1986 | Hampshire, England | Mass Murder | Solved
TLDR
In December 1986, five people were bound, tortured, and killed at a country estate in Hampshire, England, by a former employee who believed he had been cheated. George Stephenson, along with two accomplices, was convicted in 1987. He remains in prison.
The Case
Burgate House was a prosperous estate near Fordingbridge in Hampshire. The Cleaver family — Joseph Cleaver, 82, and his wife Hilda, also 82 — lived there with their son Thomas, 47, Thomas’s wife Wendy, 46, and a live-in nurse named Margaret Murphy, 70.
George Stephenson had worked on the estate and believed he was owed money he would never receive. On the night of December 21, 1986, he arrived at Burgate House with John Daly and George Daly. They bound all five people in the house. What followed was prolonged, deliberate, and vicious. Some of the victims were set on fire alive. Others were strangled or suffocated. Margaret Murphy was raped and murdered. All five were dead by morning.
Stephenson and the Daly brothers were arrested relatively quickly. The evidence against them was substantial.
George Stephenson and John Daly were convicted of all five murders in 1987 and sentenced to life imprisonment. George Daly received a lesser sentence. The judge called it one of the most horrific crimes he had ever encountered.
Stephenson has applied for parole multiple times and been denied each time. In 2021, the Parole Board held a hearing that attracted significant media attention in the UK. He was denied release. He remains in prison.
Where to Find More
- Documentaries: ITV Meridian has covered the parole hearings extensively. UK crime documentary series have included the case.
- Books: The case is covered in several British true crime anthologies. No single book-length account has been published.
- Podcasts: Casefile True Crime covered the Burgate House Murders in Case 29. Available on all major platforms.
