Lodger ‘beheaded and hacked apart by weapons fanatic’

A missing man’s body was dismembered with a saw before being hidden in a concrete-filled barrel for almost six years, a murder trial has heard.

Richard Dyson’s remains were found in concrete on farmland in Barnsley last summer, more than five years after he vanished in late 2019.

Jurors have heard that the 55-year-old died from a fatal shotgun wound to the torso before his body was allegedly dismembered.

Christopher Wright, 73, described as a ‘weapons fanatic’ by prosecutors, denies murdering his lodger after a row over stolen guns.

Giving evidence at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, forensic pathologist Dr Charles Wilson said Mr Dyson had been beheaded.

He also said Mr Dyson’s arms and legs were ‘dismembered’ with the use of a ‘saw’ and potentially, a ‘knife’.

The court heard Mr Dyson’s arms had been removed at the shoulder joints after being ‘disarticulated’ or cut with a knife.

But Dr Wilson said his legs had been cut off using a saw, which had sliced through both femur bones because the hip joint was ‘much more difficult’ to cut through with a knife.

Jurors were told Mr Dyson’s remains were found protruding from the bottom of a barrel before concrete was discovered poured on top.

Describing the recovery operation, Dr Wilson said: ‘We formed a strategy to remove the deceased from the barrel and the concrete, trying to cause as little damage as we could to the remains.

‘This actually took days. There was vegetation beneath the layer of concrete, and among that were human remains in an advanced state of decomposition.’

The pathologist said there were fractures to the left side of Mr Dyson’s face, including the cheek, eye socket and roof of the mouth, indicating ‘blunt force trauma’.

It was impossible to determine whether those injuries happened before or after death because the skull had been buried beneath ‘three bricks’, along with the concrete.

Dr Wilson also found shotgun pellets embedded in the lower right rib cage after entering through the left side of the body.

Prosecutors allege Wright shot Mr Dyson dead on November 17, 2019, after the victim stole and sold some of his firearms.

Prosecutor Peter Moulson KC said Mr Dyson had spent years living in one of three vehicles parked at Wright’s home, Parkside Cottage, in Hoyland, Barnsley.

Mr Moulson said it may emerge that Mr Dyson had stolen some firearms from Wright and sold them on.

The prosecution alleges Wright was helped by his friend and co-accused Karl Schwalbe, who lived nearby, after Mr Dyson’s death.

Wright is charged with murder, preventing a lawful burial and several firearms offenses. Schwalbe, of Dike Hill, Harley, Rotherham, is jointly charged with perverting the course of justice.

Both men deny the charges. The trial continues.

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