The Solicitor & The Builder - Revisited

0:00This episode starts in just a moment. A question for you first. You convicted of stealing the world's largest uncut diamond, you protest your innocence, but served three years in jail. On release, do you choose the quiet life, or do you embark on an audacious life of crime? Well David Knight chose the latter, and you can hear all about his extraordinary capers in the new series, Roth Diamond. No spoilers here, but it ends in a famous heist that only a handful of people in the world knew he was responsible for, until now. So once this episode is finished, get stuck into the latest series from the Always True Crime Network. Search for Roth Diamond, and line it up to play next. Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough. It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down, instead of firing off that text, you say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life.

1:03That's what growing feels like, and that's exactly what growth therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments, you just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability, and you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as two days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as $0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com slash a cast. That's growtherapy.com slash a cast. Growtherapy.com slash a cast. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Running a training business means your learner experience is your brand. Think if it's new learner hub changes everything. One

2:08unified destination for courses, community, and an AI teaching assistant. Learners stay engaged, complete programs, and keep coming back. The result, higher retention, stronger renewals, and a program people rave about. Learn more at ThinkIfic.com. Netflix's new series, East of Eden, is a bold reimagining of John Steinbeck's masterpiece, following generations of the Trask family through love, betrayal, and the choices that shape our humanity, sowing Mike Feist and Christopher Abbott as the conflicted Trask brothers, and Florence P.S. Kappy Ames, the complex, dark, and fascinating anti-heroine determined to build the life she wants, no matter the cost, dark, epic, and impossible to look away from. Watch East of Eden now, only on Netflix. Hello and welcome to this special episode of the UK True Crime Podcast. I'm Adam. In this episode, I revisit a story which I would, in this episode, I revisit a story

3:12which I originally released in February 2022, involving a builder and a solicitor. Two men whose lives became connected by a series of events that would have devastating consequences. It's a story of conflict, decisions, and the shocking events unfolded in a seemingly ordinary setting. Okay, so let's set some context for today's story with our guest a month in the UK. Top of the UK music charts was Will I Am featuring Eva Simons with This Is Love. In the US, at the summit was Call Me Maybe from Carly Rae Jepson, and in Australia, it was a friend of the show. It was the Bieber, we believe. In the new system of the show, the tallest building in Europe was opened in London at just over a thousand feet. Depressively, South Korea announced plans to begin, I quote, scientific wailing of Mink Wales. What is wrong with these people? Are going to say, leave this incredible creature

4:16as, and all others, alone. Bradley Wiggins, one of the 99th Tour de France, inspiring even more middle-aged men to wear Leica at the weekends. And Bruce Brink's scene in the East Street band, performed their longest show ever in Helsinki, Finland, at over four hours and six minutes. Let's hope the Kings of Leon don't follow suits. And in UK through crime news, Bob Diamond resigned as the chief exec of British bank Barclays, following a scandal in which the bank were greedy. They were manipulating some interest rate systems, but they were being greedy. I know, I know, it's hard to believe. So did you guess something yet? It was July 2012. Do you remember that time? It was just before the start of the London Olympics, when morale in the UK, as I recall, was sky high, and we dreamt of an amazing decade ahead of us.

5:17Yeah. Let's get on to today's story, which is from Devises in Wiltshire, which is about 90 miles west of London, and 40 miles east of Bristol. On the day of the shooting, Michael Chudley, calmly parked his car on W. L.I.S. outside Devises Salisters, M.G.W. North. He told the receptionist, Daphne Courtney, to take him to Salister, James Ward. According to a witness, he was carrying a saw and off shotgun in his right hand, pointed downwards. He appeared agitated, and his voice was aggressive. He told Daphne to take him immediately to James Ward, not to speak to anybody who picked up their phone, while he would shoot her. Daphne was understandably terrified, and she didn't know what to do, and so she walked in front of Michael Chudley, upstairs, to James Ward's first floor office. 58-year-old Salister, James Ward was talking on the phone to a client, as Michael Chudley

