Life sentence for man who killed father and spent 'inheritance'

Published on Thursday 21 August 2008 22:35

A TELEVISION executive who murdered his wealthy father and immediately began to claim his "rightful inheritance" by draining the dead man's bank accounts was jailed for life yesterday.

Benjamin Holding, 29, hid the body of his father, Michael, 70, in a wheelie bin for almost two months and tricked his family into believing his father had gone on holiday.

Holding, who was regarded as "a waste of space" by his father, eventually had to confess when bank statements began to unravel his web of deceit. He had spent about 25,000 of his father's money, and his purchases included a BMW car.

Roger Craik, QC, imposed the life prison sentence for murder and ordered that Holding serve at least 15 years.

The term would have been 18 years had he not pleaded guilty to the "callous" killing and its aftermath, said the judge.

Holding, a business development executive with Scottish Television in Aberdeen, admitted murdering his father on 13 October at his home in Inchmarlo, Aberdeenshire, fraudulently using his bank and credit cards, and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by concealing the body and destroying evidence.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Michael Holding was retired and his wife, Linda, had died in October 2006.

After a row, Holding had pushed his father, who fell. He took hold of him and banged his head several times on the floor. When he realised he had killed his father, he wrapped the body in a piece of cloth, put it into a wheelie bin and locked it – under a tarpaulin and a bag of cement – in the shed.