00:00:04
[music playing] NARRATOR: On an ordinary
street in England, an extraordinary
tragedy as two children
00:00:11
week to discover their
mother lying on the floor. The eldest son, just
six years old, killed 999.
00:00:21
He told the operator that
she had blood all over her. She was lying on her
back with her eyes open.
00:00:28
[music playing] NARRATOR: The children's
father is missing. There's no sign
of Andrew Tavener.
00:00:36
He's gone. He's fled. He's into the wind. First thing I heard was, the
following morning, my sister
00:00:44
rang me to tell
me that Andy Tav's had been at the train station. That he tried to jump
in front of a train.
00:00:51
When he approached Mr.
Tavener, the train driver said, what have you been doing?
00:00:57
He indicated that he
just wanted to die. NARRATOR: What had happened that
night between Andrew and Claire
00:01:04
Tavener? They had met, they had married. Now, one appeared to be dead
and the other about to die.
00:01:15
[music playing] [music playing] NARRATOR: When Claire
was 22 years old, she thought she had it all.
00:01:52
A doting fiancee, a
gorgeous new baby. She was content
with the life she had built for herself in her
hometown of Nailsea, Somerset.
00:02:02
EMMA KENNY: Claire
is a human being who is highly charismatic. She's incredibly
witty, her friends
00:02:07
respond to her in a really great
way because she's so popular. She's one of those individuals
that really is the center.
00:02:13
She's the person
that you definitely wanted to party with you. She was an outdoorsy girl,
she loved riding horses,
00:02:20
she had two dogs. She worked in the
Old Farmhouse Pub. NARRATOR: It is while
working at the Farmhouse Pub
00:02:28
that she meets Andrew Tavener. EMMA KENNY: Tavener
is a tree surgeon, so he's got a really
regular career.
00:02:34
He's an individual, he's had a
relationship before, he's got a child from that relationship.
00:02:38
And it doesn't seem to have
been massively eventful. But when he meets Claire,
he feels like she's
00:02:43
the love of his life. And she tells people that
she is the one for him. NARRATOR: Andrew
is 40 years old,
00:02:50
18 years older than Claire. He's from the village of
Nailsea, close to Bristol, which is a rural community.
00:02:58
And he was a very
physical and tough guy. NARRATOR: The land at the
Railway In Pub in Bristol
00:03:04
knew the couple. Andy was a regular. He played pool on the county
team with her husband.
00:03:12
Andy's he's been playing
pool here, I reckon, maybe seven or eight years. [music playing]
00:03:24
It was a team of
about 50 people. He was a great character
who always brought a lot
00:03:29
of enthusiasm to the team. He was known as a gentle giant. He was always very willing
to help anyone out.
00:03:36
Just generally, he was a
pleasant person to be around. He was enjoyed as
part of the team.
00:03:42
And he was always very positive. What's interesting
about Tavener is that he doesn't come
across in any negative way.
00:03:49
When people are asked about his
nature, he's straightforward, he's very kind. So he's somebody that
doesn't strike you as having
00:03:56
any particular potential. NARRATOR: Within months
of meeting Andrew Tavener, Claire was pregnant.
00:04:02
The couple thrilled. They tell friends that they're
planning to spend the rest of their lives together.
00:04:08
This was a whirlwind
relationship that turned into a whirlwind marriage. NARRATOR: So on a beautiful
English spring day in April
00:04:14
2013, Claire and Andrew
gathered their loved ones together at Clifton Hall. And he tells all
his friends that she's
00:04:21
simply the best thing
that's ever happened to him. NARRATOR: Wedding
photographer Simon Burns
00:04:25
likes to get to know
couples before their big day so he can capture the
personalities in the pictures.
00:04:32
To be at someone's wedding
and to be asked to be their photographer
on, you know, one
00:04:39
of the biggest days
of their life is-- is actually a great honor. And that somebody is giving me
that responsibility to capture,
00:04:49
to record this big day. NARRATOR: One thing
struck Simon out of the ordinary for the usual
weddings that he photographed.
00:04:58
I do, in particular, remember
Andrew and Claire's wedding. I think one of the reasons
may be the age difference
00:05:08
between Andrew and Claire. I believe there
was about 18 years between them, which is always
something that stands out.
00:05:17
And also I think I
remember it because Andrew was quite a character. He was a jolly character.
00:05:26
He seemed happy. He seemed quite
outgoing, quite loud. He was always having a bit
of a joke with a laugh.
00:05:33
NARRATOR: To Simon,
Claire seemed quiet. SIMON ELLISON-BURNS:
I think Claire was a little bit nervous.
00:05:39
She was a bit shy as well. So I think that came with that. I don't think Andrew
was really nervous.
00:05:45
Andrew was outside
the hall greeting the guests as they turned up. He was a jolly chap.
