Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Try to kill his wife with TX a car bomb in order to claim her life insurance
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: April 30, 1984
Date of birth: 1940
Victim profile: Colyn Bedale-Taylor, 63 (neighbour)
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Horton, Dorset County, South West, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to life in prison on February 18, 1985
Farmer, Graham Backhouse, is jailed for 18.2.85 life at Bristol Crown Court for trying to kill his wife with TX a car bomb in order to claim her life insurance. He is given a second life sentence for killing a neighbour, Colyn Bedale-Taylor, with a shotgun, in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Margaret Backhouse climbed into the driver's seat of her Volvo on the 9th April 1984. When Margaret, who lived at Widdenhill Farm, near Chipping Sodbury, with her 44-year-old farmer husband, turned the ignition key, the car exploded. She was left with severe injuries to her buttocks and legs.
The police suspected that the intended victim was husband Graham. He told officers that he was the victim of a hate campaign and that a sheep's head had been stuck on a fence at the farm along with a note that read 'You next.' Backhouse was given 24-hour police protection.
On 18th April Backhouse requested that the 24-hour guard be removed following the fitting of a 'panic button'. This alarm system was connected to the local police station and, on 30th April, it was activated.
