Latest / History Dark / She bravely fought off her attacker - and that SOLVED her murder _ Killer At The Crime Scene

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She bravely fought off her attacker - and that SOLVED her murder _ Killer At The Crime Scene · History Dark

0:02
Speaker 1: An 87-year-old woman has been murdered in her own home.
0:06
Speaker 2: We've never investigated a crime as sad and horrendous as this.
0:10
Speaker 1: A killer is on the loose and an entire estate
0:13
Speaker 1: is caught up in suspicion.
0:15
Speaker 3: His DNA profile has been found and his fingerprints have
0:18
Speaker 3: been found, but he's not in the database.
0:20
Speaker 4: The police started to think they're not going to be
0:23
Speaker 4: able to solve this.
0:24
Speaker 1: Forensics will have to go to unprecedented lengths to catch
0:27
Speaker 1: the killer at the crime scene.
0:29
Speaker 3: Every murder scene's different. But the goal remains the same,
0:33
Speaker 3: to catch the killer.
0:57
Speaker 1: On the outskirts of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, a body has
1:01
Speaker 1: been discovered in a bungalow.
1:04
Speaker 2: An elderly lady had been found in a home, severely beaten.
1:12
Speaker 2: Bloodstains on the base of the bed and also on
1:16
Speaker 2: the pillow of the bed. To come across that was
1:21
Speaker 2: just unimaginable, a horrendous crime scene.
1:27
Speaker 1: Police waste no time and cordon off the bungalow and
1:30
Speaker 1: surrounding vicinity as a crime scene.
1:33
Speaker 3: So at the start of a major crime investigation, there's
1:35
Speaker 3: what's called the golden hour, which is the first couple
1:37
Speaker 3: of hours of an investigation where all hands are on deck.
1:41
Speaker 1: Sarah Thirkle has over 25 years' experience in crime scene
1:45
Speaker 1: investigation and is one of the UK's leading forensic trainers.
1:49
Speaker 3: When you first enter a scene, it's very easy for
1:52
Speaker 3: someone to assume that you go straight to the dead body.
1:55
Speaker 3: But it's quite good to take a step back and
1:58
Speaker 3: actually look at the scene and try and determine what
2:01
Speaker 3: might or might not have happened. Her walk-in frame was
2:03
Speaker 3: on its side and the lounge was in an untidy
2:07
Speaker 3: state and there was some blood found close to the
2:10
Speaker 3: fireplace in the lounge.
2:13
Speaker 1: CSIs follow the trail of disturbance to ascertain what happened
2:17
Speaker 1: at the bungalow.
2:20
Speaker 2: Initially, it looked like the first attack and probably the
2:26
Speaker 2: most severe attack occurred in the lounge due to the
2:31
Speaker 2: blood and the hair around the fireplace. We believe she
2:36
Speaker 2: was thrown to the floor, punched, kicked, her face stamped
2:44
Speaker 2: on repeatedly. The bones in her neck were fractured. She'd
2:49
Speaker 2: been subjected to a vicious, violent, prolonged attack. She was
2:55
Speaker 2: then dragged through into the bedroom and then sexually assaulted
3:00
Speaker 2: in the bedroom.
3:04
Speaker 1: The woman is identified as 87-year-old pensioner Gladys Godfrey.
3:09
Speaker 5: Breathed left by shocked neighbours of murder victim Gladys Godfrey,
3:13
Speaker 5: she was found in her bungalow with serious facial injuries
3:16
Speaker 5: after a wanton sexual attack.
3:19
Speaker 2: Gladys was 87, five foot tall, six stone, lived alone,
3:25
Speaker 2: was very, very frail. She couldn't walk without the aid
3:28
Speaker 2: of a walking frame. She was well known in the area.
3:32
Speaker 2: She was a lovely old lady.
3:34
Speaker 5: Neighbours say Gladys Godfrey liked nothing better than to stand
3:37
Speaker 5: in her doorway, and give a friendly wave to people
3:39
Speaker 5: as they went by.
3:40
Speaker 1: They just can't believe she's become a murder victim.
3:44
Speaker 2: To attack and kill an 87-year-old lady in her own
3:48
Speaker 2: home is an extreme rarity. We've never investigated such a
3:53
Speaker 2: crime before, and I don't think Nottinghamshire in the history
3:56
Speaker 2: of come across a case as sad and horrendous as this.
4:02
Speaker 3: Working on a murder investigation can be quite upsetting. Some
4:05
Speaker 3: of the scenes that we do attend are quite horrific incidents.
