Concrete Grave

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Lady Justice is a true crime podcasttherefore deals with incidence of violence, disturbing
imagery and explicit content. Listener discretionis advised. The Lady Justice Podcast offers
their deepest condolences to victims' families andwishes to offer thanks to those who work
in emergency services. Hello, mylovelies, and welcome to Lady Justice True

(00:35):
Crime and the episode Concrete Grave.My name is Chantelle and thank you ever
so much for joining me so withoutfeather Ady. Here is some background on
the timeframe and location of this case. We are body popping back to nineteen
eighty three. This week Queen Elizabethsat on the throne as Margaret Thatcher would

(00:59):
win the general election that she called. That summer. This year saw the
BBC first air Blackadder CDs would goon sale in the UK you remember them,
and it was also the year thatThe Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
was published. We are taking atrip to Stenton this week, which is
a suburb of the city of Nottingham. The area has grown in people significantly

(01:23):
over the past two hundred years andnow is home to a little over twelve
thousand people. It has links toa few famous folks such as the founder
of the Salvation Army, William bthe Bare knuckle boxer William Thomas, and
This Is England director Shane Meadows.Sources are available in the show notes.

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The disappearance of Barry Stone did notmake national news in nineteen eighty three.
In fact, it did not evenmake the local press. The forty four
year old laborer had not been seensince the end of May that year,
but he was not somebody who poseda risk to himself or others. In
fact, he was as mild manneredas they came, and it seemed that

(02:10):
maybe he had just packed up hisbags and left his home at thirty one
Devon Street, Snenton. It hadtaken days for anyone to realize he was
gone, his employer Stanton and Staveleybeing one of the first when he failed
to arrive for his shift. Hissister, Barbara Kerwood had become worried.

(02:34):
He was a quiet man, buthe never failed to keep in touch.
That same feeling also belonged to barryStone's former wife. Though they were not
together anymore, they'd still kept incontact. The police, though initially not
placing them seeing man as a priority, would soon realize that something was amiss.

(02:57):
Also. The case was to betaken on by Detective Chief Inspector Bruce
Foster and Detective Inspector Carl Jackson,and they soon found that things did not
quite add up. They had startedto look into his life and spoke to
those that knew him and found thathe had no reasoned up sticks and leave

(03:20):
his life. It was not somethingthat he seemed he would do. Barry
seven Stone was born on May ninth, nineteen thirty nine, to Frederick and
Ellen at fourteen Northward Crescent, Nottingham, and was part of a large family.
His father worked as a general laborerto support the family and Barry would

(03:44):
go on to leave home when hewas to join the army in nineteen fifty
eight. He was described by hissister as a happy, go lucky chap
at this time, yet by nineteensixty things had changed. He had become
erratic and was subsequently removed to alocal mental hospital, in which he began

(04:06):
treatment for schizophrenia form disorder. It'sa brief psychiotic disorder that lasts between one
month and six which is often referredto as temporary schizophrenia, and it very
rarely occurs more than once to anindividual. Barry would stay for treatment at
Saint Anne's Hospital for six weeks,and on his discharge there was a noticeable

(04:30):
difference in his personality. He hadbecome more quiet and was served a shadow
of his former self. He wasto marry in January nineteen sixty four to
Gazella, though the relationship would breakdown years later. Barry, though,
was a creature of habit which wasnoted by almost all that knew him.

(04:57):
The landlord of his local pub,the Queen a on wind Mill Lane,
would speak to the press about himlater and gave a snapshot of Barry.
He was literally a man who kepthimself to himself. He would come in
fairly frequently for a few pints ofbitter, but it was always at Lunstein.

(05:19):
He never had very much to sayto anyone. He would come in
and have his drink and that wouldbe it. He was very retiring in
his manner. He was as goodas gold. I have never seen him
under the influence of alcohol as longas I have been here. If I
spoke to him, he would replyand we might have a bit of conversation.

(05:44):
But if I stopped talking, hewould do the same. The normal
procedure for Barry was for him togo to the farthest corner of the room
and sit on his own. Hewould look straight ahead as if he was
thinking about something. This descript wasreflected by most The police got the impression
that the man in his forties wasa willing loner. He preferred his own

(06:09):
company and kept little friends. AlanClossip of the Queen Adelaide could only suggest
that he ever saw Barry Stone taughtto one other person, a female patron
of the public house. I oftensaw them talking together, and although I
never knew what they were discussing,I would say she was the only person

(06:31):
he ever confided anything in. Ifhe went as far as that, information
that had been passed to the policewould indicate that Barry had one other friend,
a man who would from time totime lodge with him. Due to
the breakdown of his own marriage.Barry had kindly offered the man Patrick Miller,

(06:54):
a place to arrest his head.They had known each other since nineteen
seventy nine, and sometimes Miller wouldcomplete small jobs for Barry, so the
offer was not something that seemed outof the blue. This said, though,
the police wished to speak to Patrickas somebody who could shed light on

(07:15):
the life of his temporary that LordMiller, who had since moved into a
property owned by his new girlfriend,was happy to speak to the officers after
the initial reporting of mister Stone's disappearance. He would state that Barry kind of
had a double life and that hekept it hidden from those that knew him.

