A wanted sex offender who vanished after his partner's death was found mummified in a caravan six months later, an inquest has revealed. Richard Scatchard, 70, sparked a major manhunt when 61-year-old Kelly Faiers was discovered dead at his Minehead home in October 2023. Officers wanted to question Scatchard, a predator on a life licence for drugging and assaulting women, after Ms Faiers was found to have overdosed on sleeping pills and alcohol.
Final Sighting and Discovery
The court heard his final confirmed sighting was in Watchet, Somerset, about ten miles away, the day after her body was found. Avon and Somerset Police launched a manhunt but could not locate him, and inquiries found no evidence he was alive after October 2023. Scatchard's body was then found at a Watchet campsite when the caravan was removed from winter storage.
Scatchard, described as fit and well for his age and with no known medical conditions, was identified from fingerprints, the inquest heard. In a written statement, Detective Constable Mark Evison said Scatchard was wearing a wristwatch, which was set to British Summer Time. "This was immediately thought of as being significant by inferring that the time on the device had not been altered since at least the October 29 2023," he said.
Watch Clue Points to Time of Death
"While the police had been unable to locate Richard Scatchard, the UK has been following Greenwich Mean Time, but due to a recent change to British Summer Time on March 31 2024, this would have corrected a clock back to the current time accuracy." Due to the mummified nature of his body, it's highly likely that he died prior to March 31 2024, ultimately inferring that the watch was last set prior to October 29 2023, and so therefore would have passed prior to this date because he never corrected the watch to GMT.
Colleague Det Sgt Craig Thomson said Scatchard had no known links to the campsite, and it was not known how he had travelled there. "We do not know for certain what day he went into the caravan," he said. He added there was no evidence of any third party involvement in his death or any intention to self-harm.
Post-Mortem Findings
Pathologist Dr Deborah Cook carried out a post-mortem examination on Scatchard and said his body was "heavily decomposed". She said there were no visible signs of injury, no penetrating injuries or any evidence of self-harm. "Post-mortem examination confirmed near-total mummification of the body," Dr Cook said. "The internal organs were severely affected by decomposition, but there was no obvious natural disease to account for his death."
She added there was evidence of fractures to five of his ribs, which would have been sustained close to the time of death. "In an individual without pre-existing compromise to respiratory function, the probable effect of five rib fractures would be a degree of chest pain, a potential difficulty in taking deep breaths," she said. "But five rib fractures would not be anticipated to cause death. With the degree of decomposition present, it's not possible to exclude a concussive head injury having caused or contributed to death."
Toxicology and Cause of Death
Toxicology samples were taken that showed the presence of alcohol and the compound contained in sleeping tablets, cough mixture or hay fever tablets. But due to the level of decomposition it was not possible to obtain accurate samples for assessment, the court heard. Dr Cook added: "Given the advanced state of decomposition with likely interval between death and post-mortem of over five months, it's not possible to confirm or refute a hypothesis that death was due to sleeping tablet toxicity, or to a combination of sleeping tablets and alcohol." She gave cause of death as "unascertained".
The court heard Scatchard had kept the relationship with Ms Faiers secret from his probation officers as he was meant to disclose "any emerging intimate relationships". He had been given two warnings for breaching his licence conditions and told he risked being sent back to prison. Probation officer Curtis Martin said Scatchard had been assessed as posing a medium risk and his supervision requirement should remain. "He was assessed as being too argumentative and controlling with the professionals, and there were concerns that without these risk monitoring and controls being in place, he would be an increased risk towards the public," he said.
An inquest into Ms Faiers' death held earlier this week concluded the mother-of-four, from Weston-super-Mare, had been unlawfully killed. The inquest continues.
