Pig Farmer Hid Wife's Corpse In Septic Tanks For Nearly Four Decades After Starting Affair

An elderly man from the United Kingdom started his trial on Monday for the murder of his wife, who went missing in 1982 before being discovered inside a septic tank on his property nearly 40 years later.

David Venables, an 89-year-old former pig farmer, reportedly murdered his wife Brenda Venables in 1982 and hid her body inside of a septic tank in order to continue an affair that he was having with a woman from his past, according to the Daily Beast.

Venables has reportedly been having an on-and-off affair with carer Lorraine Styles since 1967, which is over six years since Venables and his wife moved into the farm she was first discovered in. Venables had reportedly rekindled his relationship with Styles months before Brenda had disappeared, the BBC reported.

“He wanted her out of the way; he wanted to resume his long-standing affair with another woman,” prosecutor Michael Burrows said. “He knew about the septic tank in its secluded location. It was for him almost the perfect hiding place. And for nearly 40 years, it was the perfect place and he got away with murder.”

Venables reported his wife missing in 1982, saying that she was very depressed and had gone missing that morning, leading to people believing that she had taken her own life after a body was never found.

David ended up selling his farm in 2019, which was when construction workers discovered the decomposed bones of Brenda inside the septic tank. David claims that Brenda may have taken her life by entering the septic tank, a claim that Burrows belittled as “beyond belief.”

The trial is expected to take six weeks, where the prosecutor will explore the many ways and reasons that Venables may have in killing his wife Brenda whilst Venables’ council mounts a defense for him.

Venables himself has maintained his innocence in the matter.