Two men convicted of Yeovil man's murder they believed was paedophile
David Garland and Mark Roberts were found guilty after a five-week trial
Last updated 13th Jun 2025
Two men have been convicted of the murder of a Yeovil man they mistakenly believed had been a paedophile.
David Garland and Mark Roberts were found guilty of the murder by a jury at Bristol Crown Court after a five-week trial on Thursday (June 5th).
Both were found guilty of both murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent against the man, named as Michael Wheeler.
On top of this, Garland admitted to preventing the lawful and decent burial of the body of Wheeler.
During the trial, Wheeler, who was aged 37, was friends with Garland, Roberts and three others involved in the case, but had owed £100 to Roberts.
Things soured, however, after reports were found by the group of a man - who was also called Michael Wheeler - who had been jailed in 2003 for grooming and sexually abusing two 13-year-old girls.
Wheeler - who had held no convictions for child sexual offences - was not the same person, but was attacked at Roberts' flat on Juniper Close in Yeovil on August 24th, 2024.
During the sustained attack, he suffered multiple injuries - including 11 skull and facial fractures, killing him; however, his body was hidden.
One month after his death, his body was found in a derelict caravan on farmland near Yarlington on September 25th.
In court, the other three men in the case - Jack Rance, Angus Warner, and Reuben Clare - were cleared of all charges against them.
Both Roberts and Garland were remanded into police custody, and will appear before court again on June 13th to be sentenced.
Speaking on the incident, Detective Superintendent Lorett Spierenburg from Avon and Somerset Police said: "Michael Wheeler was brutally murdered by people he had considered as friends. He was killed over a £100 debt and because they wrongly decided he had been jailed for child sex offences in 2003, when he would have been just 16 years old.
“The defendants gave Michael no opportunity to tell them they were wrong. Instead, they took the life of a man whose last words to his ex-wife were of love for her and their daughter.”