Casefile True Crime - Case 284: Widden Hill Farm

Episode Date: May 18, 2024

*** Content warnings: Animal cruelty, gun violence ***43-year-old Graham Backhouse lived a peaceful life with his wife and children on Widden Hill Farm in Horton, England. But in 1984, a campaign of harassment directed at Graham left him fearing for his safety. When his wife Margaret Backhouse becomes the victim of a targeted attack, investigators consider who could have a motive to hurt the loving couple. The focus soon turns on a neighbour, Colyn Beadle-Taylor, but all is not what it seems.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Holly BoydCreative direction – Milly RasoProduction and music – Mike MigasMusic – Andrew D.B. JoslynSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-284-widden-hill-farm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This episode was originally released on CaseFiles Patreon, Apple Premium and Spotify Premium feeds as an early bonus for our paid subscribers. These episodes are designed to be slightly shorter, allowing us to cover a broader range of cases. To receive these episodes early and add free, you can support case file on your preferred platform. The village of Horton is nestled on the edge

of the rolling hillsides and grassy meadows that define the Cotswolds in southwest England. In 1984, Horton was home to about 250 residents. Most of them were farming families like the backhouses, the owner-operators of a dairy farm called Widen Hill. 43-year-old patriarch Graham Backhouse lived at the property with his wife and two young children. He worked on the farm full-time with the assistance of several farmhands and herdsmen. At 300 acres, Wittenhill Farm Farmers, was a decent size for a non-industrial operation.

To walk the entirety of the farm's perimeter took at least 45 minutes. On Tuesday, April 3, 1984, one of the farmhands was conducting an inspection of Widenhill's fence line when he came across a disturbing sight. Impaled on a fence post was a freshly decapitated sheep's head. Pinned beneath it was a handwritten note containing two words. You next. When Whittenhill's owner Graham Backhouse was informed about the gruesome discovery, he immediately knew that the message was directed at him.

Over the last few weeks, someone had made it clear they had a vendetta against Graham. It started in mid-March. Graham was sorting through the farm's mail when a handwritten letter caught his eye. It was addressed to Graham specifically and read. At last I have found you. You have ruined my sister's life. Now you must pay. The sender didn't elaborate any further, nor did they reveal their identity.

Graham wasn't overly concerned about the letter, as he had no idea what it could be alluding to. He threw it in the bin. Days later, the farmhouse phone rang. Graham answered the call. on the other line was a man whose voice he didn't recognize. It sounded like he was using a fake Irish or Scottish accent. The caller threatened to blow Graham's balls off before hanging up. The following week, Graham received another mysterious phone call.

As soon as he heard the male voice, he could tell it was the same anonymous caller. This time, the man threatened Graham's family. referring to his wife, 37-year-old Margaret, and their children, 8-year-old Harry and 6-year-old Sophie, by name. Graham told Margaret about the letter and phone calls, but otherwise kept the harassment to himself. After the discovery of the slaughtered sheep and the explicit death threat left on their fence in April, Graham could no longer dismiss the danger. He contacted the police. When officers arrived at Witten Hill, neither Graham nor Margaret could offer any explanation as to why they had been targeted.

With no immediate leads, police connected a recording device to the farm's phone line. Should the mystery man call again, police would at least have a recording of his threats. In the meantime, investigators searched for anyone who might hold a grudge against Graham backhouse. They discovered he had a blemish to his name. Just over ten years earlier, Graham and his father, Bill Backhouse, were convicted of stealing three young cows belonging to a neighbouring farmer. The judge described the theft as disgraceful and dishonorable. The backhouse men were each fined £600,

the equivalent of roughly £10,000 in today's money. However, police quickly dismissed the disgruntled foe. farmer as a potential suspect in the recent harassment. He passed away in 1977. After Graham's conviction for theft, he spent the next decade rebuilding his reputation in Horton. Police inquiries revealed that the backhouses were considered a typical happy farming family who were well respected around town. Six days after the discovery of the sheep's head, on the morning of Monday, April 9, Graham walked to the farm's mailbox. Inside was a handwritten envelope addressed only to Backhouse.

