20 December 2023 , 18:18
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An undercover officer worked for 20 months, befriending a sick murderer to get 16 confessions to killing his ex-partner.
Darren Osment was jailed for life, with a minimum of 20 years, for murdering Claire Holland. However the mum's body has never been found, and to this day it isn't known what exactly happened to it. The mum-of-four was last seen on the evening of June 6, 2012, leaving a pub in Bristol.
Then, seven years later in 2019, Osment called 999 and confessed to killing her but due to a lack of evidence, he couldn’t be convicted and he later denied it in an interview claiming it was drunken ramblings. But Avon and Somerset Police weren’t deterred, and in 2020 they sent an officer to go undercover and befriend Osment.
Posing as a man called Paddy O’Hara, the undercover officer spent 20 months becoming close friends with Osment. Across this time, he gained 16 separate confessions from Osment, for killing Claire. The murderer suggested he cut up Claire's body with a knife, and dumped her remains in water. The officer gathered more than 1,200 hours of audio and video footage.
Between December 2020 and July 2022, the officer created a fiction of being involved in the criminal underworld with links to organised crime and spent many hours with Osment playing pool or snooker, going for walks or engaging in supposed criminality.
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O’Hara relocated to a flat nearby to Osment’s home, and befriended the killer. He put on a persona of a petty criminal who sold stolen or fake clothes. To ensure his fake identity was believable, O'Hara asked Osment to hide a gun and watch out while he "carjacked" a lorry.
During the trial, the court heard the undercover officer had witnessed many examples of Osment’s violent temper, particularly when drinking. In one recorded clip, Osment told the officer: "Mate, I trust you like a f****** brother… it’s just, I don’t f****** cast my mind back to what I had to f******, do you know what I mean, it’s not f****** pleasant bro. It was f****** horrible."
Bodycam footage of Darren Osment being arrested by police for the murder of Claire Holland (Avon & Somerset Police / SWNS)This was after he confessed to killing Claire. He tells him in another clip: "And then, I just mate just I, you know, it’s what it is, but it’s all, all done, done and dusted, all the f****** work, clothes burnt outside, f****** everything’s gone, everything’s gone."
In another, Osment, a pub chef, said that he has "knife skills" and ran his hand across his torso while making a swishing sound which appears to indicate he had cut up Ms Holland’s body and then weighed her down in water.
Beloved mum Claire Holland (PA Media)
CCTV shows a mum-of-four's last moments before she disappeared without trace more than a decade ago (Avon & Somerset Police / SWNS)Osment tells the officer: "The time it happened there was a massive overflow. There was a load of f****** water, and it came rushing down, I know the f****** route it comes down, and I think it’s just f******… cause it’s such little bits. It’s all f****** weighed, it’s all down, it’s not going to come floating back up."
The team of officers investigating Osment were unaware of the undercover officer’s deployment until July 2022 when a decision was made to re-arrest him. This led to him being charged with Claire’s murder. The officer also noted that anytime Ms Holland was brought up in conversation, the killer would call her a "stupid b***h" instead of using her name. He shifted blame onto his former partner and accused her of drinking whilst she was pregnant and whilst looking after their baby, which led to the child being taken into care.
Osment was sentenced to life at Bristol Crown Court (PA Media)
The undercover officer recorded 1,200 hours of audio and video (Avon & Somerset Police / SWNS)The jury heard how Osment told O'Hara he had "done horrible f*****g s***' and couldn't change what had happened because "what is done is done." He sickenly also said his ex-partner had a "nice f*****g swimming lesson" and said her body was "halfway to Spain".
In total, he made 16 confessions to O'Hara and on one occasion, he said it was "all done and dusted" and said the clothes were set alight outside. He added: "It makes me feel sick. But I did it for [my child]." This was the admission which led to his arrest and he was charged with murder the next day. The undercover operation was then withdrawn and police informed Ms Holland's family about their investigation.
The family of Claire spoke outside Bristol Crown Court after her ex-partner Osment was jailed for a minimum of 20 years for her murder. Her sister, Sarah Holland, described how the mother-of-four’s disappearance had caused "tremendous sadness, confusion and worry" to the family.
She said: "The pain of not having her in our lives is indescribable. We will forever miss her happy, warm, and fun personality. She loved her children wholeheartedly, and they will always love her.
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"During the trial we have been sickened to hear how Claire’s life was cruelly taken from us. Her death was totally senseless and completely unjustified. We have listened to weeks of painful evidence. Despite all this, we still do not know the full details of what happened to Claire. Her body has never been found.
"The person who took her life has continued to cause us agony. We continue to suffer because of this failure to tell us about Claire’s final moments, and where she went. We have been denied this basic justice. Her death is indefensible. We have been haunted by our not being able to see her one final time. She deserves to be given a place to rest, where we can honour and respect her memory."