"Level of cruelty is impossible to understand" heartbroken daughter of murder victim tells his killer
“One of the cruellest parts of this is that somebody out there knew the truth the entire time while I suffered”
The grief-stricken daughter of a man who was murdered by his landlord has described her six-year search for answers as “torture.”
Callous Christopher Wright murdered and dismembered his lodger, Richard Dyson, in a dispute over the alleged theft of some antique weapons.
Wright, who used to work as a butcher, concealed Richard’s remains within a barrel left on neighbouring farmland in Hoyland, Barnsley, where they remained undiscovered for almost six years.
He recruited his best friend Karl Schwalbe to help him cover up the crime.
Richard’s daughter Bethany Dainty was just 19-years-old when she embarked on a desperate search to find her beloved dad.
Wright watched on as the search continued, knowing Richard’s remains were located less than three miles away from his farm. He maintained his lies during the 11 police interviews, and trial, that followed.
Heartless Wright and Scwalbe appeared emotionless in the dock as a gut-wrenching statement from Bethany was read to their sentencing hearing.
She said: “What happened to my dad has destroyed my life and changed me as a person forever. In November 2019, my dad went missing. I was only 19-years-old.
“At that age, you still need your parent. You still need their guidance, their support, their love, and their protection.
“My dad was all of those things to me and more. He was not just my dad, he was my best friend.
“We spoke almost every day, and he came to see me every single weekend without fail. No matter what was happening in life, I always knew my dad would be there.
“When he suddenly stopped answering his phone and failed to turn up to see me, I instantly knew something was terribly wrong. My dad never switched his phone off. Never. The silence felt unnatural and frightening from the very beginning. At the time, he was staying with a so-called friend, Christopher Wright, the last person to ever see my dad alive.”
She added: “I spent years searching for my dad, begging for answers...Every single day I woke up with the same painful questions in my mind: Is my dad alive?
“Is he hurt? Is he cold? Is he somewhere waiting to be found? Or is he dead? Those thoughts tortured me every day and every night.”
“One of the cruellest parts of this is that somebody out there knew the truth the entire time while I suffered.
“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. That level of cruelty is impossible for me to understand,” continued Bethany.
The judge, Mr Justice Cotter, told 73-year-old Wright he was likely to die in prison, as he handed him a life sentence and told him he must spend a minimum of 35 years behind bars, minus the time spent on remand.
72-year-old Schwalbe of Dike Hill, Harley, Rotherham, was jailed for three years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Both men were convicted at the conclusion of a Sheffield Crown Court trial last week, when Wright was also found guilty of preventing a lawful burial, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and numerous weapons offences.