Graham immediately recognized the distinctive handwriting. Inside was a letter that read, Came twice last week, but the pigs were about. There was no name or signature at the bottom, only the words, See you soon. Later that morning, Margaret Backhouse needed. to drive into town to pick up supplies from the vat. Graham reminded Margaret that her fiat was playing up, so she should take his Volvo instead. Margaret entered the barn next to the farmhouse

where her husband kept his vehicle. She got into the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition. A great force of energy exploded from underneath the vehicle, tearing a hole through the floor and ripping the driver's seat in half. There was blood everywhere. The tissue on Margaret's thighs and buttocks had been blown to shreds. She opened the car door and fell onto the ground, managing to crawl her way out of the barn. Michael Cleverly was driving the local school bus past Widenhill Farm

when he noticed Margaret Backhouse lying on the driveway, desperately waving one hand in the air. Michael stopped his bus and dashed to Margaret's side. Schoolgirl Susan Wilkie also jumped off the bus. Susan lived on a nearby farm and knew the backhouses. She ran through Whitten Hill, shouting, Graham, Margaret's had an accident. Graham emerged from the milking shed out of earshot of the blast.

When he saw Margaret's injuries, he turned pale and began shaking. He ran into the farmhouse and called an ambulance, before re-emerging with a blanket that he lay over Margaret. Through pain and shock, Margaret told Graham not to move or touch her. Margaret was taken to hospital with severe injuries to her buttocks, thigh and lower back. Surgeons spent seven hours removing deeply embedded shrapnel and did their best to salvage the remaining tissue. Meanwhile, police sealed off Widenhill. An army bomb disposal unit was called in to clear the scene.

Once it was deemed safe, police explosive experts processed the wreckage of the Volvo. Little evidence of the explosion was visible from the car's exterior. Only the roof was slightly dented and a window pane cracked. However, when police opened the doors, there was practically nothing left of the driver's side floor or seat. Specialists determined that a homemade pipe bomb had been placed under the car beneath the driver's seat. The bomb was made using a 10 centimetre long piece of steel scuffolding pipe, which had been screwed onto a cast iron collar. The pipe had been packed with 4,500 lead pellets and gunpowder from up to 12 shotgun cartridges. Margaret Backhouse wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

The bomb had been wired to the aground. ignition and the fuse of a heating element that warmed up the driver's seat, with the wiring concealed from view. As soon as Margaret turned to the Volvo's ignition, the bomb exploded. In any other car, the explosion would have likely been fatal. However, the backhouse's Volvo was a particular model that had thinner, more flexible floor panels and a solid, heavy seat that was bolted to the frame. The floor panels absorbed the vast majority of the floor panels absorbed the vast majority of the bomb's impact, and the seat's sturdy construction acted like a safety cage. These features had saved Margaret's life.

One detective described to the bomb to the Bristol Evening Post as, a diabolical device placed by someone who has no consideration for human life. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Case File to continue to deliver quality content. Margaret Backhouse was a fundraiser and local treasurer for the Save the Children charity. It seemed highly unlikely that she'd run afoul of anyone in town.

Given that Graham Backhouse was the one who usually drove the Volvo, police believed that he had been the intended target of the car bomb. Fearing for their safety, Graham and Margaret's children were sent to stay with their grandmother. Graham returned to Whitten Hill, with the 24-hour police presence established to guard against any further attacks. While Margaret recovered in hospital, Graham attended the police station for an interview. With the harasser delivering on their threats, Graham knew it was time to talk. Contrary to what he'd previously told detectives, Graham conceded there could be someone in the village who held a grudge against him.

He admitted he was having a boundary dispute with one of his neighbours. Detectives noted this information, but deemed it an unlikely motive. It was much more likely that the person responsible for the harassment and bomb held a more personal grievance against Graham. With a little further prodding, Graham made another confession. During the 12 years he'd been married to Margaret, he'd had multiple affairs. In the months leading up to the car bomb, he'd had a drunken sexual encounter with a woman named Caroline Hodkinson. Caroline was the wife of Graham's good friend, David, who had been the best man at Graham and Margaret's wedding.

Graham admitted he'd also been having occasional sex with the 24-year-old shepherdess named Gillian Lipiat. Gillian lived on her family's farm on the edge of Horton, which overlooked Witten Hill. According to Graham, the two had been casually sleeping together for the past nine years. Graham denied having romantic feelings towards Gillian, but said he was flattered by the attention from someone half his age. Graham Backhouser's infidelity confession didn't come as a complete surprise to police. Horton was a small place.

Rumors had already been circulating around town, with one local telling the Sunday Times, We all know each other very well, some of us too well. A lover's revenge quickly rose to the top of the list for potential motives. Detectives considered whether Jillie Julian Lippiac could be behind the bomb and harassment, or maybe someone in the Lippeat family was upset about Graham's sexual interest in Gillian.

