UK UK - Old Crimewatch UK cases - any information?

Bobby88

Whatever happened to Johnnie Herrera?
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
409
Reaction score
241
I have no idea if this thread is even in the right part of the forum. If it's not, feel free to move it.

I recently discovered some old episodes of Crimewatch UK on YouTube, the British program that inspired our own America's Most Wanted. I've seen some of the newer episodes, but I prefer the older reconstructions (re-enactments) to the current ones. However, some of these old episodes mention cases that I've not been able to find information about online. As such, I'm curious to know if they were ever solved. If any UK members here know more about these cases, it'd be greatly appreciated. I'm posting these cases in chronological order according to the episodes on which they were mentioned.

December 18, 1986: The murder of Lorna Hayles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iVaTbaHBU&t=3m08s
(I was only able to find this entry on a UK database about Lorna's murder which states that it was never solved: http://www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=772)

March 17, 1988:
* The murder of Kathy Walsh in London(featured on the February 1988 episode) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWYF4SE1wFc&t=10m18s
* The murder of John Lawrence in Middlesex http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWYF4SE1wFc&t=12m43s

December 8, 1988: The murder of James Gibson in Merseyside on November 15, 1988 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM8ceF3j-wA&t=12m10s

December 6, 1990: The murder of Paul Stevens in Southall (featured on the November 1990 episode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFpH0BR13hU&t=0m1s

January 20, 1994:
* The 1986 disappearance of John Dobson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUbVnOjITwc&t=4m54s
* The 1990 disappearance of Stephanie Whittaker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUbVnOjITwc&t=8m2s

April 1995
: Unidentified woman found in Humberside. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTgEyIRfzyU&t=6m4s

June 1995: The murder of an elderly woman named Christina Gray (featured on an earlier episode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1w-s_WV6Mc&t=8m31s
 
Amazing, hijo. Still hoping someday Johnnie will be found.
 
Someone on YouTube had this bit of info about the James Gibson murder.

Well James Gibson was in fact one of the robbers behind the Preston armed robbery featured on the previous crimewatch episode. Gibson and Leonard Newsham were caught, however Gibson himself was murdered before the trial. Newsham was given 13 years.

He also had the link to this news article about the capture of the Preston robber Leonard Newsham from the November 1988 episode of Crimewatch.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...zNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UFkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4020,3305250
 
I am in the UK Bobby, and thanks for the links to the old Crimewatch episodes. I probably saw them when they aired and I agree with you, the episodes from the 80s and 90s were much better with the reconstructions.

As for these cases, I can't find anything either. None of them seem to have an internet presence beyond these episodes on YouTube. I will keep looking through some UK newspaper sites and will post if I find anything.

Of course the most famous unsolved murder related to Crimewatch UK was the murder of Jill Dando who hosted the show when she was killed in 1999 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Dando

Lots of accusations of cover-ups in high places in Jill's murder. I'm sure one day the truth will come out. I'm not sure what the rules are in the US but I know in the UK a lot of official documents on cases like that can only be released after 30 or 50 years. One day I'm sure documents will be released.
 
I am in the UK Bobby, and thanks for the links to the old Crimewatch episodes. I probably saw them when they aired and I agree with you, the episodes from the 80s and 90s were much better with the reconstructions.

As for these cases, I can't find anything either. None of them seem to have an internet presence beyond these episodes on YouTube. I will keep looking through some UK newspaper sites and will post if I find anything.

Of course the most famous unsolved murder related to Crimewatch UK was the murder of Jill Dando who hosted the show when she was killed in 1999 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Dando

Lots of accusations of cover-ups in high places in Jill's murder. I'm sure one day the truth will come out. I'm not sure what the rules are in the US but I know in the UK a lot of official documents on cases like that can only be released after 30 or 50 years. One day I'm sure documents will be released.

Yes, Jill's murder was terrible. And horribly ironic given that she was a presenter on Crimewatch.

I found an old BBC website with a fairly comprehensive episode guide up to about 2006. There are many reconstructions listed on there from the 80s and 90s that I'd love to see. I'm preparing a written list of said reconstructions and would like to post them here in the hopes that someone has them and would like to burn copies for me, but I realize that as an American, the chances of me viewing these cases (unless someone puts them on YouTube) are very slim indeed.
 
This the list, in chronological order, of Crimewatch reconstructions I'd like to see. It's very incomplete and I will add to it when I can. Note that I was able to find to find info on most of these cases online, so these are really just reconstructions I'd enjoy watching because I'm a true crime show junkie, regardless of the side of the pond. I've culled these from the BBC site I mentioned earlier. I'm mainly interested in seeing the full reconstructions, although it's likely, due to the sheer volume of cases, that at least a few of the were just Incident Desk appeals.

