Riding college boss gave double killer a second probability after he left jail – however he sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered her, trial hears

A riding school boss who gave a double killer a second chance after he left jail was sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered by the 56-year-old, a court has heard.

Wendy Buckney, 71, was ‘brutally’ killed by Brian Whitelock in a horrific attack using a knife, a table leg, and a wooden shelf on August 23, 2022.

Swansea Crown Court was told the retired riding school owner had wanted to help the killer after he was freed from prison, having spent 18 years behind bars for murder and manslaughter.

Whitelock moved in opposite Ms Buckney in Clydach, Swansea, following his early release from prison and she would employ him to do odd jobs in her house – after telling her sister that ‘everyone deserves a second chance’.

But after carrying out the attack, which also saw him sexually assault the kind-hearted horsewoman, Whitelock was seen leaving Ms Buckney’s home the following morning wearing only inside-out boxer shorts and covered in blood.

The court heard how he told locals: ‘I’ve killed Wendy. I don’t know why, she was good to me.’

Whitelock admits manslaughter, but denies murdering Ms Buckney, claiming he was acting out of character due to a brain injury.

However, prosecutor Christopher Rees KC said his previous convictions for killing two men in 2001 show he has a ‘propensity to use explosive and disproportionate violence’ and there were similarities between the crimes.

A postmortem examination found ‘vulnerable’ Ms Buckney – who suffered from mobility issues – had ‘too many’ injuries for pathologists to count and flesh from her body was found on the walls and ceiling after the horror attack.

Whitelock was convicted of murdering friend Nicky Morgan, 27, after battering him to death with a hammer and the manslaughter of his own brother Glenn in a fire as he tried to destroy the evidence of the killing.

Mr Rees said that after being arrested over Ms Buckney’s death in August 2022, Whitelock said: ‘I’m not doing another life sentence.’

The court heard how Ms Buckney was murdered by ‘someone she knew and trusted to allow into her home’.

Mr Rees said: ‘He is also a man the prosecution say with a long-standing drug problem and significantly with a history of violence and of trying to divert blame and responsibility for his actions.’

He said Ms Buckney ‘must have suffered greatly’ before her death with ‘multiple stab injuries, sharp force injuries and blunt force injuries inflicted upon her – too many for the pathologist Dr Leadbeatter who examined her body to actually and accurately count;. 

The court heard there was blood across her flat and parts of flesh on her walls and ceiling and parts of wooden MDF shelf embedded in her shins.

Mr Rees said: ‘The defendant upon arrest admitted he had not just murdered her but tortured her with various objects.’

He told the officer: ‘It looks like I f**ing tortured her, I literally have. She was begging me to stop.’

But in the days following Whitelock changed his story to say he had found Ms Buckney injured and had gone to help her and had seen ‘shadowy figures’ outside her flat.

The court heard he admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility in May of this year saying a brain injury was to blame for his actions having suffered a fall and fracturing his skull in the days before.

Ms Buckney founded the well-loved Pen-Y-Fedw Riding Centre and Livery Yard and still kept horses after moving to her new home.

Mr Rees said although she had no children of her own Mrs Buckney was well-loved by her 16 nieces and nephews and two adult step-children and had taught hundreds of children how to ride.

Mr Rees said Whitelock had moved in opposite her and she had employed him to do odd jobs despite being warned against it by her family.

He said: ‘Ms Buckney had told her sister Mr Whitelock, her neighbour, was helping with odd jobs and she paid him to do odd jobs around her flat.

‘Her sister expressed concerns about that because Ms Buckney told her the defendant had been in prison in the past but did not know what for, but in Ms Buckney’s words as she put it: “Everyone deserves a second chance.”.’

Mr Rees told the jury Whitelock’s previous convictions would help them understand ‘the nature of the man you’re dealing with’.

Describing the previous killings, Mr Rees said: ‘After a drink and drug-fuelled argument the defendant repeatedly struck Nicholas Morgan to the face with a weapon – a pick axe handle or hammer – causing his death.

‘He left the premises and purchased a jerry can of petrol from a nearby garage and returned to the address to set it on fire. He poured petrol over Mr Morgan’s body and in other parts of the property before setting it on fire.

‘The defendants brother Glenn Whitelock was asleep upstairs when the fire was started. He died of smoke inhalation.’

Mr Rees said there were ‘significant similarities’ between the killing of Ms Buckley and the previous murder and manslaughter.

He said: ‘In both cases a weapon was used to kill by repeated blows and both victims sustained severe injuries to the face.

‘In both cases explosive and disproportionate violence was used without any obvious motive, in both cases the location of the killings was significantly damaged after the death.

‘In both cases victims were killed in the early hours of the morning and trusted to be there. In both cases the defendant was under the influence of drugs.

‘In both cases he was said to be mumbling and incoherent in the aftermath – of significance he was not blaming any head injury in 2001.’

Whitelock, of Clydach, near Swansea, is representing himself and has pleaded not guilty to the murder Mrs Buckney but admits manslaughter by reasons of diminished responsibility.

The trial, before Mr Justice Griffiths, continues.