00:05:51
He was full of energy. NARRATOR: Nervous or not,
the bride was a picture. SIMON ELLISON-BURNS: Claire was
wearing white wedding dress.
00:06:01
It was a shoulder-less dress. She had quite a long-- well, a medium-sized train
at the back of the dress.
00:06:09
It wasn't too long. But she also had a nice tiara
with the veil over her head. I also remember that she had
a hair with a nice curl coming
00:06:20
down in front of her face. And she looked very nice indeed. She was very beautiful
bride, I mean.
00:06:29
NARRATOR: So Claire begins
her life as Mrs. Tavener. Within a year, they
have another baby.
00:06:34
The perfect couple perhaps. But Claire tells friends that
Andy was not quite the same
00:06:39
after the couple married. I think what becomes very
clear about this relationship
00:06:45
quite early on is that Andrew
feels like this is a very traditional relationship.
00:06:51
He's the boss. He's the alpha male. She's the little woman
who should stay at home
00:06:58
and do what she's told. Quite actually strong beliefs
in that direction, it seems.
00:07:04
EMMA KENNY: Whilst it
appears that there were no obvious signs of
problematic behavior
00:07:08
as far as Tavener's violence
or aggression or abuse towards Claire's consent
before the marriage,
00:07:13
after the marriage there
seems to be an upping of controlling behaviors. So she has to
leave social events
00:07:19
to go home and make his tea. He complains about the way that
she looks after the household.
00:07:23
So there are these
incremental shifts in the way that he views her. But also incremental shifts
in the way that he feels he
00:07:31
has a possession of her. NARRATOR: Outwardly, he's
still the gentle giant. Loved by his mates down the pub.
00:07:38
Maybe and Andrew drink
a little too much. But he's a key player
on the pub pool team.
00:07:44
Drinking goes with
the territory. MERRAN LAWRENCE: We
never had any trouble with Andy at all, ever really.
00:07:51
And they used to get quite
drunk on county days, to say the least. They've come back
from their coach trips
00:07:55
having been drinking all day. We've got pictures
of him pouring, they're all having a
transport beer themselves
00:08:01
and things like that. You know, just joining
in with everybody else. NARRATOR: In public,
Andrew is a joker.
00:08:08
In private, though, his
controlling behavior towards his wife is escalating. In February 2015,
there were two
00:08:18
reports of domestic violence. One of which involved
Tavener allegedly pushing Claire down the stairs.
00:08:26
NARRATOR: His abuse of her
is witnessed on occasions. He calls her friends
quite sexist names.
00:08:33
And he actually pushes Claire
around in front of them. He's not particularly
concerned about people
00:08:42
thinking that-- that
he's violent with her. He seems to be quite
happy for them to know,
00:08:47
which suggests that
he feels justified, he feels he's in charge. He's making sure
that he's dominating.
00:08:54
And he's showing everyone that. Something seems
to change in Andrew. Now, whether that's insecurity
about the age difference,
00:09:02
about the fact that she's
very, very attractive, he's an outdoors working guy. And is he worried about
what his wife's going to do?
00:09:08
Something changes inside him. The violence begins. His controlling nature
comes to the fore.
00:09:15
These culminate in
some really quite serious domestic
violence incidents where police are called.
00:09:21
Where she's grabbed
by the throat. Where he tries to
throw down the stairs. This is the start-- the
emergence of a very, very
00:09:28
serious pattern of violence. NARRATOR: It's an escalation
in his violent behavior
00:09:33
which would worry domestic
abuse experts like Jill Barr. Tavener has grabbed
Claire around her neck
00:09:40
and lifted her off the ground. And this has been done
in front of friends. That's saying,
look what I can do.
00:09:46
Look what I'm doing and what
are you guys going to do? NARRATOR: Two years
after they had married,
00:09:51
and by February
2015, Andrew Tavener is openly abusing his wife. Fueling his apparent rage,
the very thing he thought
00:09:59
made him popular, drinking. He could-- he could
drink a knot, yes. I don't know what he drank
the rest of the time,
00:10:09
but anybody who can
drink as much as he could and still be OK, clearly
drank quite a lot.
00:10:19
[music playing] NARRATOR: In February 2015,
24 years old mom of two, Claire Tavener has a steady job.
00:10:26
Her parents living
just down the road. But less than two years
into their marriage,
00:10:31
Andrew Tavener has turned into
someone she doesn't recognize. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Claire's
found herself in a marriage
00:10:38
with a much older
man who has very set ideas about their relative
roles within that relationship.
00:10:47
And Claire finds herself
now, after having quite a lot of freedom, a mother
but also somebody who
00:10:55
has to keep house for this man. And he's insistent on it. We see lots of arguments
around whether she's
00:11:05
keeping the house tidy enough. You know, whether she is
home at the right time. So all of these kind
of gendered roles
00:11:16
are being really, really
enforced by this man. And that must have been
quite a shock for Claire.
