Murder of Tina Baker

Last updated

Tina Baker was a British woman who disappeared in July 2002. [1] Her husband Martin was convicted of her murder in 2006. [1]

Contents

Background

In May 2002 Tina Baker had rekindled a relationship with an old schoolfriend and separated from her husband. [1] She had also asked her husband Martin for a divorce. [1]

Disappearance

She left her new partner's home on the day she disappeared, saying that she was going to feed the animals at Brookfield farm, which she and her husband owned. [1] The farm was near Chobham. [1] Her pet dog was found abandoned and her bank account was untouched. [1] She was last seen in Sunbury on 8 July 2002. [2]

Investigation

Her disappearance was initially treated as a missing persons case, but police became suspicious of her husband. [1] Sniffer dogs had been used to search the farm for her remains, but they failed to find them. [1] In October 2005 he was arrested and charged with his wife's murder. [1]

Trial

During the trial his first wife, Gillian Hopkins, testified that he had threatened to kill her and feed her to the pigs before their divorce. [3] Pig swill and manure were checked for Tina's remains but they were not found. [3]

He denied being at the farm the day Tina disappeared, but a witness testified to meeting him on the farm that day and that he was agitated and made them feel unwelcome. [1] Telephone records placed him near the farm that morning and also that he had contacted a friend who ran a breaker's yard that could dispose of cars that day. [1]

Martin Baker was found guilty of Tina's murder at the Old Bailey although her body was never recovered. [1] [3] He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 14 years. [4]

He had feared he would lose the £100,000 14 acre farm. [4]

Aftermath

In August 2020 police began digging at Priest Lane near Bisley. [2] The Army and special forensic teams were also involved. [2] Her remains were not found. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Reiser</span> American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer

Hans Thomas Reiser is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer. In April 2008, Reiser was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Nina Reiser, who disappeared in September 2006. He subsequently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, as part of a settlement agreement that included disclosing the location of Nina Reiser's body, which he revealed to be in a shallow grave near the couple's home.

Susan Polk is an American woman convicted in June 2006 of second degree (unpremeditated) murder for the 2002 death of her husband, Dr. Frank "Felix" Polk. Polk's trial, described by one Associated Press correspondent as "circus-like", drew extensive media attention with its sensationalist elements.

It is possible to convict someone of murder without the purported victim's body in evidence. However, cases of this type have historically been hard to prove, often forcing the prosecution to rely on circumstantial evidence, and in England there was for centuries a mistaken view that in the absence of a body a killer could not be tried for murder. Developments in forensic science in recent decades have made it more likely that a murder conviction can be obtained even if a body has not been found.

Tina Watson was a 26-year-old American woman from Helena, Alabama, who died while scuba diving in Queensland, Australia, on 22 October 2003. Tina had been on her honeymoon with her new husband, fellow American Gabe Watson, who was initially charged by Queensland authorities with his wife's murder. Watson pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Tobin</span> Scottish serial killer (1946–2022)

Peter Britton Tobin was a Scottish convicted serial killer and sex offender who served a whole life order at HM Prison Edinburgh for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006. Police also investigated Tobin over the deaths and disappearances of other young women and girls.

Jamila Ashley-Cooper, Countess of Shaftesbury, is the French-born Tunisian widow and murderer of the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, a British peer, and is imprisoned for having paid her brother to murder her husband.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Girly Chew Hossencofft</span> American murder case

Girly Chew was a Malaysian-born woman who disappeared on September 9, 1999, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The investigation into the murder of Girly Chew revealed a conspiracy theory involving reptilian queens, UFOs and reports of cannibalism. Girly Chew's husband Diazien Hossencofft and his girlfriend Linda Henning were convicted of her murder. Her body has never been found.

Sheila LaBarre is an American murderer and possible serial killer. She was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, with no prospect of parole after being convicted of killing two men, Kenneth Countie and Michael DeLoge, in Epping, New Hampshire. At the time of the crimes, LaBarre lived in Epping, New Hampshire on a farm.

