David Venables is on trial for the murder of his wife, Brenda Venables, whom he declared missing on May 4, 1982. Her remains were discovered in 2019 in a septic tank behind the house where the couple lived and Venables was charged with her murder in June 2021. Opening the case in Worcester court on Monday, prosecutor Michael Burrows QC said the septic tank was the “perfect hiding place” and allowed the Venables to “escape murder” for decades. Police investigations at the time, which included the use of a helicopter to scan the area, search rivers, conduct door-to-door searches and talk to friends and family, revealed no trace of Brenda’s whereabouts. She suffered from depression before her disappearance, and some assumed she had committed suicide. Her remains were discovered 37 years after her disappearance, after Venables sold his house at Quaking House Farm in Kempsey, Worcestershire to his nephew, who had emptied the septic tank in 2019. Bones had been found in the tank on two previous occasions, but were considered animal bones and were discarded. However, when a human skull was discovered, the finding was reported to police. DNA testing confirmed that the bones found in the tank belonged to Brenda, who was 48 years old at the time of her disappearance, and the remains of clothing found were in line with the styles available at the time. Burrows said Venables wanted his wife “from the middle” to be able to continue a relationship with Lorraine Styles, whom he had met in 1967 while working as a caretaker for Venables’s mother. The couple had been on-off for more than 14 years, something Brenda realized, according to the court. In 1981, Venables promised Styles that he was going to divorce his wife to start a new life together, Burrows said. “He wanted to get rid of her: he wanted to resume his long-term relationship with another woman,” Barrows said. “She knew about the septic tank in its secluded location. It was, for him, almost the perfect hiding place. “It meant she did not have to travel and she was in danger of being seen making a suspicious trip at the time of her disappearance or of being seen throwing her body somewhere else. And, of course, even if one were to look inside the tank, her body would be hidden from view. “And for almost 40 years, it was the perfect place to escape murder.” Venables told police he woke up to find his wife was not in bed or at home and told them he was depressed, Burrows said, and police said he “did not look anxious in any way and seemed calm”. Burroughs said: “It’s beyond belief to believe that Brenda Venables suicided by climbing into the septic tank and that she somehow shifted the heavy lid and put it back in place so that there was no sign. annoyance “. He also said that the remote location of the farm where the Venables lived made it “absurd” to assume that Brenda had left the house and was attacked by someone else. Venables, from Elgar Drive, Kempsey, denies murdering his wife between May 2 and May 5, 1982. The trial, which was scheduled to last six weeks, continues.
