A MAN who denies fatally shooting his lodger before allegedly dismembering his body told a jury he offered him a cup of tea before never seeing him again.
Richard Dyson, 55, disappeared in November 2019 but his remains were finally discovered in a concrete-filled barrel at Alderthwaite Farm in Hoyland last July.
Prosecutors allege Christopher Wright killed Mr Dyson for allegedly stealing from him but Wright, 73, told jurors at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday that he had known Dyson for 30 years and ‘got on with him fine’.
He said Dyson would often come and go with no real pattern and sometimes leave the farm for several days to carry out jobs.
Wright said the last time he saw Dyson was on November 17, 2019, on a day he described as ‘nothing unusual’.
He said he heard Dyson’s vehicle come down the drive, so ‘nipped out’ and offered a cup of tea after he had parked up.
However, he said Dyson declined before walking up the drive.
“I lost sight of him because it was pitch black,” Wright told the court.
I heard a vehicle noise and it pull away.
“I just stopped to think ‘where the hell is he going this time of night’ but then I went in.”
The trial, which is expected to end next month, continues.
