after the discovery.


The jury heard the statement given by Alistair Pitt after the discovery of human remains.

Mr Pitt said: “I had only been working (in the job) for two weeks.
“I started to suck out the contents, I encountered a blockage.”

Mr Pitt said he found large chunks of hair and large bones and told Andrew Venables they were not animal.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said.
“What happened really shook me up.”

Jessamy Venables also gave evidence telling the jury David Venables first suggested they bought Quaking House in 2007 but they said no.


BBM
 
ZaZara said:
Pig farmer's nephew was at home when 'nice and kind' aunt's remains found


THE nephew of David Venables, accused of murdering his wife Brenda, told a jury he was present when her remains were found at his property.

David's nephew Andrew Venables took the witness box on Friday, (June 17).


The jury heard Andrew’s wife Jessamy phoned Aqua Cleansing after a septic tank at their home, Quaking House, had been unusually full of water.
The firm sent out Alistair Pitt and Andrew said he kept an eye on his work as he wanted to understand how to stop blockages from happening.

Mr Pitt discovered a human skull and his pipe also became blocked by human hair.
“When he told me, I went to have a look,” Andrew said.
Prosecutor Michael Burrows QC asked: “You phoned the police?”
“Yes,” Andrew replied.

Andrew confirmed there was no contact with his uncle in the days after the discovery.


The jury heard the statement given by Alistair Pitt after the discovery of human remains.

Mr Pitt said: “I had only been working (in the job) for two weeks.
“I started to suck out the contents, I encountered a blockage.”

Mr Pitt said he found large chunks of hair and large bones and told Andrew Venables they were not animal.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said.
“What happened really shook me up.”

Jessamy Venables also gave evidence telling the jury David Venables first suggested they bought Quaking House in 2007 but they said no.


BBM
Click to expand...
Poor guy! Two weeks into the job!
 
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