A man has been convicted of murdering Bristol mum Claire Holland more than 11 years after she vanished. Her ex-partner Darren Osment, 41, now faces life in prison for killing the mother-of-four.
The pub chef had denied the charge but was found guilty after an eight-week trial at Bristol Crown Court. Today (December 11, 2023) the jury returned a majority guilty verdict of 10-2 following six full days of deliberations.
Osment, of Chessel Drive in Patchway, will be sentenced on December 20. Prosecutors told the jury he had murdered Claire and made multiple confessions that he did it because their child was taken into care.
Read more: Chilling 999 call hears Claire Holland's ex-partner confess to murder
Read more: Claire Holland murder trial shown her final movements
Who is Claire Holland and when was she last seen?
Claire Holland was from the Lawrence Weston area of Bristol, and was aged 32 at the time of her disappearance. She was last seen leaving Seamus O’Donnell’s pub in St Nicholas Street, Bristol, at around 11.15pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012.
She was reported missing by her family on Thursday, June 14, 2012. It had been 10 days since she had last been seen and they had grown increasingly worried after she "failed to attend a number of meetings arranged for her".
She had spent the day in the city centre shopping and drinking, and detectives said it was "completely out of character" for her to not have made contact with her family and friends beyond that point. CCTV showed her walking along Baldwin Street heading towards the Seamus O’Donnell’s pub at around 9.30pm that night, and pub staff confirmed she left later that evening just after closing time, at around 11.15pm.
Claire was last seen wearing black trousers and a short sleeved black top with a grey t-shirt underneath. She was also carrying a cream coloured Primark re-usable carrier bag.
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At the time of her disappearance, police were especially suspicious due to her lack of social media use. A police statement read: "Claire is a keen Facebook user who generally logs on at least once a day. Her account has not been used since June 6 and this concerns us greatly."
Her family issued a public plea to Claire in the weeks after she went missing, saying in a joint statement: "Claire, we are extremely worried about the length of time you have been missing. Everyone is frantic not knowing that you're safe and well. You're not in any trouble, so please get in touch as soon as you can. We can help you and arrange anything that you might need. We miss you."
The court heard she was feeling "happy and excited" before she went missing and was looking forward to a fresh start and a brighter future. In 2021, her family spoke of their heartbreak at not knowing what had happened to their "bubbly, happy and bouncy" daughter and sister.
'Pivotal moment in investigation'
New CCTV footage was released on the 10-year anniversary of Claire's disappearance in an attempt to track Claire's last movements. In 2022 the search to find Claire escalated with the re-arrest of a man on the suspicion of her murder. There had been a "significant development" in the investigation, police said at the time.
Searches were carried out at a Clifton pub but returned "nothing of significance", according to a police update in August 2022. It came after officers charged Osment, describing it as "a pivotal moment in our investigation".
His trial began in October 2023, where prosecutors told jurors that he had murdered his ex-partner after blaming her for their child being taken into care and had even confessed to an undercover officer.
The court also heard of alleged confessions to friends, a new partner, a 999 call operator, uniformed police officers and a prison inmate. When officers located him in 2019, recording the interaction on body worn video, he told them: “I had her killed."
Osment claimed the confessions were the ramblings of a 'drunken idiot'. However, jurors returned a guilty verdict today (December 11) with a majority of 10-2.
Body 'most likely disposed in water'
Despite extensive police investigations, Claire's body has never been found. Speaking after the conviction, Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Darren Hannant, said: "[Osment] lured Claire to the pub where he worked as a chef in Clifton on the evening of Wednesday 6 June, 2012.
"He killed her and then disposed of her body, we believe most likely in water. He got rid of the physical evidence, through burning his clothes and disposing of a knife he claimed to have used. It was a brutal and pre-meditated crime motivated by his intense hatred of Claire, who he blamed for having their child taken into care.
"While we don’t expect Darren Osment to tell us where Claire’s body is, we can only hope the principles of Helen’s Law will prevail. This law ensures that criminals who do not disclose the location of the remains of their victim can have this used against them when it comes to applying for parole. We’ll have to wait to see if this materialises, but for the sake of Claire’s family, there remains the hope this will provide them with the information they so desperately need.”
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