6:23walked in, raised a gun in his right hand, pointed it, and fired once. The bullet hit James Ward, and the sheer force caused the hole in the first floor window to blow out. Chudley then calmly walked out of the office, made his way out for building, got into his car, and calmly drove away. So what had led to this terrible violence on that normal summer's afternoon in 2012? He was Michael Chudley. Well, here in the building company known as King Fischer Building, along with his girlfriend, Francine Whale, who was a partner of the company. Chudley wasn't experienced builder, he'd been in the business almost 40 years, and it had been good to him. He lived in a huge mocked, chewed a house, seven bedrooms detached. Look, I'm sorry, if I sound like the daily male, I will stop now. He certainly wasn't a shy retiring man,

7:24and he once boasted of having a nine-year affair of a married woman, who he showered with £100,000 worth of presence, including a new Ferrari, and an £8,000 engagement ring, waddled on that as Diana, Princess of Whales. Francine and Chudley had a relationship for about a year, and he moved into her home, Roud Mill House. But even when they later split up, Chudley returned to his previous girlfriend, Chudley made plans to double Francine's house in size, adding a large chewed a star extension. At the time Francine was doing well, she was running a successful nearby tea-room, but commenced by Chudley, he was very persuasive. She sold the business, and invested the money in the house. The plan was to sell the home for £2.5 million, split the money after paying off debts, which would have given them a healthy profit each of a call £1

8:27million. About this time, Chudley persuaded Francine to sign a form, saying that she was a director of the firm, and there she took no part in its running. What she didn't realise at the time is that by doing so, she would actually be liable for any debts that the company would incur, equally with Chudley. Chudley often gained building work by spotting when planning permission had been granted, and this was the case when he saw a man called Christopher Seah, having given plan and permission on his house in Isha Surrey. Christopher invited him to quote on the project, and he priced up the work at £280,000. To try and get the go ahead for the work, Chudley suggested that Christopher take a look at some of the jobs he'd carried out in recent years, and he gave Christopher the details of his girlfriend Francine. He admitted to say that this was his girlfriend, and someone connected to his company, and Francine chose not to mention it either. But the extension that had been carried out on her

9:31home certainly impressed Christopher, enough for him to give the go ahead, the Kingfisher, and Chudley to carry out the work, which started in June 2008. As some of you who've had building work done well know, it's not always all sweetness and light, and it's not always until the job has started that you become aware of other issues. In this case when the roof was removed, Chudley discovered the external walls of the house were rendered clay pot tiles. Like you, I've got no idea what this means, but I do know it was bad news for Christopher, as it meant that these walls weren't sufficient to support the new structure that was planned. The walls would need to be knocked down, and there were other bits and pieces that needed doing too, but of course none of this was cheap. And Chudley had now increased his price from 218,000, to a whopping 418,000. Christopher was now in that almost impossible position that Chudley had started

10:37work, and though he didn't agree with the new price, believing that the job was now worth around the 300k mark, what was he to do about it? The men spoke, but the pair were unable to agree on a new price, so Chudley stopped working December 2008, saying he'd not been paid, and so Christopher engaged other builders to continue with the project. Chudley took Christopher to court to try to recover the money that he felt he was owed. At court in May 2011, the judge found that Chudley had been paid more than he was due, and he asked both parties and their legal representatives to source out the money issues between them. But this proved impossible, and there were complications. Christopher's serious solicitors had managed to discover that Francine Whale was actually the partner of Chudley, and they knew that Francine was aware that Chudley had previously been bankrupt and also had a