Her father was one of the best and most accomplished cereal growers in the business and a popular personality in Horton. He and his family had been close friends with the backhouses for more than a decade. When questioned by police, the members of the Lippeat family all denied responsibility for the car bomb. As for the suggestion that she was having a sexual relationship with Graham Backhouse, Gillian said it was a complete figment of Graham's imagination. She called it extremely distasteful and denied any such contact,

saying her interactions with Graham over the years had been very limited. He occasionally helped her sheer sheep or euthanise her injured animals, but nothing sexual had ever occurred between them. Unsure what to make of this, police turned their attention to the other woman Graham had admitted to being intimate with, Caroline Hodkinson. They discovered that Caroline's husband, David, was an electrical engineer who had previously worked with explosives. He'd also conducted repairs on Graham's Volvo in the past. Police arrived at the Hodgkinson House to question the couple, only to find that David was in Spain and had been there since before this. explosion. However, David's absence from the area on the day of the bomb didn't necessarily rule him

out as a suspect. As soon as he returned home, he was promptly placed under arrest. David Hodkinson was held for questioning for two days, but police couldn't find any evidence to connect him to the bomb and they had no choice but to release him. Nine days after the explosion, Graham Backhouse insisted he no longer wanted the 24-hour police presence at the farmhouse. He wanted the bomber to, quote, have another go while Margaret was still in hospital and the kids were safely staying elsewhere. It seemed to be the only way to identify the person responsible, and Graham believed the bomber was unlikely to strike while the police were there. Investigators reluctantly agreed, but as a precaution, they installed a panic button onto the farmhouse phone providing a direct

connection to the police. Weeks passed without incident. Having reached a dead end with the lover's revenge theory, police looked into the land dispute Graham Backhouse claimed to be having with his neighbour, Colin Bedale Taylor. The 63-year-old former army officer lived in a converted cottage known as the gatehouse. The Cottages driveway ran alongside the back fields of Wittenhill Farm. According to Graham, Colin had been denying him his legal right to use the driveway so that he could access the fields.

On Monday, April 30, three weeks after the bombing, detectives visited the home of Colomberdale Taylor and his wife, also named Margaret. The couple had lived in the gatehouse for over 20 years where they raised their fortune. children. When questioned about the boundary dispute, Colin denied having any conflict with Graham or anyone else involved with Whittenhill. He claimed he and Margaret barely knew the backhouses. Colin was later excused so that the detectives could speak candidly with his wife. They then asked her about Colin's criminal convictions. Margaret was blindsided. She had no idea what the detectives were talking about. They explained that Colin had been convicted twice for shoplifting. After recovering from her shock, Margaret explained that the last few years had been very difficult,

especially for Colin. In 1981, Colin lost his job and fell into depression. The following year, Colin and Margaret's youngest son, 19-year-old Digby, was killed in a car accident. The driver of the car was Digby's friend, Denzel Woolacott. Denzel survived the crash and was charged with reckless driving, but later cleared of any criminal liability. He was eventually employed by Graham Backhouse to do odd jobs at Whitten Hill. Colin's mental health suffered further each time he crossed paths with Denzel. Despite these hardships, Margaret assured the detectives that Colin had just started seeing a psychiatrist and was getting the help he needed. During this discussion, Colin busied himself in his workshop. As a way to pass time, he had taken to restoring old furniture

for people in the village. Eventually, Colin put his tools down and popped his head inside the house. Margaret was still speaking with the detectives. Colin interrupted briefly to tell his wife that he was going to the backhouses, but offered no explanation as to why. Neither she nor the detectives questioned it. It was around sunset as Colin Bedale-Taylor walked the short distance to Whittenhill Farm. Outside, the place was quiet. The workers had left for the day, and there were no longer any police guarding the property. Lights were on inside the farmhouse as Colin knocked on the front door. Ten minutes later, the sound of sirens pierced the air. Eight police cars and an ambulance sped up Horton Hill.

Someone had raised the panic alarm at Whitten Hill. Officers entered the farmhouse to a confronting sight. Graham Backhouse was standing in the hallway dripping with blood. The left side of his face had been slashed from ear to lip. A long, deep wound ran from his left shoulder across. cross to his right hip. Beside him was a 12-gauge shotgun. Colin Bedale Taylor

laid dead on the hallway floor. He had taken two shotgun blasts to the chest. In his right hand was a Stanley knife. Graham was swiftly taken to hospital where he underwent surgery to close his wounds. The injury to his face alone required 50 stitches. Police kept a guard over both his room and Margaret's, while the Backhous's children fled Horton with their grandparents to ensure their safety.

