Husband of Alethea Taylor found guilty of her murder

Taylor, aged 61, of Mortimer Drive, Orleton, Herefordshire, was convicted of murder following a five week trial at Worcester Crown Court. He was then handed a life sentence by The Honourable Mr Justice Flaux, who ordered Taylor to serve 17 years in prison.

The jury unanimously agreed that Alethea – who was last seen alive on 18 January, 2012 – was killed by her undertaker husband, who then tried to cover his tracks by reporting her as a missing person, claiming she had simply ‘wandered off’ due to being in the early stages of dementia.

Police immediately launched a large scale search of the local area, which lasted for a number of days. The hunt for Alethea involved not only huge teams of police officers and various search and rescue organisations but also hundreds of people from the couple’s home village of Orleton.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, Alethea was never found and as time passed, with no evidence to suggest that she was still alive, police become increasingly suspicious of her husband’s involvement with Alethea’s ‘disappearance’.

“From the start, due to the information provided to us by Taylor, Alethea was classified as a high-risk missing person,” says Detective Inspector Dave Williams who led the investigation into Alethea’s death.

Det Insp Williams adds: “As with all high-risk missing person cases, the matter was reviewed and a few days after receiving the initial report, we conducted a search and forensic examination of the Taylors’ home address.

“Blood was discovered on the couple’s bedspread, which was confirmed as belonging to Alethea. It was later established that the stains were contact stains, meaning they could only come from someone or something wet with blood, rather than being dripped onto the cover. Blood was also found on the back seats and in the rear of the car in places where it could only have been deposited if the doors were open.”

It was this forensic evidence coupled with Taylor’s inadequate explanation for its presence, which led to him becoming the main suspect. As the officers’ investigation progressed, they discovered a number of other inconsistencies in Taylor’s account of his wife’s ‘disappearance’. This included numerous lies he told about his movements and actions on the day he reported Alethea missing, which were uncovered by investigating his version of events in detail and comparing it with witness accounts, phone records and other available evidence.

“However, the biggest lie of all,” says Det Insp Williams, “was Taylor’s assertion that Alethea was suffering from a developing disease of the mind, which he had described to friends and associates as dementia or Alzheimer’s.” He adds: “This account was not corroborated medically or by any of those close to Alethea, who described her as having no such conditions and dismissed Taylor’s accounts as ‘nonsense.’ These witnesses stated that Alethea remained the sharp and quick-witted woman she had always been up until her ‘disappearance’.

“However, we know from her diaries that Alethea was fully aware that Taylor was having an affair with another woman. It is clear from what she wrote that she was extremely distressed by this and it caused her to be upset in public on a few occasions in the months leading up to her death, including the night she died.

“Taylor - in the lead up to her disappearance and at every available opportunity –attempted to pass this behaviour off as dementia, describing her to friends as ‘losing the plot’. We believe he did this in order to falsely stage Alethea’s ‘disappearance’ and make her ‘wandering off’ seem genuine when in fact, he had killed her.”

As part of the major crime investigation into Alethea’s death, which was termed a ‘no body’ murder inquiry, a specialist team was set up to establish ‘proof of life, presumption of death’ – a legal requirement in the absence of a body and subsequent post mortem to prove that someone has died. This was accepted by the court and evidenced in part through the large number of arrangements Alethea had made before she was killed, including holidays, meals out, community commitments and even paying an annual membership fee on the night she was last seen alive.

Det Insp Williams says: “This extensive piece of work helped to prove that Alethea had no intention of going missing or taking her own life. There simply has never been any proof to support Taylor’s claim that Alethea left the home address of her own accord or that she is still alive and there have been no confirmed sightings of her since 18 January 2012.”

He adds: “Taylor has never admitted murdering his wife. Only he knows what happened between him and Alethea on the night she died and what drove him to kill her.

“This means that we can only speculate as to his motives for murdering his wife, but we suspect that Taylor was motivated by greed, describing himself in evidence as being ‘a bit tight’. He stood to gain more than £150,000 from Alethea’s personal wealth and joint saving policies, as well as becoming the sole owner of the two properties they owned, if she was no longer alive. We know that he was planning to set up a new life with his mistress in a house he was renovating in Leominster, so it also suited his private life to have Alethea out of the way.”

Reflecting on the sentence handed down to John Taylor by The Honourable Mr Justice Flaux, Det Insp Williams said: “While we are satisfied Taylor has been convicted of this terrible crime, we still need to find Alethea’s body so that her family and friends can lay her to rest and grieve for her properly.

“Alethea has been described as a wonderful person, someone who would do anything for anybody. She devoted her life to the community, helping others, volunteering and had a successful career as a primary school teacher in the Blackheath area of the West Midlands. She continued to support education in Herefordshire through her role as a school governor right up until the point of her death.

“Above all, she devoted her life to her husband and did not want to lose him to another woman. Mr Taylor, who described Alethea in evidence as ‘the good, lady wife,’ betrayed this devotion in the cruellest of ways by killing her; eliminating her from his life on a cold, miserable winter’s day last January and concealing her body.

“This has been a complex and challenging investigation, but it is not over yet. We will not rest until we find Alethea and I would urge Mr Taylor to do the right thing and tell us where she is so that those who loved her can have closure and peace of mind. Taylor owes it to the community he deceived into searching for her - even though he knew that she was dead - to come clean.”

Alethea Taylor’s niece, Lorraine McKillop, adds: “Alethea is sadly missed by a lot of family and friends. She was a very active person in her community and contributed a lot to others.

“I find it very hard to understand why John would have done this. Why not just walk away, rather than the selfish act of leaving a lot of people wondering where she is?

“It’s not a very happy end to her life, when she has given so much to others, with still much more to give.

“I hope some day that we can find her and put her to rest in the proper fashion that is so deserving of someone who helped and cared for others.”