The family of a woman murdered by a former chef caught after an extraordinary undercover policing operation have called for him to finally reveal where he hid her body.
Claire Holland, a mother-of four from Bristol, was killed in 2012 by her former partner, Darren Osment, who faces life imprisonment after being found guilty of murder by a jury on Monday.
Bristol crown court heard how Osment made a series of confessions to an undercover police officer who pretended to befriend him and won his trust over 18 months by posing as a fellow criminal.
It is believed Osment may have strangled Holland, who was 32 when she vanished, after arranging to meet her at a pub where he worked and could have used his knife skills to dismember her body before disposing of her remains, possibly in the Severn estuary.
Holland’s younger sister, Sarah Holland, 41, told the Guardian that the family wanted Osment to reveal where and how he killed her and where he disposed of her body.
Sarah Holland, a student nurse, said: “We haven’t had that chance to say goodbye. We don’t have anywhere to go to remember her. We’ve got nothing. That’s been taken away from us. If he has one ounce of compassion, just one measly ounce, let us know. I’m not sure that will ever happen.
“Claire was bubbly, very bouncy, a happy person. I saw her the day before she went missing. She was happy.”
Claire Holland went missing after leaving a pub in Bristol on the night of 6 June 2012, telling people she was off to see Osment, the father of one of her children. Police checked her flat and found CCTV footage of her on the day she vanished but the trail went cold.
“We thought for years she was a missing person,” said Sarah. “That’s hard to deal with as there’s a lot of unknowing. You learn to live and adapt to the idea of your sister being missing. You make your own scenario up. I adapted the scenario that she had gone and started a life somewhere else. She was happy and she knew her kids were looked after.”
In 2019, the family received a call from the police. Osment had phoned police and drunkenly told them he had killed Claire.
“I felt sick,” said Sarah. “I’d dealt with it in my own way. I then had to think: ‘Oh my god, my sister’s dead’ and start the grieving process.” Sarah had met Osment only once and had not suspected him.
Osment retracted his confession and the investigation progressed slowly. The lack of a body and absence of forensic evidence – plus the passage of time – made it a difficult case to prove. Unbeknown to the family, police launched the undercover operation to try to secure a breakthrough.
“We didn’t know anything of the covert operation,” said Sarah. “We were saying, why can’t you get someone to follow him? They were saying, it’s not that easy but all the time they really were doing it.”
It was only after family members gave evidence that they were told about the work of the officer, who went by the pseudonym Paddy O’Hara. “I couldn’t believe it,” said Sarah. “It was like something you see on telly and suddenly you’re in the middle of it. Paddy was amazing. I’d like to meet him and shake his hand. He’s a brave man. I know we can’t meet him.”
Osment lied repeatedly about what happened to Claire in the witness box. Sarah said: “You sit there and think, just let us know where she is so we can say goodbye to her. I want to know where Claire was last alive. I need that to deal with my grief. I have images of her skipping up to meet Darren. She was excited to go and see him. I want to know where her last place is.
“It’s for their son too. His son will want to pay respects to his mum. He’ll want somewhere to go. But he may never tell us. He may plead his innocence forever because that’s the little bit of control he has left.”
The judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, told Osment she would sentence him on Wednesday 20 December.
Ben Samples, senior district crown prosecutor for CPS South West, said: “Claire’s family have endured over a decade of pain as Osment sought to conceal his crimes by weaving a web of deceit, all while cruelly refusing to provide any information which would help locate Claire’s body.”
Det Supt Darren Hannant, of Avon and Somerset police, said: “The evidence and recorded footage gathered by the [undercover] officer exposed Osment’s disturbing and hateful character and most importantly, details about the murder that otherwise would have remained unknown.”