When Graham was able to speak, police interviewed him at his bedside. He told them that Colin Bedale Taylor had knocked on the farmhouse door. Graham invited him inside and the two sat down at the kitchen table. At first, Colin inquired about Margaret's. its recovery, then asked whether Graham had any old furniture that needed repair. But the mood suddenly shifted. Colin told Graham that God had sent him. Caught off guard by his comment, Graham laughed, which angered Colin. He told Graham it was blasphemous to laugh at God and that Graham would pay for it. Colin's mood then quickly shifted again. He became quiet and

calm, asking, why did you kill my son? Graham told Colin that he didn't, reminding him that Digby had died in a car accident. It was then that Colin produced a Stanley knife and lunged at Graham, shouting that he was doing God's work. Colin slashed Graham across the face and chest. In shock and bleeding heavily, Graham managed to flee into the hallway. He grabbed. He grabbed. grabbed the 12-gate shotgun that had been leaning on the stairs and spun around to face his attacker. Graham shouted for Colin to stop, warning that he would shoot. But Colin kept moving forward, the Stanley knife raised. Graham had no choice. He fired two shots and Colin fell to the floor. Two days after the shooting, Graham Backhouse was discharged from hospital. He spent a few days

with his mother before being permitted to return to Widen Hill. Later that week, his wife Margaret was also discharged. She had recovered from the bomb blast but still required crutches to move around. Margaret traveled directly to her parents' home in the West Midlands to be reunited with her children. With Colin Bedale-Taylor dead after being identified as the backhouse's harasser, it seemed to be an open and shut case. But investigators weren't so sure. When Graham Backhouse had been recovering from his injuries,

police conducted a grid search of Columbadale-Taylor's property. As one officer was scanning the front garden, a flash of metal in the grass caught his eye. Upon closer inspection, the officer realized it was a piece of scuff-holding pipe. It looked remarkably similar to the one used in the Backhouser's car bomb. The two pipes were examined under microscope. When compared, markings caused by a hacksaw on the end of each matched up. This provided a direct link between Columbert Dale Taylor and the bomb. But there was something about the pipe's location that didn't

seem right. The grass underneath it hadn't withered and it was barely flattened by the weight of the pipe. It appeared that the pipe had only been in the grass for a day or two. This raised the question, why would Colin relocate the pipe three weeks after the bomb, and why leave it in a place where it could be so easily found? Police began to consider the possibility that Colin Bidale-Taylor hadn't touched the pipe at all. He'd been framed. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads.

By supporting our sponsors, you support Case File to continue to deliver quality content. Following the explosion that nearly killed Margaret Backhouse, one of the Widenhill farmhands had told police he recalled hearing noises coming from an outbuilding a few days before the bomb went off. At the time, the farmhand thought he was the only person on the premises. He went to investigate the noise, only to find Graham Backhouse cutting a length of pipe with a hacksaw.

Schoolgirl Susan Wilkie had been one of the first on the scene after the car bomb went off. Susan told detectives that when she ran to tell Graham that Margaret had been injured, she never mentioned anything about a bomb or an explosion. Graham couldn't have heard the explosion from the milking shed, and he didn't enter the barn at the time. Yet, when he phoned for the ambulance, he specifically told the operator that his wife had been injured in an explosion. The person who installed the car bomb had to be familiar with the particular model of Volvo. They would have also needed extended access to the vehicle in order to fit the device. Graham Backhouse ticked both of these boxes. Throughout their

investigations, detectives had remained open to the possibility that Graham was involved in the attack. But there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and by all accounts, Graham and Margaret had a happy and loving relationship. It seemed much more likely that someone else was responsible, and as such they directed their inquiries elsewhere. After Columbertale Taylor's death, several more questions were raised. Graham told officers that Colin had slashed him with the Stanley knife while the two were in the kitchen. But when forensic investigators analysed the crime scene, they found no cast-off blood spatter on the walls, floor or furniture, as would be expected.

Instead, round drops of blood were grouped together in several locations on the kitchen floor. Some of the blood drops were found underneath the upturned kitchen chairs. while smears of blood were also found on the backrest of each chair. After being injured, Graham claimed to have fled the kitchen and stumbled into the hallway to grab his shotgun. However, there was no trail of blood leading between these two locations and not a drop of blood on the shotgun. Droplets of blood matching Graham's blood type

were also found on Colin's body. With the blood evidence raising more questions than answers, answers, investigators turned to the threatening letters that Graham Backhouse had received. A handwriting expert compared the notes to a sample of Colomberdale-Taylor's handwriting. The lettering was completely different. The notes were then compared to the handwriting of Graham Backhouse. This time, the similarities were significant. On the death thread accompanying the sheep's head, the words, U.N. Next had been, scrolled on a piece of lined notebook paper.

