Quadruple murderer jailed in 1987 dies in custody

A quadruple murderer jailed in 1987 for an infamous attack at a dinner party has died.

George Stephenson, 73, was jailed for killing four people, the rape of a woman and a robbery at Burgate House in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in September 1986.

The trial judge recommended a minimum jail term of 25 years but it was later increased to 35 years and he lost a bid for parole in December 2023.

A Prison Service spokesperson said Stephenson died in hospital on 20 April and that he had been jailed at the high security HMP Full Sutton, near York.

Stephenson had once been employed at Burgate House as a handyman.

Joseph and Hilda Cleaver, both 82, their son Tom, 47, and Maggie Murphy, 70, were doused in petrol and burned, Tom's daughter Melissa Cleaver said.

She said her mother Wendy was fatally strangled by another man in the attack in Fordingbridge, Hampshire.

Co-defendant John Daly was convicted of murdering the 46-year-old woman.

Ms Cleaver said her father, grandparents and Ms Murphy, the family nurse, were bound, gagged and set alight.

Stephenson, who would have been eligible to apply for parole this year, lost an earlier appeal against the four murder convictions in May 1990.

He had previous convictions for about 70 offences between 1967 and 1987 before his imprisonment, including burglaries, motor offences, drug possession, obtaining property by deception and violence, the Parole Board said.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "HMP Full Sutton prisoner George Stephenson died in hospital on 20 April 2025.

"As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate."

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