Murder at Benham Park
In 2021, Berkshire was shocked by the murder of Sir Richard Sutton, the owner of Elizabeth Craven's beloved home, Benham Place, or Benham Park as it is now known, near Speen, Newbury. Sir Richard had bought the house in 2017 after its skilful restoration by a team of Georgian enthusiasts. Few people realize that Sir Richard Lexington Sutton was a direct descendant of the Sir Richard Sutton who owned Benham in the nineteenth century. Indeed, it appears that when Sir Richard bought the estate in 2017, he was not only buying back the home of his ancestors, but the same estate he had previously, in 1981, sold. Sir Richard Sutton who was murdered in 2021 aged 83. In 1848, the Benham estate was bought by Frederick Villebois from Richard Keppel Craven, who had inherited it from his mother. Then in 1868 on Villebois's death it was bought by Sir Richard Sutton, 4th Baronet, who enlarged the house consider...