Who was killer Robert Boyer and where is he now?

ROBERT BOYER was led to kill after becoming convinced a neighbour of his was trying to destroy his house.

Here’s all we know about Boyer, his crime and where he ended up.

Who was Robert Boyer?

Robert Boyer was a former miner from Annesley Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, who was 42 years old when he committed his brutal murder.

He worked as a miner until the age of 23, when the pits closed.

He then went on to work as a security guard and in tin production.

On July 19, 2004, he was accused of killing father-of-three Keith “Froggy” Frogson.

Boyer waited for Keith to arrive from the pub, then shot him with a crossbow and hit him repeatedly with a Samurai sword he bought online for £150.

Two weeks later he set fire to Keith’s house while his daughter and her boyfriend were in it.

At first, some thought that the killing happened because of the divisive opinions that Boyer and Keith shared.

The killing took place after the miners’ strike which happened back in 1984/85.

Before the pits closed, Boyer worked as a miner and Keith was a representative for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

But it soon emerged, that Boyer killed Keith because he became “obsessed” that he was trying to dismantle his home

Following the killing and the fire he caused in his house, he set out to hide in the woods near his home.

The police were then on the search for Terry Rodgers too, who had shot his daughter Chanel Taylor dead on July 30 that year.

It took over 450 officers, 30 specialist dogs, helicopters and a cost of £1.5 million to find Boyer and Rodgers.

Boyer was found first on August 15, hiding in a shelter put together by a hill.

He had to be tasered and then was arrested and started being questioned by police.

Where is Robert Boyer now?

Boyer was diagnosed with many mental problems.

Prosecutor Andrew Easteal told the court: “He had convinced himself that Keith Frogson was trying to dismantle his house brick by brick, that acid was being thrown at the brickwork and that a screwdriver had been used to chip away at the bricks.

“He had developed a fixation with Mr Frogson. He was obsessed with the idea that Mr Frogson was persecuting him and trying to damage his home.

“Mr Frogson was completely innocent of this and had no idea what Boyer was thinking, or the delusions he was suffering.”

Easteal added: “It was suggested initially that the origin of this tragedy had something to do with the miners’ strike.

“May I make it absolutely clear that suggestion is wholly wrong. It has no basis in fact.

“The reason for that misunderstanding stems from the fact that Boyer was a miner and worked through the strike and Frogson was a leading member of the NUM.

“But Boyer was quite oblivious to this until after the arrest. The fixation had nothing whatsoever to do with that.

“He was having entirely fanciful beliefs about what he believed Mr Frogson was doing.”

Boyer pleaded guilty to the killing of Frogson at Nottingham Crown Court, and was at first sent to jail.

He was then given an indefinite hospital order.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “It was only after very careful consideration and consultation that the prosecution team decided that evidence of Boyer’s mental condition was such that a charge of murder was not sustainable.

“A meeting then took place with the family where the reasons were fully discussed so that they would be aware of why that decision had to be made.”