4:11
Speaker 3: Gladys Godfrey was found on the bed, laying on her
4:14
Speaker 3: back with severe head injuries, and it looked like she'd
4:17
Speaker 3: been sexually assaulted. From a crime scene investigator's point of view,
4:22
Speaker 3: there's a priority to get potentially some DNA from the victim.
4:26
Speaker 3: An emotive and horrific attack like this really does motivate
4:30
Speaker 3: CSIs to be able to find the evidence to be
4:33
Speaker 3: able to solve the crime.
4:36
Speaker 1: A pathologist takes samples from the victim. Detectives hope this
4:39
Speaker 1: will provide a DNA profile of a prime suspect within
4:42
Speaker 1: 48 hours.
4:45
Speaker 2: Waiting for the result of any crime scene examination and
4:49
Speaker 2: trying to get a fingerprint or DNA would be of
4:53
Speaker 2: key importance. To get a result back is what we
4:58
Speaker 2: pray and hope for.
5:00
Speaker 3: These examinations that we do don't take ten minutes or
5:05
Speaker 3: two hours. We can be in a murder scene for
5:08
Speaker 3: several days or several weeks.
5:13
Speaker 1: Amongst the disarray in Gladys' lounge is a blood marking
5:16
Speaker 1: that stands out.
5:18
Speaker 3: There were some footprints found in blood on the lounge floor.
5:22
Speaker 3: Footprint evidence is good supporting evidence because... They've either been
5:26
Speaker 3: laid at the time of the attack or very soon after.
5:30
Speaker 3: In a scene like this, we would take a series
5:32
Speaker 3: of photographs with a scale to show any detail on
5:35
Speaker 3: the footprint. And then we would recover the footprint by
5:38
Speaker 3: cutting a carpet out.
5:41
Speaker 1: The shoe print is sent off to the lab for
5:43
Speaker 1: further analysis, while the CSIs process the outside scene.
5:47
Speaker 3: As a crime scene investigator, you have to almost think,
5:50
Speaker 3: as an offender would, as to how would I approach
5:52
Speaker 3: this house?
5:53
Speaker 5: How would I.
5:54
Speaker 3: Climb in through the window? Or where would I knock
5:56
Speaker 3: on the door? Has the offender looked through the front
5:59
Speaker 3: window to see if the elderly lady's in the house?
6:02
Speaker 3: Sometimes you'll get hearing in marks where you'll have the
6:05
Speaker 3: nose and the forehead and this part of the handprint.
6:09
Speaker 3: You might be able to get DNA from the sweat
6:12
Speaker 3: that's left on the window.
6:15
Speaker 1: To assist them in building a profile of the killer,
6:17
Speaker 1: detectives investigate how the offender got into the bungalow.
6:22
Speaker 2: At this crime scene, there were no signs of forced entry.
6:26
Speaker 2: The windows were intact. The door hadn't been forced. Possibly
6:30
Speaker 2: the door was left insecure or that a key was involved.
6:34
Speaker 2: So was it someone... that knew Gladys or was it
6:39
Speaker 2: a total stranger attack?
6:42
Speaker 6: Research has looked into what kind of offender we might
6:45
Speaker 6: be looking for. So the offender is more likely to
6:48
Speaker 6: be a known acquaintance to the victim. They are more
6:51
Speaker 6: likely to have been victimised themselves and they are more
6:56
Speaker 6: likely to have an offending history.
7:00
Speaker 1: CSIs look for trace evidence for anybody who's been within
7:03
Speaker 1: Gladys' home.
7:05
Speaker 3: Everyone's fingerprints are unique So if your fingerprints are found
7:09
Speaker 3: at a scene and you have fingerprints of somebody on record,
7:11
Speaker 3: you're able to definitively prove that that person has left
7:15
Speaker 3: their fingerprints in that scene. I would ensure that every
7:18
Speaker 3: single item in that lounge would be considered for fingerprint evidence.
7:23
Speaker 3: The door frames, any window frames. And again, in the bedroom,
7:26
Speaker 3: was there anything that looks like it's been moved? Where's
7:29
Speaker 3: her handbag? Where's her purse? Are they suitable surfaces to
7:32
Speaker 3: be fingerprinted? Are these fingerprints in Gladys' house from an
7:37
Speaker 3: innocent person, from a neighbour or a family friend, or
7:40
Speaker 3: are they from the offender? If there's any suggestion that
7:43
Speaker 3: there may be innocent people that have been in her house,
7:46
Speaker 3: we would request that we take elimination fingerprints from these
7:49
Speaker 3: people and also potentially elimination DNA.
