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Mail reporter relives his meeting with a killer

A Hull Daily Mail journalist has relived his meeting with killer Paul Dyson, the man convicted of murdering Joanne Nelson.

Chief reporter Rick Lyon visited Dyson earlier this year after Joanne was reported missing, and interviewed him at the house where Joanne is now known to have been killed.

During the 20 minutes Rick spent with him, Dyson told him he hoped Joanne would return home safe and well, and painted a picture of himself as a man desperate to have the woman he loved back by his side.

Rick said: “I had asked him the question everybody who had heard about Joanne’s disappearance wanted to know the answer to: Had he hurt her in any way?

“And, on one of the few occasions in the interview he lifted his head, he looked me in the eye and said: ‘I love her.’

“He hadn’t answered the question. The silence hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity.

“He tried again. Looking down, Dyson said: ‘There’s no way I would do anything to harm her. I just want her back.'”

Rick interviewed Dyson alone after being told told that he did not want his photograph taken, and described him as a muscular young man with his head bowed, who was dressed casually in a sports T-shirt, dark jeans and socks.

Rick said: “He did not get up when I entered the room.

“I introduced myself to him, apologised for any intrusion and offered my hand for him to shake.

“He briefly looked up and I could see he was unshaven. His eyes were red from crying and had dark patches underneath from lack of sleep. His handshake was limp.

“I asked Dyson to describe Joanne. He momentarily broke down in tears. When he regained his composure, still looking at the floor, he sniffed: ‘She’s really bright and bubbly, always smiling. She is a very, very happy person.’

“He spoke in a barely audible whisper and it was clear he was extremely distressed.”

As it came to the end of the interview Rick asked him if he knew of any reason why she might disappear, but Dyson shook his head.

Rick said: “Next came the most difficult question. I knew many people would be suspicious of Dyson’s role in Joanne’s disappearance, so I asked him straight: ‘Have you hurt Joanne in any way?’

“It was then that he stared me in the eye and said: ‘I love her. There’s no way I would do anything to harm her. I just want her back.’

“He didn’t get up as I left the house.”

  • Dyson entered a last minute guilty plea to Joanne’s murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

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