(07:38):
This side, said Patrick, wasone that enjoyed a good drink,
was a bit of a womanizer andwell, as he put it, keeter
then you think. Pat who hadbeen staying at the Devon Street property during
May of nineteen eighty three, saidthat Barry had confided in him about for

(08:00):
why in love with a woman andthat he planned to Elope to Scotland with
her. Patrick said that in theweeks leading up to the end of May,
when he last saw his friend,he would see the cupboards further than
usual, more food than just forBarry, and that he had seen female
clothing on the washing line. Thepolice made note of this and also took

(08:24):
the details of another witness who wassaid to have seen evidence that Barry had
recently got any woman in his life. That witness, Clive Miller, would
state when visited by officers that heoften attended Barry's home to visit with his
uncle, and whilst there he hadalso seen women's underwear hanging to dry,

(08:46):
and even a coffee cup on theside of the kitchen that bore the distinctive
touch of a woman's lipstick. Thinkingthat maybe Barry had begun a secret relationship
was plausible. They would finally askClive what day he had seen the missing
man last, with a response beingMay twenty sixth. It was thought that

(09:09):
if Barry had started a new relationshipand had gone north with his new partner
to Scotland, and he would soonreturn, But the days passed into weeks,
which in turn ten into months,until almost a four twelve months had
passed. During this time, Frustratedat the lack of police stamina in the

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case due to the theory that he'dleft on his own accord, Barry's sister,
Barbara, would begin placing advertisements inthe local newspaper, the Nottingham Evening
Post, in the personal columns thatwould reach out for her brother to call
home. They would begin with thewords missing person and included her home landline

(09:54):
number in hopes he would contact Januaryof nineteen eighty four, there was a
call, but she couldn't be sureif it really was him. She really
didn't think so, but she wouldgo on to inform the police anyway.
When the male called on the telephone, he began the conversation with the words

(10:16):
this is Barry. She told himthat he didn't sound like her brother.
The line then gave way to alarge amount of disturbance, which crackled and
made the man inaudible for the restof the eight minutes he was on the
line. She finally got a breakin his long ramble and asked him to

(10:37):
repeat what he said, that theline was bad if she could call back,
but he hung up the phone andthe line went dead. It was
not what Barbara had hoped for,but it was a glimmer that all was
well with her brother. Almost eightmonths after had gone without a trace.

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Not a police would attend his homeon Devon Street to check the property from
time to time, and it wouldbe on one of these visits that a
uniformed officer flagged what would have beenthe clue that solved the question where on
earth was Barry Stone. The officersspoke with DCI Foster, the senior investigating

(11:24):
officer, about the mail that hadbeen delivered to the house, noting that
a fairview came from one institution.It was a London based financial company named
said our Holdings, and the contentsof the letters referred to failed payments on
an account for a loan to thecost of four thousand pound that's closed to

(11:46):
eleven thousand today. Barry had alwaysbeen a man that was careful with his
money. He owned the property onDevon Street and was not known for spledging
on any evening. There had beenno indication that he was involved in anything
unlitted or illegal, and he hadno financial strains that would have forced him

(12:09):
to get a loan that was securedon the deeds of his house. The
loan had been taken out five monthsbefore mister Stone had vanished in January nineteen
eighty three, in an office ofCavendish Financial on Woodborough Road. A check

(12:30):
of the paperwork taken from the companywould show a very different signature to that
of Barry's other paperwork, and immediately, when looking at their timeline, they
realized there was only one other personwho could have had access to mister Stone's
personal papers, such as the deedsto his home. On a check with

(12:54):
Stone's employer, it was discovered thatBarry had clocked on at work the day
that the paperwork for the agreements withCarandish Financial had been signed, and it
dawned on the investigators that the loanwas fortunent and it was likely to be
only one man who could be aviable suspect. The investigation began to focus

(13:16):
on the angle of fraud and evidencebegan to support the theory that Miller had
obtained the loan under the guise ofbeing Barry Stone. But what did that
have to do with his disappearance?The police began to question themselves. Had
Barry discovered mother's fraud? Had Millersilence Barry because of the loan? Almost