7:54
Speaker 1: CSIs continue to harvest evidence from the crime scene whilst
7:58
Speaker 1: police gather elimination fingerprints from those who are known to
8:01
Speaker 1: visit Gladys' home.
8:04
Speaker 2: We had many lines of enquiry that would take place
8:09
Speaker 2: in tandem. Victimology, getting to know Gladys, the local criminal intelligence,
8:15
Speaker 2: that will be key to the investigation. And one of
8:18
Speaker 2: the other key areas is the house-to-house enquiries in the
8:22
Speaker 2: area to see what people have seen or heard.
8:26
Speaker 3: Are there any other incidents that's happened at this house
8:28
Speaker 3: that have been reported to the police? Has that house
8:31
Speaker 3: been burgled? Has she had strange people calling? Has her
8:35
Speaker 3: neighbour seen anybody in the area that seems unusual? Was
8:38
Speaker 3: there anything that might indicate that she thought something was
8:41
Speaker 3: going to happen?
8:42
Speaker 1: Detectives look at recent crime reports for the local area
8:47
Speaker 1: and reveal a lead that could help track down the killer.
8:50
Speaker 2: Crimes of this nature are a rarity, but very quickly
8:54
Speaker 2: we established that there'd been a previous offence at Gladys'
8:59
Speaker 2: home address almost 18 months ago.
9:10
Speaker 1: 87-year-old Gladys Broderick has been found murdered in her own home.
9:16
Speaker 3: Whoever's done this is obviously an evil person. All police
9:19
Speaker 3: officers and CSIs working on the case would do everything
9:23
Speaker 3: in their powers to be able to bring justice for Gladys.
9:27
Speaker 1: CSIs have recovered fingerprints and a bloody footprint from the
9:31
Speaker 1: crime scene. Swabs have been taken from the victim as
9:35
Speaker 1: the evidence suggests that she has been sexually assaulted. Detectives
9:40
Speaker 1: have now discovered that just 18 months ago, Gladys was
9:43
Speaker 1: the victim of another violent crime. If both the attacks
9:58
Speaker 1: are linked, this could provide... critical evidence to help catch
10:02
Speaker 1: the killer.
10:05
Speaker 2: At about three o'clock in the morning, Gladys answered a
10:08
Speaker 2: knock at the door and an offender entered the bungalow,
10:13
Speaker 2: knocked Gladys to the floor, tried to sexually assault Gladys.
10:19
Speaker 2: Despite her being frail and infirm, she managed to fight
10:23
Speaker 2: this man off. She managed to scratch him, and pull
10:27
Speaker 2: a gold-hooped earring from the offender.
10:32
Speaker 5: Police want anyone who recognises the attacker's earring to now
10:36
Speaker 5: contact them urgently.
10:38
Speaker 1: Paul Bacon, a local solicitor, was the former president of
10:41
Speaker 1: the Nottingham Law Society.
10:43
Speaker 4: What was clear that the attack was sexually motivated, he'd
10:45
Speaker 4: exposed himself and said to her, you're going to get
10:47
Speaker 4: some of this. What was odd was that he then
10:51
Speaker 4: snatched her handbag and ran away with it. It was
10:53
Speaker 4: quite remarkable. She was quite frail. And for her to
10:55
Speaker 4: be able to react and bravely fight off someone to
10:59
Speaker 4: the extent that they left and at the same time
11:02
Speaker 4: gathered this evidence, most importantly at all, she was alive
11:05
Speaker 4: to tell the tale of.
11:08
Speaker 1: Police were called to Gladys' bungalow to investigate the crime
11:11
Speaker 1: scene and take her victim statement.
11:13
Speaker 2: Gladys was able to describe her attacker as a young man,
11:17
Speaker 2: dark hair, white and of slim build.
11:21
Speaker 4: It was obviously difficult for her to give a very
11:23
Speaker 4: detailed description, but it did obviously help the police to
11:26
Speaker 4: have an idea as to the type of person, the
11:29
Speaker 4: size of the person. It was a male person.
11:34
Speaker 1: Police took nail scrapings from Gladys and recovered the offender's earring.
11:39
Speaker 1: Both were sent to the lab for DNA analysis.
