Grieving Joanne Bryce pleas for photographs of her sister Claire Oldfield-Hampson killed by her husband at her March home
The sister of a woman killed by her husband and buried in the garden of their March home has launched an emotional plea for photographs of Claire Oldfield-Hampson.
Joanne Bryce, who lives in Cornwall, is hoping friends of her dead sister may have images of her and is appealing for copies to be sent to her.
Claire's body was discovered in a shallow grave in the front garden of the home she shared with her killer husband David Hampson and their young daughter Felicity, two years after she went missing.
Joanne has always believed Claire was let down by the justice system after Hampson pleaded guilty to killing his wife on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He killed her by hitting her over the head with a hammer during a row in 1996 and then buried her body in their garden in Norwood Road. He was arrested when police became suspicious of his actions during a search of the bungalow in December 1998 - just days after Joanne and her mother Mary Oldfield from Wimblington, who has since died, reported her missing.
For two years after the killing Hampson kept up the pretence that his wife was alive, forging greetings cards to her family and claiming she was either at work or in bed whenever the family called to see or speak to her.
At his trial in October 1999 the court heard only Hampson's version of events, which vilified Claire as a nagging wife and a mother who did not care for her child, who was only eight at the time of the killing.
Hampson was initially sentenced to six years in jail but the sentence was cut to four years on appeal and he was out after 14 months, having spent 10 months in custody prior to the trial.
Joanne said she has a five figure debt run-up during her fight to get justice for her sister by clearing her name as a nagging wife. She believes Claire was twice a victim. First at the hands of her killer and secondly of the justice system and the poor way the case was dealt with by the authorities including Cambridgeshire Police.
Claire's case has been raised in the House of Commons several times by former Lib Dem MP Andrew George on behalf of Mrs Bryce. She also met with the Policing Minister in 2011 over the way the case was handled.
But Mrs Bryce, who says she goes without food and heating to pay off her debt, said there has still been no proper justice for Claire and to make matters worse all items belonging to her lost sister went to Hampson as he was next of kin.
She said: "Please may I appeal to the people who read your newspaper if they have any photographs of my sister. As her husband was her next of kin everything of Claire's went to him, so I have very few pictures of Claire apart from the ones I took of her whilst she visited me in Cornwall.
"Unfortunately she had all her baby photographs so those are lost to me forever. But I would love to have any pictures other people might have of her from her school days growing up in Wimblington, or perhaps her former work colleagues at Tesco in March have some of her.
"There was 11 years between Claire and me so I left home while she was still a little girl. Her death broke my mother and all I have to remember her by is an old passport and her wedding dress. I got copies of her birth and death certificates, just to prove to myself she lived."
If you have any pictures of Claire they can be emailed to Joanne at brycejoanne@gmail.com, alternatively post them to Joanne Bryce, c/o Fenland Citizen, Tuesday Market Place, King's Lynn, PE30 1JN.
