On March 12th 1992, in a quiet residential road in Greater Manchester, 89-year-old widow Hilda Marchbank was found dead. Lying in her own bed she had been beaten and suffocated with her pillow during the night. The murder of this vulnerable elderly woman shocked and horrified the small town of Royton in which she lived.
It initially appeared that she had fallen victim to a bungled robbery but crucially there were no signs of forced entry and nothing appeared to have been taken, leading detectives to question whether the robbery might have been staged.
Eighteen days after the brutal attack, the woman’s niece was arrested when incriminating forensic evidence was found. Her name was Susan May and she had been Hilda’s primary carer, the person Hilda relied upon the most. Susan May vehemently denied having any involvement with her beloved aunt’s death.
It was Susan who found Hilda’s body, during one of her regular visits to her home on the morning after the murder. Although Susan was not initially a suspect, there were three bloody marks on a wall at the crime scene and it was discovered the left hand mark on the wall had been made by May’s hand.
During the trial, the prosecution’s case was that the marks on the wall were made by May in her aunt’s blood as she felt her way along the wall after committing the murder.
In 1993, Susan May was convicted of the murder of Hilda Marchbank and sentenced to life imprisonment. Following her conviction she made two appeals, both which failed, due to a weak case from her defence.
She continued to protest her innocence whilst in jail and appealed twice. Both appeals were rejected. She was released in 2005 on parole. After her release Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer, and, whilst fighting the disease, she determinedly fought to clear her name. In 2013, just weeks before a decision was due on whether to grant her leave for a third appeal, she died a convicted woman.
Susan May’s supporters claim new evidence proves the marks, which formed the main crux of the prosecutions case, were made from sweat, not blood and made before the murder occurred. They feel this new forensic report, combined with evidence of botched tests and police inadequacies, could finally clear her name and prove that Susan May was the victim of a cruel miscarriage of justice.
Before Susan May died she said: ‘All this new evidence points to the fact that my conviction is unsafe. If the jury heard the case as it is now, with some witnesses discredited and without the main plank of their case – the so-called blood marks – they couldn’t come to the same conclusion.’ CBS Reality online article 26th May 2017
MAZUREK, WERNER: The Child in the Box: Who Killed Ursula Herrmann? Sky Documentaries 2023
This documentary deals with the disappearance of Ursula Herrmann. Current analysis raises new questions in one of the most notorious German criminal cases. The Child in the Box: Who Killed Ursula Herrmann? Sky Documentaries 2023
‘It is still unclear who was actually responsible for the death of my little sister.’ ibid.
‘One of the most notorious criminal cases in German history.’ ibid.
‘It was a particularly evil crime. 10-year-old Ursula is kidnapped. Weeks later the child is found suffocated in a wooden box buried in the woods.’ ibid.
‘News came out very quickly that Ursula’s bicycle had been found.’ ibid. forest searcher
‘It was only on this third day that that we received the first ransom note.’ ibid. older brother
‘It was only a small lid. I opened it. There was the girl. She was sat there.’ ibid. forest searcher
‘Mazurek was known to be very skilled at woodworking. He was initially very hesitant with his alibi … Not the slightest speck of evidence.’ ibid. older brother
In 1989 the investigation of Horst Fischer and Harald was closed. ibid. caption
‘In 2005 DNA analysis had become very advanced so we re-examined the evidence.’ ibid. rozzer
‘It turned out that this DNA was linked to another murder case in Munich’ ibid. lady
‘In May 2006, 59-year-old Charlotte Bohringer was murdered in her apartment.’ ibid. newspaper extract audio
‘The DNA that was found on the screw in the box definitely didn’t belong to Mazurek.’ ibid. lady
‘The search produced a tape deck which is likely the device used during the ransom calls.’ ibid. rozzer
‘It’s impossible to draw the conclusion that any particular devide was used.’ ibid. older brother
‘In 1982 someone claimed to have dug a hole in the forest at Mr Mazurek’s behest.’ ibid.
‘Then he recanted his confession.’ ibid. man
‘The accused insisted on his innocence to the last.’ ibid. news
‘Barbara Zipser’s analysis revealed that Mazurek is most likely not the author of the ransom notes.’ ibid. older brother
‘The two pupils were questioned about finding the wire but were never suspected of having committed the crime.’ ibid. man
‘A young person was involved in the planning.’ ibid. Barbara Zipser
‘The father of this pupil owned companies that developed special varnishes.’ ibid.
‘It became clear that my sister had been anaesthetized.’ ibid. older brother
‘It’s possible it was this particular deck but it could equally have been one of any number, and we don’t know what that number is, of other decks.’ ibid. audio expert
M’BAREK, JAMILA & MOHAMED: Real Crime TV -
November 2004: A British aristocrat [Anthony Ashley-Cooper] disappears on the French Riviera. Sensational revelations about his personal life soon start to surface. But with no body, has a crime even been committed? The finger of suspicion points towards the Earl’s wife, but with no clues was this the perfect crime? Real Crime s7e15: The Mystery of the Missing Earl, ITV 2008
She was Tunisian, an attractive 42-year-old former model with two children from a previous marriage; he was a 65-year-old peer with a stately home, a 9,000-acre estate and a multi-million-pound fortune. ibid.
He frequented lapdancing clubs and hostess bars enjoying the company of prostitutes and strippers. After 18 months the marriage collapsed. ibid.
Jamila was charged with complicity to murder. ibid.
McARTHUR, BRUCE: Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur TV - A Killer's Mistake TV - Catching Killers TV -
Toronto police discovered the remains of six men linked to a suspected serial killer. The lifeless bodies dismembered. Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur, television news, Sky Crime 2022
Myself and my colleagues, we have done reports for years about missing men in the village and about concerns from the community. ibid. journalist
When Toronto police interviewed Bruce McArthur in 2013 they would have seen an older man, portly guy, he was newly out as a gay man and had just started a landscaping company and he was doing pretty well. ibid.
Bruce McArthur has plead guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. ibid. television news
Between 2010 and 2017 vulnerable man keep disappearing from Toronto’s gay village. Are they simply leaving of their own accord? The same name keeps crossing detectives’ desks and he makes an unlikely suspect. A Killer’s Mistake s3e3: Bruce McArthur, DiscoveryPlus 2023
2017: The red Dodge caravan is forensically examined and in the back of the van there is blood … Now it becomes evidence of murder. ibid.
When Project Houston officers examined Bruce McArthur’s digital footprint they were left in no doubt they were on the trail of a serial killer. ibid.
We have the exact year, make, model … Catching Killers s2e4: Missing Men: The Toronto Village Killer, rozzer, Netflix 2023
And then I got to Bruce McArthur. ibid.
I got a warrant to get into his apartment while he was at work. ibid.
He had handcuffed a male to his bed and put a blindfold on him. ibid.
The decomposing remains of six people have been recovered … ibid. TV news