Murder of Brenda Dawn Hirons

The murder of Brenda Dawn Hirons took place in the village of Bretforton in the English county of Worcestershire on 5 January 1976. Her husband, Frederick Thomas Hirons, was convicted of her murder.

Victim

Born Brenda Dawn James^[1] on the 31st January 1938, in the small village of Brotheridge Green of Upton on Severn, Brenda was working at the Worcester County Library when sometime around 1964/1965^[2] she befriended Thomas Frederick Hirons, an accountant employed by the county. Thomas was five years her senior and was already married when they began their affair. Eventually he divorced his wife and he and Brenda were married in 1966 with a son, Grant, born in 1970.^[3] Later she worked as an Inland Revenue Officer. Although her official Death Certificate^[4] shows her first name as Brenda, she was most commonly known as Dawn at work and in private.

Murder

On the evening of 5 January 1976, Dawn was bludgeoned to a death with a house brick by her husband and her head was held under the water of the garden pond. The act was premeditated as the trial showed Hirons had boasted to his lover Muriel Faizey in the days before that he would use a brick to kill his wife.

Frederick Thomas Hirons

Fred was a former County employed Accountant with a gift for music and the opposite sex; becoming a serial adulterer and alleged fraudster. He was the conductor of the local brass band, where he met one of several lovers he allegedly acquired over the years. At his trial he would later to admit to having had affairs with three other women, other than his wife. It was while at the band that he met Muriel Faizey in 1971 and begun an affair within the year. At the time of his wife's murder he was working for G. Partridge and Sons (Millers) Ltd. While employed there he pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying sales records to the tune of £1,200, which he was alleged to have used to purchase gifts for his lovers.

Muriel Faizey

Muriel Faizey was the married mother of three sons from Prior Walk, Pershore. Her son attended a local brass band where she met Fred Hirons and began their affair. Their affair continued until 1975 with illicit meetings in local hotels and sex in the nearby woods. Fred Hirons would lavish gifts on Muriel which as the trial showed he often spent as much as £30 a month on clothing (a considerable sum in 1976, equal to a weekly labourer's wage in the area) for his mistress. In 1975 evidence in court would show that Fred gave her several gifts including jewellery (£700 worth according to evidence presented by Detective-Superintendent Graham Buxton) and gifts of cash and a £10,000 life insurance policy. Both couples had met each other and in 1974 the affair briefly ended when Dawn found love letters and informed Mr Faizey about her discovery of the affair. Both lovers promised to end the affair, it secretly continued.

In court, Muriel claimed the relationship was all about sex and not about love, but love letters written by her were read out in court "My Darling, - I do love you very much. I want to make you happy so much and when I don't I am so miserable about it. I'm sorry then am so happy. I miss you when you are not here. I would do anything for you".

References

1. ^ General Register Office: Death Certificate for Brenda Dawn Hirons, Application Number PAS11557009, Ref:QBDX 7654584
2. ^ Evesham Journal 23rd September 1976, Page 1 "Bretforton Accountant Denies Murdering Wife"
3. ^ Evesham Journal 23rd September 1976, Page 1 "Bretforton Accountant Denies Murdering Wife"
4. ^ General Register Office: Death Certificate for Brenda Dawn Hirons, Application Number PAS11557009, Ref:QBDX 7654584

• General Register Office: Death Certificate for Brenda Dawn Hirons, Application Number PAS11557009, Ref:QBDX 7654584
• Evesham Journal 8 January 1976, Page 1 "Woman Dead in Pond"
• Evesham Journal 15 January 1976, Page 1 "Woman In Pond Had Head Injury"
• Evesham Journal 16 September 1976, Page 1 "Murder Charge"
• Evesham Journal 23 September 1976, Page 1 "Bretforton Accountant Denies Murdering Wife"
• Evesham Journal 30 September 1976, Pages 1 & 32 "Life Sentence for Bretforton Murderer"