Face of Chesterfield monster who murdered pensioner, chopped him up and 'fed him to the badgers'

This is the face of the Chesterfield man who murdered 71-year-old Graham Snell before chopping him into ten pieces and ‘feeding him to the badgers’.
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Daniel Walsh, 30, was today, Monday, sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison before he can be considered for parole.

Sentencing, at Derby Crown Court on Monday, December 4, Judge Nirmal Shant QC, said that Walsh had moved in with Mr Snell in 2019 with the express intention of getting his hands on Mr Snell’s money.

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She added that he had murdered the pensioner and “fed him to the badgers” after Mr Snell discovered Walsh had accessed his bank accounts and reported him to the fraud team at the Halifax in Chesterfield and police in the town.

Daniel Walsh had been sentenced to at least 27 years in prison for murdering and dismembering Chesterfield pensioner Graham SnellDaniel Walsh had been sentenced to at least 27 years in prison for murdering and dismembering Chesterfield pensioner Graham Snell
Daniel Walsh had been sentenced to at least 27 years in prison for murdering and dismembering Chesterfield pensioner Graham Snell

Walsh committed the murder on the night of June 19 2019 and Mr Snell was already dead when officers called at his Marsden Street home the following morning, the court heard.

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Walsh had been due to be sentenced on December 14 last year, but it was delayed after he fired his entire legal team, then demanded fresh representation.

Today, Judge Shant told the court that Walsh’s new team of solicitors had asked for more time to prepare his mitigation, but this had been rejected by the court. Walsh refused to attend the hearing and was sentenced in his absence.

The remains of Graham Snell were found stuffed down a badgers sett in remote woodlandThe remains of Graham Snell were found stuffed down a badgers sett in remote woodland
The remains of Graham Snell were found stuffed down a badgers sett in remote woodland
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The court heard that Walsh had gone to DIY stores around Chesterfield and purchased saws, building sacks and a burning bin and spent the weekend chopping up Mr Snell and depositing his remains in a communal bin at the flats complex where his brother lived. He then took a taxi with the rest on the pensioner’s remains to secluded woodland where he stuffed the majority into a badgers sett.

It was not until last February that he told police that Mr Snell’s head and arms were also located in the woodland, around 60 metres from the main burial site.

Walsh also made visits to casinos and massage parlours in Sheffield where he blew sums of Mr Snell’s money, and also visited games arcades in Matlock Bath and travelled to Birmingham in a botched bid to obtain an emergency passport so he could flee to France.

Passing sentence, the judge said: “What you did over the next few days was systematically do everything in your power to get away with the murder of Graham Snell. You dismembered his body, you burnt his belongings and items you had used to dismember him.

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“Having gruesomely cut Mr Snell up in pieces you took a taxi to a badger set which you were previously aware of and dug up many holes in which you deposited different parts of him in the hope no doubt that he would be eaten by the badgers.

“There is a real possibility on the evidence that you killed him because he wanted you out of the house and despite what you said in the trial it is plain that you had nowhere else to go to live. Not only was it gruesome but also systematic and done over a number of days rather than in panic immediately after you had killed him. Having dismembered him, you literally fed him to the badgers.”

Editor’s message: In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.