Helen Elizabeth Bailey was a British author who wrote the Electra Brown series of books aimed at a teenage audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Samia Shahid</span>

On 20 July 2016, Samia Shahid, a 28-year-old British Pakistani woman, was found dead in Punjab, Pakistan. Although involved in a dispute with her family, she had travelled to Pakistan alone as she had been told that her father was critically ill. Relatives claimed that she had died of natural causes, whereas her husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazim, believed that she had been murdered in a so-called "honour killing"; an autopsy and forensic examination concluded that she had been raped and strangled.

Lynette Joy Dawson was an Australian woman who disappeared on 9 January 1982, leaving two daughters and her husband, former rugby league footballer Chris Dawson. Her whereabouts are unknown, but two coronial inquests found that she had been murdered. On 30 August 2022, Chris Dawson was convicted of Lynette's murder and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Susan Monica is an American former sailor and convicted murderer. She garnered public attention after being convicted of murdering two men at her residence in rural Wimer, Oregon. Both of the victims had worked as handymen on her farm, and each had gone missing under mysterious circumstances in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In both cases, Monica dismembered the victims before feeding portions of their remains to her farm pigs. Partial remains of the two men were discovered at her residence after authorities interrogated her for identity theft of one of the men.

The Federico murder case was a criminal case which took place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States, in which Josh Federico shot his wife, Sarah, killed her boyfriend Lawrence Howell, and attempted to kill her unborn child. Following his arrest, Federico conspired with family members and friends to hire someone to kill his father-in-law and brother-in-law. Five people have been implicated in these crimes.

Jennifer Dulos is an American woman who went missing on May 24, 2019. Authorities suspect that she was killed in a violent attack at her home in New Canaan, Connecticut. Her ex-husband, Fotis Dulos, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were arrested on charges of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with Jennifer's disappearance. Later, the two – along with Fotis' attorney Kent Mawhinney – faced additional charges related to Jennifer's murder. Fotis died by suicide in January 2020. Legal proceedings against Troconis and Mawhinney were ongoing as of June 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Rania Alayed</span> Honour killing of a Syrian woman in Greater Manchester, England

Rania Alayed was a 25-year-old mother-of-three murdered by her husband in June 2013, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, in an act of uxoricide. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Chief Detective Inspector Bill Reade described this as an honour killing, and the prosecutors stated she was murdered for trying to achieve independence from her husband and undergoing westernisation. Alayed's remains have never been found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Tulay Goren</span>

Tulay Goren was a 15-year-old Kurdish schoolgirl from Woodford Green, North London who went missing in January 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock Road massacre</span> 1982 murder Michigan, United States

The Rock Road massacre, also known as the Farwell murders or Clare County murders, was a 1982 mass murder in which seven members of the George W. Post family, four adults and three children, were killed with a shotgun, a rifle, and a handgun at a farmhouse on Rock Road in Garfield Township just west of Farwell, Michigan.

Veronica Anne Packman, known as Carole Packman, was a 40-year-old British woman who disappeared from her home in Bournemouth, England in June 1985. Her husband, Russell Causley, was found guilty of his wife's murder, but her body has never been found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Don Banfield</span> 2001 British disappearance case

Donald Banfield was a British man who disappeared from his home in Harrow, London in suspicious circumstances on 11 May 2001. His case is notable for being a rare case in which a murder conviction was secured without a body, and for this conviction being subsequently quashed on the grounds that a joint enterprise conviction in such a case where no body was found was not viable, though the defence themselves remarked that the "likelihood" was that "one or other" of the two suspects in the case had murdered him.

Debbie Griggs was a 34 years old woman who disappeared from her family home in Deal, Kent, on 5 May 1999. She was married with Andrew Griggs and was pregnant at the time of her disappearance.The marriage had three sons.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Lewis, Paul (14 November 2006). "Guilty of murder - the man who police believe may have fed his wife to pigs". The Guardian . Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Tina Baker murder: Fresh dig for woman murdered by husband". BBC News. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "'Pig case' murderer loses appeal". BBC News. 10 November 2008.
  4. 1 2 "Life for man who killed his wife". BBC News. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  5. ↑ "Tina Baker murder: Fresh dig for body ends with nothing found". BBC News. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.