Roger Severs

Case record: Roger Severs

Status

Roger Severs was sentenced to two life sentences in prison on December 6, 1994.

Background

Roger Severs was tried for the murder of his mother and father. At Nottingham Crown Court, a defence witness described him as "an inadequate psychopath". Severs was unemployed and lived with his parents, but they refused to help him financially. The couple’s son, Severs, had no career to speak of and lived off his parents all his life. Derek and Eileen Severs were pillars of their community in Hambleton, Leicestershire. Derek was described as a successful businessman and Eileen had been awarded an MBE for her charity work. Severs was described as resentful of his parents’ refusal to support him.

The offence

On 13th November 1993, Severs returned from a drinking session and battered his 69-year-old mother, Eileen, to death with a steak mallet in their bungalow in Hambleton, Leicestershire. When Severs’s 68-year-old father, Derek, returned home, he too was attacked and beaten to death.

Severs admitted the killings and tried to claim diminished responsibility at the time of the killings. The jury found him guilty on both counts of murder after deliberating for just two hours.

After the killings, the bodies were put in the family car and taken to Armley Wood, where they were buried.

Investigation

Police became suspicious after visiting the Severs’ bungalow. The house was described as meticulously tidy yet also as a bit of a mess, and the carpets had been removed from two rooms. Everyone seemed worried about the couple’s disappearance, apart from Roger. He maintained that they were on holiday, but police said there was no evidence of them having planned any trip and that they had made several appointments in the village for that week.

During the initial search, scenes of crime officers conducted a forensic search of the house. In the bathroom, they found blood, spattered in a way that was said to have only resulted from a violent attack. The blood had been cleaned up, but it was said not to have been cleaned well enough. Forensic teams also found similar blood traces near the garage, and said they had evidence of two very violent attacks.

Along the hallway carpets in the house, police found a trail of yellow fibres. The fibres were described as having a “rolled” appearance, and were said to have been left by something heavy being dragged over the carpet. The blood and fibre trails continued inside the car. The car was said to have been muddy, inside and out, which was described as out of keeping with Mr Severs’s fastidious nature. The car was said to have been driven somewhere, probably off road, and probably with the bodies in the back.

Police traced the mud on the car by taking samples from the wheel arches and footwells. Detailed examination showed the mud had been accumulated recently, off-road, and over a short period of time. The mud contained quartz, calcite, ironstone, chert and coated road stone, which was said to suggest an unmade-up road in the East Leicestershire region. The organic matter in the sample showed two dozen varieties of plant life, including grasses, oak, alder and hawthorn leaves and moss. Naturalists were said to have narrowed the origins of the mud to two areas of woodland: one on and one adjacent to the Hambleton peninsula. The presence of a littel piece of fishing line was said to have made it possible to locate the bodies close to the water’s edge.

As police searched one of the locations, an officer noticed broken twigs and branches. Nearby, police found a pile of disturbed soil, described as different in colour from the surrounding forest floor. The officer poked his hand into the mound, found cold human skin, and the mound was excavated using archaeological techniques.

Police found the bodies of Mr and Mrs Severs. She was wrapped in a yellow blanket. Both were said to have had their heads smashed in, possibly with a mallet. The earth piled on top of the bodies was said to have come from the Severs’ garden. There was also a potato whose origin, an expert testified, was from Mr Severs’s vegetable patch.

Police said Severs had dragged the bodies to the woods and dumped them in an existing hollow. Police said he then returned to the house and filled bags with soil from the garden, making several journeys using the car to shift two and a half tons of soil and debris from the house to the woods. Police said he piled this soil on top of the bodies and then disguised the disturbance with nearby leaves and twigs. Police said he tore up the blood-stained carpets and probably burnt some murder evidence, and that police found there had recently been a bonfire in the garden. Police said he used Jeyes fluid in the garage and bathroom and planned the clean up carefully, including leaving a list of chores he needed to do: clean the car, clean the bathroom, put out the fire. Police said he had not got round to cleaning mud from the car, and that the mud led police straight to the bodies.

Arrest

Friends contacted Leicestershire Police about the disappearance of Derek and Eileen Severs. Police visited Derek and Eileen’s home and met Roger. Police arrested Severs on suspicion of murder later that day.

Trial

At Nottingham Crown Court, Severs was described by a defence witness as "an inadequate psychopath". Severs was found guilty of murdering his parents and received two life sentences.

Sentencing

On 6 December 1994, Severs was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Timeline

• 13 Nov 1993 — The last sightings of Eileen and Derek Severs; at 13.30pm Eileen left a charity bazaar and at 15.30pm Derek left a local pub.
• 14 Nov 1993 — Roger Severs delivered raffle prizes to two locals on behalf of his mother, who he claimed was sitting in the car outside waiting for him; witnesses later told police that Roger was in the car alone.
• 18 Nov 1993 — Concerned friends contacted Leicestershire Police about the disappearance of Derek and Eileen Severs.
• 19 Nov 1993 — Police visited Derek and Eileen’s home; police met Roger and arrested him on suspicion of murder later that day; a detailed search and forensic examination of the Severs’ bungalow began.
• 20 Nov 1993 — Severs’s car was examined by police.
• 23 Nov 1993 — Police charged Roger with the murder of his parents; Eileen and Derek’s bodies had not yet been discovered.
• 1 Dec 1993, 9.15am — The bodies of Mr and Mrs Severs were discovered in Armley Wood on Hambleton Peninsular.
• Nov 1994 — At Nottingham Crown Court, Roger Severs was found guilty of murdering his parents, and received two life sentences.
• 6 Dec 1994 — Roger Severs was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Outcome

The jury found Severs guilty of murder on both counts of murder. He admitted the killings but tried to claim diminished responsibility at the time of the killings.

Other details

Severs’s involvement in accounting for the disappearance of his parents was described as making up a series of stories. The bodies were discovered three weeks after the killings, and they were found on 1 December 1993 in Armley Wood on Hambleton Peninsular. The circumstances included that there was a week with no word from the missing couple, that they missed appointments and failed to meet friends, and that their disappearance was described as totally out of character. Roger claimed they were on holiday despite police saying there was no evidence of any planned trip and despite his parents having made several appointments in the village for that week.