The chilling undercover footage that finally brought Claire Holland's killer to justice: How cop who befriended pub chef filmed SIXTEEN confessions from murderer during two-year sting

This is the covert footage that finally brought the killer of mother-of-four Claire Holland to justice. 

An undercover police officer befriended pub chef Darren Osment and filmed a staggering 16 confessions from the murderer during a two-year sting operation.

Ms Holland had not been seen since leaving a pub in Bristol at the time of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. 

Osment called 999 seven years later and appeared to confess to the killing - but a lack of evidence meant the chance of a conviction was low, and prompted Avon and Somerset Police to authorise an undercover investigation.

A plainclothes officer using the name 'Paddy O'Hara' moved into a flat barely 300 yards down the road from Osment's home in 2020.

He struck up a friendly relationship with the killer, posing as a petty criminal selling stolen or fake clothes, and offered him causal work moving packages.

In their spare time they drank together in pubs, played pool, drove around in O'Hara's van and walked the dog along the river.

Police chiefs also devised criminal scenarios to increase Osment's trust and allow the pair to bond further, including O'Hara asking him to bury a gun and to act as a lookout while he 'carjacked' a lorry at a motorway services.

They met almost every day for hours of the time, to the point where they appeared so close that Osment vowed to make O'Hara his best man if he ever got married.

Across their 20 months of 'friendship', the officer saw Osment flip into rage on a number of occasions.

This included kicking and stamping on his dog, assaulting pub stuff and threatening to hit someone with a snooker ball, while he often carried weapons and kept a hammer by his front door in case the police came knocking.

Any time Ms Holland, his ex-partner, came up in conversation, the killer would appear full of hatred and refused to use her name, referring to her instead as a 'stupid b***h'.

He blamed her for drinking while she was pregnant, being drunk while she looked after their baby and for calling the police when he pushed her down the stairs, which ultimately led to the child being taken into care. 

O'Hara had to respond sympathetically when he did so and maintain a conversational manner so that the information could one day become usable in court. 

On one occasion, the jury heard Osment confessed to O'Hara he had 'done horrible f*****g s***' and could not turn the clock back as 'what is done is done'.

He also made reference to Ms Holland having a 'nice f*****g swimming lesson' while he spat on the ground in the direction of the sea and then struggled not to vomit and mentioned her body being 'halfway to Spain'.

Videos of the encounters while driving and sat at home were released by officers after being played to the jury.

In one clip, he imitates a 'slashing' across his body while making a swishing sound and described the 'knife skill' he learned as a trained chef.

And responding to questions about whether her body would float, he responds: 'It's all f*****g weighed, it's all down, it's not going to come floating back up.'

After declaring his trust in O'Hara, Osment responds: 'I don't f*****g cast my mind back to what I had to f*****g, do you know what I mean. It's not f*****g pleasant bro. It was f*****g horrible.'

On another occasion, he described it as 'all done and dusted' saying the clothes were burnt outside and that 'everything's gone'.  

He later told him: 'It makes me feel sick. But I did it for [my child].' 

It was this confession that ultimately led to Osment's arrest and he was charged with murder the following day, at which point the undercover officer withdrew and Ms Holland's family were told about the operation.

After an eight-week trial, a jury returned a majority guilty verdict of 10-2 following six full days of deliberations. Osment will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Despite a number of high-profile appeals and campaigns over the years, no trace of Ms Holland has ever been found.