11:42
Speaker 3: Both exhibits were examined for DNA. They didn't appear to
11:46
Speaker 3: get a good profile from the earring, Nail scrapings are
11:50
Speaker 3: a really good source of DNA. If you grab somebody
11:53
Speaker 3: or scratch somebody, you can get foreign DNA right under
11:56
Speaker 3: the depth of your nail. Police, medical examiner, will cut
12:01
Speaker 3: the fingernails and do scrapings underneath in an attempt to
12:04
Speaker 3: try and find a mixed profile. Obviously, you're going to
12:07
Speaker 3: get the victim's DNA on there, but that can be
12:10
Speaker 3: easily eliminated. You're looking for any other foreign DNA.
12:16
Speaker 1: Scientists were able to raise a partial DNA profile which
12:20
Speaker 1: they processed through the National DNA Database. But there were
12:23
Speaker 1: no matches.
12:25
Speaker 3: It's almost like a bittersweet blow, really, because you've got
12:28
Speaker 3: a partial DNA profile and you still don't know who
12:31
Speaker 3: the offender is.
12:33
Speaker 1: Over the next few days, Gladys' handbag and its contents
12:37
Speaker 1: were returned to her by her neighbours across the estate.
12:40
Speaker 4: The recovery of that property says to me what a
12:43
Speaker 4: caring nature the people of Lady Bookman's would have. I mean,
12:46
Speaker 4: these were things that could have been just chucked in
12:48
Speaker 4: the bin. But her handbag, her library card, her purse,
12:53
Speaker 4: family photos were bit by bit all returned to her, which,
12:56
Speaker 4: of course, gave the police a terrific advantage.
13:00
Speaker 1: Detectives plot the locations of where the stolen items were
13:02
Speaker 1: found to determine the direction in which the attacker fled.
13:06
Speaker 4: They obviously come on foot. The contents have been strewn
13:09
Speaker 4: in a particular direction. The police were able to draw
13:13
Speaker 4: the conclusion that this was a local person This is
13:16
Speaker 4: not someone that's come from out of the area. This
13:18
Speaker 4: is clearly someone that lives nearby or fairly close to
13:21
Speaker 4: the victim.
13:25
Speaker 1: But despite the partial DNA profile and the thorough investigation,
13:28
Speaker 1: police were unable to identify an offender. Detectives investigating the
13:36
Speaker 1: murder are concerned that the same violent predator has struck again.
13:43
Speaker 1: The results from the intimate swamps are back. and have
13:45
Speaker 1: produced a full DNA profile. Once again, there is no
13:50
Speaker 1: match on the national DNA database. So the two DNA
13:54
Speaker 1: profiles from the separate attacks are compared.
13:58
Speaker 2: What the scientists were able to establish was that the
14:03
Speaker 2: full DNA profile matched the partial profile from the fingernail
14:09
Speaker 2: scrapings that were taken from Gladys on the previous attack
14:13
Speaker 2: 18 months ago, so that we knew the offender had
14:18
Speaker 2: come back to attack Gladys and sadly murder Gladys on
14:23
Speaker 2: this occasion.
14:25
Speaker 3: This was a breakthrough moment for the investigation. It's amazing
14:28
Speaker 3: that they're able to link two scenes from a year apart.
14:32
Speaker 3: But although both DNA profiles matched, it still poses a
14:36
Speaker 3: really difficult question for the SIO as to who is
14:39
Speaker 3: my offender.
14:42
Speaker 6: When we look at sexually violent offenders, we often find
14:47
Speaker 6: that they have often been victims of violence themselves in
14:50
Speaker 6: their childhood, in their backgrounds. We may also be looking
14:54
Speaker 6: for an offender who experiences mental health difficulties. We may
14:58
Speaker 6: be looking for somebody who has an emotional disengagement to
15:03
Speaker 6: such a sexually violent assault.
15:07
Speaker 1: It's possible that there.
15:08
Speaker 6: Is a negative emotionality involved after the victim fought back
15:13
Speaker 6: in the first attack, perhaps making the second attack more
15:16
Speaker 6: severe and more violent.
15:19
Speaker 2: It was extremely worrying because we knew that this man
15:23
Speaker 2: had attacked twice. Yes, he'd attacked the same victim, but
15:27
Speaker 2: he'd gone on to kill. The local community were in
15:31
Speaker 2: fear that this man might attack again.
15:35
Speaker 4: This was a really brutal attack in a quiet residential area.
15:39
Speaker 4: Maylady Booker State is a close community. Everybody knows everybody.
15:44
Speaker 4: Mainly occupied by elderly people. So it came as a
15:48
Speaker 4: massive shock to everyone.
