Carr Burstow at the River Avon on the 1st of February 2009

At about 11:30 on Saturday the 31^st of January 2009 both Marc Riley and David Carr Burstow were charged with murder at Chippenham magistrate’s court and they were both remanded in custody.  Later on Monday the 2^nd of February Marc Riley would go to HMP Bristol and in the case of David Carr Burstow the Youth Offending Institute attached to HMP Gloucester, there they remained until the trial at Bristol Crown Court in September 2009.

During the trial at Bristol Crown Court the prosecution called Steve Fulcher as a witness, Steve Fulcher is the Senior Investigating Officer in charge of operation Mews, the investigation into my mother's murder. This request was contested by the defence; I write this because it offers a clear example of how upside down the law can be. It is enshrined in law that a defendant can not be questioned after he/she has been charged. On this basis Carr Burstow’s defence tried to stop Steve Fulcher taking the witness stand and giving what can only be described as very important and insightful evidence.

On Sunday the 1^st of February after both defendants had been charged Steve Fulcher asked David Carr Burstow if he would accompany him to what was know as the deposition site, this is the spot on the River Avon that Marc Riley had claimed that he and Carr Burstow had disposed of my mother body on the night of the 8^th of January. It was in the public interest that the site be confirmed by the second defendant and that Steve Fulcher could get as much information as possible about were mum's body had been put and what she was wearing, how she was wrapped etcetera so that police divers should be successful in the such that was about to begin. The reason for Carr Burstow’s voluntary accompaniment to the river was not disputed by his defence; it was the nature of the conversation between the two that was questioned.

During the walk down to the river bank and at the rivers edge Steve Fulcher asked Carr Burstow questions as to what Antonietta was wearing, how she had been wrapped and other questions that would help the divers, Carr Burstow while describing how she was wrapped with a shower curtain and bound with electrical flex offered the unsolicited comment “When I saw her, she was twitching; I grabbed the shower curtain and wrapped her in it.” Fulcher did not press Carr Burstow on this, that would constitute an interview.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” well you can understand why his defence would seek to remove this piece of evidence using the cheep excuse that the police are not allowed to interview after charge. The interest of the defence is not the truth, but their client and if that means hiding the truth behind safeguards that exist for other eventualities so be it. Before Steve Fulcher could take the witness stand the whole issue was heard by Judge Tom Crowther QC without the jury present. He agreed with the prosecution that Carr Burstow’s unsolicited comment did not amount to an interview after charge, it had been made during a legitimate trip to confirm the deposition site and the fact that Fulcher had not pressed the defendant on his statement proved it so.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” was heard by the jury. David Carr Burstow was in the kitchen when my mum lay dead or dying, he was not upstairs and then came down to be met with an already dead landlady. In short David Carr Burstow was at the very heart of this crime before, during and after the events of January the 8^th 2009.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow at Bristol Crown Court.

On the stand questioned by the defence.


When David Carr Burstow took the stand at Bristol Crown Court he was first questioned by Jane Miller his defending QC, the direction of her questioning was to ask Carr Burstow to recount the events of the 8th of January. Throughout the questioning of her client she consistently referred to Marc Riley. Her references were always to lay the blame for what happened firmly at Riley’s feet and to distance her client as much as possible. It was in essence a parade of questions to which the answer were…… 'Marc did it,' 'Marc made me,' 'It was Marc’s idea,' 'I was afraid of Marc.' Jane Miller also spent some time asking Carr Burstow of his past, his behavioral problems and in particular his ADHD and the effect this had on him. David Carr Burstow was described as having the intelligence of a 12 – 13 year old and being in the bottom 5% of the adult population in intelligence.

After Carr Burstow’s own brother had told the court that he had confessed to his involvement in the murder and Stephen Gurner had done the same Jane Miller was forced to examine in-depth the relationship between her client and Riley. It was the defense that needed to try and get across that Carr Burstow was afraid of his boyfriend and to this end made representation to the judge that Riley’s previous record be read out, the prosecution only agreed to this on the basis that Carr Burstow’s own relevant previous convictions were disclosed.

