A 73-year-old former butcher and self-described weapons enthusiast has been convicted of murdering his lodger and concealing the remains in a concrete-filled barrel on farmland near his Barnsley home. Christopher Wright killed 55-year-old Richard Dyson, who went missing in November 2019 and remained unaccounted for six years before his body was discovered in July 2025.

Wright's lifelong friend Karl Schwalbe, aged 72, was also convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice after actively assisting in the cover-up and deliberately misleading investigators. At Sheffield Crown Court sentencing today, Wright received a mandatory life sentence whilst the judge determines his minimum term; Schwalbe faces an inevitable prison sentence, granted temporary bail due to ill health.