Alderney Murder Case Explained: Charge, Remand and What Happens Next in the Guernsey Courts
- 🔑 Guernsey Police charged Simon Benfield, 44, of Alderney, with the murder of Hannah Benfield, née Cox, 34, on Friday 2 October 2026, and the Magistrate’s Court in Guernsey remanded him in custody that afternoon. He has not entered a plea, nothing has been tried, and the charge is an allegation.
- The court was told the case would be committed for trial at the Royal Court because of the seriousness of the charge, and a committal hearing is set for Wednesday 28 October 2026. A committal hearing is a procedural step that sends a serious case to the higher court. It is not a trial.
- Alderney is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown Dependency in the Channel Islands, and is not part of the United Kingdom. Guernsey Police lead the inquiry, with help from Devon and Cornwall Police, Jersey and Guernsey Customs and Immigration, and officers are staying on Alderney for further enquiries and reassurance.
- According to Guernsey Police, as reported by a national broadcaster, this is the first murder investigation in Alderney in about 30 years. Police named Hannah Benfield on 29 September with her family’s agreement, and her family has since thanked islanders publicly for their support during the first week.
- Guernsey Police have said nothing should be published that could prejudice active proceedings. This page therefore keeps to the charging announcement, police statements and what was said in open court, adds no speculation or commentary, and reflects the position as of Saturday 3 October 2026.
Guernsey Police have charged Simon Benfield, 44, of Alderney with the murder of Hannah Benfield, née Cox, 34, and a court in Guernsey remanded him in custody on Friday 2 October 2026 until a committal hearing on Wednesday 28 October. He has not entered a plea and nothing has been tried: he is charged, and the charge is an allegation. Alderney is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey (Channel Islands), a Crown Dependency, and not part of the UK, so this page explains the Guernsey process. It is pinned to Saturday 3 October 2026.
What has been charged, and what happened in court?
Guernsey Police announced on Friday 2 October 2026 that Alderney resident Simon Benfield, 44, had been charged with the murder of Hannah Benfield, née Cox, 34, who is reported to have been his wife, and he appeared before the Magistrate’s Court in Guernsey that afternoon. Reports of the hearing say he entered no plea and spoke only to confirm his name and address. His defence advocate did not oppose the prosecution’s request for him to be held in custody. The court said that, because of the seriousness of the charge, the case would be committed for trial at the Royal Court, and he was remanded in custody until Wednesday 28 October.
| Date | Reported step |
|---|---|
| Mon 28 Sep | Woman’s body found; man arrested on suspicion |
| Tue 29 Sep | Police name her as Hannah Benfield |
| Fri 2 Oct | Charge announced; remanded in custody |
| Wed 28 Oct | Committal hearing due |
What have Guernsey Police said about the investigation?
Detective Superintendent Jonathan Bancroft said the investigation began in the early hours of Monday 28 September 2026, after a search and rescue operation near the cliffs known locally as The Guns (Giffoine) on Alderney’s south-west coast, where a woman was found deceased and later formally identified as Hannah Benfield. An earlier police update said officers responded to an incident near those cliffs at about 11pm on Sunday 27 September and that a woman’s body was found in the water below them at about 4.30am on Monday. A 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on 28 September, and police named Hannah Benfield on Tuesday 29 September with her family’s agreement. Officers and specialist staff are staying on Alderney for further enquiries and reassurance. Chief Officer Damian Kitchen said help had been drafted in from Devon and Cornwall Police, Jersey and the Guernsey Customs and Immigration Service. According to Guernsey Police, as reported by a national broadcaster, it is the first murder investigation in Alderney in about 30 years.
What do ‘charged’ and ‘remanded in custody’ mean?
Being charged means a person has been formally accused of an offence; it is not a finding of guilt, and he is presumed innocent unless and until a court decides otherwise. Remanded in custody means he is held in custody while the case continues, rather than being released. In his case, reports say the prosecution asked for custody and his defence advocate did not oppose it. That is not a view on the evidence, and nothing has been reported on bail beyond the remand.
What is a committal hearing, and what is due on 28 October?
A committal hearing is the step by which a serious case is sent from a lower court to a higher court for trial; it is a procedural stage, not a trial, and it does not decide guilt or innocence. Here, the Magistrate’s Court said the case would be committed to the Royal Court, and the hearing is listed for Wednesday 28 October 2026. Reports mostly call it a committal hearing, but one local broadcaster’s wording has him due before the Royal Court that day. We could not confirm the courtroom from the court itself, so check the court listings. We do not predict what will happen on the day, and listed dates can change.
