South Gloucestershire man found guilty of killing Claire Holland

A man from South Gloucestershire who confessed to killing his former partner several times, only to deny it once arrested, has been found guilty of murder.

Darren Osment (41) from Patchway was first arrested in connection with the disappearance of Claire Holland in 2019.

She vanished after a night out in Bristol in 2012 and has not been seen since, meaning the primary evidence of Osment's guilt available at trial was his alleged confessions, which he denied were true.

Darren Osment is due to be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on the 20th December 2023.

Claire Holland's disappearance

Claire was last seen on the evening of 6 June 2012 at the Seamus O'Donnell's pub on St Nicholas Street in the centre of Bristol.

She was caught on CCTV leaving at around 11:15pm, but what happened to her after that has been unclear ever since.

She was reported missing a few days later.

Darren Osment and Claire Holland

During the trial, which started back on 12 October, we heard that at the time of Claire's disappearance she and Osment were separated, having previously had a relationship during which they had a child together.

The court heard the pair met in 2008 when they worked together in a cafe, with their child born in 2010.

The pair were both said to be heavy drinkers with Claire having drunk throughout the pregnancy, which was a source of tension.

When their child was a few weeks old, police were called to the home they shared in Bradley Stoke following allegations of alcohol-fuelled domestic violence.

Shortly afterwards, the child was placed in foster care.

Osment was said to have blamed Claire for their child being taken away and a few weeks before her disappearance, the child went to live with Claire's aunt outside of Bristol.

On the day she vanished Claire and Osment had exchanged phone calls, with Claire telling people in the pub that she was going to meet him when she left.

During the trial Osment claimed such a meeting never happened.

Opening the case, Andrew Langdon KC, prosecuting, said: "Once you have heard all the evidence you will be sure that she died at the hands of this defendant, Darren Osment."

The trial of Darren Osment

During proceedings the court heard Osment had confessed, either to being involved in Claire's death or to killing her himself, six times to a mix of friends, acquaintances and even the police.

He was first arrested in Exeter in 2019 where he was then living, after dialling 999 in the early hours of 28 July and telling the call handler, "it's murder".

"You've committed murder?" The call handler asked.

"I haven't personally," Osment said.

"I was involved in one, sort of yeah."

During the call, which was played to the court in full, Osment also said he was "trying to confess to something", that his son's mother "is dead" and that "I'm basically handing myself in".

Shortly afterwards, when approached by officers with bodyworn cameras, he told them he had Claire killed, that he knew what he did was wrong and "I can't take it anymore."

However, once arrested, in questioning he then denied what he had said was true.

Explaining his actions to a mental health assessor in custody, he said he had been kicked out of his home by his then partner and had nowhere to go.

If he said he was involved in a murder, he explained, he guaranteed the police would arrest him, therefore giving him a bed for the night.

The other confessions

Many years before that 999 call, the court heard Osment had also told a housemate he had killed Claire.

Giving evidence Adrian Mulchay, who lived with Osment in a shared house in Ottery St Mary in Devon, described a conversation on the night they first met, in either 2013 or 2014.

During the conversation Mulchay shared he had recently been in prison for a domestic incident with his then partner in Scotland and told Osment, "I wish I'd killed the bitch."

In response Osment allegedly replied, "I did."

Mulchay described how Osment went on to say he had stangled Claire and disposed of her body in the Avonmouth docks, adding, "no one stops me from seeing my son."

Another witness, Michael Salway, gave evidence that during a conversation at a pub in Topsham in 2018 Osment claimed to have paid someone £500 to "execute" Claire.

Both Mulchay and Salway gave evidence that they did not believe Osment at the time and so never told the police, with Osment himself explaining both by saying he was heavily drunk at the time and was showing off to people he'd just met.

Undercover officer 'Paddy O'Hara'

The court also heard that following Osment's 2019 confession and having been released without charge after denying the truth of it in questioning, Avon and Somerset Police employed an undercover officer to befriend him.

That officer has been referred to throughout as Paddy O'Hara.

Between December 2020 and July 2022 the officer posed as a man with links to the criminal underworld and befriended Osment by offering him a job during lockdown helping sell counterfeit clothing.

The court heard the pair would spend many hours together playing pool or snooker, going for walks or engaging in supposed criminality, and all their conversations - whether in Mr O'Hara's van, his flat or while out socialising - were covertly recorded.

Warning - the following conversations contains references to swearing

In one conversation Osment allegedly suggested to Mr O'Hara that as a trained chef he has "knife skills" and runs his hand across his torso while making a swishing sound to indicate he had cut up Claire's body.

Mr O'Hara asks Osment: "Knife skills? Right, right, I get ya.

"Mate, are we saying in the water then and how, is that why it hasn't floated to the top or what?"

Osment allegedly tells him: "Yes mate, it's just, it's all, it was, the time it happened there was a massive overflow.

"There was a load of f--- water, and it came rushing down, I know the f--- route it comes down, and I think it's just f--- ... cause it's such little bits.

"It's all f--- weighed, it's all down, it's not going to come floating back up."

The defendant later told Mr O'Hara he had got rid of the weapon by putting it in the knife box of another chef he was working with at the time, the court heard.

He allegedly goes on to tell him: "And then, I just mate just I, you know, it's what it is, but it's all, all done, done and dusted, all the f--- work, clothes burnt outside, f--- everything's gone, everything's gone."

Another time Osment was recorded saying: "You don't need to know any more, I don't need to say any more.

"F---... it's not a thing you go into details about.

"It makes me feel sick, but I did it for (my child).

"Cause she harmed my f--- child and how they were brought up is f--- wrong."

He also discussed the police investigation with O'Hara, saying: "I don't know, unless they pull a f--- miracle, I don't understand how there's ever going to be, they shouldn't ever have to question me again.

"This is the third f--- time basically.

"As far as I am concerned, I haven't got a f--- clue.

"I was at work, I f--- finished work, I went home. "I've got alibi all the f--- way.

"As far as I am concerned unless like I said I didn't, even if they can pull f--- rabbits out of hats, they are still going to struggle big time."

Giving evidence in his own defence Osment argued nothing he told Mr O'Hara was true.

He said he was simply trying to impress a man who he believed was a senior member of the criminal underworld.

"I’m trying to make myself out to be something I’m not," he said.

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• claire holland