(13:43):
at twelve months to the day thatBarry was last seen, police began to
tighten their case against the Miller.They had looked into every aspect of the
man's life, and although looking fromthe outside it seemed like he was an
average bloke, inside there was turmoilborn to James and Gladys Miller. On

(14:07):
the twenty sixth of October nineteen thirtyseven, at seventy four Garfield Road in
Nottingham. He was also surrounded bysiblings as a youngster. He would leave
home when he was to marry hisfirst wife, Pamela Kirk, in Ilkston,
a town just over the Derbyshire border, where he would settle for much

(14:30):
of his life. He would goon to be a family man, becoming
a father to two girls with Pamela, and for much of the time seemed
to live a very settled life.He was an extra fat by nature,
making friends everywhere he went, andhis ability to be good with people learned

(14:52):
itself well when he would go onto be a self employed plumber. He
liked to keep himself healthy and wouldparticipate in sports such as crickets, which
appealed due to the social aspect ofthe game. Though as one of his
cricketing bodies would later say, therealways was a suggestion that there was more
to his life than he ever leton. It was as if there were

(15:16):
two sides to him and we wereonly ever seeing one. That statement was
true, as evidence proved by theinvestigation into his life showed that for some
time he'd been living a somewhat doublelife. Although settled and married with Pamela,
outgoing Pat would soon fight himself,falling for another woman, Margaret Alvary.

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They engaged in an affair for sometime, and through the course of
such she fell pregnant. The newsof the pregnant mistress would find its way
to Pamela, and she would beginto force proceedings against the man that she'd
been with for nearly twenty years.Here to leave the marital home that staying

(16:02):
with his friend Barry Stone during latenineteen eighty two, but kept in contact
due to his children. Miller stoodby his now girlfriend Margaret, and though
they had not moved in together atthe time of Barry's disappearance, he was
helping in the renovations of her homeon George Street in the Riddlings in preparation

(16:26):
for their new family life. Patrickwasn't just dishonest in the bedroom, but
he started to hide the fact thathe began to gamble more, being noted
by the police that he'd begun toshow signs of addiction. Finding it hard
to fund his lifestyle, it wasenough to place doubt on Patrick Miller.

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His life seemingly chaotic during the monthsbefore the loan was taken, until the
disappearance of his landlord. Four policeofficers were to tend the color pavilion at
the Gallows Hall Playing Fields in Ilkstonto make an arrest on suspicion of fraud
in early June nineteen eighty four.This gave the investigators time to pro pat

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as one of the last people andone of the closest people to Bury as
to where he really was detective toeven Inspector Bruce Foster would later give a
detailed account of the following forty eighthours in custody. In the early stages,
he stuck to his original story anddenied all knowledge of the disappearance.

(17:38):
He maintained the pretense that mister Stonewas a ladies man who used to drink
a lot. Then we began toquestion him about the loan, and at
first he denied all that as well. After half an hour we left him
on his own for a while.He would go on to explain that detectives

(18:00):
trace the agents that issued the loanto the man who claimed to be Barry
Stone. The officer went on tosay, he comes down and immediately identifies
Miller as the man he had seenand the man who would sign the documents.
But even then Miller was as coolas a cucumber. When he was

(18:22):
addressed as mister stone Is reply wasto the effect and what I've seen you
at a pub in Ilkstone before.Ironically, the gentleman involved was from the
Ilkeston area. He told of howthey placed Miller back in the cell for
the night in hopes that the timealone would add pressure to the unfazed man.

(18:47):
Foster then told of the following morning. I sent in a couple of
detective constables down to see him thefollowing morning, just to check how he
was, and that was it.They walked in and he said to them,
you know I've done it, lads, don't you. He would be
taken to an interview room where hewas asked what he meant. Miller then

(19:12):
said that Barry was not in Scotlandlike he had told others, but he
was dead. He then faced questionsas a way he disposed the body,
to which he replied, I buriedher under the floorboards of a house in
Mullison Vale. The police had finallygot the answer they'd been looking for,

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but had yet to get the detailsof how Barry had come to be killed.
Miller would confess to senior officer dC. I Foster. He got
hold of me hard. He wasfrothing at the mouth. I was really
scared. I gave him a policethrow and he went straight over a chair.
He bombed his head. He wasknocked out. He told the investigator

(20:00):
that he never meant to hurt Barryand concealing the body was a moment of
madness. When asked about the loan, he finally omitted that he had secured
such, which was supported by areceipt that had been discovered in his car
after he had been taken into custody, which scheduled one thousand, four hundred

(20:22):
and thirty five pound. He would, however, state that Barry had known
about the loan and was okay withthe deceit, therefore, he had no
reason to kill his friend. Millerhad said that Barry had launched himself at
him, and it was during afight that he had lost his life.

