Claire Holland: Bristol woman murdered by ex, court told

Claire Holland disappeared after leaving a Seamus O'Donnell pub on St Nicholas St in Bristol on 6 June 2012

A pub chef is accused of murdering his ex-partner after blaming her for their child being taken into care.

Darren Osment, 41, is accused of killing Claire Holland, 32, in a drunken argument hours after she was seen leaving a pub in June 2012.

Bristol Crown Court jury was told a 20-month undercover police investigation into Mr Osment was launched in 2020.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to murder on a date between 5 June and 8 June 2012.

Andrew Langdon KC, prosecuting, said in an opening statement the defendant "knows the manner of her death and he knows how her body was disposed of".

The court heard Mr Osment had told several people he had killed Ms Holland or paid someone else to.

The defendant, of Chessel Drive, Patchway, South Gloucestershire, allegedly told a co-worker at a restaurant in Devon: "I did kill her you know, I did kill my ex.

"I killed her. I threw it off...into the river off Avonmouth Docks in Bristol. I strangled her."

Asked why, Mr Osment replied no-one was going to keep him away from his child, the jury heard.

A former partner of his told police he had suggested to her he had paid someone else rather than "get his own hands dirty".

The mother-of-four has not been seen since June 2012

And he is alleged to have told another friend: "I paid someone £500 to have the mother of my child executed."

The court was also shown body-worn footage of the defendant talking to police in Exeter in 2019 where he tells them: "I didn't do it - I had it arranged."

As part of the undercover operation an officer, using the name of Paddy O'Hara, befriending Mr Osment.

The court was told the officer witnessed events that showed the defendant was a violent and aggressive man who became agitated and emotional while discussing his former partner.

One one occasion he told the undercover officer Ms Holland "would not see the light of day again, don't worry about that".

'Alcohol-fuelled'

Mr Langdon explained Ms Holland, from the Lawrence Weston area of Bristol, had drunk throughout the pregnancy, causing tension between the couple.

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

Shortly afterwards, the child was placed in foster care.

One social worker told police: "Darren was blaming Claire for the removal of the child due to the fact she had called the police a few days before our visit."

The trial's first day heard despite little contact between the former partners after separating, during the week of her disappearance they had exchanged phone calls and Ms Holland told people in the pub on the night she vanished she was meeting Mr Osment after he finished work.

"Where did she go after she left the pub? She was drunk, we do not know how much money she had left, but she had no keys and no phone," Mr Langdon said.

"All we really know is that she had a plan to meet Darren Osment."

The trial is due to last seven weeks.