00:11:23
NARRATOR: Friends are
starting to notice how much he's drinking. He was a blokey guy.
00:11:29
He enjoyed his work. He enjoyed a drink. He loved the glass of cider. He'd often go to the
pub, drink far too much.
00:11:37
And he wouldn't be aggressive,
he wouldn't be violent. But he'd be annoying, too loud.
00:11:41
And sometimes, made a
nuisance of himself. He drank far too much, which
also led to a drunk driving
00:11:47
conviction some time ago. NARRATOR: Though popular
with his pool pals, he could fall out with people.
00:11:54
JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
Andrew Tavener is a very thin-skinned individual. He sees critique and slights
in everything people say.
00:12:04
So he's-- he's constantly, you
know, having petty arguments with people and enforcing his--
00:12:10
his opinion. NARRATOR: And forcing his
attitude towards his wife, too. Friends report that
Claire would often
00:12:18
leave social engagements
in order to go home and prepare food for Tavener. And she also claimed
that he would
00:12:26
make comments about her not
keeping the house tidy enough. He's actually quite
sexist in his beliefs.
00:12:33
And he clearly thinks
that Claire is there to serve him as the alpha male. And it's all completely
over the top.
00:12:43
And it's almost a
role he's playing. But inside his head, he
actually feels entitled
00:12:51
to have that alpha male role. And he is enforcing
it through violence. [music playing]
00:13:02
NARRATOR: Claire's friends
can't help but notice his worsening behavior. He is hurting Claire in front
of them and in the family home.
00:13:10
JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
It's kind of, look at me. Look what I'm doing. Be scared of me.
00:13:15
Be worried about me. I've got this temper. I've got this strength. I think he picks up
a TV at some point
00:13:23
and throws it out of the window. Everything is kind of noisy
and visual with this man.
00:13:29
NARRATOR: Two years
into their marriage, and Claire lives every day
fearing for her safety.
00:13:33
[music playing] I've been in this situation
as a police officer. I've been to houses where
there has been violence.
00:13:45
Not necessarily an enormous
amount of violence, maybe not even any visible injuries.
00:13:49
But sometimes you
can smell the fear. Sometimes you can smell
the fear from the wife
00:13:53
but she does not
want to assist you, she does not want to
make an allegation. You can sense the atmosphere
within these houses,
00:13:59
particularly in situations
like this where you have a significantly
older man, probably
00:14:05
an enormously jealous man. A man with some physical means. You drive away from there and
you just hope-- you hope you
00:14:11
don't have to go back again. NARRATOR: In 2015,
Claire finds the courage to report two instances
of domestic violence
00:14:19
to the police. She was looking for help. That only fuels Tavener's rage. So she accuses him
of violence twice.
00:14:28
And also now we
see an escalation of his behavior regarding
what he feels is betrayal.
00:14:32
So he's constantly
questioning her and suggesting that she's cheated on him. So he's looking to pick apart
the relationship and also
00:14:40
the commitment that
she has towards it. NARRATOR: In one instance,
reports to the police Andy
00:14:45
tries to throw Claire
down the stairs while she's holding
their young son. Former police
inspector Jill Barr
00:14:53
spent 20 years on the
force specializing in domestic violence cases. To her, this latest
attack was a warning
00:15:00
of how bad things could become. When you're holding a
baby or a young child, how vulnerable was Claire
feeling at that point
00:15:09
to then have the father
of that child push, which could have resulted in not
just entry to clear but injury
00:15:16
to the child as well. And you have to ask the
question, what dad-- what man would do
that to a woman
00:15:22
he supposedly loves when
she's holding a child? What a great example of
power and control is that?
00:15:31
I can do to you what
I want because you're holding our child. What are you going to do?
00:15:36
You're not in a position
to defend yourself. And look what I can do. NARRATOR: What Andrew
was doing increasingly
00:15:43
became common knowledge. He done it once,
he did it again. He attacked Claire in public.
00:15:50
In the second of
these incidents, witnessed by several of
Claire's friends, Tavener
00:15:55
called Claire's friends bitches. He grabbed Claire by the throat. Picked her up and shook her.
00:16:01
JILL BARR: The
second incident we're aware of is Claire is
picked up by Tavener by her neck in front of people
and lifted off the ground.
00:16:08
That's very bold, abusive,
physical assault in front of people that know them. That's saying to the
people around about,
00:16:17
look what I can do. Imagine sitting watching
that thinking, what can I do? What is going on here?
00:16:24
That doesn't look right. But there's no suggestion
that at any point anybody intervened to help Claire.
