A retired pig farmer has been found guilty of the 1982 murder of his wife, whose body was found hidden in a septic tank on their farm 37 years later.
staunch Venables, 89, tried to blame serial killer Fred West for the murder of Brenda Venables but was convicted Friday by a 10-2 majority decision.
The remains of Mrs Venables, 48, were found in 2019 in the underground cesspool of their former matrimonial home, Quaking House Farm, in Kempsey, Worcestershire.
Venables, of Elgar Drive, Kempsey, had denied murdering his wife between May 2 and 5, 1982.
He previously told Worcester Crown Court that he was looking for his wife after he woke up on May 4, 1982 to find her missing, and reported the disappearance to police later that afternoon.
Venables said it was a “complete mystery to us” where his wife had gone and told jurors he never mentioned the septic tank to the police search teams because it “never occurred to him.”
The trial also heard how Venables, then 49, had rekindled a “longstanding” affair he had with Lorraine Styles, his mother’s former caretaker, months before his wife disappeared.
Venables told the jury that he was “deeply sorry” for the relationship with Ms Styles and denied having any other extramarital affairs.
He claimed that the relationship between him and his wife remained a sexual one and they continued to share a bed until she disappeared.
However, the jury heard evidence from notes taken by Ms. Venables’ psychiatrist, whom she saw for treatment for depression in March 1982, which stated that the couple had not slept together since 1968 and had not shared a bed for three years.
The doctor noted that Venables was a “typical farmer – who showed little to no affection for his wife, but praised the family’s dog.”
Venables told the court that he fell in love with his “handsome” wife after meeting her at a local farm dance in 1957.
The defendant, who wore earphones to hear the questions, said during his testimony that Ms. Venables had been a member of the Kidderminster Young Farmers when he met her in 1957, when he was 25 and she 23.
Asked by Timothy Hannam QC, defensively, what attracted him to Ms. Venables, he replied, “She was always very pleasant.”
He added: “When you went out she was always good company and we just got along.
“She was very pretty, just generally attractive.”
The court heard that the couple married at Rushock Church on June 1, 1960, and had their honeymoon in Jersey.
Venables said his farmer father offered him land in Quaking House – where Mrs Venables’ body was found – and that the couple moved in in February 1961.