A South Yorkshire farmer who murdered a man and concealed his body in a barrel filled with cement has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Christopher Wright, 73, was ordered to serve a minimum of 35 years behind bars for the killing of Richard Dyson, 55, whose remains were discovered six years after he vanished.
Murder and concealment
Wright, an antique firearms collector from Hoyland, Barnsley, was found guilty last month of murdering Dyson, who had been living in his car on Wright's land. Dyson was reported missing by his daughter in November 2019, but his body was not found until last year, when police discovered it concealed in a blue barrel on a trailer. The victim had been doing odd jobs for the farmer, but the pair fell out after Wright suspected Dyson of stealing from him and selling his possessions.
Wright shot Dyson in the arm and chest, then over the following days dismembered the body, bought cement from a builder's merchant, and placed the body parts in the barrel. He then put the barrel on a trailer and persuaded an innocent neighbour to store the vehicle, unaware of its gruesome contents.
Accomplice convicted
Wright's childhood friend Karl Schwalbe, 72, was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for helping to conceal the crime. Schwalbe was jailed for three years. During the investigation, detectives questioned both men, and they were recorded on CCTV in a police car park discussing the evidence. Wright was also filmed in a hotel praying for absolution and that his weapons would not be found.
Sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court, Mr Justice Cotter said Wright was likely to die in prison. He told the court: “You had worked as a butcher and were skilled enough to do such a terrible thing, something few ordinary people would have the stomach for.”
Victim's family speak out
In a victim impact statement, Dyson's daughter Bethany Dainty described the agony of not knowing her father's fate for so long. She said: “I couldn’t grieve because I did not know the truth.” Christopher Dunn, defending Schwalbe, said his client's failure to report the crime was “an error of Biblical proportions.”
Wright was convicted of murder, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial, and firearms offences. The case highlights the lengths to which the perpetrator went to cover up his crime, and the prolonged suffering of the victim's family.