00:16:29
So people feel
sometimes disabled by seeing things like that. And what that does
and for a man Tavener,
00:16:34
it plays into that power
and control dynamic. Because let's remember, part of
the power and control behavior
00:16:40
is to cause isolation. So if you're making
friends uncomfortable, in this case, witnessing Claire
being grabbed by the neck
00:16:47
and picked up off
the ground, are you going to put yourself in a
position to see that again
00:16:51
or are you going to
turn the other way? NARRATOR: Landlady Merran
remembers the incident.
00:16:56
It was the talk
of the community. One of the friends
of Claire Tavener also named Claire talked
about it in the pub.
00:17:02
She was telling me about a
time where Andy was on his way home and Claire offered to help
Claire Tavener tidy the house.
00:17:10
Because Claire Tavener
was really worried that when Andy came
home, he'd be really
00:17:14
cross because the
house wasn't tidy. So she cleaned the kitchen. And because she put the
dish cloth over the top
00:17:19
instead of where Claire
Tavener would put it, Andy knew that as she
hadn't cleaned the kitchen
00:17:26
and pinned up against
the wall because of it. [music playing] Was it just how he
complete control
00:17:35
over someone, which
I suppose will happen when someone so much younger. I don't know.
00:17:44
NARRATOR: By 2017,
Andrew is barely recognizable as the loving
husband, giggling with his wife
00:17:49
at the altar on that
day in April 2013. He has isolated her
from her friends, controls her every
move, assaults her
00:17:58
when she doesn't behave. And now, perhaps, her
children are at risk. Is it time for her to leave?
00:18:05
She goes and seeks advice
from the Citizens Advice Bureau that she wants to
end the relationship.
00:18:09
These are signs
and symptoms to him that the power and control he's
had for so long as ebbing away.
00:18:15
She's making plans to leave. NARRATOR: Experts
point to this moment when a woman decides she's
leaving as very dangerous.
00:18:23
In 2020, 41% of women
murdered by their partners were killed once they
had tried to leave.
00:18:30
It's one of the
most high risk points in an abusive relationship
for the women, in this case, Claire
to say, you know what?
00:18:38
That's enough. I'm going. We know that that's a
loss of power and control. And we know that first three
months of somebody like Claire
00:18:44
leave and somebody like
Tavener is a high risk factor for homicide. NARRATOR: In the winter
of 2017, Claire Tavener
00:18:51
has begun to plan her life
without her violent husband. She agrees to one last
Christmas together as a family.
00:18:58
Then she's planning her escape. Someone like Andrew is
getting more dangerous. So Claire starts having
conversations with him
00:19:06
about ending the relationship. She talks about moving out. She talks about
moving in to the pub.
00:19:13
And Andrew is becoming
a lot more volatile. So that control that
he has over her,
00:19:21
he wants to enforce that even
stronger now because he's got no arguments left now.
00:19:27
Physical force, really,
is the only thing. He doesn't seem to
have that side to him
00:19:32
that can charm or manipulate. He literally has his physical
strength to win any argument.
00:19:40
NARRATOR: Prosecutors would soon
get to know all about the life and times of Mr.
and Mrs. Tavener.
00:19:45
KERRY MAYLIN: My
name's Kerry Maylin. I was the prosecution
counsel in the case against Andrew Tavener.
00:19:50
He was charged with murder. All of the witness evidence
that the police obtained
00:19:56
and that they were
coexisting for the purposes of the Christmas period
with very much the idea
00:20:03
that post Christmas,
Claire would leave with the boys
and the relationship would be formally ended.
00:20:11
NARRATOR: Over Christmas,
they put on a show. The couple spend New
Year's Eve with neighbors.
00:20:16
Nobody suspects that
this is the beginning of the end for the Taveners. But in January, Claire begins
to put her plan into action.
00:20:23
She's been offered a room in the
pub where she works to sleep. And she tells her
husband she's moving out.
00:20:29
Andrew won't allow that. After new year, things begin
to get unbearable for Claire.
00:20:35
His bullying, coercive
and violent nature is getting worse. He takes her keys
from her to prevent
00:20:41
her driving away from him. He will do anything to keep her. But she wants out. EMMA KENNY: She decides that
she wants to file for divorce.
00:20:48
So she leaves him and
starts that procedure. And it's clear at
that point, that she's
00:20:51
got some very clear
visions about what she wants for her life. And it doesn't involve
a controlling partner.
00:20:56
She doesn't want that
violence in her world. NARRATOR: Andrew Tavener,
a so-called alpha male with
00:21:01
a fragile ego,
cannot understand why his wife would want to leave. He begins to develop
a paranoid delusion,
00:21:07
Claire is leaving not
because he is violent, but because she is
seeing another man.
00:21:12
Andrew Tavener was
driven by jealousy. Driven by jealousy that his
wife might be having an affair,
00:21:18
despite the fact that there was
no evidence of this whatsoever. Other things started
happening that just
00:21:23
confirmed this paranoid
belief about the affair. You know, she was
wanting to leave.