Some of the sheep's blood had seeped into the paper, but analysts were still able to make out an imprint on the back of the page. It was a complex spiral-shaped doodle. When police were collecting evidence from the Widenhill Farmhouse after Column was shot, they seized a small lined notebook from Graham's study. The paper was of a similar size to the U-next note. Investigators flicked through the pages until something caught their eye. Drawn in pen was the exact same spiral-shaped doodle.

With this evidence emerging, investigators grew confident that Graham Backhouse had planted the bomb with the intention of killing his wife. Failing to do so, he framed Columbertale Taylor for the crime. The question was, why? Graham's financial records revealed that he had inherited Whittenhill Farm from his father, Bill, in 1979. At the time, the farm was a profitable business, renowned for producing champion dairy cows. In an attempt to increase the farm's revenue, Graham tried his hand at growing cereal crops on some of the excess land. But the crops were quickly ravaged by the plant disease known as take-all and the vener. Fischer failed. Unlike his father, Graham was not an astute businessman. Over the next four years,

he mismanaged the dairy farm and it began to lose money. By the end of 1983, the farm was 70,000 pounds in debt. Graham had run it into the ground. A search of the Baccauser's personal records revealed that Graham and Margaret had recently applied to double the payout on their life insurance policies. In the event of Margaret's death, Graham stood to receive 100,000 pounds. Only days after the application was made, the so-called Campaign of Threats against Graham began. On Thursday, April 5, 1984, the new life insurance policies were approved. Four days later, Margaret unwittingly detonated the car bomb. Having failed in his plot to kill his wife,

investigators believed that Graham Backhouse was faced with two problems. The first was that he still needed to pay off his crippling debt. Inquiries with his insurance company revealed that in the week after the explosion, Graham submitted a claim on Margaret's behalf. Given that she'd survived, they weren't entitled to the full 100,000 pounds, but Margaret's serious injuries would have warranted at least some amount of compensation. Graham's second larger problem was that he needed to deflect suspicion away from himself. In addition to coming clean about his legitimate infidelities, he fabricated an affair with the Gillian Lipiat.

He also concocted a boundary dispute with Colin Bedale Taylor. These admissions opened up several lines of investigations. all painting Graham as a target for someone's grievance. Police believed that Graham's plan was to frame someone else and then kill that person himself, citing self-defense. In preparation, he dismissed the 24-hour police guard. For the next stage of his plan, Graham needed to lure one of the possible targets to the farmhouse. By Monday, April 30, Graham had settled. on Colin Bedale Taylor.

That afternoon, Graham invited Colin over to Whitten Hill, likely under the pretense of doing some furniture restoration work. Police were called to the farm within 10 minutes of Colin leaving his home. Investigators therefore concluded that Graham had opened fire on Colin almost immediately after he set foot inside. Colin was shot twice in the chest. Forensics revealed that the second shot had been fired as Colin was falling backwards or lying flat on the floor, disputing Graham's claim of self-defense.

Graham then set about staging the crime scene and making it look like he'd been attacked. The wounds to Graham's face and body were continuous slices, indicating that he was standing very still when the injuries occurred. No defensive cuts were found. on his hands or arms. A forensic expert concluded that Graham's injuries were self-inflicted. After slashing his own face and torso, police believed that Graham lent over Colin's body and placed the Stanley knife in his right hand.

This explained why drops of Graham's blood were found on Colin's body. It also explained why Colin was still holding the knife. Had he really been wielding the knife at Graham, investigators believe, believed Colin would have dropped it after being shot. The round drops of blood on the kitchen floor and the contact blood on the backrest of the chairs indicated that Graham then walked around to the room, upturning the chairs to make it look like a struggle had taken place. Only when Graham was satisfied with the scene did he hit the panic button and wait for the police. Twelve days after the shooting and almost five weeks after the car bomb, Graham Backhouse joined his family in the

Midlands for the day. When he returned home to Witten Hill that evening, detectives paid him a visit. Graham Backhouse was arrested and charged with the murder of Colomberdale Taylor and the attempted murder of Margaret Backhouse. He was held in remand awaiting trial. Shortly after, prison guards confiscated a letter addressed to local newspaper the Bristol Evening Post as it was being smuggled out of the prison. penned by an anonymous writer, the letter read in part. Them three letters in the Backhouse bomb case, I wrote them. Colin Bidale Taylor made me. He said it was God's work because Backhouse was a wicked man.

