A WREXHAM man has been charged with the murder of a money lender who went missing in 2007.

Paul Billington, of Llyndir Lane, Rossett, is accused of killing John Iveson, 41, who was last seen on January 30, 2007.

Mr Iveson's body was never found.

Billington, 39, and co-accused Mark Anthony Done, 47, of Old Chester Road, Nantwich, appeared in Chester Magistrates Court yesterday afternoon.

Friends and family packed the back of the court room as the two defendants, both wearing jeans and dark jumpers, spoke only to confirm their names and addresses.

No plea was entered and presiding magistrate Dolores Whitton sent the case to Chester Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on Monday, October 24.

Billington and Done were both remanded in custody.

l JOHN Iveson, 36, disappeared without trace in January 2007.

The father-of-five from Nantwich, Cheshire, was last heard of on the night of January 30 when he rang his brother-in-law, but there has been no contact with his family since.

His business dealings in the demolition and construction trade enabled him to lend money to associates.

At the time of his disappearance, Mr Iveson, who worked all over the country, particularly in Birmingham and Oldham, was renovating a house in Nantwich and his wife Julie was pregnant with their fifth child.

John Iveson's tipper truck has not been seen since he went missing. At about 6pm on the night of his disappearance he went with his brother-in-law to help fix a broken down tractor.

Later, he asked the men he was with to go for a drink but they declined.

He rang his brother-in-law at 11.15pm and has not been heard of since. At the time of his disappearance, police said it was not unusual for him to be away for a night, but he failed to join his sister for a drink on her 21st birthday as he had promised.

Previously, if away for periods of time, he had made contact with his family.

The year after his mysterious disappearance Cheshire Police took the step of offering a £30,000 reward for information and also ran a national TV appeal in an attempt to trace his whereabouts.

At the time detectives said if they received no proof Mr Iveson was still alive they would have to assume he had been murdered, despite his body never being found.

In June this year Cheshire Police arrested four men.Two of the men Mark Done, 47, from Nantwich, and Paul Billington, 39, from Rossett, were later charged with his murder and appeared at Chester Magistrates Court yesterday.