Murder charge after body found at Nine Ladies Stone Circle

Szymon Babynko, of Commonwealth Way in London, has been charged with murder after the body of Isaac Clare-Watts was found at Nine Ladies Stone Circle in the Peak District, a death police linked to a summer solstice gathering at the ancient site. He was also charged with attempted murder in connection with an incident in Hady Lane, Chesterfield, on Thursday.

Clare-Watts, 26, from Nottingham, was pronounced dead at the scene after being found at the stone circle in Stanton Lees at 1.38pm on Monday 22 June. Derbyshire Police launched a murder investigation immediately. A number of people had been at the site over the weekend for solstice events at one of Derbyshire’s best-known prehistoric monuments.

Police received hundreds of messages, photographs and videos from members of the public. Detective Inspector Tony Owen said investigators were still seeking anyone who attended the event between Friday and Tuesday, or anyone with dashcam or video footage of vehicles arriving at or leaving the area.

A 41-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder was later released on bail as inquiries continued.

Nine Ladies Stone Circle is a small early Bronze Age ring on Stanton Moor, a landscape in the Peak District whose wider prehistoric complex dates back about 3,000 to 4,000 years. The site is traditionally linked to the legend of nine women turned to stone for dancing on a Sunday.

Clare-Watts’s mother, Christy Clare, made a public appeal for information and intended to help find those responsible. Frank Goulding Ltd, where Clare-Watts began as an apprentice in 2016, said he went on to become a skilled joiner before leaving to travel and spend time in Thailand developing his Muay Thai skills.