I should say at this point the disclosure of these previous Police cautions and convictions were dealt with prior to Carr Burstow taking the stand and went something like this:

Riley was cautioned by Police twice, both times he had lost his temper when he had perceived Carr Burstow’s actions with another woman as flirtatious and in a jealous fit had on one occasion forcibly pushed an unbroken pint glass into Carr Burstow’s chest, this happened in front of the woman in question and Carr Burstow own brother in a pub while the pair were in Norfolk together. On a second occasion at a fair ground in Wiltshire again in a fit of jealousy Riley had punched Carr Burstow in the face after he believed that he had been flirting with a girl they both knew, Riley subsequently went on to make a public scene by shouting and inviting Carr Burstow to slap him in the face back. On this second occasion it was Carr Burstow himself who reported the incident to the police. On both occasions Riley was cautioned by police. On the other hand David Carr Burstow (who was only 19) had been arrested numerous times and the jury got to hear only of his 4 CONVICTIONS that were relevant to this case. Carr Burstow had been convicted twice of Assault and Battery. Once he was fighting in the streets in Norfolk and then on a different occasion lost his temper and punched a fellow student at Lowestoft College. He was also convicted of Affray and most lately was convicted of carrying an 8 inch bayonet on the street in Wiltshire. He was convicted for all these charges and not simply CAUTIONED.

Clearly his defense team felt that it was necessary to prove that there were grounds for Carr Burstow to be frightened of Marc Riley and that the sacrifice of the jury finding out about his own past convictions was a necessary risk. The fact that Riley had never been convicted previously and that his cautions were due to him being jealous and insecure of their gay relationship and that Carr Burstow own previous arrest and convictions were related to his own violence toward (I don’t know what the other 10+ arrests were for, one can assume they did not involve violence) should give some insight to their characters or at least you would have thought so.

Carr Burstow explained that on January the 8th he was upstairs with Riley and had had an argument with him about whether to go out or not.

He said "I was upstairs with Marc. I said to him, joking around, go and give the landlady a slap."

Jane Miller pressed home the point that he was only joking.

He said when he told Mark Riley to slap the landlady, Riley smirked and smiled and then went downstairs. Carr Burstow described how later on Riley had called him from downstairs and that when he [Carr Burstow] went into the kitchen he found mum dead and wrapped in a shower curtain lying on the kitchen floor, there was a hammer on the side. He then went on to describe the disposal of her body. 


The defense’s questions surrounding the events following the murder were not concerned so much with what happened but with the state of mind of their client and his relationship with Riley. The general impression was Carr Burstow was influenced completely by Riley and lived in constant fear of his boyfriend as to the consequences of his non cooperation in the clean up/cover up. For example Jane Miller QC asked many times who withdrew the money at the cashpoint, who retained the money, who ordered the pizzas and food, who ordered the DVD’s and sex toys, the answered was always Marc. 


For me throughout this line of questioning I remembered very clearly the testimony of Laura Elvin (Stephen Gurner's girlfriend and friend of both Riley and Carr Burstow) some days earlier, she said that

"What ever David wanted, Marc got him."

Carr Burstow said himself said that he ‘spent money like water’ and therefore Marc kept the money, but when he was arrested there was over £400 in cash and my mothers debit card in his jacket pocket.

Ultimately the defense’s questions were designed to portray their client as the simpleton that was not in control of events and who went along with the deception because of fear.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow at Bristol Crown Court.

On the stand questioned by the prosicution

Following the defenses questioning it was the turn of the prosecution to cross examine David Carr Burstow, Martin Meeke QC questioned inconsistencies in Carr Burstow's accounts of the events surrounding the murder. Martin Meeke started by asking Carr Burstow of his living arrangements and why he had been living at mum’s house without permission. Carr Burstow said that he was not aware that he was and that he had permission to be there, Marc had asked and the landlady had said it was okay so long as they kept the noise down.

"As soon as Mrs Guarino went to her family for Christmas you moved in, didn't you?" he said.

Carr Burstow said: "Marc said it was OK."

"Then why didn't you move in before she left?" Mr Meeke asked. (Carr Burstow had no place permanent to sleep even before Christmas.)

"I don't know," said Carr Burstow.

Mr Meeke asked why then, when Mrs Guarino returned on January 3, had he then started to enter the house through the window.

Carr Burstow replied “Marc told him to.”

Martin Meeke QC accused Carr Burstow of persistently lying to the police adding that he knew he wasn’t living with Marc Riley with Mrs Guarino’s permission and that is why he had resorted to sneaking in to the house by climbing onto the garage roof and through the bedroom window, he went on to remind him that he was on oath in court.

What did he do on the January the 8th? Carr Burstow said that he had been in town and returned to watch music TV upstairs in Riley's room. What had happened to his hand? Carr Burstow described an argument he had with Riley and how it was about sex toys. Carr Burstow admitted that he wanted sex and that Riley didn’t and how in anger he had punched the upstairs door then he had gone downstairs to clean the injury to his hand. He was asked about the damage to the downstairs bathroom door and he explained how Riley had been trying to get in to the bathroom speak with him. Evidence showed this door and frame were both cracked consistent with substantial force. When asked if this happened on the 8th of January? Carr Burstow could not remember. Laura Elvin and Stephen Gurner did though; they remember him at their flat later that evening dressing his injured hand.