* The murder of 16-year-old trainee hairdresser Colette Aram in Nottingham on October 30, 1983. She was abducted as she walked to her boyfriend's house in Keyworth, raped, and strangled. Her killer, Paul Hutchinson, was finally charged and sentenced to life for the crime in January 2010. This was the very first case ever to be reconstructed on Crimewatch UK. (aired June 7, 1984, the show's first episode)

* The murder of nine-year-old Chris Laverack in Humberside on March 9, 1984. Chris had been left alone at home with his 15-month-old nephew Martin while his older sister Kim Hines left for work and her husband Steve ran a brief errand. Steve arrived home about an hour later to find that Chris wasn't there. His body was found two days later in a plastic carpet bag weighted with bricks; he'd been bludgeoned and sexually assaulted. Chris's uncle, a child molester named Melvyn Read (who died in prison in 2008) was finally proven to be the killer in 2012. (aired August 16, 1984; the show's third episode)

* The 1984 murder of 34-year-old Shelley Morgan. Shelley, who was born and raised in Iowa but emigrated to England in 1972, was last seen alive on June 11, 1984 as she dropped her two children off at the school bus stop in Windmill Hill in Wiltshire. Her body was found in a shallow grave that October in the nearby town of Backwell near Bristol. (aired November 6, 1984)

* Police are hoping forensics can help them identify a mystery corpse. On October 23, 1979, the body of a young woman was found in Bedgebury Forest near Cranbrook, Kent. She had been bludgeoned to death. Police believe she was a regular hitchhiker and possibly a prostitute from the Spitalsfield area of London. A trucker named Harry Pennells was tried for her murder in 2000, but was acquitted. To this day, the woman remains unidentified. (aired December 20, 1984)

* The murder of 32-year-old Mark Yendell in Bristol on October 12, 1984. Mark, a steward with British Rail, had been beaten in the head and thrown in the Bristol Docks. (aired January 21, 1985)

* A 21-year-old French tourist named Veronique Mireille Marre vanished while on holiday in Cumbria as she walked past Wast Water Lake. Interestingly, the search for Veronique's body in the lake led to the discovery of the body of Margaret Hogg, who had been missing since 1976. Her husband Peter Hogg was convicted of her murder and jailed for life. Veronique's remains were eventually found in late 1985 at the edge of a nearby cliff. Her death was ruled an accidental fall. (aired March 14, 1985)

* Two children die in a house fire in Hastings in February of 1985. Police know it was arson. (aired May 2, 1985; I was unable to find any names or other information.)

* Two women vanish from a village in North Wales. (aired May 2, 1985; I was unable to find any names or other information.)

* On June 1, 1984, seven-year-old Mark Tildesley went to a fairground in Wokingham, Berkshire. His bicycle was found chained to a nearby railing. He is believed to be the first boy killed by a gang of pedophiles led by registered child molester Sidney Cooke who was working at the fairground that day. The gang's involvement in Mark's disappearance did not come to light until Cook and other gang members were convicted of the 1985 murder of Jason Swift from Hackney in 1989. Mark's body has never been found. (aired June 13, 1985)

* In April of 1985, a couple found woman's body on a country road near Bristol. The body was identified as 35-year-old Jackie Waines. Crimewatch reconstructs her last hours alive in St. Paul district of Bristol where she was a prostitute. (aired July 11, 1985)

* Nine-year-old Imraan Vohra disappeared on his way home from school in July 1985 in Preston, Lancashire. His body was found two days later in a nearby park. He'd been raped and strangled with his own clothing. In 2009, previously-unidentifed DNA found at the crime scene was matched to an Essex criminal named Robert Morley, who died of lung cancer in 1997. Morley, who had a rap sheet containing offenses such as assault and battery and indecent exposure, lived in an apartment near the park where Imraan's body was found. (aired August 29, 1985)

* In December 1985, a farmer in Essex came upon the ghastly sight of a child's body. It was that of six-year-old Barry Lewis who disappeared from London three months earlier after playing with friends in front of his apartment building. He had been sexually assaulted and beaten. Barry was killed by the same pedophile ring as Mark Tildesley and Jason Swift. (aired January 30, 1986)

* Bronwen Nixon, a 66-year-old widow, was murdered in her cottage near the Rothay Manor Hotel she owned in Ambleside on January 9, 1986. David Wynne Roberts, a Welshman who lived with one of Nixon's employees, saw himself on Crimewatch and surrendered to police in December 1986. He is still serving life without parole. (aired January 30, 1986)

* On December 29, 1985, 19-year-old Alison Day left her Essex home to visit her fiancé and simply vanished. Her strangled body was found in a canal days later. She was later found to be a victim of serial killers John Duffy and David Mulcahy who are serving life for her murder and the murders of Anne Locke and Maartje Tamboezer (both also featured on Crimewatch). The men were dubbed the Railway Killers because they abducted their victims from train stations. (aired February 27, 1986)

