A farmer kills his wife to revive a secret affair and almost gets away with it | United Kingdom | New UK News

Bones believed to be from animals were thrown away earlier. The farmer had sold Quaking House Farm in Kempsey, Worcs, to his nephew Andrew in 2014, the court heard. Venables, now 89, denies murder.

In May 1982 he told police his 48-year-old wife had disappeared, having been “depressed” because they were unable to have children. Michael Burrows, QC, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court: ‘Police have been investigating.

“They didn’t find Brenda Venables. Naturally, some people thought she had taken her own life.” But he said the pig farmer wanted her to be ‘away’ from his ‘long-standing’ affair with nurse Lorraine Styles.

Mr Burrows added: “It’s incredible to assume that Brenda Venables killed herself by climbing into the septic tank and somehow moved the heavy lid and put it back in place.

“The truth is that it was David Venables who killed her.”

He said Venables told police in 2019 that his wife disappeared when a woman was arrested by serial killer Fred West. Officers found a book about the Wests in the farmer’s house.

They also discovered handwritten notes in his car that read, “This is a true and honest statement regarding the disappearance of my wife Brenda Margaret in May 1982.”

Mr Burrows said: ‘David Venables clearly expected to be arrested and questioned. During his interviews with the police, he “lied” about his affair and “sought to minimize it”.

Police teams found a pair of M&S panties, a bra and threads from a sweater, all from the 1960s and 1970s in the septic tank, jurors were told.

Pathologists could not confirm Ms Venables’ cause of death.

Venables first met Ms Styles in 1963 while caring for her mother, the court heard. Ms Styles left her husband, living in a caravan which Venables visited “three or four times a week”.

Mr Burrows said Ms Venables discovered the affair in 1970 when Ms Styles was divorced.

The women gathered to ‘clear the air’ and Ms Venables said her husband had no plans to leave.

Ms Styles was persuaded by Venables to end a subsequent relationship in 1981 when he told her how much he missed her, jurors heard.