"I suggest there's nothing very much wrong with your memory Mr Carr Burstow except when it suits you and that you pretend you can't remember," Mr Meeke said.

Prosecutor Martin Meeke QC questioned what he had meant by that comment to his defense barrister Jane Miller QC when he told Riley to "go and give the landlady a slap."

"I only meant it as a joke.” He said as he stood smirking in the dock.

Mr Meeke asked him what was funny. There was no answer.

"What had Mrs Guarino done to deserve a slap?" there was still no answer.

Martin Meeke went on to ask about the further inconsistencies in Carr Burstow’s interviews with the police. He asked Carr Burstow why he said that he was upstairs when Marc called him, and that when he went in to the kitchen Mrs Guarino was laying on the floor wrapped in a shower curtain, then subsequently at the river he told Steve Fulcher that he came in to the kitchen to see her twitching and got the shower curtain himself and wrapped her body. Carr Burstow mumbled that in fact it was he who wrapped the body and it was the usual ‘Marc told him to do it.’

When he came downstairs to see Mrs Guarino in a pool of blood did he ask why or what had Marc Riley done?

"I was shocked. I didn't know what had happened," Carr Burstow said.

"I never asked him that at all."

Why did you not call for an ambulance when you saw her twitching, she was possibly still alive and badly injured? “I didn’t want to get in any trouble.” and “you don’t grass up a mate.” He answered.

In fact David Carr Burstow said that he never asked why Marc Riley had murdered my mother in the eighteen days up to their arrests. Martin Meeke QC suggested it was because he either already knew the answer and it was because he had asked him to kill her, or he had helped him to do it. Carr Burstow denied this.

He was asked about events after the murder, the wrapping of the body, the trip to the river, the return to the house and the initial clean up, which of course Carr Burstow did but only under duress from Marc Riley. He made constant reference to how ill he felt because of “the smell and that.” but Riley told him to “Fucking help clean up.” any detailed questions were met with an “I can’t remember.” or “I was in the hall smoking, I was feeling sick ‘cos of the smell in the kitchen.” Just about any answer except one that could help determine what actually happened.

Martin Meeke asked Carr Burstow why, when he had been sick upon first seeing Mrs Guarino's body as he said in evidence, he then managed to carry the body to her car and across fields to dump it in the river.

He said: "You weren't so upset that you didn't feel like a pint at 11pm? How about by the time you got to MacDonald's? Had you recovered by then?"

Carr Burstow just replied "No."

Mr Meeke questioned whether Carr Burstow really was scared of Riley, as he told the court when questioned by his defense team. He asked why, when on two occasions previously Riley had assaulted Carr Burstow, he had made a statement to the police resulting in Riley’s cautions. You were happy to “Grass him up to the police then.”

“I suggest you weren’t really scared of Riley were you?” Not for the first time Carr Burstow sarcastically answered: “if you like.” to the question.

A challenge to which Martin Meeke replied it’s not me you have to convince it’s the jury.

David Carr Burstow denied telling Stephen Gurner that he and Riley had killed my mother, Gurner had got his testimony wrong and he denied telling his brother that he had got into a fight with a man and hit him over the head with a hammer. Reginald Potter had also got his testimony wrong. Carr Burstow remembered what suited him and forgot everything else, he either answered ‘no that’s not what happened’ or mumbled an almost inaudible reply. He was constantly reminded that he should speak up, but mostly there was a parade of the usual ‘Marc did it’, ‘Marc told me to do it’, ‘I was frightened of Marc’, Marc, Marc, Marc……… but as you know David Carr Burstow went on to enjoy the proceeds of that night, he didn’t leave Riley, together they plotted and planned the clean up, theft and disposal of mums property all while living in her house as if nothing had happened.

In order that I could have some small amount of peace in the nine months leading up to the trial I had created a picture in my mind of what happened that night. I hoped that maybe mum was in her kitchen making a cup of tea and that she was assaulted from behind, one blow and a quick death. As unpleasant as this scenario was it gave me some comfort that mum had died unknowingly and by surprise. I did not fully believe this imagined death and I was aware that it could have been very different; the small comfort I had created was removed when the prosecution finally put to David Carr Burstow their version of events that night in my mothers home.

Riley and Carr Burstow had been together upstairs in Riley’s bedroom, Carr Burstow wanted to go out, cabin fever has set in, he had been locked in this room for some time but climbing out of window in broad daylight was not a good idea. Riley didn’t want to go out and an argument started over something, going out, sex or sex toys. During this argument Carr Burstow lost his temper and rather that hitting Riley he punched the door. His punch was of such force that he punched through the wood that clad the face of the door and the sharp shards cut his hand. He went downstairs and locked himself into the bathroom opposite my mother’s bedroom to clean his wound. Riley tried to gain entry to the bathroom either to apologise or continue fighting; he punched and forced the door until it also broke.