00:21:28
She was staying out. She might have been
talking to her friends. All of this would have
been proof positive
00:21:34
for him that he was a cuckold. He was being humiliated
by this woman. NEIL LANCASTER: She's showing
an enormous amount of strength
00:21:45
of character to have
the bravery to walk away from this man who has controlled
her for such an amount of time.
00:21:52
Little does she know this is
putting the danger against her up and up and up. Once she asks for
a divorce, this
00:21:59
is going to cause problems. NARRATOR: Claire Tavener has
never been in more danger.
00:22:05
JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
This is a violent man. This is a paranoid man
and a melodramatic man.
00:22:11
Claire wanted to leave him. That would go against all of his
kind of macho and sexist belief
00:22:19
systems. He's much older than she is. He's violent. He's paranoid. This is a dangerous
time for Claire.
00:22:27
She probably didn't
realize how dangerous. The knowledge that his wife
is now having the strength
00:22:33
to leave him, he's already
been violent to her-- significantly violent. This is the thing that
will tip him over the edge.
00:22:40
[music playing] NARRATOR: Claire Tavener, just
26, is in an abusive marriage. Claire told
Tavener that she was
00:22:54
going to go and live at
the Old Farmhouse, the pub where she worked. This enraged Tavener
who attempted to throw
00:23:02
a television out of the window. He took Claire's car
keys so that she couldn't take the children with her.
00:23:08
NARRATOR: She could not
yet move to the pub either. But Claire is determined. From the 3rd of January,
she keeps a safe distance
00:23:15
from her violent husband. Now, you can imagine
how this would send him into a spiral of depression.
00:23:21
EMMA KENNY: She goes out
for four nights on the row. And that seems to be a
real trigger point for him.
00:23:27
Tavener feels that there's
potentially betrayal occurring. Remember, he's
constantly been concerned
00:23:32
that she is betraying him. NEIL LANCASTER: He's going
to be drinking heavily, there's absolutely
no doubt about that.
00:23:37
He's got nothing to lose now. He thinks he's lost her. He thinks she's
having an affair.
00:23:41
Entirely incorrectly. Where does he go now? What does he do? You can just see the
writing on the wall.
00:23:47
This is going to be enough to
give him the fuel to the fire. NARRATOR: Claire tells parents
that she has to go out.
00:23:53
Andrew won't allow her
to go into the bedroom. And he's insisting on watching
TV in the living room.
00:23:58
He's leaving her no choice. CLARE MACKINTOSH:
For Tavener, this was confirmation
of his suspicion
00:24:04
that Clare was having an affair. But Claire explained to her
parents that she had to go out.
00:24:10
That Tavener wouldn't
let her in the bedroom. He had control of the
television in the living room.
00:24:15
She had nowhere else to go. NARRATOR: On the
6th of January, she tells her parents that she's
moving out that weekend.
00:24:22
Andrew finds out. It's a turning point. He wasn't going to get the
relationship back with Claire.
00:24:31
And at that point,
people like Andrew become really quite dangerous. So at this point, he knows
that his physical strength,
00:24:43
the only thing he's got, is not
going to force her back to him. So he seems to start
thinking about how he's going
00:24:53
to resolve this whole issue. And it seems that he starts to
decide that it's going to be
00:25:00
through physical violence. NARRATOR: Andrew and
Claire fight again. This time, over who would
look after the children.
00:25:07
Andrew wants to go on a trip
to Weymouth with his pool team. It was the weekend that
everything started to unravel.
00:25:16
That first day, Claire told
her father that she and Tavener had agreed to separate.
00:25:21
That she wasn't sorry about it. The marriage had run its course. It transpired that
the couple have agreed
00:25:27
to stay together for Christmas. But now that that was over,
they were definitely separating.
00:25:33
EMMA KENNY: Tavener
actually goes and plays pool with his friends in Weymouth. He's very fixated
about the relationship.
00:25:38
Again, he's talking to them
about how his relationship is falling apart. How he's been crying.
00:25:43
So he is very distressed. And he's sharing
that information, which means that it's
constantly on his mind.
00:25:50
NEIL LANCASTER:
During this time, he starts drinking
incredibly heavily. He starts telling his friends
his world is falling apart.
00:25:57
NARRATOR: Andrew is
drinking heavily. They were all drinking. It's not uncommon when the
team travels to tournaments.
00:26:04
But friends remember
Andrew was drinking a lot. KERRY MAYLIN: A number
of those teammates
00:26:11
gave evidence in relation to
his consumption of alcohol. He drank both on the journey
to the pool tournament
00:26:18
in Weymouth, drank during
the pool tournament. And then prior to boarding the
coach for the return journey
00:26:23
to Bristol, purchased
more alcohol and snacks for the journey home. And on return to Bristol,
went into a public house
00:26:31
when others perhaps suggested he
would be better off going home. But in his words, he
was going to get wasted.
