Don Banfield | |
|---|---|
 Banfield before he disappeared, c. early 2001 | |
| Born | Donald Banfield[1] 1937 or 1938 |
| Disappeared | 11 May 2001 (age 63) 146 Lockett Road, Harrow, London[1] |
| Status | Missing for 23 years and 6 months; believed to have been murdered[1] |
| Known for | Family members being convicted of murder despite no body and the conviction being quashed in a unique case due to joint enterprise not having been proved[3][4][5] |
| Spouse |
Shirley Banfield (m. 1980) |
| Children | 6[6] |
Donald Banfield (born 1937 or 1938) was a British man who disappeared from his home in Harrow, London in suspicious circumstances on 11 May 2001.[4] His case is notable for being a rare case in which a murder conviction was secured without a body,[3] and for this conviction being subsequently quashed on the grounds that a joint enterprise conviction in such a case where no body was found was not viable, though the defence themselves remarked that the "likelihood" was that "one or other" of the two suspects in the case had murdered him.[4][5]
Despite authorities not finding Banfield's body, his wife Shirley and daughter Lynette were convicted of murder in 2012. They also pleaded guilty to fraudulently stealing his pension money and the proceeds from the sale of the family house for years after his disappearance, apparently knowing that he would not be able to return to expose them for taking more than £180,000 of his money.
The fraud had started only days after he disappeared, with the women pretending to be Don in documents to request his money be transferred into their accounts. It was further found that they had previously attempted to murder him in the days before he vanished, and police discovered he had disappeared on the exact day that he had signed the contract with his wife agreeing to sell the family home. On the morning of the day he vanished he had also told a policeman of how the women had been attacking him.
The women were released on appeal a year after their conviction for murder, although their convictions stood for their crimes of fraud, which they had admitted.[4][7] Banfield's murder remains unsolved.
- ^ a b c d R v. Shirley Banfield & Lynette Banfield, 2013 EWCA Crim 1394 (England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) 31 July 2013).
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
BBCguiltywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "Convicting a murderer with no dead body". BBC News. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Shirley and Lynette Banfield's murder convictions quashed". BBC News. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- ^ a b "R V (1) SHIRLEY BANFIELD (2) LYNETTE BANFIELD (2013)". London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Guardian2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Don Banfield's wife and daughter have murder convictions quashed". MyLondon. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2022.