My mother had been in bed that day feeling ill, she had spoken to my wife at 13:30 and her last conversation was with a friend at 13:50. When she was finally recovered from the River Avon she was dressed in day clothes, not bed clothes. On hearing this disturbance outside her own bedroom door she probably got dressed and was confronted by the fighting lovers. Who knows what the atmosphere was at this moment, mum probably told them to leave her house. Carr Burstow told police of his conversation with Riley upstairs and how while packing his bag he told Riley to "go and give the landlady a slap." The prosecution said that he had gone upstairs put his bag on to the bed and started packing because he had been told to by Mrs Guarino.

“No that’s not right.” he said

That you didn’t pack your bag? No, he went on to say that the bag was not on the bed it was on the floor, his comment was almost petulant. He was not packing because he had been given his marching orders but because he had decided to leave his lover. Break up with him.

The prosecution suggested that all this was and inconvenience to him and contrary to his statement "go and give the landlady a slap." He told Riley to “go downstairs and hit the landlady over the head with a hammer.” These are the words that Carr Burstow himself confessed to Stephen Gurner later that evening in the pub car park prior to disposing of the hammer used to kill her.

My mum died in a charged atmosphere, one in which she had discovered that the man who lodged in her home had gone directly against her wishes and moved his lover in to his room and her home. There had been and violent argument between the two of them, one in which her property had been damaged and one that was so intense that the pair did not care if she heard. This argument eventually proved to be the catalysts that led to her own violent death. The details of what happened in her kitchen will never be known to me, there were 3 people in that house on January the 8th 2009, one is now dead, and the other 2 remain tight lipped as to the details. As you know Marc Riley confessed to KILLING mum, he did not confess to MURDERING her. He claimed that he hit her once and then realizing his mistake together with his lover disposed of her body. On the first day of the trial he changed his plea to guilty and thus left Bristol Crown Court without saying or being questioned as to the exact details of that night. All Carr Burstow had to do was say it wasn’t me, I was upstairs when it happened.

The burning question is why did he behave the way he did following the murder? It’s rather convenient to believe he was frightened, led by Riley or believed that you shouldn’t grass up a mate. What he admitted and therefore we know is:

• Carr Burstow was in the kitchen when my mum lay dead or dying, he said he saw her twitching, he was not upstairs but at the very heart of the crime scene when it was committed, he was practically there with one foot in the killing room.

• Carr Burstow retrieved the shower curtain and wrapped the body.

• Carr Burstow retrieved the electrical flex from the garden shed and in doing so spilt mums blood on a small metal stool in the shed, so he had her blood on him.

• Carr Burstow drove the car to the river and in doing so created the circumstances that caused my family and me the enormous additional suffering of a missing body. Twenty eight sleepless nights despairing if her body would ever be found. Together with nightmares of my mother floating in the icy river, all as a direct consequence of his actions.

• Carr Burstow helped carry and dispose of her body in the river.

• Carr Burstow threw the hammer in to the bin at the drive-in McDonalds in Trowbridge but not before stopping in the car park of a pub to confess to his friend Stephen Gurner that: "He [Carr Burstow] and Marc had killed their landlady." 

• Gurner testified: "I remember him saying that he and Marc had had an argument and he was joking around and said to Marc 'go downstairs and hit the landlady over the head with a hammer' and Marc did it." And that "He [Carr Burstow] said to do it if he loved him.” Adding “That is if Marc loved Dave.”

• Carr Burstow ‘ragged’ mums Toyota Yaris damaging it on the night of her murder and it was he who the very next morning called his brother, Reginald Potter in Norfolk, asking if he would be interested in having the car and failing that how to scrap it. It was during this conversation that David Carr Burstow told his brother: “I got in a fight last night with a bloke and I hit him on the head with a hammer and threw him in the river.”

• After failing to find the V5 document in order to dispose of the Toyota , Carr Burstow arranged with Darren Lee Jackson and Jack Isaacs to dump of mum’s car at Shanley’s scrap yard in Trowbridge.

• Carr Burstow enjoyed all the proceeds of this crime together with Riley and right up to the moment of his arrest was even sitting in the red Ford Fiesta and using his mobile phone that they had bought with her money.

Are these the actions of a simpleton that was not in control of events and who went along with the deception because of fear? And of course ‘you don’t grass up your mates’ except when he slaps you in the face at the fairground. What Carr Burstow lacks in intelligence he more that makes up for with slyness and deceitfulness. There are so many other things that David Carr Burstow was responsible for but in the words of his defence council Jane Miller QC “although what my client did was thoroughly wicked he is not a murderer.” The jury took five hour’s to agree.