A gruesome discovery in a shallow grave. But before police can catch the killer they need to identify the victim. Could a unique form of forensic science [reconstructed face] unlock the mystery? Forensics: Catching the Killer s1e1: The Murder of Little Miss Nobody, Sky Crime 2021
Cardiff 1989: A brutal murder ... The bones belonged to a girl aged between fourteen and seventeen … Investigators now had a person of interest … Alan Charlton denied any knowledge of the body found just feet away from where he used to live. ibid.
That name was Karen Price … In life as in death Karen Price was a little miss nobody. ibid. rozzer
Taking DNA from Karen’s estranged parents could prove a familial link to the bones found in the garden. ibid. rozzer
A jury would find Charlton guilty of Karen’s murder, and sentence him to Life with a minimum of fifteen years in prison. ibid.
A double murder sends shockwaves through a rural community. Disturbing details pointed to a killer’s obsession. And the voicemails he hoped would cover his tracks. And a forensic discovery helps crack the case. Forensics: Catching the Killer s1e2: The Martial Arts Murder
6th December 2004 Wiltshire: Both Joan and Milroy had been stabbed and slashed around 17 times each in identical areas of the body … With suspicions raised at Michael’s [son] odd behaviour, investigators question Michael further about his relationship with his parents. ibid.
Suspicion had started to fall on 20-year-old son Michael … A deeper search of Michael’s room piqued their interest … There was more evidence lurking on Michael’s laptop … Investigators used a substance called Luminol around the crime scene. ibid.
A brutal massacre following a family wedding leaves three dead and communities living in fear. A sadistic killer who taunted the police and vowed he would never be caught. And the vital forensic evidence that would tie the triple murderer to the scene of the crime. Forensics: Catching a Killer s1e3: Murder at the Wedding
Sheffield: three victims had been viciously stabbed to death while a fourth had been subjected to a sustained sexual assault. ibid.
Experts were quickly able to obtain a clear impression of the cheese … The blood grouping could be determined … The man’s name was Arthur Hutchinson … ‘The weight of forensic evidence is what ultimately trapped Hutchinson.’ ibid.
1993: One of the largest reservoirs in England covers an area of over eleven and half square kilometres … Despite reassurances from Roger, police remain concerned about where Derek and Eileen might be. Forensics: Catching a Killer s1e4: Murder by the Lake
The [Roger’s] bathroom where some missing carpet first aroused suspicions on the officers’ first search … ‘These were tiny pieces of blood … some blunt force injury’. ibid. forensic dude
Three weeks after they were last seen, investigators have found Derek and Eileen Severs. ibid.
A young woman’s murderer eludes capture for decades. But it’s a case detectives refuse to let lie. And a revolutionary forensic technique allows them to finally trace the killer. Forensics: Catching a Killer s1e5: A Killer in the Family
Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, 30 October 1983: The disappearance of sixteen year old trainee hairdresser Colette Aram … Colette’s body was found just over three kilometres from her home … She’d been sexually assaulted and strangled. ibid.
A nationwide hunt was launched to find the mysterious man in the red [Ford] Fiesta. ibid.
A new test had been developed that would prove a game-changer: it was called Low Copy Number Testing … ‘It could target smaller amounts of DNA’. ibid. rozzer’s technician
‘There were no matching subject records on the national DNA database.’ ibid.
Familial DNA allows investigators to identify close relatives of a potential offender, which in turn could lead them to their subject. ibid.
Paul Hutchinson’s demeanour during questioning aroused suspicions … ‘A full match.’ ibid.
The savage murders of three teenage girls leaves communities in South Wales terrified. The case goes cold for almost thirty years until a forensic breakthrough. Science might have identified a serial killer. Now will evidence from the beyond the grave prove they’ve found the murderer? Forensics: Catching a Killer s1e6: The Saturday Night Strangler
Familial DNA: for the forensic scientists one family’s name on that list stood out. That name was Kappen. ibid.
