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Farmer who hid dismembered lodger's body in concrete-filled barrel jailed for murder
Wright faces a mandatory life sentence after jurors found he murdered Richard Dyson and hid the body in a concrete-filled barrel.
On Thursday, Sheffield Crown Court sentenced farmer Christopher Wright to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years for murdering his lodger, Richard Dyson, and concealing his remains in a concrete-filled barrel.
Wright shot Dyson in 2019 after suspecting his lodger of stealing antique firearms; he dismembered the body and hid it inside a barrel that remained undiscovered on a trailer for six years.
Wright's childhood friend Karl Schwalbe, 72, received a three-year sentence for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, an act his defense called "an error of Biblical proportions."
In a victim impact statement, Dyson's daughter, Bethany Dainty, described the six-year search as a "living nightmare," stating those responsible "destroyed an entire family and robbed me of years we will never get back."
Mr Justice Cotter told the court Wright was likely to die in prison, noting his butcher skills enabled him to commit a "terrible thing, something few ordinary people would have the stomach for.
Christopher Wright, a former butcher who turned farmer in England, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his tenant, Richard Dyson, who lived on his land, dismembering his body, and hiding it in a barrel filled with concrete. Dyson's remains, who had been missing for six years, were found in a trailer belonging to Wright.