Stephen Farrow

Stephen Farrow (1964/1965 – 21 August 2023) was an English vagrant who served a whole-life tariff for two murders committed in early 2012. Farrow, whom psychiatrists diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, had an obsessive hatred of Christianity, which he attributed to sexual abuse from a priest. As an adult, Farrow was a heavy smoker of cannabis.

In 1994, Farrow was convicted of aggravated burglary at the home of an elderly woman in Stourbridge. He told a forensic psychiatrist that he had fantasies of committing rape during burglaries. When it was being decided whether he should serve his punishment in prison or in a mental hospital, he told a psychiatrist from Ashworth Hospital that he had wanted to kill from his teenage years, and had already murdered a backpacker in Devon six years prior. Although the doctor diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder, he theorised that Farrow was exaggerating his claims in order to have a safer place of detention than prison. Detectives suspected that she had been beaten with her walking stick before her death. Crimestoppers offered a reward of £10,000 for information on the murder, and new leads were investigated after the crime was featured on BBC One's Crimewatch. Yates and Farrow were acquainted.

On 14 February, the Reverend John Suddards was killed at his vicarage; Avon and Somerset Police declared that the death was suspicious after his body was found by builders. Suddards, a former lawyer who joined the clergy after a car accident, had only moved to his new parish in June 2011, from Witham, Essex. He had previously spoken of the risks of his occupation, in which he would regularly welcome strangers into his home. After stabbing Suddards to death, Farrow drank the vicar's beer and watched a DVD, before stealing his mobile phone and watch. He was arrested the following day in Folkestone, Kent, where he was also questioned on Yates' murder, and was charged with both murders and the burglary on 22 February. A week later, a 43-year-old man who had been previously arrested on suspicion of Suddards' death was eliminated from the investigation.

On 29 June, Farrow pleaded not guilty to both murders, but admitted to the burglary. His trial at Bristol Crown Court began on 4 October;

Legacy of victims Suddards' parishioners and family set up a Memorial Fund to raise money for causes with which he was involved, including the reintegration of the homeless and scholarships for students of Christian scripture.