Simon Dale

Simon Dale was beaten to death in his home, Heath House in Shropshire between 10 and 14 September 1987.

His 55-year-old ex-wife, a Baroness, and two of their children, a 26 year old daughter and 25 year old son, were tried for his murder but acquitted. The charges against the two children were dropped early on in the hearings. However, they were still accused along with their mother and another man, a Baron, of defrauding Simon Dale's mother-in-law, a Lady, and her estate, between 1983 and 1987, for which they were convicted.

Simon Dale had been beaten to death with a crow bar in his kitchen. When he was found by his editorial assistant there was still food cooking in the oven.

Simon Dale had been a retired architect. He had married his wife in 1957 shortly after which his wife bought Heath House with her own money. However, they divorced in 1973 and his wife and their five children moved out into rented property at Forresters Hall, Docklow but Simon Dale refused to move out of Heath House which his wife had wanted to sell which was at that time worth £500,000. It was noted that Simon Dale had believed that Heath House was of major archaeological importance and had connections with the legend of King Arthur.

Simon Dale had been partially blind and 6ft 3in tall and was described as an 'eccentric recluse'. He was said to have lived mainly in the kitchen of the house and a single bedroom, with all the other rooms being left to collect dust.

In his earlier years he worked as an architect restoring dilapidated country homes and also wrote scholarly works on the legend of King Arthur. It was noted that he believed that Heath House was connected to the legend and that Hopton Heath was an integral part of the legend that the Holy Grail had been buried in the area.

His wife said that she had been working in the grounds of Heath House at the time Simon Dale was murdered in the kitchen after which she had gone home and watched a Miss Marple TV murder mystery programme after which she went to bed.

It was claimed that his wife had battered him to death with a crowbar following the 14-year feud over the 50 room mansion.

Simon Dale's body was found with head and throat injuries in a pool of blood in the kitchen at the house.

It was heard that he had struggled with his attacker before being killed by a blow to the throat.

A detective said that Simon Dale had moved an extremely heavy table in the kitchen during the struggle and that there was blood at different places. A deckchair found in the lobby near the kitchen was flattened and two of its slats were broken. However, he added:

A forensic scientist said that Simon Dale had been a man of considerable bulk and that he had probably been pushed into the kitchen.

The murder weapon was said to have been a crowbar that had been used during the renovation’s, with his injuries thought to have been caused by a long narrow instrument of some sort.

The crowbar in question was soon after found, having been recently cleaned, and had no blood stains on it.

On 17 October 1987 the police appealed for a mystery woman to come forward whose name had been mentioned in anonymous telephone calls to the murder incident room. The caller had said that a certain woman had owned a blue Honda Superdream 250cc motorcycle. The caller had called the incident room on 18 September and 1 and 2 October, stating that the mystery woman had had knowledge of the Derby area and the Knighton and Kington areas of Herefordshire.

The prosecution said:

It was heard that it had been agreed between them that Simon Dale could stay in the house, but that he would have to move out within 14 days of any future exchange of contracts and that his wife had become intensely frustrated because she believed that Simon Dale was doing his utmost to prevent the house sale.

He remained in the house for the 14 years against her wishes.

The prosecution likened the situation to a domestic war, saying:

The prosecution added:

It was noted that Simon Dale's wife had told the police that Simon Dale had once dug a grave for her in the grounds of the house and that she had also seen him wearing women's high-heeled shoes and lipstick. She said:

She said that Simon Dale had been a violent and awkward man and that he smacked their four boys with great force and never showed them or their daughter any affection.

However, the defence said that the prosecution case was based solely on trivial bits of evidence which the baroness had volunteered to the police and which had then been used against her, adding:

His wife was cleared of murder at Worcester Crown Court following an 11 day trial in July 1989.

Following her acquittal, the baroness released a statement through her solicitor, which said:

However, she, her two children and her new husband were convicted of fraud, with it further being noted that there was an unresolved issue relating to £12m in gold bars which was alleged to have existed but no trace could be found of.