(20:42):
So, with the knowledge of whathad happened, investigators were tasked with visiting
the home in which Barry had beenlaid to rest. They had been told
that the owner, a friend ofMiller's, Norman Cliff, was not aware
of the body late under the floorof his rear sitting room in the pleasant

(21:03):
attached home. He would later tellof the moment just before lunchtime on Sunday,
June third, when he was firsttold that he'd been sharing his home
with a dead body and the personthat had placed it there was someone that
he trusted, his friend's mother.When police told me about the body,

(21:23):
I felt total disbelief. It wasunbelievable. It was devastating. I was
completely shocked. He gave me noindication that he could commit a crime like
that. Let's alone bury a bodyunder the floorboards with all the police coming

(21:44):
in. In one instance, Ihad a home, and the next I
was virtually homeless. Norman had spokenwith detectives about Miller and stated that he
tired him to fix a leak andmove a radiator, and that he didn't
trusted him with a key, ashe would frequently take trips away. Asked

(22:04):
about the weekend at the end ofMay the previous year, when it was
thought that Barry had been killed,he stated that he was away with his
girlfriend, Alison Arnott, first stayingwith friends in Stratford and Avan, and
then at her home in Botsford.He told them that Pat had never told
him that he'd been in the homethat weekend. Moller had told the officers

(22:30):
that he'd first taken Stone's body tothe home in Walton Vale on the Saturday
evening, the day after the murder, and left it in a sheet concealed
outside in a passageway. He wouldreturn the following day and remove the furniture,
carpeting of floorboards of the rear groundfloor room and placed the body underneath,

(22:52):
taking time to reassemble the room beforeleaving. He then said that he
returned a few weeks to a monthor later, where he removed all the
items again, then placed a levelof concrete over the body. He knew
the owner was away on holiday inEurope at the time. The public would

(23:14):
not learn the fate of Barry untilat least ten days later, when on
Wednesday, June thirteen, it wasannounced at the inquest by Nottingham Coroner John
Langham that the body found in thehouse in the middle class suburban neighborhood was
that of the isolated man. Peoplefrom the pub in which he would go
and drink is three pints of bitterwould be naturally shocked with a landlord staging

(23:40):
into reporters. It crossed our mindit might be him, but because no
one knew him too well, wecouldn't be sure. And when we finally
heard that he had been killed,and that his body had been found in
such diabolical circumstances, we were allshocked and appalled. He was a quiet

(24:00):
man, a gentleman. I justcan't imagine how something like this could have
happened. It would be on thesame day that the self employed miller had
been seen before magistrates at Guildhall,accused of murder, the police clearly not
believing the story that he'd spontor them. The forty sixty year old would make

(24:23):
no application for bail and was romandedinto custody, being transferred to Lincoln Prison
into his trial that began early thefollowing year. That trial began, in
fact, on Tuesday, the twentyninth of January at Nottingham Crown Court before
Mister Justice Skinner and was expected tolast a week. The Crown's case would

(24:48):
be presented by Malcolm Lee quc,who began by stating clearly in his opening
speech that it was to believe thiscase was one of murder and man's daughter
by saying this was a quite deliberatekilling, caused by the fact that mister
Stone had found out that Miller hadused his name and the deeds of his

(25:11):
house five months earlier to obtain aloan of four thousand pounds. He would
go on to tell the jury thatthe victim wasn't enclosed, if not rather
pathetic Vicia, who stood at fivefoot six and weighed fourteen Stone, who
was divorcee and a loaner. Heclaimed that the outgoing pat Miller had befriended

(25:37):
this man and over time felt thathe could take advantage of their relationship and
obtained the loan in the victim's name. And it was this fraud that was
quote the foundation of this terrible killing. The Crown was open to the jury
that the defendant could not be trusted, highlighting them many times that he lied

(26:02):
to police and going on to statethat the whole story that Miller was to
submit to the court was lie.It was thought by the prosecution that the
murder of Barry Stone had not infact occurred on Friday May twenty seventh,
as stated by the accused, buthad actually happened the night before, after

(26:23):
the fair had driven back to thedevonstret property together. The theory that Barry
was killed earlier than thought was becausethe timeline of offense as set out by
Miller did not seem to match whatwould have happened forensically, and believe that
Pats, with the knowledge that Barryknew of his fraud, had planned to

(26:47):
kill him to keep in reporting thematters to the police. He knew that
his friend in Walleton Fair would beaway for that long weekend and decided that
he would bury the body there,having the concrete on hand to complete the
job. This was thought because thesummer of nineteen eighty three was a particularly

