Karen Chandler

Karen Chandler was found dead in a burnt out car on Salisbury Plain on 23 June 2000

A 64-year-old farm labourer was charged with her murder but acquitted. All the evidence against him was described as circumstantial.

She was last seen three days earlier on 20 June 2000 when she left her home in West Lavington for work, but she never arrived. She had worked as a security guard at a former MoD base in Ludgershall.

The farm labourer had known Karen Chandler and her family for ten years.

At the time of her murder Karen Chandler had been in a long term relationship with a work colleague, however, she had recently started another relationship 8 weeks earlier with a soldier, it being noted that neither men knew of the other.

However, the police said that they had ruled out either of her boyfriends as being the murderer.

At the trial the prosecution claimed that the farm labourer had lured Karen Chandler to his home in Urchfont whilst she was on her way to work with the intention of killing her.

It was claimed that he had got into her car and then forced her at knifepoint to drive up a concrete track leading to Dogtail Plantation where there was a locked gate, for which he was one of only a few people who knew where the key was to unlock it. It was said that he then killed her at some point and then drove her car onto Salisbury Plain where he set fire to it.

However, it was noted that the fire had destroyed most of the forensic evidence and that Karen Chandler's cause of death could not be determined.

It was also noted that a knife was found in the car, which the prosecution stated had been the murder weapon, but that there was nothing to suggest that it had been used to kill her.

At the trial the farm labourer admitted that he had loved Karen Chandler and had hoped one day to have a relationship with her, however, he disputed that he had been obsessed with her.

He said that he had arranged to meet her at 5am on 20 June 2000 to give her two buckets that she had wanted to wash cars with at her work, but that she had not turned up.

The prosecution suggested that the farm labourer had been obsessed with Karen Chandler, and that his hopes of being with her were dashed when he met the soldier that she had recently started seeing. The prosecution noted that the farm labourer had showered Karen Chandler with gifts including flowers, chocolates, jewellery and ornaments.

However, the farm labourer's defence stated that the farm labourer had not known about Karen Chandler's private life and that to suggest he had decided to kill her after a momentary meeting with the soldier was tenuous. The defence added, that with regards to the gifts, that  the farm labourer also bought gifts for Mrs Chandler's two sons, her mother and her dogs.

It was also heard that Karen Chandler also bought gifts for the farm labourer, although she would put the name of all her family on the gift tags.

The court heard that the farm labourer had been seen cycling from the direction of Salisbury Plain on his bicycle by two dog walkers. One of the dog walkers had said that she had seen the farm labourer riding from the top of the concrete track passing by Dogtail Plantation, but the farm labourer claimed that he had only ridden part way up the hill before turning back down as it was too steep for him.

It was also noted that he hadn't told the police he had been out for a bike ride when he was questioned the day after the murder, and that it was only when the dog walker came forward that he admitted he had been out.

The dog walker said that the farm labourer had appeared calm and unflustered when she saw him, and that she didn't notice any bloodstains on his clothing.

However, Karen Chandler's blood was found on the farm labourer's underpants. However, he said that it had got there the week before when Karen Chandler pricked her finger on a rose bush after she helped him gardening at her place of work.

A forensic scientist that examined the underpants said that the bloodstains didn't have the appearance of spatter from a battering attack, however, he said that they did show that they had been in contact with wet blood from Karen Chandler.

The court also heard other evidence relating to phone calls, it being noted that the farm labourer would call Karen Chandler at home or on her mobile phone several times a day, most days, with her agreement, which would include early morning calls if Karen Chandler started work at 6am. However, the prosecution noted that the farm labourer didn't call Karen Chandler after she failed to turn up for the buckets on her way to work on 20 June 2000. They also noted that it didn't make sense that after being told that she was missing, that he didn't ring her.

However, the defence noted that the farm labourer didn't call Karen Chandler every day, there being 3 days in June that he had not called her, and that he had not called her after she failed to show up to pick up the buckets as it didn't strike him as being unusual, and that he had thought she would ring him later.

It was also heard that the farm labourer kept two photos of Karen Chandler in a photograph album, but the defence stated that they were innocent photos.

When the defence summed up, they said:

His defence also noted that no one had seen them together that morning and no one knew how the fire to Karen Chandler’s car had started.

The trial took place at Bristol Crown Court  and lasted two weeks, after which the jury found the farm labourer not guilty.

Following the acquittal, the police said they would review the investigation to see if there were any other lines of inquiry.