* London supermarket manager Steve Whitnell was gunned down in front of his girlfriend. Ten days before he was killed, he confronted group of gang members in his store, and police believe there is a connection. (aired March 27, 1986)

* Siblings Richard and Helen Thomas shared a farmhouse in Pembrokeshire, Wales. On December 22, 1985, they were murdered in their own home and the house set ablaze. Serial killer John Cooper was convicted of the murders in 2011, as well as the murders of Peter and Gwenda Dixon in 1989 (also featured on Crimewatch). (aired April 24, 1986)

* On July 30, 1982, 11-year-old Susan Maxwell from the English border village of Cornhill on Tweed left her home to play tennis with a friend in Coldstream, two miles away on the Scottish side of the English-Scottish border. She disappeared. Her body was found on August 13 in a ditch in Staffordshire, 250 miles away. She had been sexually abused, although an exact cause of death could not be determined. The following year, five-year-old Caroline Hogg from the Scottish town of Portobello disappeared from a playground near her home. Like Susan, Caroline's body was found almost 300 miles from her home (and only 24 miles from where Susan was found). Police believe that the cases are connected. Serial child killer Robert Black was convicted of these murders and several others in 1994 and is still serving life. (aired April 24, 1986)

* Jason Swift, a 14-year-old from Hackney, London, ran away from home in June 1985. He was found dead on November 30 of that year. It is known that Jason was alive in July as he phoned his family and may have even been near his home in early November. He was killed by the same pedophile ring as Mark Tildesley and Barry Lewis. (aired May 22, 1986)

* Seventy-two-year-old registered nurse Georgina Davies was murdered in her Salford home in May 1986. Police are looking to identify the last patient she treated. I've found no info online other than this. (aired July 10, 1986)

* Anne Locke, a 29-year-old television presenter, was abducted and killed as she stepped off a train in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire on May 18, 1986. She was killed by John Duffy and David Mulcahy, the men who also killed Alison Day and Maartje Tamboezer. (aired July 10, 1986)

* Fifteen-year-old Maartje Tamboezer was abucted and murdered as she rode her bicycle to the sweet shop near East Horsley, Surrey on April 17, 1986. In addition to being raped and beaten with a rock, her body was set on fire. She was killed by John Duffy and David Mulcahy, the men who also killed Alison Day and Anne Locke. No one ever really considered that the three cases were connected until a pathologist who had watched all three Crimewatch reconstructions phoned the show suggesting similarities between the murders. (aired in June, August, September, or October 1986)

* The murder of 21-year-old florist Diane Sindall on August 1, 1986 in Bebington, Wirral. She was engaged to be married in 1987 and was working part time as a barmaid to make extra money for her wedding. On the night she was killed, her car ran out of gas as she was leaving her job at the bar and she walked to get help. Her body was found the next day; she had been repeatedly beaten in the head with a crowbar. On August 3, a couple walking their dogs came upon a small fire and saw that it was clothing that someone had burned. Among the clothes was a page from Diane's bank book with her information on it. Dental and forensic evidence led to a man named Peter Sullivan. Sullivan confessed during police interrogation, but later recanted. It is unknown if he was ever prosecuted. (aired September 18, 1986)

* The bizarre 24-hour kidnapping of an eight-year-old boy named Jamie Thomas from Lincoln. Jamie had been taken on a 54-mile train ride to Peterborough and was kept overnight. Jamie was found unharmed, but police want to know who took him because they fear other children are in danger. (aired October 16, 1986)

* The murder of 28-year-old Lorna Hayles in her flat in Clapham in south London. Lorna's body was discovered on August 29, 1986 when people noticed flies at her apartment window. She had been stabbed in the neck and had been lying dead for nearly a month. According to the progress report on the December 18, 1986 episode, police had arrested a man for the killing, but the arrest did not come as a result of Crimewatch. Conviction details are unknown(aired November 13, 1986)

* The murders of nine-year-olds Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows near Brighton on October 9, 1986. A local roofer named Russell Bishop was acquitted of these murders (known as "The Babes in the Wood" case) in 1987, but was jailed for life for attacking a seven-year-old girl in 1990. (aired either October 16 or November 13, 1986)
 
Of the cases I listed above, I could find no info online about the murders of Georgina Davies or Steve Whitnell.

Also, on the same BBC website, under the section for the July 16, 1987 episode, the murder of 18-year-old Rachel Mewes the month before in Newcastle-upon-Tyne is listed as one of the reconstructions. As with the other two cases, I can't find anything online about it.
 
Just bumping this thread to say there are quite a few Crimewatch episodes from the 1990s that have been recently uploaded on this YouTube channel, if anyone wants to see them - https://www.youtube.com/user/futureisgosub/videos

Thank you. I found them a few months ago and meant to post the link.