15:51
Speaker 7: She was a lovely little old lady.
15:52
Speaker 1: She loved to talk to people and children.
15:56
Speaker 2: Everybody on the street knew it.
15:58
Speaker 8: And it's a very sad loss that this has happened
16:00
Speaker 8: to a woman of eight to seven years of age.
16:03
Speaker 4: Gladys Goddard was very smart, very friendly, well-known, well-liked. She
16:08
Speaker 4: enjoyed standing on her doorstep and saying hello to people.
16:12
Speaker 4: What happened here, it was awful. So unexpected. Really, really
16:18
Speaker 4: tragic for everybody.
16:26
Speaker 1: Detectives talked to local residents to ascertain whether they saw
16:29
Speaker 1: anything unusual across the estate.
16:33
Speaker 2: We found a witness who'd seen someone riding away from
16:41
Speaker 2: the area of the crime scene on the morning that
16:44
Speaker 2: Gladys was discovered. It was someone that was seen on
16:47
Speaker 2: the bike. It might have been the offender, it might
16:50
Speaker 2: have been someone on the way to work, but it
16:52
Speaker 2: was someone that we wanted to eliminate.
16:56
Speaker 1: The digital forensic team analysed the local CCTV footage.
17:01
Speaker 2: It was a lot of work, but to try and
17:03
Speaker 2: trace this individual was of key importance. We put an
17:09
Speaker 2: appeal out through the media, but we couldn't find this
17:13
Speaker 2: individual or cite this individual on any CCTV footage that
17:17
Speaker 2: we had.
17:18
Speaker 1: As the pressure mounts from the local community, scientists study
17:22
Speaker 1: the shoe print recovered from the crime scene.
17:26
Speaker 3: The purpose of seizing footwear marks from a scene is
17:29
Speaker 3: to be able to identify evidence the size, the make
17:32
Speaker 3: of shoe, and also any unique damage on the sole
17:35
Speaker 3: of that shoe. So if we were able to arrest
17:37
Speaker 3: an offender, we would be able to match up any
17:40
Speaker 3: footwear that they had with the footprints that were found
17:43
Speaker 3: at the crime scene.
17:44
Speaker 2: The crime scene manager at the time had identified a
17:51
Speaker 2: shoe that he thought may be responsible for leaving the
17:55
Speaker 2: footmark on. which was called a Euroland shoe. It was
18:00
Speaker 2: a tremendous piece of forensic investigation.
18:05
Speaker 1: Police are confident they know the footwear worn by Gladys'
18:08
Speaker 1: killer and have his DNA profile linked to the previous
18:11
Speaker 1: attack and the murder.
18:14
Speaker 3: There is a perception that DNA is the crux of
18:17
Speaker 3: the evidence. If you find a DNA profile, you've got
18:20
Speaker 3: the offender. That is only relevant if the offender's been
18:25
Speaker 3: arrested and had their DNA taken. There's a lot of
18:28
Speaker 3: other evidence, forensically, that can link an offender to a scene.
18:32
Speaker 1: For example, fingerprints. Police have been collating elimination fingerprints from
18:38
Speaker 1: those who are known to visit Gladys. These are compared
18:42
Speaker 1: against the fingerprints recovered from the crime scene to see
18:45
Speaker 1: whether anyone unknown to Gladys has been in her home.
18:49
Speaker 3: The elimination fingerprints are taken normally on a form using
18:53
Speaker 3: black ink. You'd roll the finger across the paper... So
18:57
Speaker 3: you've got all possible angles and sections of the fingerprint.
19:01
Speaker 3: Because when you have a chance fingerprint at a scene,
19:03
Speaker 3: you won't just get one solid fingerprint. These will be
19:06
Speaker 3: checked manually by a fingerprint expert. Any scenes of crime
19:12
Speaker 3: marks from the crime scene that match elimination fingerprints are
19:15
Speaker 3: then discarded.
19:16
Speaker 1: Once the elimination fingerprints have been deducted from the fingerprints
19:20
Speaker 1: found at the crime scene, there are still a number
19:22
Speaker 1: of prints unaccounted for. The detectives hope that these could
19:26
Speaker 1: provide a lead.
19:28
Speaker 3: It's quite a breakthrough to have 14 or 15 fingerprints
19:31
Speaker 3: that haven't been eliminated, some of which may or may
19:34
Speaker 3: not have been from an offender.
