Diary entry about cattle trailer helps solve 2019 murder

A six-year investigation into the disappearance of Richard Dyson concluded with the conviction of two men for his murder, a breakthrough achieved through a chance discovery of a diary entry.

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He was by all accounts a very good father, and he was regularly in contact with his daughter Bethany who was, I believe, 19 at the time of his disappearance. It was totally out of character.

Dyson vanished in November 2019, last seen alive at Christopher Wright's farm in Barnsley, where he was helping with jobs while living in his car. His disappearance was out of character, and his phone records indicated he never left the farm. Police suspected Wright and his friend Karl Schwalbe from the start, but the lack of a body made proving murder difficult.

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It was clear that he had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

The key to unlocking the case came nearly six years later when Det Con Tom Ryan reviewed phone records. A call from Wright to farmer Ian Ollerenshaw on November 20, 2019, piqued his interest. Ollerenshaw not only remembered the call but also produced a diary from that year, noting Wright had dropped off an old, padlocked cattle trailer.

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We very much suspected their involvement, but without a body it's very difficult to prove murder.

This trailer, found undisturbed and partially hidden by overgrown vegetation on Ollerenshaw's farm, became the pivotal piece of evidence. CCTV footage confirmed Wright was the last person to see Dyson alive. Wright was jailed for 35 years for murder, and Schwalbe received a three-year sentence for perverting the course of justice, finally bringing closure to Dyson's family.

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I went round to Ian's house and I asked him, 'Can you by any way remember that phone call that you received over six years ago' - and, to be entirely honest, I expected him to say no.