11:43conviction for fraud. Christopher's case to the court was that if he'd known these salient facts, he would never have given the building work to Chudley, and he asked the court to decide if Francine was a partner in this firm. The high court judge, Mr Justice Ramsey, decided that yes she was, and her involvement amounted to fraudulent misrepresentation. He said, I found that her failure to disclose these matters when providing a reference to Mr Sia, amounted to her misrepresentation. I also found that Mrs Whale acted forgerently by participating in the charade, and by giving the appearance of being an independent third party, when in fact Mr Chudley was living in her house, and she was a partner in that partnership. I held that the misrepresentation was made intending it to be relied upon as it was. I therefore held that Mrs Whale was liable

12:44for fraudulent misrepresentation, and made an order for damages to be assessed. So this was really bad news for Francine, as the company wasn't a limited company, and she was now liable for any money that needed to be paid. Essentially, the judge made it clear that Christopher Sia was entitled to be put in the same position that he would have been in had the representation not been made. This meant he was entitled to damages, including mortgage redemption penalties, interest on personal loans, and money he had spent moving house, as he had to sell the home which was the basis of the original disputes. The figure came to almost 377,000 pounds, a huge amount, a nightmare, and on top of that, there was scheduled another court case, and on top of that there was illegal cost case scheduled for July 2012, so that figure was just going to increase. These legal proceedings had backfired

13:48badly for Chudley, and the case caused a lot of stress for the couple. As I mentioned earlier, they actually split in April 2011. Francine was evicted from her property following the court action, although it wasn't all bad, she said, at least I got my freedom back, and I got my children back in my life. All things that had been missing with Chudley, who was a real control freak, you must have absolutely controlled over everything. Chudley's home too was repossessed, and who is forced to live a somewhat nomadic life, living in cheap rooms above pubs and sometimes in his car. And the person that Chudley blamed his misfortune on was not even Christopher Seer, but the Solista acting for him, 58-year-old James Ward, a married father of three from devices. Chudley made threats to him, including threats to kill during 2012.

14:52In addition on one occasion while in the land public housing devices, Michael Chudley told someone he knew to keep an eye on the newspapers. Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough. It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down instead of firing off that text. You say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like, and that's exactly what growth therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments, you just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the U.S, offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. You can search by what matters,

15:53like insurance, specialty, identity or availability, and you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as two days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as $0 per therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com slash a cast. That's growtherapy.com slash a cast. Growtherapy.com slash a cast. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Netflix's new series East of Eden is a bold reimagining of John Steinbeck's masterpiece, following generations of the Trask family through love, betrayal, and the choices that she bar humanity, sowing Mike Feist and Christopher Abbott as the conflicted Trask brothers, and Florence P.S. Kappy Ames, the complex, dark, and fascinating anti-heroine determined to build the life she wants, no matter the cost. Dark, epic, and impossible to look away from. East of Eden now only on Netflix. He also made notes at the Royal Oak,

16:57one of the pubs where he was renting a room, about James Ward, and how there was a conspiracy against him in which Ward was the main player. On the day before Chuddly killed James Ward, he told regulars at the Royal Oak that they would not see him again, but they didn't take it seriously. Why would they? And then that summer's day when Chuddly walked calmly into James Ward's first floor office. James Ward didn't stand a chance. He'd been standing behind his desk on the phone when he was shot. This chair was heard to move back, then it went silent. Straight after the shooting, James' wife, Nicola, a partner in M.G.W. Law ran outside to raise the alarm. Paramedics, including one who was off duty on the day of the shooting, rushed to help him. He was airlifted to French hospital in Bristol, and placed him in a medically-induced coma. He'd suffered a catastrophic head injury, and despite all the best efforts of various medical

18:01professionals, he continued to decline and tragically died three weeks later in hospital at the age of just 58, with his devastated family at his bedside. Chuddly's ex-girlfriend, Francine Whale, was constantly frustrated that even when she was not living with Chuddly anymore, she was then with her door-side, her family. Chuddly would not let go. He regularly phoned up, and this often involved asking for money. She agreed to put £100 in his business account on the morning of the shooting, but he rang again later once again another £50. She said, I got very cross and put the phone down on him. She didn't hear from him again, until it's 3.30 pm on the same day, when he rang, merely saying, I have shot Ward, and it's all your fault. 30 minutes after the shooting, Chuddly was arrested by police. He told them, I shot him because he made our lives in misery. He said he'd been drinking whiskey on the morning

