Pub chef denies murdering ex-partner Claire Holland

A pub chef has denied murdering his ex-partner and said the various confessions he has made over the years to killing her were the ramblings of a “drunken idiot”, a court has heard.

Darren Osment, 41, is accused of murdering Claire Holland in a drunken argument hours after she was last seen leaving a pub in the centre of Bristol in June 2012.

Despite extensive police investigations, the 32-year-old mother-of-four has not been seen since and her body has never been found.

Prosecutors allege that Osment blamed Ms Holland for their newborn baby being taken into care by social services.

Claire Holland has not been seen since June 2012 (Avon and Somerset Police/PA)

Bristol Crown Court has heard that Osment has allegedly confessed to six different parties that he was involved in her killing and the disposal of her body.

These include friends, a new partner, a 999 call operator, uniformed police officers, an undercover officer assigned to befriend Osment, and a prison inmate.

Ray Tully KC, defending, asked: “Did you murder Claire Holland?”

Osment replied: “No, I didn’t murder Claire, and I don’t know anything about her disappearance.”

Giving evidence, the defendant accepted he had made admissions of guilt to all of those mentioned, except the prisoner, saying there was “absolutely no truth whatsoever” to what they claimed.

Mr Tully told Osment that, over the last few weeks in court, he has heard the prosecution case against him.

“In admitting you have said these things to Adrian Mulcahy, Michael Salaway, Selina Mulcahy etc, why did you say these things?” Mr Tully asked.

Osment replied: “For the want of a better explanation, I am a drunken idiot.”

The barrister asked: “Why would you confess to involvement in either Claire Holland’s killing or the disposal of her body unless you had done it?”

Osment replied: “No idea. Good question. Drinking too much, trying to big myself up, make myself out to be something I am not… the combination of the three.

“Again, I haven’t got a proper explanation.”

Darren Osment has been giving evidence for the first time in his trial (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

Osment told the court he accepted saying “some of the things” to Daniel Lewis but denied he had made any admissions about Ms Holland’s murder or disposal of her body to the prisoner.

“I deny it, I didn’t do that,” Osment said.

The court heard that after the defendant left school he worked as a drayman before training as a chef.

He met Ms Holland when they were both working in a Bristol city centre cafe and a year into the relationship she became pregnant, which left him “shocked”, he said.

Osment said they were both heavy drinkers, describing their relationship as “alcohol-led”, and that when he learned they were to become parents they moved into a two-bedroom house in Bradley Stoke, near Bristol.

The court was told that, a few weeks after their child was born, the baby was taken into care by social services.

The jury has previously heard that Osment made multiple confessions to an undercover police officer, known only as Paddy O’Hara, who was assigned to find out what happened to Ms Holland.

In covert recordings the defendant had suggested he had killed her, cut up her body with a knife and dumped her remains in water.

Osment, of Chessel Drive, Patchway, South Gloucestershire, has pleaded not guilty to murder on a date between June 5 and June 8 2012.

The trial continues.