Yorkshire farmer jailed for 35 years for killing lodger and hiding body in concrete

Christopher Wright, a 73-year-old farmer from South Yorkshire, was given a minimum 35-year prison term on Thursday for the murder of Richard Dyson, 55, in 2019. Dyson, who had been living in his car on Wright's farm in Hoyland, worked for the then-67-year-old until a dispute arose between them.

Wright, an antique firearms collector described during the trial as a “weapons fanatic,” suspected Dyson of stealing and selling some of his valuables. In November 2019, a confrontation over these suspicions escalated into an argument, during which Wright shot Dyson with a shotgun in the chest and arm, killing him.

Having once worked as a butcher, Wright dismembered the body over several days, sealed the remains in a barrel, and filled it with concrete. He then placed the barrel in a trailer and asked an unsuspecting neighbor to store it on their property. His lifelong friend, Karl Schwalbe, helped cover up the crime and received a three-year sentence for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Dyson's disappearance was initially treated as a missing person case, and his remains remained undiscovered for over five and a half years. Although police knew Dyson had been on Wright's land shortly before he vanished, they lacked evidence to charge the farmer, who denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.

The case remained unsolved until July 2025, when new evidence emerged that Wright had contacted a local farmer about storing a vehicle shortly after Dyson went missing. A search of the farm uncovered a concrete-filled barrel containing human remains, later identified as Dyson.

Sentencing Wright, Mr Justice Cotter told him he would “probably die in prison” and noted that his experience as a butcher made him “skilled enough to do such a terrible thing, something few ordinary people would have the stomach for.”

Dyson's daughter, Bethany Dainty, who filed a missing person report soon after the murder, read a victim impact statement in court, saying: “I couldn't grieve because I did not know the truth.” She added: “While I cried myself to sleep, while I begged for answers, while I prayed my dad would walk through the door again, someone already knew where he was. Someone watched me suffer for years and said nothing.”

After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Knowles praised Dyson's family for their strength during a “long, complex and emotionally draining” investigation. He said Wright and Schwalbe continued to deny accountability despite the evidence, forcing the family to endure a trial with harrowing testimonies, and that their strength and dignity were “nothing short of extraordinary.”