British tycoon died half naked and starved to death in the captivity of his “parasitic tenants”

James Sootheran, a millionaire from Oxfordshire, England, who owns a large piece of land and a private farm, was found dead in his bedroom one day, not only naked, but also severely malnourished, weighing only 9 stone (about 57 kg), about half of his original weight.

The investigation unit pointed out that the tenant couple Wayne (Wayne Rickard) and Lynda (Lynda Rickard) in order to fraudulently obtain inheritance, full control of the victim’s life, the other imprisoned and starved to death. (Note: Stone, English: Stone, abbreviated st, is one of the imperial units of mass, as the “pound” is the British and Irish like to use the unit of weight, 1 stone is equal to 6.35029318 kg or 14 pounds. ) 

The Sun, citing documents from Reading Crown Court, reported that James was found dead in his bedroom on March 18, 2014, lying on a mattress on the floor with a stained duvet draped over him. The room was filthy, cold and smelled of urine. Strangely enough, next to the body, in addition to the bucket that served as a urinal, there was a plate of chocolate bars, a doughnut and a bag of McDonald’s meals.

The family doctor, Dr Hilary Edwards, was informed by Linda one day that she had not seen James since the previous morning, and when they went to check on him together, they found the dried-up remains. The deceased’s cousin Richard (Richard Stubbs), who happened to visit six months before the case came to light, recalled that his cousin had lost so much weight that he was completely dependent on Linda for his livelihood, but was terrified of angering his tenants and getting himself “committed to a mental hospital.

Prosecutor Oliver Saxby said Wayne and Linda moved into the victim’s farmhouse in South Newington in 2006, living with the landlord and his 92-year-old mother, and began to take care of the mother and son. The woman later admitted forging the old lady’s will and stealing £1.5 million, before repeating the same trick on James with the intention of defrauding him of £3.5 million.

Saxby said the couple “argued that they didn’t know the situation was so serious and thought James wanted this life for himself”, but in fact they took advantage of living with their landlord to take full control of James’ life and even altered his will with the intent to defraud the estate.

Despite this, Wayne and Linda firmly deny the charges of murder, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud and obstruction of justice. Three other co-conspirators have also been charged with similar crimes. The full trial is ongoing.