00:26:37
NARRATOR: For Merran
and her partner Kevin, that weekend is seared
into their memories.
00:26:42
What could they have done
differently to protect Claire? MERRAN LAWRENCE: On the last day
of the season for county pool,
00:26:49
the men were away to Weymouth. And Andy was on the
coach with them all. They had started drinking
in the morning, which
00:26:55
was customary to their outing. And on the way
back on the coach, Andy had said to
my partner Kevin
00:27:04
that he split with
his wife and he didn't want to split with her. NARRATOR: Marren
liked Andrew Tavener.
00:27:09
He was a regular in the pub and
a good friend of her partner. She was surprised to learn that
the Taveners were splitting up.
00:27:15
She told Kevin to make sure
Andrew knew he could stay at the pub but he needed to.
00:27:20
As they put their children
to bed that night, Merran heard the whole
story from Kevin.
00:27:24
Andy had said to a
couple of his teammates that he was going to go
home and kill his wife.
00:27:29
And they didn't
think anything of it. Because, well, they
didn't know that he was splitting with his wife.
00:27:34
He had told Kevin but he
hadn't told the other guys. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: There's
a lot of drinking this weekend
00:27:38
and he starts saying things
that people remember afterwards. Saying things like he's--
00:27:46
he's going to stab Claire. KERRY MAYLIN: On
the journey home, Mr. Tavener continued very much
on the same theme in relation
00:27:53
to his relationship with Claire. And told a different friend
that if Claire continued
00:27:59
to argue with him
when he returned home, he would stab her and kill her. NARRATOR: How could
Andrew's friends have
00:28:07
known what was going to happen? He was a charming, charismatic
friend, the gentle giant.
00:28:13
Yes, he's making threats,
but does he really mean them? NEIL LANCASTER: So here we
are now is the 7th of January,
00:28:22
he's drunk. He's telling his friends
that he wants to get a knife and stab his wife.
00:28:28
Did he mean it? It's not unusual that
people who have decided to kill their partners
start to talk about it
00:28:37
and start to tell
people of their plans. People don't tend
to believe them, don't think they're serious.
00:28:44
Think, oh, they've
had too much to drink. But these threats really,
really should be taken seriously
00:28:51
by anybody who hears them. EMMA KENNY: What
people tend to do is they see the best in
the people that they know.
00:28:58
So their friends
expectation is that, well, he'd never act on this. This is just a
drunken ramblings.
00:29:02
But actually it's
those moments that separate the
opportunity of making a change to the situation.
00:29:09
And people should take this
kind of threat very seriously. JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
He's using language
00:29:16
that is quite absolute. My world is falling apart. He's-- he's kind of saying he
can't live without this woman--
00:29:24
without this relationship. And that kind of suggests where
his-- his thinking is going.
00:29:32
He does not see a future
without that relationship. NARRATOR: The night
of January the 7th,
00:29:40
Claire is at home, the
children asleep in bed. NEIL LANCASTER: So
Andrew goes home.
00:29:44
He's got a plan. We don't know exactly
what that plan was. But we do know he
had a knife with him.
00:29:49
A wooden handle,
large lock knife. We don't know exactly
how it happens but there's clearly a
big row a big violent row
00:29:58
with tragic consequences. NARRATOR: Andrew is very
drunk and he's angry. He calls Claire's father.
00:30:05
He said, you need to take your
daughter back and the sooner the better. KERRY MAYLIN: Mr.
Tavener had returned
00:30:11
home by about 20 to 9:00 on the
evening of the 7th of January. We know that by virtue
of a conversation
00:30:19
he had with Claire's father. There was some
conversation in relation to Mr. Tavener
suggesting that Claire
00:30:26
needed to leave the property. He made mention that Clare
was a nice woman in relation
00:30:32
and a fabulous daughter. But she could not remain
at the house with him. It's almost like he's
wanting to punish her.
00:30:42
And she says to her
dad, oh, ignore him. He's drunk. She's used to these kind
of dramatic-- melodramatic
00:30:50
outbursts from him. Remember that Claire has had
a history with Tavener drinking
00:30:54
and, obviously, at
times, being threatening. So even though her father
relays this to Claire,
00:31:00
Claire doesn't feel that
she's any imminent danger. NARRATOR: Claire had
no way of knowing
00:31:05
that today was different. She doesn't know that
he's carrying a knife. EMMA KENNY: So by the time
he walks through the door
00:31:11
to start arguing
with Claire, he's not meeting her
an equal scenario where they then start to argue
about a particular issue.
00:31:19
He has been arguing with
her all day in his head. He's at fever pitch
when he arrives home.
00:31:25
That's what makes
him hugely dangerous. NARRATOR: Her father knows
something isn't right.
00:31:30
He tries texting Claire. KERRY MAYLIN: Claire's father,
after receiving that telephone
00:31:35
call, had some concerns
about the state of the relationship between
his daughter and Mr. Tavener.
