A 73-year-old farmer has been jailed for life for murdering his lodger and hiding the dismembered body in a barrel filled with concrete. Christopher Wright was convicted last month of killing 55-year-old Richard Dyson, who had been living in a car on Wright's land in Hoyland, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
Mr Dyson went missing in 2019, and his body was not discovered until six years later. His daughter reported him missing after he vanished. Police initially treated it as a missing person inquiry, but it later became a murder investigation. In 2025, officers found the concealed body in a barrel on a trailer.
Dispute over stolen possessions
Mr Dyson had done odd jobs for Wright, an antique firearms collector, but they fell out after Wright suspected him of stealing and selling his possessions. Wright, a former butcher, shot Mr Dyson in the arm and chest. Over the following days, he dismembered the body, bought cement from a builder's merchant, and concealed the body parts in a blue barrel. He then placed the barrel on a trailer and persuaded an innocent neighbour to store it.
Wright's childhood friend, Karl Schwalbe, 72, was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for helping to conceal the crime. He was jailed for three years.
Judge: 'You were skilled enough to do such a terrible thing'
At Sheffield Crown Court, Mr Justice Cotter sentenced Wright to life with a minimum term of 35 years, less time on remand, saying he was likely to die in prison. The judge told Wright: "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."
In a victim's statement, Mr Dyson's daughter Bethany Dainty said: "I couldn't grieve because I did not know the truth."
Evidence and conviction
After being questioned by detectives, Wright and Schwalbe were recorded on CCTV in a police car park discussing the evidence. While police searched his property, Wright was filmed in a hotel praying for absolution and that his weapons would not be found.
Christopher Dunn, representing Schwalbe, said it was "an error of Biblical proportions" not to tell police what happened. Wright was convicted of murder, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial, and firearms offences.