A bouncer from Port Talbot … Joe Kappen was a petty criminal … He died in 1990 from lung cancer ... When the first shovel went into the ground there was a huge clap of thunder. ibid. reporter
Absolutely positive … It couldn’t have been anyone else. ibid. rozzer
On a remote Scottish island a man disappears without trace … Forensic evidence suggests this isn’t a missing-persons case. It’s a murder. Forensics: Catching the Killer s1e7: Murder on the Island
Inverness: So just who was Robert ‘Bob’ Rose and where had he gone? … The main lead the detectives had to go on was finding Bob’s car parked at the ferry terminal. ibid.
‘Bob Rose had been in a relationship with a former girlfriend of Jack Campbell and we know from witnesses that Jack Campbell was really angry about this … Jack Campbell and Steven Crummack were both in financial difficulties … Steven Crummack had had a bit of a fallout with Bob Rose.’ ibid.
We sampled some of this blood from within the boot area of the vehicle … We found a blood smear on the door card of the driver’s door … There was a lot of sandy material along the runner boards of the car and there were distinct slashes on the side of the paintwork … We can very quickly narrow it down from about twenty square miles to less than one square mile of area that we can prioritise the search to. ibid. forensics lady
Not just one body in a freezer but two … Detectives now believed they had discovered the identity of the two women; to find just how they’d ended up in the freezer they needed to track down the flat’s tenant: Zahid Younis. Forensics: Catching the Killer s1e8: The Freezer Murders, Sky Crime 2022
A tragic scene found by a dog-walker. The news no parent wants to hear. A killer who thought he could out-smart detective but who was given away by his own mobile phone. Forensics: Catching the Killer s2e1: Murder in the Woods, Sky Crime 2022
‘We have evidence that would suggest he [Nicholson] was in a sexual relationship with her and the fact that this had been going on since the age of twelve.’ ibid. rozzer
1981 on the day of the royal wedding an eight-year-old boy goes missing and disappears off the streets of London in broad daylight. Seven months later his partial remains are found. In the Footsteps of Killers s2e2: Vishal Mehrotra
‘The abuse from certain teachers was shocking.’ ibid. schoolfriend
‘They followed so many leads that they ended up going nowhere.’ ibid. journalist
Fairgrounds, travelling showmen were an important line of enquiry. Goodwood races might be another lead. And there’s even a witness who saw suspicious activity by the copse. ibid.
Catweasel: That man is Leslie Bailey, who is a notorious predatory paedophile. ibid.
Seen on the tube with an Asia boy. ibid.
The leader of this group of men was Sydney Cooke. Hissing Sid, he was known as … an evil man. ibid. witness
Do you think Cooke has killed more victims? ibid.
A terrible discovery in a remote field … He had the blood of more than one victim on his hands. Forensics: Catching the Killer s2e3: The Minicab Murders, Sky Crime 2022
Becky Godden-Edwards had lived in Swindon until her disappearance in 2003. ibid.
The man who had led them to the field in the first place – his name was Christopher Halliwell. And he was already begin held by police for the murder of another young local woman. ibid.
What appears to be an accidental house fire. But tragically a mother does not survive. Forensics: Catching the Killer s2e4: Killed for Being Kind, Sky Crime 2022
Stevenage 4th March 1980: 25-year-old Susan Lowson’s body had been found in a burnt-out bedroom of her home. But a post-mortem examination revealed strangulation, not fire, as the cause of her death. ibid.
‘John Dickinson was a local park keeper. He was identified as the main suspect.’ ibid.
In an ordinary town the most extraordinary of murders. A woman [Wendy Speakes] killed in her own home and a family torn apart. And a search for a killer that took years and revealed a history of attacks. Forensics: Catching the Killer s2e5: The Shoe Fetish Murder, Sky Crime 2023
Wakefield, 15th March 1994: Police now had an idea of what Wendy’s potential killer looked like. ibid.
Wendy Speakes had been raped and stabbed to death. ibid.
‘When the DNA evidence was put to him [Christopher Farrow] and the fingerprint evidence, he admitted it.’ ibid. rozzer
In 1990 a 52-year-old woman who owned an antique shop completely disappeared: Trevaline Evans. In the Footsteps of Killers s2e6, Channel 4 2023
30 years later there’s still no body and still no leads. ibid.
‘It feels more like a murder investigation.’ ibid. rozzer
‘Christopher Halliwell … was thought to be living in Lancashire at the time of Mrs Evans’ disappearance … Trevaline had a resemblance to his mother.’ ibid. journalist