A retired pig farmer has been jailed for life, with a minimum of 18 years, after he was found guilty of the 1982 murder of his wife, whose body was found hidden in a septic tank 37 years later.
David Venables, 89, tried to blame serial killer Fred West for Brenda Venables’s murder, but was convicted by a 10-2 majority verdict during his trial.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge said that Venables had taken advantage of his wife’s depression to create a “carefully thought-out story” that she had left home in the middle of the night, apparently to take her own life.
Ms Justice Tipples said that evidence presented in court showed that the retired pig farmer had used a manhole cover to weigh down his wife’s body.
She told the pensioner: “You killed Brenda Venables in her own home, where she was recuperating with an injured leg and suffering from depression. You were Brenda’s husband and she should have been able to trust you.
“Your complete lack of respect for Brenda is obvious from your decision to dispose of her body in the septic tank.”
The judge said that the farmer was motivated to kill his wife so he could “remove her from your life and the complications she may have presented to you in any divorce proceedings.”
“There is no doubt an element of greed and selfishness,” she added.
During the month-long trial, the pensioner’s legal team claimed that Brenda Venables may have left her marital home at Quaking House Farm and “either killed herself or met with or encountered someone who wished her harm”.
The remains of Ms Venables, 48, were found in the underground cesspit at the couple’s former marital home in Kempsey, Worcestershire in 2019.
Venables denied murdering his wife and told Worcester Crown Court that he searched for her after he awoke to find her missing on 4 May 1982. He reported her disappearance to the police later that afternoon.
He told jurors that he never mentioned the septic tank to police search teams as it had “never entered” his mind.
Venables, who was 49 at the time, had rekindled a “long standing” affair with his mother’s former carer months before his wife disappeared, the trial also heard.
The farmer said that he “very much regretted” the relationship with carer Lorraine Styles. He claimed that his and his wife’s relationship remained a sexual one and said that they continued to share a bed right up until she disappeared.
The sentence passed on Venables on Wednesday means that he will have to reach the age of 107 before he can apply for parole.
Additional reporting from the Press Association.
