The murder of Brenda Dawn Hirons took place in the village of Bretforton

Bretforton

Bretforton is a rural village in Worcestershire, England. Bretforton is east of Evesham, in the Vale of Evesham. It is the largest farming village around Evesham. At the 2001 census, Bretforton had a population of 1,023 in 428 households...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

 on 5 January 1976. Her husband, Frederick Thomas Hirons, was convicted of her murder.

Victim

Born Brenda Dawn James 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 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. Later she worked as an Inland Revenue Officer. Although her official Death Certificate 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

Pershore

Pershore is a market town in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. Pershore is in the Wychavon district and is part of the West Worcestershire parliamentary constituency. At the 2001 census the population was 7,304...

. 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".