19:37
Speaker 1: Despite having a full DNA profile, fingerprints, a shoe print
19:40
Speaker 1: and a description of the offender, the police still have
19:43
Speaker 1: no suspects. With no other techniques to turn to, Nottinghamshire
19:48
Speaker 1: Police decide to undertake an unprecedented mass screening operation. It
19:52
Speaker 1: will be one of the largest targeted elimination procedures in
19:56
Speaker 1: the force's history.
19:58
Speaker 2: It was a significant piece of our investigation. We believed
20:02
Speaker 2: that this may be a local offender. All of those
20:07
Speaker 2: individuals were looked at and then prioritised in terms of
20:11
Speaker 2: an elimination process. We drew up intelligence-led parameters to DNA
20:20
Speaker 2: swab local men in the area.
20:23
Speaker 3: A mass screen is a voluntary thing where they would
20:27
Speaker 3: look at a demographic according to the old lady's statement,
20:30
Speaker 3: same age group, the same ethnic origin.
20:33
Speaker 2: We had two key elements to eliminate suspects or persons
20:37
Speaker 2: of interest with, namely a full DNA profile and unidentified
20:44
Speaker 2: fingerprint impressions obtained from the crime scene.
20:47
Speaker 4: It's a huge operation, all weathers, using local community centres,
20:52
Speaker 4: knocking on doors, asking people to give their samples, a
20:55
Speaker 4: massive operation. It was interesting that there was no reluctance
20:59
Speaker 4: on the men from Lady Roo to do that. Whoever
21:03
Speaker 4: the perpetrator was, people of Ladybrook were determined to make
21:06
Speaker 4: sure he was found.
21:09
Speaker 1: Hundreds of samples were sent off to be compared against
21:12
Speaker 1: the DNA found at the crime scene. Police were hoping
21:16
Speaker 1: that one of them would match back to the offender.
21:19
Speaker 2: We were motivated to carry on, track this man down,
21:23
Speaker 2: because the nature of the attack on Gladys was enough motivation.
21:29
Speaker 2: Every day that we came to work, we were determined...
21:33
Speaker 2: This might be the day that we find this man.
21:38
Speaker 1: Twelve months into the investigation, and over 1,000 men in
21:42
Speaker 1: the targeted area had been eliminated from police inquiries. But
21:47
Speaker 1: there were no matches, and hundreds of locals were still
21:50
Speaker 1: yet to be processed.
21:52
Speaker 2: It was frustrating, but we knew if the DNA didn't
21:55
Speaker 2: match and the fingerprints didn't match, those individuals weren't the offender.
22:00
Speaker 2: It was as simple as that. By eliminating those people,
22:04
Speaker 2: we were working towards the end and amongst those people
22:08
Speaker 2: yet to be seen, the offender still may lay.
22:13
Speaker 4: As time went on and there was no real valuable response,
22:16
Speaker 4: the police started to think, I'm sure, that they're not
22:19
Speaker 4: going to be able to solve this. And then something
22:22
Speaker 4: really remarkable happened.
22:33
Speaker 1: A year has passed since the murder of pensioner Gladys Godfrey.
22:38
Speaker 1: Police have the DNA and description of the offender, plus
22:41
Speaker 1: his fingerprints and a footprint, but they still do not
22:44
Speaker 1: have a suspect. Detectives believe that the killer lives locally
22:50
Speaker 1: and have conducted a mass screen, eliminating DNA samples from
22:55
Speaker 1: over 1,000 local men. But whoever murdered Gladys is still
23:00
Speaker 1: at large.
23:04
Speaker 3: The DNA database started in 1995. This offence was back
23:10
Speaker 3: in 2002, so it was really only seven years since
23:13
Speaker 3: the start of the DNA database. There weren't as many
23:15
Speaker 3: profiles obviously as there are now, so it's back to
23:19
Speaker 3: old-fashioned detective work. It's obvious that there's somebody really bad
23:24
Speaker 3: out there that needs arresting and needs catching.
23:27
Speaker 1: With no arrests made, tensions are rising amongst the community,
23:31
Speaker 1: who fear that the killer may strike again.
23:34
Speaker 8: Detectives investigating the murder of Mansfield Pensioner followed up on 8,000
23:39
Speaker 8: leads but have yet to arrest anyone. More than 2,000
23:44
Speaker 8: burglar alarms have been fitted by the council on the
23:46
Speaker 8: estate to reassure residents.
23:49
Speaker 4: Mansfield is a nice town, but it's a tough town.
