'Callous' TV exec jailed for father's murder

Updated 20.33 Thu Aug 21 2008
Keywords: jail, father, wheelie bin, Benjamin Holding, murder

A TV executive who murdered his wealthy father and dumped his body in a wheelie bin has been jailed for life.

Benjamin Holding, 29, repeatedly bashed 70-year-old Michael Holding's head against the floor and a metal cat food bowl at their home in Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

Holding, a debt-laden business development officer who was working for STV at the time, dumped the body head-first into a bin in the garden shed, where it lay undiscovered for nearly two months

Holding, a debt-laden business development officer who was working for STV at the time, dumped the body head-first into a bin in the garden shed, where it lay undiscovered for nearly two months.

Within hours of the killing on October 13 last year, Holding began to claim his "rightful inheritance" by going on a lavish spending spree with the dead man's money.

Police said he eventually spent more than £30,000 - including £17,000 on a a top-of-the-range car.

Holding also sent false emails, claiming to be from his father, in an attempt to cover up the crime.

Last month Holding admitted murder, fraud charges and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by hiding the body and destroying evidence.

At the High Court in Edinburgh he was told he must spend at least 15 years behind bars before being eligible for parole.

Passing sentence, temporary judge Roger Craik QC branded the killing and Holding's subsequent behaviour "grave and callous".

He said: "The shock and distress that you have caused your friends and family must be considerable. You will have to live with that guilt."

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