Carl Dyche murder: ‘Brick wall’ as stepmum asks to meet killers

A woman whose stepson was beaten to death in front of his family has said she is desperate to meet his killers in prison to understand why he died.

Carl Dyche was murdered in December 2021 and his stepmother Joan said he “got the most out of every day that he could”.

She wants to meet his killers, but said she kept hitting “a brick wall” because one of the jailed men, Luke Bellis, was not communicating in prison.

Ms Dyche, from Herefordshire, said the system was “failing” victims, but a spokesman for the Prison Service said safety and welfare always took priority.

Remembering her stepson as “an amazing chap”, Ms Dyche, who lives near Leominster, said: “He only had to walk into the house and it put a smile on my face.”

The popular local builder had been fair, helpful and happy, she recalled, describing him as “a workaholic like his dad”.

He spent his holidays at music festivals, she said, and used to put up stages at Glastonbury.

“He just loved life. He loved food, he got the most out of every day that he could.”

More than 300 people turned out for his funeral, she said.

“I couldn’t miss him any more than I do, she said.

She told how the heartache and the upset still went “round and round and round in my head every minute of the day”.

One of the key questions the grieving stepmother had been left with was not knowing why Mr Dyche was killed.

The killers had carried out a “brutal” assault in the garden of Mr Dyche’s property in Kington as his wife and stepson tried to intervene, the court heard during the trial. Mr Dyche died later having suffered a stroke and blood clot to the brain.

Ms Dyche told the BBC how, on the night of the attack, Bellis said something to her stepson who replied but walked past him.

She said Bellis then brought Mr Dyche to the ground and the two others joined in so “the three of them were on him”.

More than three years after the attack, Ms Dyche said she wanted to know what the argument was about.

Ms Dyche has sought a restorative justice process, where people harmed by crime are brought together with those responsible to find a positive way forward, according to the government website.

However, Ms Dyche said: “I’m just coming across a brick wall. It’s wait, wait, wait, wait, wait all the time.”

She said at one stage Victim Support made a request for her but added: “I was told he hadn’t settled down. He’s not communicating in the prison.”

She said she still wanted answers.

Calling for the system to be changed, she said Bellis was being protected, but asked: “Who’s protecting me?”

A Prison Service spokesman said: ” While we support restorative justice to help victims and reduce reoffending, the safety and welfare of participants must always take priority – especially in serious cases like murder.”

The department said restorative justice aimed to help victims recover but was only facilitated when both victims and offenders agreed to participate and it had been assessed as safe and suitable.

In cases such as murder, restorative justice was only possible when officials could be confident of no further harm.

It said there were circumstances where restorative justice may not be appropriate.