Pig farmer, 89, found GUILTY for murdering his wife

A philandering pig farmer who got away with murder for 40 years will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted today of murdering his wife.

David Venables, 89, murdered his wife Brenda and put her body in the septic tank of their marital home in Kempsey, Worcestershire, in May 1982.

He tried to blame serial killer Fred West for the murder but was convicted today by a 10-2 majority vote after the jury of seven men and five women deliberated for 16 hours and 43 minutes over four days.

Venables, who had to sit in the dock after being allowed to sit next to his legal team earlier, remained calm, but blinked a few times after hearing the guilty verdict, then stared back at the jury box.

Police originally treated Brenda’s disappearance as a missing persons investigation and never searched the tank, but eventually found her skull and other bones when a cesspool was emptied in 2019 by Andrew Venables, who had bought his uncle’s farm.

Inquiry judge, Ms Justice Tipples, described the facts of the case as “tragic” as she advised jurors to seek support if they were affected by the harrowing evidence.

During the month-long trial of the retiree, the Venables legal team said Fred West had ties to the Worcestershire village of Kempsey, where Brenda disappeared in May 1982.

They also claimed that Ms Venables left her matrimonial home at Quaking House Farm and “killed herself or met or met anyone who wanted to harm her.”

Defending Venables’ defense as ridiculous, Mr Burrows said at the outset of the trial: ‘The truth, the prosecution says, 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, Lorraine Styles.

“He knew about the septic tank in his remote location. It was almost the perfect hiding place for him.

“It meant he didn’t have to travel and risked making a suspicious trip around the time of her disappearance or risking throwing her body elsewhere.

“And of course, even if someone thought to look inside the tank, her body would be hidden from view. And for almost 40 years it was the perfect place and he got away with murder.”

The court heard how the Venables first met at a Worcester and Kidderminster Young Farmers club in 1957, when he was 25 and she 23.

They were married in 1960 at Brenda’s local parish church in Rushock and the following year they moved to Quaking House Farm, built by Venables on land donated to him by his father, and with ‘wonderful views’ of the surrounding countryside.

But by the end of the decade, their marriage ran into trouble. They had no children, a situation that upset Brenda according to her friend Vicky Jennings, and Venables had started a series of affairs with other women.

One of them was Lorraine Styles, who had nursed Venables’ mother and began a sexual relationship with the wealthy farmer after giving her lifts in 1967.

She died in 2017, but a statement she gave to detectives in 1984 revealed details about their affair and how Venables had reacted after his wife’s disappearance.

Ms Styles said Venables had offered to bring a pork pie the size of a catering company to help with refreshments at her daughter’s 21st birthday party, just a week before the bash had sounded to say his wife was missing.

Her statement said: “He seemed very calm and suddenly told me that his wife had disappeared the day before and that he called me to let me know before I read it in the paper.

“He said she went at night and the first thing he knew was when he found the front door open the next morning.

“He said Brenda had seemed perfectly normal the night before and had set the Tea Girl and everything seemed fine, but the next morning she was gone.” Two weeks later, he called her home and tried to have sex.

Ms Styles stated: ‘I couldn’t understand why he was so calm about the whole episode; he just sat and watched the television. Later (in) the evening he finally came to make overtures to me and it was quite clear from his actions that he wanted me to have intercourse.

“In view of his wife’s disappearance and because even I was concerned about Brenda, I rejected his advances.”

Their sexual relationship resumed a few weeks later, but in the fall of 1982, the spark was gone and she saw Venables with another woman on his arm.

Venables had always maintained that on May 2, 1982, he had simply woken up to find that his wife had disappeared.

But Trevor Brooks, who was then running a pigsty owned by Venables and his brother Peter, told the court that neither he nor his colleagues had been asked to join the search, and further witnesses said there had been “no mention” of Brenda’s death. disappearance by Venables. in the aftermath.

The jury also learned that Brenda had become depressed before her death due to her husband’s “multiple affairs” and the inability to conceive.

She had visited both her primary care physician and a psychiatrist to help her cope with her mental health.

She told her psychiatrist Dr. Richards said she and her husband hadn’t had sex since 1969 and slept separately.

The court heard doctors tried to make appointments to see the couple together, but Venables repeatedly said he was “too busy.”

According to a note read to the jury, he also blocked Dr. Richards’ attempt to have her hospitalized in the weeks leading up to her death.

The psychiatrist described Venables as a “typical farmer who showed little to no affection for his wife, but praised the family dog.”

Venables is expected to be sentenced next week.