What happens after committal in the Guernsey courts?
Once a case is committed, it moves to the Royal Court of Guernsey, which hears serious criminal cases, and a trial date is set later. Published descriptions of the court say that in its criminal jurisdiction Jurats, who are lay members, act as judges of fact rather than a conventional jury. No plea has been entered and no trial date has been reported. We set out the steps in general terms, not as a prediction of what will happen in this case.
Why does this report say so little about what happened?
Guernsey Police have warned that criminal proceedings are now active and that nothing should be published that could prejudice them, so this page keeps to the charging announcement, police statements and what was said in open court. Police have also asked the public to avoid speculation, which they said can cause distress and risk interfering with an investigation. We therefore give no account of events, no evidence, no motive and no background about anyone involved. Sharing theories or unverified claims online can cause harm and may prejudice proceedings.
What has Hannah Benfield’s family said?
Her family issued a public statement, published from Thursday 1 October 2026, thanking islanders for their support during the first week and saying they are looking after one another and carrying on as Hannah would have wanted. In the police update that named her, the family asked for their privacy to be respected. That is all this page includes about the family.
Where can you check for updates?
The most reliable places to check are Guernsey Police’s own news page and the Bailiwick’s court listings, and the next scheduled date is the committal hearing on Wednesday 28 October 2026. As of Saturday 3 October 2026 we found nothing newer than the reports of 2 October: no plea, no change to the charge and no reported court restrictions on reporting. If any of that changes, this page will need updating, and nothing here should be read as saying anything about the outcome. Guernsey Police’s published number for anyone with relevant information is 01481 222 222, as given in its update of 29 September.
How we verified this
What we re-checked. On the evening of Saturday 3 October 2026 (UK time) we re-read the charging announcement and the reports of the court appearance of Friday 2 October as published by local Guernsey and Jersey news outlets and a local radio station, plus a syndicated copy of a national broadcaster’s report. We also checked news feeds for anything newer. We found no later item reporting a plea, a change to the charge, a bail decision or a court-imposed restriction on reporting, so 2 October is the pin for this page.
Sources and their limits. We read about ten pages through a page-summarising tool. The national broadcaster’s own site, Guernsey Police’s website and the Bailiwick’s official court and law-officer pages could not be opened from our tools, so we have not read the police release verbatim or any official court listing. Most items republish the same police release, so they confirm how it was reported rather than acting as fully independent checks. Four items agree on the charge, the victim’s name and age, and the accused’s name and age, and three agree on the remand and the 28 October date.
Where sources differ. One local broadcaster’s report says he is due before the Royal Court on 28 October, while others call it a committal hearing, which is the stage that sends a case to the Royal Court. We say committal hearing and tell readers the courtroom is unconfirmed. An early police update gave the call-out as the early hours of Monday 28 September, and a later update gave about 11pm on Sunday 27 September, so we attribute each to police and use Guernsey Police’s own wording that the investigation began in the early hours of Monday. The wording that this is the first murder investigation in Alderney in about 30 years is the national broadcaster’s, attributed to police. Other outlets have given a different historical claim that police did not make, and we did not use it.
Names and titles. Detective Superintendent Jonathan Bancroft is named consistently across the police statements as reported. Chief Officer Damian Kitchen’s name and role come from local reports of his statement on 1 October. Page summaries gave inconsistent titles for the presiding judicial officer and only one source for the defence advocate’s name, so we name neither. Several summaries also carried wrong dates, such as an arrest on 29 September, which we discarded in favour of the dates in the police updates themselves.
Court-process description. The description of the Royal Court’s criminal jurisdiction, with Jurats acting as judges of fact, rests on published reference descriptions of the court, not on an official Bailiwick page we could open. The steps are described in general terms and are not a prediction. Readers needing precise procedure should consult the courts or an advocate.
Left out on purpose. Police have warned that criminal proceedings are active. We include only the charging announcement, police statements and what was reported from open court. We give no account of events, no evidence, no motive and no background about anyone involved, and we name no family members or businesses. We did not use tabloid labels or framing from other outlets.
Still moving. The case is live. A plea, a change to the charge or custody position, a reporting restriction, or the committal hearing on 28 October could each make parts of this page out of date. No odds, probabilities or forecasts of any outcome appear anywhere on this page.