00:31:41
And therefore, made
contact both via text and via social media
platform just to reassure
00:31:48
himself that she was all right. Claire was the
type of phone user that would have
replied immediately.
00:31:57
And he received no reply. And therefore, shortly
before 10:00, Claire's father made the short
walk from his home
00:32:06
to hers to see if he could see
if everything was all right. On his arrival at
Claire's home, the house
00:32:15
was in darkness and very quiet. And so Claire's father
didn't knock the door or go into the property.
00:32:24
NARRATOR: Her father returns
home thinking that he'll check on the couple in the morning.
00:32:28
Both Claire and her
father hoped for the best. Andrew Tavener, though, was
preparing for the worst.
00:32:38
NEIL LANCASTER:
There's this argument. He's armed with a knife. What happened next
was inevitable.
00:32:46
CLARE MACKINTOSH:
Tavener had told his friends that he was going
to go home and start a row.
00:32:51
He told them that he was
going to take a knife and stab his wife. It appears that's
exactly what he did.
00:32:58
He stabbed Claire 10 times. This is a violent and
ferocious sustained attack. 10 stab wounds into
the neck and the chest.
00:33:09
Those in the chest being fatal. Claire died at the
scene from her injuries. The post-mortem confirmed
that she sustained four stab
00:33:19
wounds in a sustained attack. Two to her neck and
two to her chest. She also had a number
of defensive injuries
00:33:28
from an attempt to
fend off her husband. NARRATOR: Tavener
sees only one way out.
00:33:33
He walks out of the house
leaving his children to find the body of their mother.
00:33:38
A 999 call was made to
the emergency services by Claire's eldest son who
was age six at the time.
00:33:45
And in that call he was able to
say that his mother was dead. Thinking using the
words, my mom is dead.
00:33:53
She's covered in blood. NARRATOR: 6:55 am on
the 8th of January 2018, Claire's children let
paramedics into their home.
00:34:03
NEIL LANCASTER: Whilst
all this is going on, there's no sign
of Andrew Tavener. He's gone.
00:34:08
He's fled. He's into the wind. NARRATOR: Will Andrew
Tavener face justice? KERRY MAYLIN: When he
approached Mr. Tavener,
00:34:16
the train driver said,
what have you been doing? He indicated that he
just wanted to die.
00:34:23
[music playing] [music playing] NARRATOR: Claire Tavener lies
dead on her living room floor.
00:34:40
NEIL LANCASTER:
Emergency services turned up at the premises
and were let in by the boys
00:34:44
still in their pajamas
to be met with what would only be described as
an entirely horrific scene.
00:34:51
Obviously, there was
that terribly brutally injured Claire. This must have been truly
shocking for all concerned.
00:34:58
KERRY MAYLIN: Police
and paramedics found the younger boy sat
on the sofa biting his nails
00:35:04
and looking very frightened. Both boys were asked
where their father was. And the elder boy
was able to say
00:35:11
that daddy had been
out playing pool but usually would
be home by now. And then made the
unsolicited comment
00:35:18
but daddy wouldn't
have done this. NARRATOR: Claire's father
arrives to check on her.
00:35:22
He hasn't heard from her
since she told him there was nothing to worry about
just before 9 o'clock
00:35:26
the previous evening. He and the police suspected they
knew the culprit for the murder
00:35:31
of Claire Tavener. We can assume that when
police arrived and discovered no sign of forced entry, and
of course, spoke to Claire's
00:35:40
father and understood
about the issues that the couple were having
with their relationship,
00:35:46
that their prime suspect
would have been Tavener. NARRATOR: But Andrew
Tavener is missing.
00:35:52
NEIL LANCASTER: Andrew
Tavener has fled. He is desperate. He wants to end his life.
00:35:56
[music playing] CLARE MACKINTOSH:
At 7:10 AM that day, call handlers received a
999 call from a commuter
00:36:04
at Nailsea and Backwell station. The commuter reported seeing
a man lying on the tracks.
00:36:11
KERRY MAYLIN: Mr. Tavener was
first seen at Temple Seven at Nailsea and Backwell station
where a commuter saw him,
00:36:19
asked him what he was doing. EMMA KENNY: And he lies
down on the tracks, because he has a
full intention--
00:36:23
that is a full intention of
taking his own life as well. NARRATOR: Word quickly gets
around the small, tight knit
00:36:29
community. Something's wrong. MERRAN LAWRENCE: The
first thing I heard was the following
morning, my sister
00:36:34
rang me to tell
me that Andy Tav's have been at the train station. And that his wife had
died and that he tried
00:36:41
to jump in front of a train. And we all thought that
he'd gone home drunk, they'd had a row, and he
had-- she had fallen down
00:36:50
the stairs or something. Because obviously, the Andy
we knew was a gentle giant.