(27:08):
hot one, and a decomposing bodyunder the floor with any plastic a blankets,
floorboards and carpets between the source ofa smell and the humans occupying the
space would have likely alerted attention.The prosecution believed that he did not just
leave the body on the Friday,but had covered it with concrete that weekend

(27:33):
as prepared for disposal. It wasn'ta quick idea that had just come to
him, It was a deliberately plannedaction. A check completed by the police
during the course of the investigation wouldalso poke another hole in the timeline of
Miller when it was revealed that itcannot have been a matter of weeks to

(27:56):
a month that Barry's body had laiduncovered it as information supplied by the Passport
Office showed that the occupant of thedisposal site did not leave for his holiday
for eight weeks. Thereafter eight weeksof decomposition would have gotten noticed. The

(28:18):
stories that Barry was due to leavefor Scotland with a woman had, in
fact, according to witnesses, beganweeks before the actual murder. Therefore,
hinting at premeditation, he would say, Miner spun an elaborate web of lies
to conceal the fact that Stone hadin fact died about the end of May

(28:41):
nineteen eighty three. He did thatto cover up the sinister part he played
in that death. We submit youare dealing with a ruthless, ingenious,
devious and assourceful individual. The accuseddemeanor during the weekend that Barry was killed
and thereafter was also brought up asevidence to his guilt in the court.

(29:07):
Mister Lee would talk of how onthe Saturday, the morning after the murder,
he was able to, with littleto no sleep, not only drive
the seven plus hour round trip fromIlkeston to Great Yarmouth, but it opened
innings for the Ilston Old Park andscored a half century the day that he

(29:29):
claimed to have first buried the bodyunder the floor boards. He then went
on to play cricket again, scoringa total thirty four rounds against Knots Talisman.
Lee stressed that he was quote inno way distressed or emotionally upset.
One of the first witnesses to testifywas the nephew of the defendant, twenty

(29:52):
seven year old Clive Miller, ofthe Ropewalk in Nottingham. He was the
last independent person to see Barry aliveon Thursday May twenty sixth nineteen eighty three,
almost two years before, and saidthat he'd first gone to the deceased's
property in December of nineteen eighty two, when he was working for his uncle

(30:14):
on a temporary basis. He gaveevidence to what his uncle had told him
in the days before Barry had gonemissing. On more than one occasion,
he stated that Barry had started tosee a woman and that Patrick had seen
more food in the house. Patrickwould bring this up more often, and
Clive would also witness female undergarments onthe washing line to the rear of the

(30:40):
property. He said that Pat hadtold him Barry was quote going to Scotland.
He was sure that this was beforewhen in the days after he was
gone, Clive had asked where Barrywas and quote Pat said, obviously he'd
got another woman. D C.I. Foster would take the witness stand

(31:03):
and speak the interviews conducted with thedefendant. He recalled Miller telling him of
the supposed attack that Barry had launchedhim. He would also explain how tense
it would get to any questioning,and told the jury of how he tried
to get Miller to come clean tohis lives and the planting of evidence such

(31:25):
as the clothes and the washing linethat Clive Miller had seen. He said
that he told Miller, I thinkhe put these clothes there after you had
killed Barry to cover up what you'ddone, and you deliberately called Clive's attention
to them so that he would supportyour story. On the third day of

(31:45):
the trial, Norman Alwin Cliff wouldtake the witness stand. He would first
speak to his relationship with both thevictim and the defendant, stating that he'd
first met Patrick Miller at an KnottsCounty football match ten years before, and
that they would begin socializing together frequentlyfrom nineteen eighty one at the club.

(32:09):
He had met Stone through Patrick atthe same club and commented on the two
men's friendship in testimony, saying theywere not on the same wavelength really,
but I think mister Stone was quitepleased with mister Miller befriending him, because
I don't think he had any otherfriends at all. He would tell that

(32:31):
Stone had once before been to hishome, where, of course, he
was later found buried onto the floorwhen Patrick had brought him over for a
cup of coffee, but he couldnot say he knew Barry much more than
that. He did recall conversations thathe'd had with Miller that were about Barry,
and said they were usually slightly mockingin nature, talking of the city

(32:54):
things that Barry was up to inhis grayscale life. Yet there was a
noticeable difference in the weeks before Barryvanished. He said that suddenly Patrick would
start mentioning that he'd seen women's clothesat Barry's home and that Barry had got
himself a new girlfriend. He wouldgo on a bit later, mister Miller

(33:16):
said to me that mister Stone haddone a bunk. Patrick then told him
that Barry had cleaned out his bankaccounts and run away with a girl to
Scotland. Norman told of the conversationas going, you're choking Barry. Oh,
yes, he's a very funny man. He's done it before he had

