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Disappearance of Don Banfield
Donald Banfield (born 1937 or 1938) was a British man who disappeared from his home in Harrow, London in suspicious circumstances on 11 May 2001. His case is notable for being a rare case in which a murder conviction was secured without a body, and for this conviction being subsequently quashed on the grounds that a joint enterprise conviction in such a case where no body was found was not viable, though the defence themselves remarked that the "likelihood" was that "one or other" of the two suspects in the case had murdered him.
Despite authorities not finding Banfield's body, his wife Shirley and daughter Lynette were convicted of murder in 2012. They also pleaded guilty to fraudulently stealing his pension money and the proceeds from the sale of the family house for years after his disappearance, apparently knowing that he would not be able to return to expose them for taking more than £180,000 of his money.
The fraud had started only days after he disappeared, with the women pretending to be Don in documents to request his money be transferred into their accounts. It was further found that they had previously attempted to murder him in the days before he vanished, and police discovered he had disappeared on the exact day that he had signed the contract with his wife agreeing to sell the family home. On the morning of the day he vanished he had also told a policeman of how the women had been attacking him.
The women were released on appeal a year after their conviction for murder, although their convictions stood for their crimes of fraud, which they had admitted. Banfield's murder remains unsolved.
Banfield disappeared from his home in May 2001. His marriage to his wife was turbulent and he was believed to be a heavy gambler and womanizer. They had agreed to sell the house, and stood to (jointly) make £179,000 from the sale. In January 2001, he abruptly retired from his job at William Hill, and stood to inherit a large pension and lump sums.
Until 2009 the case was treated by police as a missing person's case, but in that year police reopened the investigation after his employers became suspicious, and suspicion immediately fell on his wife Shirley Banfield and daughter Lynette Banfield. Before he had vanished, Don Banfield had told others that he was being "mentally and physically tortured" by the pair, saying he thought his wife had been trying to poison his food and telling his doctor the day before he vanished that he had previously been handcuffed to his bed all night.
The day before he vanished he told his doctor that his wife had tried to tie down his legs and put a plastic bag over his head while he slept two weeks earlier, but he had woken up and started kicking and screaming, so Lynette let him go. Don had been planning to leave his marriage to Shirley, a former tax inspector, and take his pension with him, and it was found that the last known record of him being alive was on the day he had signed the contract agreeing to sell the family house, the proceeds of which were jointly due to him and Shirley.
On the morning he disappeared he had told a policeman that he thought he had been struck on the back of his head, and also said that he had awoken to find his daughter squirting furniture polish into his eyes before being confronted by his wife with a knife with them both shouting "why don't you die?". He had shown friends marks on his body as proof that he had been hit and handcuffed. Don had previously thought his post was being interfered with and only after his friend allowed him to send his mail to his address did he start receiving it. However, his post was then intercepted and he found a stash of letters addressed to him hidden behind the sofa, including cheques from William Hill. Nothing like this ever happened before he retired.
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Disappearance of Don Banfield
Donald Banfield (born 1937 or 1938) was a British man who disappeared from his home in Harrow, London in suspicious circumstances on 11 May 2001. His case is notable for being a rare case in which a murder conviction was secured without a body, and for this conviction being subsequently quashed on the grounds that a joint enterprise conviction in such a case where no body was found was not viable, though the defence themselves remarked that the "likelihood" was that "one or other" of the two suspects in the case had murdered him.
Despite authorities not finding Banfield's body, his wife Shirley and daughter Lynette were convicted of murder in 2012. They also pleaded guilty to fraudulently stealing his pension money and the proceeds from the sale of the family house for years after his disappearance, apparently knowing that he would not be able to return to expose them for taking more than £180,000 of his money.
The fraud had started only days after he disappeared, with the women pretending to be Don in documents to request his money be transferred into their accounts. It was further found that they had previously attempted to murder him in the days before he vanished, and police discovered he had disappeared on the exact day that he had signed the contract with his wife agreeing to sell the family home. On the morning of the day he vanished he had also told a policeman of how the women had been attacking him.
The women were released on appeal a year after their conviction for murder, although their convictions stood for their crimes of fraud, which they had admitted. Banfield's murder remains unsolved.
Banfield disappeared from his home in May 2001. His marriage to his wife was turbulent and he was believed to be a heavy gambler and womanizer. They had agreed to sell the house, and stood to (jointly) make £179,000 from the sale. In January 2001, he abruptly retired from his job at William Hill, and stood to inherit a large pension and lump sums.
Until 2009 the case was treated by police as a missing person's case, but in that year police reopened the investigation after his employers became suspicious, and suspicion immediately fell on his wife Shirley Banfield and daughter Lynette Banfield. Before he had vanished, Don Banfield had told others that he was being "mentally and physically tortured" by the pair, saying he thought his wife had been trying to poison his food and telling his doctor the day before he vanished that he had previously been handcuffed to his bed all night.
The day before he vanished he told his doctor that his wife had tried to tie down his legs and put a plastic bag over his head while he slept two weeks earlier, but he had woken up and started kicking and screaming, so Lynette let him go. Don had been planning to leave his marriage to Shirley, a former tax inspector, and take his pension with him, and it was found that the last known record of him being alive was on the day he had signed the contract agreeing to sell the family house, the proceeds of which were jointly due to him and Shirley.
On the morning he disappeared he had told a policeman that he thought he had been struck on the back of his head, and also said that he had awoken to find his daughter squirting furniture polish into his eyes before being confronted by his wife with a knife with them both shouting "why don't you die?". He had shown friends marks on his body as proof that he had been hit and handcuffed. Don had previously thought his post was being interfered with and only after his friend allowed him to send his mail to his address did he start receiving it. However, his post was then intercepted and he found a stash of letters addressed to him hidden behind the sofa, including cheques from William Hill. Nothing like this ever happened before he retired.