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Bones thought to have been 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 vanished, after being “depressed” as they could not have children. Michael Burrows, QC, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court: “The police investigated.”
“They did not find Brenda Venables. Understandably, some people thought she had committed suicide.” But he said the pig farmer wanted her “out of the way” of his “long-standing” affair with nurse Lorraine Styles.
Mr Burrows added: “It is beyond belief to suppose that Brenda Venables took her own life by climbing into the septic tank and somehow shifted 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 his wife went missing around the time a woman was picked up by serial killer Fred West. Officers found a book on the Wests in the farmer’s home.
They also discovered handwritten notes in his car reading: “This is a true and honest statement of fact with regard to the disappearance of my wife Brenda Margaret in May 1982.”
Mr Burrows said: “David Venables had obviously been expecting to be arrested and interviewed.” In his police interviews, he “lied” about his affair and “sought to downplay it.”
Police teams found a pair of M&S knickers, a bra and threads of a sweater all from the 1960s and 1970s in the septic tank, jurors were told.
Pathologists could not confirm the cause of Mrs Venables’ death.
Venables first met Ms Styles in 1963 as she cared for his mother, the court heard. Ms Styles left her husband, living in a caravan which Venables would visit “three or four times a week.”
Mr Burrows said Mrs Venables found out about the affair in 1970 when Ms Styles was divorced.
The women met to “clear the air” and Mrs Venables said her husband had no intention of leaving.
Ms Styles was persuaded by Venables to end a later relationship in 1981 when he told her how much he missed her, jurors heard.
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