19:05of the shooting, and it just snapped and lost it. He blamed James Ward as he saw it for dragging out the case for a number of years, but as of course in reality, James Ward as a strong, professional solicitor had just been following the due process of law. When he was subsequently interviewed, Chuddly made no comment, but in a written statement after he was charged he admitted shooting James Ward, claiming they didn't intend to kill, and he was to use his words on also pilots. He said he'd plan the shooting and having decided to shoot James Ward, he would kill himself in the master bedroom of his old house, but he gave up on that idea, because the house had been repossessed, and he was unable to get in. When asked how he was in possession of the gun, he explained he'd always enjoyed shooting, especially Clay Pigeon shooting, regularly visiting a local shooting club with his former girlfriend, Carol Smith.

20:09He had owned two expensive shotguns worth about £7,000, but he had to sell these as part of the court action with Christopher Sear, but he also owned a cheaper firearm, a Spanish job as Chuddly described it, which he bought from a labourer who worked for him. He told how he bought the weapon because when Carol Smith had a new boyfriend, Chuddly believed that this man wanted him dead, which probably says a lot about how Chuddly treated Carol during their relationship. Once this perceived threat had gone, Chuddly packed up the gun in a metal box and bricked it up behind the wall of his house. Then following a robbery in September 2009, Chuddly took out the gun and shot in the barrel to just three or four inches beyond the end of the stock. Although he knew full well this was illegal, he said he was in fear for his life, and shorting the barrel made it quicker to use, he gave him a much wider field of spray,

21:09particularly so when being attacked as Chuddly felt he would be by two assailants at once. Michael Chuddly was charged with murder. As his trial, it saws through Crown Court, 63 rod Michael Chuddly denied murder, but admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility. He also faced charges of possession of a firearm with intent to broke fear of violence, and making a threat to kill which he denied. When asked if he'd intended to kill James Ward, he replied, I have no idea, I was very ill at the time. I was shamed of what I did, but I have no recollection of what I did. The defense and prosecution agreed that Chuddly was suffering for a paranoid personality disorder at the time of the murder. The defense argued this effected his self-control, so the charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility should apply. The prosecution disagreed, and they argued he knew full well what he

22:11was doing, and so he should be found guilty of murder. Chuddly told the court, I didn't plan to kill James Ward. If I'd wanted to kill him I'd have shot him in his home and taken his body in a car and driven off and set fire to the car. That's murder. Someone who goes into an office in front of witnesses, that's somebody who's meant to be ill. That's not murder. During the trial, Chuddly came across as a particularly unpleasant character. He was asked if he'd been abusive towards his ex-girlfriend, Francie Mwell, to which he replied, I've slapped her when she needs it to get to bed after a few bottles of wine, which is quite often. In response, the prosecution suggested he was a coward, but he wasn't having that at all. He said no, I'm a lion. I can think of better descriptions, can't you? On another occasion, he was asked in the witness box where they felt any remorse, the death of James Ward, and he replied, I don't know what the word means. I have no feelings

23:17about Ward. The jury took just two hours to find Chuddly guilty of murder, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 28 years. The judge was scathing towards him, saying, four years ago you began a court case against Christopher Sear. His solicitor was Mr. Ward, a decent, conscientious, highly respected solicitor. He did his professional duty for Mr. Sear, as he had done for many clients over the years. He lost the case and lost a great deal of money in the process, so he decided to take your revenge on Mr. Ward. His threat understood the receptionist definitely courtly, and forced her to lead you upstairs. I am quite satisfied that you intended to kill Mr. Ward. You fired a single shot to his head, and then walked out his calmies you arrived, gone into your car and drove off. It was a chilling, calculated execution.

