Serial burglar denies murdering Bethnal Green siblings 30 years ago

Danville Neil is being tried at the Old Bailey on two counts of murder

A burglar has denied murdering an elderly brother and sister in a violent home invasion nearly 30 years ago.

Danville Neil, now 65, is accused of killing William Bryan, 71, and Anne Castle, 74, at their flat in Bethnal Green, east London, in August 1993.

They were beaten and tied up, Mrs Castle's rings were pulled from her fingers, and the house was ransacked, the Old Bailey was told.

Jurors heard Mr Neil's DNA was found on a strap used to bind Mr Bryan.

Mr Neil acknowledged in court his past convictions for a string of burglaries between 1973 and 1998, and two violent incidents in 1984 for which he was imprisoned until the year before Mr Bryan and Mrs Castle died.

'Thirty bob?'

The trial was told that in June 1984, Mr Neil and another man burgled a home in Penge, south-east London, where a couple and their three children were sleeping.

The couple were beaten with a metal bar, and the woman smothered with a pillow and assaulted, the court heard.

The husband was tied up and Mr Neil attempted to pull a ring from the wife's fingers.

The jury was told he only stopped when she said: "What are you going to get for that, 30 bob?"

Mr Neil, who had worn woollen gloves, was later picked out by the woman in an identification parade, the court heard.

Two months later, Mr Neil and a second man entered a bedroom of a home in the Norbury area of south London as a woman slept, the jury was told.

She was assaulted by the men who asked where her chequebook, handbag and cards were before making off with a stereo music centre and £15 in cash.

The Old Bailey heard siblings Anne Castle and William Bryan suffered a "prolonged burglary and attack"

Mr Neil was jailed for the offences of June and August 1984 and released on licence on 7 August 1992.

Just over a year later, Mrs Castle and Mr Bryan were targeted in their home, jurors heard.

Mrs Castle suffered a heart attack and Mr Bryan was smothered and went into cardiac arrest.

Mr Neil, from Lewisham, south-east London, was questioned about what he told police after his arrest in September 2020.

He said he was not familiar with the area where the siblings had lived and he denied ever being at the scene or knowing either of the victims.

The trial continues.

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