EX-BUTCHER JAILED FOR LIFE AFTER HIDING LODGER'S BODY IN CONCRETE BARREL

Christopher Wright, 73, was convicted of murdering Richard Dyson, 55, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years at Sheffield Crown Court. Wright shot Dyson, who was living on land Wright owned in Barnsley, and dismembered his body before concealing it in a barrel filled with concrete. The remains were discovered in July 2025 inside a trailer at Alderthwaite Farm, six years after Dyson disappeared in November 2019.

Police found Dyson's severed remains when they attended the farm following an investigation into his disappearance. Forensic experts confirmed the DNA matched Dyson, and a name badge bearing Wright's name was recovered from the trailer. Investigators discovered that Wright, an ex-butcher, had telephoned the farm's owner three days after Dyson was last seen alive, requesting permission to leave the trailer there temporarily; a diary entry by the farm owner corroborated this account. Examination of Wright's firearms collection yielded a weapon and ammunition matching those that killed Dyson.

Wright was convicted of murder, preventing a lawful burial, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and six firearms offences. Karl Schwalbe, 72, Wright's childhood friend, was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and sentenced to three years imprisonment after covertly recorded conversations demonstrated his involvement in concealing the crime. Police evidence showed Schwalbe had assisted Wright in covering up the offence during the six-year period the body remained hidden.