by A killer successfully murdered a mother-of-four for 11 years – until he was ambushed by an undercover policeman who pretended to be his best friend.
Darren Osment’s relationship with plainclothes officer ‘Paddy O’Hara’ was even vowed to be his best man, and Avon and Somerset Police collected covert recordings to bring Claire Holland’s murderer to justice .
Ms Holland, 32, was seen leaving a pub in Bristol on the evening of 6 June 2012, after an evening out with friends at Seamus O’Donnell’s pub in St Nicholas Street.
She was reported missing several days later, but despite multiple high-profile appeals and police collecting 1,700 hours of CCTV, no trace of her body was found.
As the case came to a close, officers were unconvinced until July 2019, when Osment contacted 999 to confess his crimes.
He told the operator: “I’m turning myself in… I don’t look good, it’s murder… I took the law into my own hands and you know she took my son from me and I took that from her .”
However, he later retracted his confession and with little concrete evidence, the detectives had to let him go until the decision was made to send an undercover officer to try and capture a confession.
Moving just 300 yards down the road, O’Hara struck up a friendly relationship with the killer, pretending to be a petty criminal selling stolen clothes while drinking and playing pool with him down the pub.
In order to gain his trust, the police invented fake criminal cases, such as O’Hara asking Osment to act as a lookout when he carjacked a lorry at a motorway services.
Over the course of 20 months, Osment came to regard the undercover officer as his closest friend and began making some chilling confessions about his involvement in Ms Holland’s death.
Jurors at Bristol Crown Court heard Ms Holland and Osment had a volatile relationship in 2008 and welcomed a child together, who was later taken into the care of social services after she reported him to the police.
Filled with “intense hatred”, Osment often referred to her as a “stupid b***h” and said he had a dream about her with her eyes on the black bean, saying “she’s not going to see the light of day again . “.
Another time, they were walking near Severn Beach when Osment remarked that Ms Holland had a “pretty f****ing swimming lesson” and said her body was “halfway to Spain”.
While making these admissions, he must vomit, which police and prosecutors believe was his response to facing the reality of his actions.
Such was the covert nature of the operation, that even the main investigative team was not aware of the deployment until July 2022, when the decision was made to recapture Osment.
This came after he admitted the previous month to luring the mother to the pub where he worked as a cook, and using his “knife skills” to kill her. He added: “It’s all done and dusted, all the work, burnt clothes outside… As far as I know the bits and pieces are scattered.”
He mentioned that her body was being weighed down in water, before adding: “It makes me sick. But I did it for [my child].”
After being charged with murder, he pleaded not guilty and subjected Ms Holland’s family to an 11-week trial, during which the jury was played the surveillance footage.
Jurors also heard that the undercover officer saw Osment being violent towards his dog, attacking bar staff and displaying his weapons including a hammer at his front door.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Darren Hannant, said: “The evidence we have carefully gathered over the past four years has established that Osment was a selfish and violent misogynist who abused almost everyone he was close to. .
“Our investigation found that he had repeatedly confessed to others about his involvement in Claire’s murder, but due to a lack of supporting evidence, a decision was made to obtain authorization to deploy an undercover officer, while with the express aim of revealing the story. truth about Claire’s disappearance, and hoping to find her body.
“The evidence and video footage collected by the officer revealed Osment’s disturbed and hateful character and more importantly, details about the murder that would otherwise have been unknown.
He continued: “It was a brutal and premeditated crime fueled by his intense hatred for Claire, whom he blamed for having taken her child into care.”
Ben Samples, Senior District Crown Prosecutor for South West PSC, said: “This was a horrific crime and Claire’s family suffered over a decade of pain as Osment tried to cover up his crimes by weaving a web of deception, while cruelly refused to supply. any information that would help to locate Claire’s body.
“Homicide cases where a body has not yet been found are very complex, as it is harder to prove that a murder took place and there is less evidence to pin the crime on the suspect – so prosecutors have to think outside the box .
“Piece by piece, we worked with the police to present a very strong case to the jury that clearly demonstrated that this was ‘foul play’ and that Osment had no intention but to commit murder.”
Osment is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.