23:51
Speaker 4: You think about the fact that the mining community earned
23:54
Speaker 4: good money. They were the have-nots and the haves, which
23:56
Speaker 4: were the miners, and it did involve fights and trouble
24:00
Speaker 4: and burglaries and so on. Where Gladys lived was a
24:04
Speaker 4: little community in and of itself. The community were particularly
24:08
Speaker 4: concerned because she'd been attacked 18 months earlier. And I
24:12
Speaker 4: think it made older residents in that area particularly anxious.
24:19
Speaker 6: It's possible that when offenders aren't detected, it gives them
24:23
Speaker 6: the impetus to continue carrying out crime and perhaps increasing
24:26
Speaker 6: the severity of the crime. In sexual homicide cases, it's
24:30
Speaker 6: not uncommon to hear the offender report that they had
24:34
Speaker 6: an impulse or a serious compulsion. So it's possible for
24:38
Speaker 6: that reason that that compulsion would have persisted.
24:42
Speaker 2: It was extremely worrying because we knew whilst this person
24:46
Speaker 2: was free and at large, he may attack again. So
24:49
Speaker 2: it really gave us some impetus, if any was needed,
24:54
Speaker 2: to try and catch this man alive.
24:58
Speaker 1: Away from the public eye, the Forensic Intelligence Bureau, known
25:02
Speaker 1: as the FIB, has been developing a revolutionary technique which
25:06
Speaker 1: may help catch the killer.
25:09
Speaker 2: One of the forensic scientists made me aware of the
25:13
Speaker 2: new investigative technique of familial DNA. It searches for possible relatives,
25:23
Speaker 2: possible parents, possible children, possible siblings of the offender.
25:30
Speaker 1: DNA shares many similarities amongst relatives. Therefore, if an offender
25:35
Speaker 1: is related to someone on the national DNA database, scientists
25:39
Speaker 1: can hone in on possible profile matches.
25:43
Speaker 7: Familial searching relies on the fact that you can get
25:47
Speaker 7: a DNA profile from the scene of a crime and
25:50
Speaker 7: look for people who potentially might be relatives on the database.
25:55
Speaker 7: a database of people who have committed crimes in the past.
25:59
Speaker 2: This was a.
26:00
Speaker 3: New procedure in 2002. So, for example, if you've got
26:03
Speaker 3: an offender who's 21, 22 years old and a male,
26:07
Speaker 3: never been arrested, but their dad or brother has been arrested,
26:10
Speaker 3: their DNA profile will be on the DNA database.
26:14
Speaker 1: For this technique to lead to a crime suspect, the
26:17
Speaker 1: investigation has to lean on the likelihood that there is
26:19
Speaker 1: a history of offending within a family unit.
26:23
Speaker 6: There's a huge body of research looking into whether we
26:27
Speaker 6: are more likely to commit an act of crime if
26:29
Speaker 6: our family members have done so. In that regard, the
26:31
Speaker 6: familial database is a helpful tool.
26:35
Speaker 1: Nottinghamshire Police nominated themselves to be one of the first
26:38
Speaker 1: forces to trial this new technique.
26:41
Speaker 2: Everyone was extremely determined to bring this case to a
26:45
Speaker 2: successful conclusion and this familial DNA technique was another avenue
26:51
Speaker 2: that we all wanted to pursue.
26:53
Speaker 7: They'd been working on this case for a year or
26:56
Speaker 7: so and were at a dead end. And the emotion
26:59
Speaker 7: was high in the room because it was a very
27:01
Speaker 7: serious case and a very vulnerable victim and it needed
27:05
Speaker 7: to be solved. Nobody knew whether or not this was
27:10
Speaker 7: going to work. So we were a little apprehensive and
27:14
Speaker 7: the police maybe a little doubtful because they'd never come
27:17
Speaker 7: across anything like this. but they asked us if familial
27:22
Speaker 7: searching would be appropriate and we agreed that we would
27:25
Speaker 7: take samples from the scene and carry out that process.
27:31
Speaker 1: The FIB runs the DNA profile found at the crime
27:34
Speaker 1: scene through the pioneering familial DNA search engine. This relists
27:39
Speaker 1: the samples from the National DNA Database in order of
27:42
Speaker 1: similarity to the suspect's DNA.
27:45
Speaker 7: Familial DNA is the same as an eyewitness. It narrows
27:50
Speaker 7: down a list of people for the police to talk to.
27:53
Speaker 7: So we were going to give them lists of people
27:56
Speaker 7: which they then had to work through to work out
28:00
Speaker 7: who might be the best potential leads for interviewing.