I found another description of two cases without any names listed from 1990. Per the June 7, 1990 episode listing (verbatim):

Perhaps you unwittingly hold the vital clue to the murder of an 11-year-old Brixton schoolboy; can throw some light on a vicious attack on a civil engineer in Norfolk; or saw something of an attempted robbery at a Midland bank in Merseyside.

Does anyone know the names of the murdered schoolboy or the Norfolk engineer? Also, does anyone know the missing women from Wales were in the 1985 segment listed above? These almost seem like unsolved mysteries within unsolved crimes.
 
After a bit more looking, I found this quote in 2001 article from the Guardian about the UK's black press:

But when another young black boy was brutally murdered in an inner-city tower block on his south London estate, the nation didn't stir, and few people aside from his grieving family and schoolfriends remember his name. For this was Wayne Taylor, just 11 years old, sexually assaulted then suffocated in February 1990 in Brixton's Somerleyton estate.

Everything fits, so it was likely Wayne Taylor's case that was profiled on the June 1990 edition of Crimewatch. I have been unable to find out whether his case was ever solved.
 
On YouTube, I found a BBC1 continuity ad from October 17, 1985 featuring a preview of that night's Crimewatch. The announcer mentions that one of the reconstructions is the case of "a lady who was last seen alive on Halloween last year". Does anyone know to whom they are referring? I've looked at some British missing persons sites, but can't find any woman who vanished on Halloween 1984. I also couldn't find any murder victims from that time frame either.

Crimewatch seldom made appeals for adults who were missing, unless there was clear evidence that the person was the victim of foul play. This woman's case must have fallen into that category if the show did a reconstruction of it.
 
On YouTube, I found a BBC1 continuity ad from October 17, 1985 featuring a preview of that night's Crimewatch. The announcer mentions that one of the reconstructions is the case of "a lady who was last seen alive on Halloween last year". Does anyone know to whom they are referring? I've looked at some British missing persons sites, but can't find any woman who vanished on Halloween 1984. I also couldn't find any murder victims from that time frame either.

Crimewatch seldom made appeals for adults who were missing, unless there was clear evidence that the person was the victim of foul play. This woman's case must have fallen into that category if the show did a reconstruction of it.
Hi Bobby, I couldn't find anything online either on this one.

There is a website called ITN Source which has a lot of old British news reports which could have some further information/updates on these cases. Many have preview clips if anyone would like to see some of the original coverage of these cases and the search function is pretty good for looking for other cases. Here, for example is a report from 6th August 1982 about Susan Maxwell mentioned earlier in the thread. It includes footage of Susan and the original reconstruction done by police http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/ITN/1982/08/06/AS060882015/?s=%22susan%20maxwell%22
 
Hi Bobby, I couldn't find anything online either on this one.

There is a website called ITN Source which has a lot of old British news reports which could have some further information/updates on these cases. Many have preview clips if anyone would like to see some of the original coverage of these cases and the search function is pretty good for looking for other cases. Here, for example is a report from 6th August 1982 about Susan Maxwell mentioned earlier in the thread. It includes footage of Susan and the original reconstruction done by police http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/ITN/1982/08/06/AS060882015/?s="susan maxwell"

Thank you. I found a few on there, including news stories about the murder of Leoni Keating which also happened to air on the October 1985 Crimewatch. In the ad when they mention the woman missing since Halloween, they show a short snippet of the reconstruction. It shows a woman hanging her washing out on a line while another woman talks to her from the doorway of a house. Perhaps the missing woman was last seen hanging out her washing?
 
Of the cases I listed above, I could find no info online about the murders of Georgina Davies or Steve Whitnell.

Also, on the same BBC website, under the section for the July 16, 1987 episode, the murder of 18-year-old Rachel Mewes the month before in Newcastle-upon-Tyne is listed as one of the reconstructions. As with the other two cases, I can't find anything online about it.

Hi Bobby, just revisiting this thread and managed to track down something on Rachael Mewes. Thought I would try with the Rachael spelling of the name and it led to a book on Viv Graham who was an English gangster, apparently noteworthy enough to have a Wikipedia page. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viv_Graham)

The book is here on Google Books and from page 111 gives details on Rachael's murder at the hands of a former boyfriend Colin Spencer Somerville and his sidekick Andrew Vincent. The details of the murder are graphic and sadly it sounds like she met a very violent death. Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8QTEYAzDzQgC&lpg=PP1&dq=viv%20graham&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q=viv%20graham&f=false
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
163
Guests online
1,056
Total visitors
1,219

Forum statistics

Threads
591,778
Messages
17,958,704
Members
228,606
Latest member
JerseyLizard
Back
Top