Michael Bretton guilty of samurai sword murder of ex-lover's new partner
Michael Bretton was found guilty of murdering his ex-lover's new partner with a samurai sword.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
A man from Dorset has been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend's new partner with a samurai sword in what a judge called a premeditated assassination driven by jealousy. Michael Bretton, 41, was convicted at Bristol Crown Court of killing lorry driver Craig Hurcombe, 39, at his workplace in Gurney Slade, Somerset, on New Year's Day.
Bretton had been in a casual relationship with Kate Saunders, but she ended it and rekindled her romance with Mr Hurcombe. Unable to accept the rejection, Bretton began a campaign of stalking. He bought two GPS tracking devices and placed them in both Ms Saunders' and Mr Hurcombe's cars. He also made false reports to the police, claiming Ms Saunders was in a coercive relationship and had a restraining order against Mr Hurcombe, which was untrue.
On Christmas Eve, Bretton tracked the couple to a pub in Somerset, where a scuffle broke out and he suffered a cut to his face. Then on January 1, using the tracker, he followed Mr Hurcombe to the lorry yard where he worked. CCTV showed Mr Hurcombe arriving just after 6pm, waving at the camera, and then a figure later closing the gates. The prosecution said Bretton arrived armed with a samurai sword with a blade nearly a metre long. Mr Hurcombe suffered an unsurvivable stab wound consistent with such a weapon.
Bretton then tried to cover his tracks. He removed the tracker from Mr Hurcombe's car, drove the car away and set it alight, and took Mr Hurcombe's SIM card. For days afterwards, he sent text messages to Ms Saunders pretending to be Mr Hurcombe, urging her to give Bretton another chance. Mr Hurcombe's naked, burnt body was later found buried in a shallow grave near the yard by search dogs.
In court, Bretton claimed he had gone to confront Mr Hurcombe but that the victim had fallen from his lorry and died. He said he panicked and buried the body because it looked bad. The jury rejected that account and found him guilty of murder and stalking.
Sentencing him to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 29 and a half years, the judge described Bretton as a very dangerous man with an obsessive personality. The victim's mother, Nicola, said in a statement read to the court that Bretton was a vile, deluded, despicable individual. She added that the worst feeling was knowing that when the family reported Mr Hurcombe missing, they were just 200 yards from where his body lay.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 5 | BBC News | BBC One | ITV | ITV1 West Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digwar initially lied to police, claiming he was the victim of a racist attack. | · | · | |||
| Kiran Kaur was sentenced to three years in prison for assisting an offender. | · | · | |||
| The judge said a responsible parent would have challenged their son over his actions. | · | · | |||
| The murder weapon was a longer, straighter dagger, not a typical Kirpan. | · | · | |||
| Bretton used GPS trackers to follow the victim and his ex-girlfriend. | · | · | · | ||
| Bretton was convicted of murdering Craig Hurcombe. | · | · | · | ||
| Bretton was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 29 and a half years. | · | · | · | · | |
| Craig Hurcombe was killed in a samurai sword attack by a jealous ex-lover; his body was found buried and burnt. | · | · | · | · | |
| Digwar's brother and father face other weapons charges, which they denied. | · | · | · | · | |
| Henry Novak's family expressed disappointment and devastation over the sentencing. | · | · | · | · | |
| The judge described the murder as a premeditated assassination. | · | · | · | · | |
| The Novak family said they will continue to fight for the full truth about what happened. | · | · | · | · |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
This channel did not cover the Michael Bretton case. Instead, it reported on the separate case of Vikram Digwar, who murdered teenager Henry Novak. The coverage focused on new evidence of Digwar's confession in Punjabi and the upcoming sentencing of his mother for removing the murder weapon. The tone was factual and detailed, with a warning about distressing footage.
- “He keeps dropping side to side, so I'm just trying to keep us up.”
- “I am a fool.”
This channel also did not cover the Bretton case. It provided extensive coverage of the Digwar case, including the mother's sentencing and the family's legal appeals. The reporting included a live correspondent outside court and detailed the judge's remarks. The tone was serious and comprehensive, with a focus on the judicial process and the victim's family.
- “A responsible parent would have challenged their son over their actions and encouraged them to do the right thing.”
- “Henry's death has left his family devastated over who he called this much-loved kind young man.”
This channel did not cover the Bretton case. It reported on the sentencing of Kiran Kaur, the mother of Vikram Digwar, for removing the murder weapon. The coverage highlighted the prosecution's description of her actions as 'criminality of the highest order' and the defence's claim of a spontaneous act. The tone was dramatic and emotional, including the victim's family statement.
- “They called it criminality of the highest order.”
- “We remain incredibly disappointed.”
This channel provided the only coverage of the Michael Bretton case. The first transcript reported on the trial, detailing the stalking, tracking devices, and the samurai sword attack. The second transcript covered the guilty verdict and sentencing, with emotional victim impact statements and the judge's description of a 'premeditated assassination'. The tone was investigative and sombre, emphasising Bretton's obsessive behaviour and the family's grief.
- “I've never seen such obsessive behaviour.”
- “The worst feeling on earth was knowing that on the day in January, when we reported him missing... we were 200 yards away from where Craig was later found.”
- “This was a premeditated assassination.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.