(33:39):
known. Miller was a self employedplumber and was quote as to say that
he worked for peanuts, hiring himto complete work in a bathroom, giving
him the spare front door key forease of access. Cliff was asked by
Lee if he surmelt anything in therear sitting room of his home during June,

(34:00):
July or August nineteen eighty three,when it was said by Minna that
he had not yet covered the bodywith concrete. He would reply absolutely nothing
at all, and went on tosay that during the summer he spent all
of his leisure time in that room. When at home. He confirmed that

(34:23):
he went on holiday to Spain inAugust, eight weeks after the last weekend
in May. Medical evidence would bepresented by the Home office pathologist Professor Alan
Usher, who had completed the postmortem. He would stated the course of
death it was a subdural humanomer ableed on the brain, and that he

(34:46):
believed it could have been caused bya fracture on the rear of Barrie's skull.
He would go on to explain thaton examination he found the bone of
the skull to be quote somewhat thinnerthan normal, and that he believed that
the head had come into contact witha blunt object such as a wall or

(35:08):
floor. However, stated the injurycould have occurred after being forcefully hit with
a plank of wood. Patrick Millerwould take the stand in his trial and
would become overwhelmed with emotion during histestimony, needing to be seated to continue.
At one point during the first ofhis two days giving evidence, he

(35:32):
would state that the relationship between himand his landlord had been strange in the
final few weeks of Barry's life becausehe had not been completing work as requested.
He continued to say that on Fridaytwenty seventh of May, almost two
years before, he had been inthe sitting room with the victim watching television

(35:53):
when he got up from his chairand went to change the channel via the
button on the set. It wasthen that, according to Miller, that
Barry would shout out and startle him, saying that's my television. Miller then
said that Barry threw himself at him, and that he automatically fought back in

(36:14):
defence. He was going to getme by the neck. They pushed him
away and he grabbed my arms.He was digging his thumbs into my armpits.
Via his previous employment as an RAFpoliceman, he had been trained how
to safely regain control over an attacker, and he attempted what he described as

(36:36):
they quote policeman's throw. However,when they were the throngs of this,
it had gone terribly wrong. Hewas going on to explain to the judge
and jury through tears, that theywent over the back of the arm of
the chair together and as they camedown, Barry's stone was injured. His
head hit the ground. It wasa good crack. At first. Barry

(37:00):
was to collect himself and pull himselfback up into sitting position. Miller explained
further, he had a knee orfoot in my groin, and I didn't
know what to expect. So Iput my arm around his head and he
went down again. I thought hemust have been knocked out. I was

(37:21):
a bit worried because he didn't move. He had gone a peculiar color.
Miller grabbed Barry from the floor andplaced him in the easy chair that they'd
both gone over just moments before,and then stated that panic set in.
I just thought it was a finemess. I chewed his pulse. I'd

(37:42):
seen a dead body before. Isat there in a trance. I thought
of the shame and the mess Iwas in. Mister Justice Skinner asked him
what shame? The shame of beingin a mess like that? What people
would say, the family and thewife, It all flashes through your mind.

(38:02):
Almost immediately realizing what he had done, he wished to get distance from
the home and began to make preparationsto League. He explained that he collected
some of his belongings through the curtainsto the living room and got in his
car to drive to his first wife'shome in Port his Way, Ilston.

(38:22):
He would say that he felt thathe needed to keep up appearances, although
he didn't know what to do atthat point. He had spent a sleepless
night at Pamela's home, and althoughhe planned to drive his two daughters to
Yarmouth for their holiday. At sixam, he went back to the scene
of the crime, stating, Icannot believe it. I went back to

(38:45):
Devon Street about five fifteen am.Barry was still in the chair. He
would not return from Norfolk until twofifteen pm. Yet he did not go
first to Snenton, but news saidwhere he would open a cricket match for
his team. He explained that hejust tried to pull myself together by having

(39:08):
a couple of brandies before the match. His counsel, Philip Cox QC would
ask him you scored a substantial numberof fronts that day, with Miller saying
in return, if that's what youcall scored, I only scored one sneak,
four over the slips and forty singles. I just wanted to stop there

(39:29):
all day. He was also questionedby his defense why he had not told
anybody of what had happened at thetime, and he confessed it was just
the disgrace. It was the fallfrom being a straightforward man. The jury
would be told that it was duringthat Saturday cricket match that Miller had first