00:36:56
You-- you wouldn't think he
would do something like that. At no point did he even enter
our mind that he would actually
00:37:01
do something like that. And then we thought he
jumped in front of the train because he felt so bad
about what he'd done that he
00:37:08
didn't see life himself. And then when we found out
what he'd actually done, well, we were all in shock.
00:37:14
We just couldn't believe it. None of us. NARRATOR: Criminologist
Jane Monckton Smith
00:37:19
believes that rather than
feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt, it was the humiliation
a desire to save face
00:37:26
that drove Andrew Tavener
to lie down on the tracks that morning. JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
I think the very idea
00:37:32
that he wanted to kill
himself shows that he did not want to face up. He didn't want to face
people with what he'd done.
00:37:39
He's probably quite
humiliated, in fact, that he had killed his wife. Wasn't shameful.
00:37:49
No guilt. This is all about how
small he was going to look in other people's eyes.
00:37:55
Now, he absolutely
knew that people were going to look at him and
think, you awful, terrible man.
00:38:00
Couldn't face his children. So he decided in a very
melodramatic fashion that he was going to
kill himself by lying
00:38:08
across the railway tracks. But like with everything in this
man's life, it's all bluster
00:38:15
and it's all drama. He's not really a strong man. He's not really a big man. And it could be that at the end,
he couldn't-- couldn't actually
00:38:24
see it through. NARRATOR: Andrew
Tavener's suicide attempt did not succeed. He lies on the train
tracks but appears to twist
00:38:32
away from the train, severely
damaging his right hand. Tavener ends up
with the five fingers
00:38:40
on his right hand missing. The same five fingers
in the right hand that used to kill his wife.
00:38:46
And Tavener then ends up
in hospital, not a prison. So Tavener becomes a
victim in his mind.
00:38:53
NARRATOR: At 7:30 AM,
barely half an hour after Claire's body is
found, police arrest
00:38:58
Andrew Tavener for her murder. The police were called
to Nailsea station. And on their arrival,
they arrested Mr.
00:39:06
Tavener on suspicion of murder. Mr. Tavener's response
to that was that there was no suspicion about it.
00:39:13
That he had killed his wife. And he said, I've murdered her. Yes, I did it. NARRATOR: He tells
police what he's done.
00:39:22
CLARE MACKINTOSH: When Tavener
was approached by police at the train station,
he instantly confessed
00:39:27
to murdering his wife. He said, there's no
suspicion about it. I did it. I killed her.
00:39:33
NARRATOR: But that is
the last time Andrew Tavener will show any remorse. When interviewed by Avon
and Somerset police,
00:39:39
he refuses to answer. Despite evidence,
despite witnesses he denies ever hurting his wife.
00:39:46
CLARE MACKINTOSH:
On February the 1st, Tavener was formally
charged with murder.
00:39:50
He'd replied no comment to
all questions put to him during police interviews. NARRATOR: On the day
of the court case,
00:39:56
Andrew Tavener changed his tune. On March the
8th, Andrew Tavener pleaded guilty to the
murder of his wife.
00:40:02
This was only 35 days
after being charged. KERRY MAYLIN: The defense put
forward in terms of mitigation
00:40:08
that this was an end
of a relationship. That he couldn't really
remember what had happened
00:40:14
but accepted what he had done. NARRATOR: On April the 10th,
the judge sentenced Tavener
00:40:21
to life imprisonment with
a minimum of 16 years and eight months to serve. CLARE MACKINTOSH: In
summing up, the judge
00:40:27
described Tavener's conduct
as self-centered and cruel. He said you left
your wife's body
00:40:35
in the house in
the full knowledge that your young
children would find her. The whole relationship,
the marriage,
00:40:42
his life, this
murder, everything was ego driven with this man. And I think the judge
kind of said that when
00:40:52
he was sentencing him. NARRATOR: After Claire's death,
the community struggled to come
00:40:56
to terms with her murder. The pub where she
had worked closed its doors as a mark of respect.
00:41:02
Merran, her partner
and the pool team who had spent those
final days with Tavener
00:41:06
had to come to terms
with their part in witnessing the
beginning of the evening.
00:41:11
Just complete and
utter shock, really. A lot of people-- well, all
of us really felt really bad.
00:41:17
Because we all thought we
could have stopped it if he hadn't gotten back to Nailsea.
00:41:21
If he'd stayed
here for the night, he could have thought
differently the next day.
00:41:25
I think everybody felt really-- like, they could have
stopped it in some way. NARRATOR: A family
was forever changed
00:41:32
the day that Andrew
Tavener bragged of his intention to kill. A community, too. Neither can be certain exactly
what had made him do it.
00:41:39
KERRY MAYLIN: What caused
the ferocity of the attack? I don't think anybody could
answer apart from Mr. Tavener
00:41:46
himself. [music playing] [music playing]