[2][9] The day before he vanished he told his doctor that his wife had tried to tie down his legs and put a plastic bag over his head while he slept two weeks earlier, but he had woken up and started kicking and screaming, so Lynette let him go.

[1][6][11][12] On the morning he disappeared he had told a policeman that he thought he had been struck on the back of his head, and also said that he had awoken to find his daughter squirting furniture polish into his eyes before being confronted by his wife with a knife with them both shouting "why don't you die?".

[1] However, his post was then intercepted and he found a stash of letters addressed to him hidden behind the sofa, including cheques from William Hill.

[1] After 11 May Shirley and Lynette had forged documents with his signature on, had fraudulently collected his pension, and had suddenly moved 200 miles away to Yorkshire and then to Kent.

[1] In June 2005 Shirley made a claim for disability allowance including an entry supposedly written by Don that she and Lynette had forged.

[19] In 2012 Shirley and Lynette Banfield were brought to trial for his murder at the Old Bailey and also for fraud, forgery and conspiracy to pervert justice, to which they pleaded guilty.

[10][2] It was alleged that the women had killed him for his share of the proceeds of the sale of the family home, which was being prepared at the time he vanished, and for his new pension money.

[10][17][1] Shirley had indeed been paid all the money due to her and Don for the house in June 2001, falsely telling the authorities that while her husband had disappeared he had been seen locally.

[11] They were both found guilty of the murder and sentenced to a minimum of 18 and 16 years imprisonment respectively,[1] something which was reported widely in the press and media in Britain[2][17][21] and abroad.

[6] The lead detective on the case speaking after the trial commented: "Shirley and Lynette Banfield convinced themselves they would never be found guilty of his murder, however today's verdict shatters that belief".

[23] A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Their actions were motivated by greed and they robbed a man of his life purely for monetary gain.