(39:49):
thought of the location in which Barrywas discovered. He knew that Norman Cliff
had been away with his girlfriend thatweekend and thought it would be perfect.
He would leave the match and returnto Barry's home, taking the body of
the deceased man and wrapping it inplastic bags and a bed. Sheat the
weight of the body one hundred andninety eight pounds was far much to be

(40:13):
carried without help, and he wouldcreate a sling to help take the body
to the car. He told inhis testimony, Then I was sick.
I sat there for ten to twelveminutes, when outside the home of mister
Cliff, hidden from few, heleft the body and then told of how
he drove to Beaston police station,yet found he did not have the carriage

(40:37):
to step out of the car andgo inside. He claimed that he wished
to wait for his then girl friendbut now wife Margaret, to have given
birth before he would reveal his deedto the police. However, the day
after he could still not bring himselfto tell others what he had done.
Telling of the Sunday, he saidthat she returned to Woolloton Vale. I

(41:00):
had hid the body and that wasit. His counsel asked him, when
did you think of it? Further? Under the floor boards every hour of
the day, sir, every dayof the week, sir, every week
of the year. He claimed thatthat afternoon, whilst again playing cricket,
he had come up with a planto tell others that Barry had gone away

(41:22):
and refuted that it was ever before. He said that over the next two
weeks he would create freak evidence tosupport his tall tales, such as placing
lipstick on a cup. He wassaved to the jury. It brought him
back to life. I decided tomake it look as though he'd got a
woman and he'd run off with her. Patrick Reader also gave evidence to his

(41:45):
thoughts on the victim, saying thathe just seemed to be a lonely character
who had lost his way in life. I had no intention of housing Barry,
not at all. He was alovable character. At times, when
class examined by the prosecution, misterLee would bring up another item that linked

(42:06):
Miller to the crime and suggested furtherthat the killing may have been deliberate.
He referred to where Miller was arrestedat the playing fields and they accused of
thrown a valuable and meager branded wristwatch under the pavilion during the interaction.
This act had gone unnoticed by theofficers at the time, only coming to

(42:30):
light five months later when he wason romand at Lincoln Prison, and he
had asked one of his former friendsto retrieve the item, telling them that
it was not linked to the crime, but he'd bought it on the same
day of his arrest from a malestranger at the Festival Inn in Trewell.
It could be proven, however,that this watch was Barry's, and that

(42:52):
it had been the only token ofBarry that Miller had kept, and it
was put to him that it wasthe one thing that could incriminate him,
and he wished to dispose of itbefore officers could see. Meliss said he
could not tell anyone the truth,and that is why he lied about the

(43:12):
origin of the watch. Lee quizzedhim, you wanted to have that watch
on your wrist. You don't realizewhat was in my mind. Barry was
somewhat of a friend. He thenstated to the court that he'd lost all
of his friends through his lies.His dishonesty was further examined when the Crown

(43:34):
brought up the notes that he wouldwrite and send to Barry during the time
it was thought that the man hadjust been missing and missing. It was
quote all part of the charade,as Lee had put it. He denied
the claim, though that he'd becomeartful in the skill of lying, saying
that quote. Once it started,I couldn't stop it. He directed three

(44:00):
questions about details of the attack,and he would tell that it was right
out of the blue. He wasasked by Lee why he had not gotten
help if it was just an accident, with Miller tay, I was in
a state of shock, just panicking. Not satisfied with the answer, Lee

(44:22):
asked it again, but this timeMiller replying, I was just thinking about
myself. Mister Justice Skinner then putit to him that in that moment he
had in fact been thinking about theloan he had taken out under false pretenses
and the consequences of his actions.He agreed that it has often been on

(44:44):
his mind. I knew I haddone something stupid, especially when Barry started
to act the way he did.Barry was all right in the first place
about the loan. When he seemedto change, I was getting a bit
worried, especially with the last paymenthe refused to make Lee then stepped in
and asked, you say, whenBarry lay on the floor in danger of

(45:07):
death, all you thought about wasthe loan. I thought I'd leave it
for a while. I was justtrying to think clearly, and nothing would
go right in my mind. TheCrown would not rest its point, putting
it firmly to the defendant. Ifthis happened anything like the way you said
it did, you would have summonedhelp, tried to save the life of

(45:29):
the man. I just could notthink, was his only response. The
final submissions to the court began onFebruary the seventh, and would see the
prosecution once again lay out the claimthat this case before the jury was one
of premeditated murder. Welcome. Leewould go on to say that the motive

(45:52):
for the killing was clear, thefour thousand pounds loan that has been taken
out by a man he described asa quote devious, deceitful, and extremely
artful man. He would finish bytelling the jury that the account that Miller
had told them so tearfully was quotefar fetched and preposterous, and that quote