24:21Mr. Ward's widow gave her evidence with dignity and composure, but the effect of the murder on her family has been appalling. I've read the very moving victim impact statement written on behalf of the whole family, by Mr. Ward's daughter Louise. She writes that her mother and sister have suffered from depression and panic attacks, which sometimes make everyday tasks and to mountains. All three children have missed the ward of lost and loving father. His mother has outlived her son. I also note that definitely courtly has suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder, with panic attacks and flashbacks, which can stop her in her tracks. She writes in her victim impact statement that she was frisk and beyond the description by your attack, and by the threat to her life. She feels a sense of guilt, though, might be there was nothing she could have done to save Mr. Ward. Because you, while I'm in self-pity, I think only of yourself, I doubt whether any of this bothers you at all.

25:26And only in the year 2040 when you'll be 90, will there be an title for the first time to decide whether it's safe to release you? It may be that you will die in prison, that is a possibility for which you have only yourself to blame. And with that, Michael Chudley was taken down to the cells. Speaking after the trial, James Ward's wife, Nicola, said, we, Jim's family, have always known that no verdict could ever bring him back. However, we are reassured by the judgement state, which shows that the justice system in this country works well. Jim was a kind honest man and the most wonderful loving husband and father. He was an exceptional person and will forever be in our thoughts. After the trial, there was an appeal which is unsuccessful, and in jail, Michael Chudley's health declined. He suffered from chronic heart failure and shortness of breath,

26:27and the seeing a consultant at the nearby Royal Hampshire County Hospital. But 63 year old Chudley was found dead on the floor of his cell during a routine head counts, at around 5.50am on April 8, 2013. Prison nurses attempted CPR that paramedics declared in dead at 6.35am. A post-mortem revealed he suffered a hemorrhage after fracturing his neck on impacts of a cabinet. This was no dodgy, Epstein-like death, just a man in poor physical health, who died in jail, of natural causes. So what did you make of what would hurt today? Michael Chudley was undoubtedly a difficult term prickly character, with just a loose grasp on morals that very committed to making money. It wasn't the first time he'd been involved in legal action, when he took Christopher Sear to court, and he surely could never have guessed it was ultimately costing him his relationship,

27:31his house and his freedom. Of course, as outsiders, it's very clear for us to see that James Ward bore no responsibility for these things, but equally clearly, as Chudley saw his own life slipping away, he felt the need to blame somebody who was never his fault, it was always somebody else, and James was the person he focused on. Even so, nobody could have expected him to settle his grudge in such a terrible way. Can you imagine how the receptionist at that law firm, Daphne, felt being threatened by Chudley, and then watching as he shot James in front of her? The noises, the smells, the sheer horror of such an event happening at 3pm in the afternoon in the centre of a market town like Devise's, and then the terror James Ward must have felt, when he realised that the man in his office was Chudley, and he was carrying a gun which he raised.

28:32But as always, our final thoughts with the family of James Ward, they could never have expected that such a respected kind and nice man, a man who worked in the law, would see his life ended prematurely by such awful violence. This isn't how it should have been, and yet for just doing his job, James Ward is no longer with us. It just isn't fair, is it? Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the UK Truecrump podcast. I'll be back this week with two brand new episodes on Tuesday and Friday, so I hope you'll be able to join me then. Until we speak again, do take it easy out there, and most of all, stay classy. Cheerio for now. What just happened? It's my new BMO Angel City FC debit mastercard. Every time I use it, it taps me

29:36into the game. Okay, maybe don't do it again. Ooh, these socks are nice. I'm gonna go ahead and so sorry. The BMO Angel City FC debit mastercard. Tap into the game. A counsellor subject to approval, and I'll provide in the United States by BMO Banking Act. Remember at the IC. BMO! What more true crime? This podcast and loads more are part of the Always Truecrime Network. It's packed with box sets to binge and twisted tails you won't find anywhere else. Find your next podcast obsession at AlwaysTrueCrime.com.