Christopher Wright, a farmer, has been found guilty of murdering his lodger, Richard Dyson. Mr Dyson, 55, disappeared in November 2019, and his body was discovered in a concrete-filled barrel inside a trailer on a farm near Barnsley in July 2025.
Prosecutors at Sheffield Crown Court stated that Wright killed Mr Dyson after he attempted to steal a gun. Wright, who had previously worked as a butcher, then sought assistance from his childhood friend, Karl Schwalbe, to dispose of the body.
On Tuesday, Wright was convicted of murder, preventing a lawful burial, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and six firearms offences. Schwalbe was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
The court heard that Wright's licence to own firearms had been revoked in 2016. Mr Justice Barry Cotter told the defendants he would sentence them on 6 August, stating that Wright would receive a life imprisonment sentence and a custodial sentence was inevitable for Schwalbe.