A killer got away with murdering a mother-of-four for 11 years - until he was snared by an undercover policeman who pretended to be his best friend.
Such was Darren Osment’s bond with plainclothes officer ‘Paddy O’Hara’, he even vowed to make him his best man, while Avon and Somerset Police collected covert recordings to finally bring Claire Holland’s murderer to justice.
Ms Holland, 32, was last seen leaving a pub in Bristol on the evening of 6 June 2012, after she left an evening with friends at Seamus O’Donnell’s pub in St Nicholas Street.
She was reported missing several days later but despite multiple high-profile appeals and the police collecting 1,700 hours of CCTV, no trace of her body has ever been discovered.
With the case eventually coming to a standstill, officers were without a breakthrough until July 2019, when Osment contacted 999 to confess to his crimes.
He told the operator: “I’m handing myself in…not a good look for me, it’s murder…I took the law into my own hands and you know she took my son away from me so I took that from her.”
Darren Osment was found guilty of her murder after an undercover police operation— (PA)
However, he later retracted his confession and with little concrete evidence, detectives were forced to let him go until a decision was made to send an undercover officer to try and capture a confession.
Moving just 300 yards down the road, O’Hara struck up a friendly relationship with the killer, posing as a petty criminal selling stolen clothes while drinking and playing pool with him down the pub.
In order to gain his trust, the police devised fake criminal scenarios, such as O’Hara asking Osment to act as a lookout while he carjacked a lorry at a motorway services.
Over the course of 20 months, Osment came to view the undercover officer as his closest friend and began to make a number of chilling confessions regarding his involvement in Ms Holland’s death.
Osment was captured on secret recordings admitting to her murder— (PA)
Jurors at Bristol Crown Court heard that Ms Holland and Osment had embarked on a volatile relationship in 2008 and had welcomed a child together, which was later placed into the care of social services after she reported him to the police.
Filled with “intense hatred”, Osment often referred to her as a “stupid b***h” and said he dreamt of her face with her eyes pitch black, adding “she ain’t going to be seeing the light of day again”.
On another occasion, they were walking near Severn Beach when Osment mentioned Ms Holland having a “nice f***ing swimming lesson” and mentioned her body being “halfway to Spain”.
While making these admissions, he would nearly vomit, which police and prosecutors believe was his reaction to facing the reality of his actions.
Such was the covert nature of the operation, that even the main investigation team was unaware of the deployment until July 2022, when the decision was made to re-arrest Osment.
Osment made references to killing Ms Holland and disposing of her body in water— (PA)
This came after he made a confession the previous month to luring the mother to the pub he worked as a chef, and using his “knife skills” to kill her. He added: “It’s all done and dusted, all the work, clothes burnt outside… As far as I am aware the bits and pieces are scattered.”
He alluded to her body being weighed down in water, before adding: “It makes me feel sick. But I did it for [my child].”
After being charged with murder, he pleaded not guilty and subjected Ms Holland’s family to an 11-week trial, which saw the surveillance footage being played to the jury.
Jurors also heard that the undercover officer witnessed Osment being violent towards his dog, assaulting bar staff and showing off his weapons which included a hammer by his front door.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Darren Hannant, said: “The evidence we’ve gathered painstakingly over the last four years has proven that Osment is a selfish and violent misogynist who has abused almost everyone he has been close to.
“Our investigation found he’d made repeated confessions to others about his involvement in Claire’s murder, but because of a lack of supporting evidence, a decision was made to obtain authorisation for the deployment of an undercover officer, with the express aim of uncovering the truth about Claire’s disappearance, and in the hope of finding her body.
The undercover officer built his trust by involving him in fake criminal activities— (Avon and Somerset Police)
“The evidence and recorded footage gathered by the officer exposed Osment’s disturbing and hateful character and most importantly, details about the murder that otherwise would have remained unknown.
He continued: “It was a brutal and pre-meditated crime motivated by his intense hatred of Claire, who he blamed for having their child taken into care.”
Ben Samples, Senior District Crown Prosecutor for CPS South West, said: “This was a heinous crime and 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.
“Murder cases where a body has not yet been recovered are notoriously complex, because it is harder to prove a murder has been committed and there is less evidence to pin the crime to a suspect – so prosecutors must think outside the box.
“Piece by piece, we worked with police to present a compelling case to the jury which made clear that this was ‘foul play’ and that only Osment had the motive to commit murder.”
Osment is due to be sentenced on Wednesday.