(46:17):
so many lives had been told bymister Miller, and so incredible is his
account of the matter that it simplyhas to be rejected or the defense mister
Cox would refer back to the medicalevidence as provided by the post mortem and
says that it proved the series offence that surrounded mister State's death as told

(46:38):
by the defendant. He went onto say that Miller had always been quote
kind and friendly to the quote friendlessdead man, and that if the accused
had never concealed the body, hewould never faced the charge of murder.
The defense would place emphasis on thefact that back in the nineteen sixty Barry

(47:00):
had been under treatment for his mentalhealth and would read out the definition of
schizophrenia in the Black Medical Dictionary andsuggested that it is in part why Barry
had attacked Patrick on the night ofhis death, stating the victim was quote
over the edge. He would askthe jury to remember that the evidence pointed

(47:22):
to an appalling accident. The followingday, mister Justice Skinner would take time
for his summing up for the juryand would instruct the jury to quote forget
about schizophrenia. It is in factdangerous and wrong to rely on evidence of

(47:43):
that sort which comes from outside withoutbeing investigated fully in this court. He
told them that there were three fairdecks available to them, guilty of murder,
not guilty of murder, but guiltyof manslaughter, and not guilty to
anything. It would be on theninth and final day of the trial that

(48:05):
the jury, comprising of seven menand five women, would consider if the
death of Barry Stone by the handof Patrick Miller had been a deliberate act
of murder or a tragic accident.When they returned, the man in the
dog had his fate as he wastold that its peers had found him not

(48:25):
guilty of murder but guilty of man'slaughter. Mister Justice Skinner would sentenced the
father to four years imprisonment, andas far as I can tell, Patrick
would never go on to commit anyother major crimes. He would pass away
at the age of seventy four inNottingham on December twenty eighth, two and

(48:49):
eleven. In the aftermath of thiscase, the press would speak to Norman
Cliff, who owned the house inwhich Barry's body had been discovered. It
was noted that his home for nineteenyears now felt tainted and that he wished
to sell the house as the memorieswere quote too horrific. He would go

(49:10):
on to speak about his relationship withMiller, saying that when Patrick had called
him a quote mate in court,he'd felt angry. He'd be quoted as
saying if he's a mate, heneeds enemies. So that brings us the
end of this week's case, andof course we keep Barry Stone in our

(49:32):
thoughts before we head our separate ways, I want to remind you that Crime
Con UK, in partnership with CBSReality, the home of expert led true
cime television, will be in Glasgowin just mere weeks. Tickets are selling
fast for this one day event thatpromises to be a completely unique experience.

(50:00):
For the whole day, we arespending time getting into some of the local
Scottish cases, with the victims familiesbeing key to the day. There's still
all your favorite speakers, authors andpodcasters too, and there will also be
plenty time to socialize. If youare worried about coming along solo, and
that's why you haven't bought a ticket, please don't worry. I promise you

(50:23):
you are sure to come away witha few new friends and I would love
to see you on podcast Row.Tickets are available on the website crime con
dot co dot uk also in theshow notes, and there is a ten
percent of ticket prices with the codeLady London. Tickets for next June are

(50:45):
also on salety, so if youwish to bag yourself the best price with
a payment plan option, now isthe time to buy the code. Lady
will also get to your discount onthose early bird prices. Do you have
a quick primary this week? Andit's for one of my favorite podcast is
Capriests from the Unseen. She recentlyannounced that she's starting up another true crime

(51:09):
podcast alongside Unseen, and it's goingto be perfect for those that love bit
says crime. I'm going to leaveit up to her to explain everything else,
and links to everything you need tosupport her show are in the show
notes. Missing people, murders,serial killers, frauds, heists and mysterious

(51:42):
events. The most infamous true crimestories from around the world told in ten
minutes Fine ten minute true crime onApple Podcasts. Spotify are your favorite podcast
player, so I think there's justenough time for us to see if we

(52:22):
can balance out those scales somewhats Witha small act of kleidness. This week,
I stumbled across an Instagram accounts underthe handle the King of Kuma.
It's run by Ian Liam, whohas stage three terminal brain cancer, but
he's using it to try and raisethe most amount of money ever for cancer

(52:44):
research. He's truly inspirational and hisfight is free. As he puts it,
all he wants you to do isfollow him on social media and YouTube
so that he can get the sponsorshipsfrom the big businesses like Broodog and jip
Chuck. So please get yourself onsocial media and look up the King of

(53:07):
Chemo and give him a follow.We all know someone who has been affected
by cancer, and this is justone small thing that you can do in
the battle to beat it. Withthat, my lovelies, go be good
people, Go be kind, Gobe safe, and most importantly, go

(53:29):
be happy.

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