Trial & Error TV - Defrosting Cold Cases online -
On the evening of November 26th seven years ago there was old-time dancing at the memorial hall in Colliford … Toward the end of the evening Brian Parson came to collect his mother from the memorial hall. Trial & Error: Brian Parsons Beats to Death an 84-Year-Old Woman, Channel 4 1995
If the police are right, a little earlier in the evening he had carried out a vicious and bloody murder. We don’t believe there even was a murder that night. ibid.
Police seemed to have believed it was a tragic bungled burglary … Parsons would have been just one of hundreds of possible leads. ibid.
Why did the police suspect Brian Parsons, a man with no previous criminal record when they knew of two burglars operating locally whose methods were startlingly similar to the crime at Ferndale. ibid.
Which Brian Parsons is responsible for the death of Mrs Ivy Batten? It is a story of mistaken identity, of mishandling evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, and the fight to get someone to listen to you. Lucky for Brian David Parsons, reporters Neil Young and Aislinn Simpson were listening.
These reporters have re-investigated this controversial case. Brian David Parsons served 15 years of a life sentence before being released on license in 2003. He has always denied the charge.
Parsons was convicted in 1988 after fibers (from a hammer and gloves used in the break-in and the murder) were found in the glove compartment of his car and in a coat he used. But the case has always aroused controversy, with Devon and Cornwall police conducting three internal reviews before an external inquiry by Hampshire police produced a highly critical report of the original investigation.
Since there is a lot of information on the web about this case, I have not made a summary of the entire case. Instead, I have opted to highlight issues concerning evidence and inconsistencies. Defrosting Cold Case online article 10th March 2010