Colin never said anything about any bomb until afterwards. I would not have done it if he had said. I told Colin that God would punish him, and now he is dead. God has forgiven me. I don't trust pigs. That is why I write to you. Please help. Police knew immediately who wrote the letter.

A few days earlier, Graham Backhouse had written to his wife Margaret, claiming that the police had framed him. He was desperate to, quote, Get out of this hellhole. Graham revealed his plan to write an anonymous letter to a newspaper to make people believe that, someone else was responsible for the bomb. Graham boasted that he could write the letter well enough to throw the police case into confusion. He just needed Margaret to send him more writing materials.

Graham concluded, I know it is wrong of me to ask you to do this, but I am innocent. I have no one else to turn to. You are my only hope. I love you. Margaret didn't follow through on Graham's request. Instead, she handed the letter to the police. The handwriting on the Bristol Evening Post letter was analysed by an expert, leaving no doubt that it had been written by Graham Backhouse. Graham's trial commenced in January 1985. He pleaded not guilty to both charges and testified to his innocence on the stand. The prosecutor told the court that Graham Backhouse intended to kill his wife Margaret in order to pay

his debts with her life insurance money. He said that Graham's crimes were carefully planned, quite deliberate, and carried out in cold blood. Margaret Backhouse sobbed quietly in the public gallery each day as the evidence against her husband was laid out. Graham denied this version of events. He maintained his story about being ambushed by Columba Dale Taylor, saying he'd feared for his life during the attack.

In his closing statement, the prosecutor told the jury that they simply needed to decide who was the villain in the case. Was it Colin Bedale Taylor or Graham Backhouse? When the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision, the judge permitted a majority verdict. 90 minutes later, with a majority of 10 to 2, the jury found Graham Backhouse guilty on both counts. Graham began shaking in the dock as he was given two life sentences. The judge concluded, You are a devious and wicked man. The enormity of the crime that you have committed is very grave.

Not content with trying to kill a wife who, according to your own evidence, loved you and had done you no wrong. You then set about cold-bloodedly to plot and kill your neighbour who had never done you. you any harm and whom you barely knew. Outside court, Horton locals spoke of their relief at the verdict. One woman told reporters, there has been a cloud hanging over us since the car bomb, but now we hope the village can get back to normal. Gillian Lipiat, the woman Graham, claimed to be having an ongoing affair with, said, Backhouse goes down as another liar. He is a lot of. He is a not said one word of truth in court. Margaret Backhouse requested privacy for herself and her family. Despite the trauma that the farmhouse represented, Margaret and her children continued to live at Widenhill

until it was sold six months later. The property eventually became a horse boarding stable and riding estate. Supported by the community, Margaret remained close to Horton. The following year, her divorce from Graham was finalised, with the court readily agreeing with the grounds of unreasonable behaviour. In 1994, less than 10 years into his sentence, Graham Backhouse was playing cricket in the prison exercise yard when he suffered a heart attack. He died three days later. The following year, 48-year-old Margaret Backhouse passed away from cancer. She was survived by her two teenage children. Colin Bedale Taylor had been a man of the people. In addition to his furniture restoration work, he had served as a chairman on the village hall committee and had helped draw plans

to rebuild the community hall. Just the day before he was killed, Colin had agreed to become a sidesman at the village church, a role that would entail handing out hymn books and showing people to their seats. That same day, he had erected a handmade wooden sign outside the local school, which was facing budget cuts, so that its name could be proudly displayed. The church rector described Colin as a quiet man who was full of fun. In the wake of Graham's conviction, he expressed relief that Colin's name had been completely cleared. Another villager told the Western Daily press. Colin was a good friend to a lot of people and had done many kindnesses.

He will be tremendously missed by the whole village. Six weeks after Colin's murder, nearly every resident of Horton crammed into the small village church to attend his funeral. Referring to the large number of attendees, one local said, The people of Horton will say with their feet what they cannot say with their mouths about the death of Colin. Colin was laid to rest next to his beloved son, Digby. In the weeks that followed, plans were made to erect a plaque in Colin's honour. A community spokesperson told the Bristol Evening Post, We don't want to remember him as a murdered man, but as someone who has done a lot

of work in the village for years.