A ‘layabout’ son who stabbed his teacher parents to death for telling him to get a job – and inherited their £1.5million estate has been released from jail.
Serial ‘liar’ Daniel Dighton, 35, knifed former headmaster Barry, 61, and Elizabeth Dighton, 60, to death in the home he shared with them in Campden Road, south Croydon, on the 30th September 2009.
Dighton was cleared of murdering the respected prep school teachers, but in 2010 an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of manslaughter on 11-1 majorities, on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He was told he would have to serve a minimum of 15 years and would only be released if it was thought he was no longer a danger.
MailOnline can reveal that Dighton, now 49, was recommended for release by the Parole Board in September 2023. It was his second parole hearing.
Daniel Dighton, 35, knifed his parents Barry, 61, and Elizabeth Dighton, 60, to death in the home he shared with them in Campden Road, south Croydon, on the 30th September 2009
Murdered couple Barry and Elizabeth Dighton were found by a neighbour after they heard screams coming from the house
A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: ‘We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Daniel Dighton following an oral hearing.
‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
‘A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
‘Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
‘Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.
‘It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.
‘Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.’
Barry was headmaster at Elmhurst School for Boys in Croydon until his retirement in 2006
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that Dighton was released on licence on the 19th October 2023. He has served just 13-years in prison for the double killing plus sometime on remand.
He will have a number of restrictions placed on him, including living in approved accommodation and an approved list of people he can contact.
A HM Prison and Probation Service spokesperson said: ‘The decision to release Daniel Dighton was made by the independent Parole Board after a thorough risk assessment. He is now subject to probation supervision and can be recalled to prison if he breaches strict licence conditions.’
The Evening Standard reported in April 2012 that Dighton would inherit his parent’s £1.5m fortune as their sole beneficiary because he was convicted of manslaughter and not murder.
Under criminal law, if convicted of murder, he would have been automatically barred from inheritance, but the lesser charge left the door open for him to claim the money when he was released from prison.
The Old Bailey was told that Dighton was a source of anxiety to his family because he ‘had no drive and spent his days loafing around the house and his nights drinking’.
His parents had to lock away their cash to stop him taking it, the jury was told. Following their murder, police found a note saying, ‘Please don’t take any more of our drinks’.
Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said Dighton had a hangover on the day of the murders because he had got home late after a drinking session that ended at a strip club.
His parents spent their last morning shopping in preparation for a family trip to their French holiday home in Normandy.
‘They came back at about lunchtime to find their layabout of a son still in bed with a hangover,’ said Mr Aylett.
‘A quarrel broke out, probably the sort of argument that perhaps you might expect to have with a teenager, less with a 35-year-old man.
‘Arming himself with two knives, the defendant stabbed both of his parents to death in an attack of brutal ferocity. He stabbed his father four times. His mother got by far the worst of it, she was stabbed over 20 times.’
Dighton, now 49, was recommended for release by the Parole Board in September 2023. It was his second parole hearing
A neighbour heard her screams and called the police.
They found Mr Dighton slumped in an armchair and Mrs Dighton lying on the living room floor. Both were dead.
Dighton, an only child, was discovered in the loft, where he was finishing off a cigarette.
On his arrest, Dighton allegedly said: ‘It’s just an argument that got out of hand. I don’t normally lose my rag like that. I wish I could turn back time.’
Dighton later told a psychologist that he lost control when his mother had allegedly called him an idiot.
As he attacked her, Mrs Dighton had shouted at him to stop.
He said: ‘I shouted something back and she said “What are you doing Danny? I love you”.’
The court heard he had lived with his parents all his life, save for a brief stint in a flat which they had bought for him in an attempt to make him more independent.
Dighton got his first job as an assistant caretaker at Elmhurst School for Boys in Croydon, South London, where his father was headmaster until his retirement in 2006. He was promoted to teaching assistant but resigned in July 2009 after getting a post in Thailand.
That job fell through and – unable to admit this to his friends at The Folly pub in Croydon – Dighton sent them texts pretending he was working abroad.
He returned four weeks later, claimed his mother had died and invited the friends to her ‘funeral’.
They organised a collection for a wreath and drove to every church in the area in a doomed attempt to attend the burial, the court heard.
Dighton later met them at the Folly and told them the funeral had passed off without incident.
He said he was heading back to Thailand and a few days later sent a bogus text to a friend claiming it was ’80 degrees and he was off to see his girlfriend’. A fortnight later Dighton returned to the pub and told his friends the job hadn’t worked out.
To keep up the pretence of living abroad, he used fake tan.
A prosecution psychiatrist described Dighton as a pathological liar. At no stage did he tell his pub friends that he was living with his parents.
Judge Timothy Pontius told him: ‘This was a truly horrific act of savagery.
‘Yours was always a loving and close-knit family.
‘Your parents were affectionate, generous and loving.’