28:04
Speaker 3: You can be faced with a huge list of names
28:07
Speaker 3: that are completely irrelevant, which is where then you have
28:10
Speaker 3: to narrow down your search criteria. Geographical region, the demographic
28:15
Speaker 3: you're looking at, the age group, the ethnic origins.
28:18
Speaker 2: Now there were hundreds and hundreds of people in that list,
28:23
Speaker 2: but were determined that we would track this man down
28:28
Speaker 2: because this was a truly horrendous crime that everyone wanted
28:36
Speaker 2: to solve. One of the first things that we looked
28:42
Speaker 2: at was the local people that were on duty. these
28:48
Speaker 2: familial lists. Gladys had described the offender as being white.
28:53
Speaker 2: We prioritised that and then members of the team would
28:58
Speaker 2: visit those individuals, visit their family members, draw up a
29:03
Speaker 2: family tree.
29:07
Speaker 1: Detectives quickly identified two families to prioritise.
29:11
Speaker 2: And the male members of those families were DNA buckle
29:16
Speaker 2: swabbed and their elimination fingerprints taken as well. And that's
29:20
Speaker 2: a purely voluntary process.
29:23
Speaker 1: The swabs and fingerprints taken from the men within these
29:26
Speaker 1: families are sent off to the lab to be compared
29:28
Speaker 1: against the samples found at the crime scene.
29:31
Speaker 9: Within 24 hours, Kevin Flint received the call that he'd
29:34
Speaker 9: been waiting for.
29:41
Speaker 1: They had a positive match to the DNA sample recovered
29:44
Speaker 1: from Gladys' intimate swabs and to the partial profile found
29:48
Speaker 1: under her fingernails from the first attack. The same man's
29:52
Speaker 1: fingerprints also matched 12 of the fingerprints found at the
29:55
Speaker 1: crime scene. the police had finally identified the killer.
30:03
Speaker 2: For 15 months, we worked extremely hard and thought that
30:07
Speaker 2: every day we would find this person and to actually
30:13
Speaker 2: know that we'd got a positive ID on the fingerprints
30:17
Speaker 2: and on the DNA was just indescribable. Just a euphoric experience.
30:28
Speaker 7: When we got the phone call from Nottinghamshire Police to
30:30
Speaker 7: say that they'd identified the suspect. You're happy that you've
30:35
Speaker 7: contributed to a successful outcome in a case. You remember
30:39
Speaker 7: the scene photos of the case. You remember that it
30:42
Speaker 7: was a murder. It's difficult to feel happy. It's the job.
30:48
Speaker 7: Satisfaction would be a better word than happy.
30:53
Speaker 2: We were obviously fearful of a repercussion of the... the
30:59
Speaker 2: crime that he'd committed, so we didn't take long in
31:02
Speaker 2: drawing up an arrest plan and arrested him as soon
31:05
Speaker 2: as possible.
31:08
Speaker 1: Police waste no time and arrest their prime suspect, 22-year-old
31:12
Speaker 1: Jason Ward.
31:15
Speaker 4: He was arrested at his workplace by police officers, who
31:19
Speaker 4: then took him into custody. and interviewed him, and that
31:23
Speaker 4: all has been done within a fairly short period of time,
31:25
Speaker 4: 24 hours, but once that time limit has reached, the
31:29
Speaker 4: police have to charge or release the person.
31:32
Speaker 2: In the presence of his solicitor, he spoke freely on interview,
31:39
Speaker 2: denied the offence, denied entering Gladys' home. He was a
31:46
Speaker 2: young man who worked at a local factory as a
31:49
Speaker 2: machine operator.
31:51
Speaker 4: He was only 22. I think he was much younger
31:54
Speaker 4: than everybody had expected. But in terms of the description,
31:58
Speaker 4: he didn't match what Gladys had told the police in
32:01
Speaker 4: her first statement.
32:03
Speaker 6: Jason is described as a loner. He doesn't socialise very
32:06
Speaker 6: much with others. He spends a lot of time playing
32:09
Speaker 6: video games. There is some evidence to indicate that those
32:12
Speaker 6: who are more isolated in society are more likely to
32:16
Speaker 6: commit very serious crimes.
32:20
Speaker 1: Detectors look at Jason Ward's previous addresses, which provides them
32:24
Speaker 1: with further circumstantial evidence.
32:26
Speaker 2: We knew that he lived a mile and a half
32:30
Speaker 2: from the crime scene. He used to live a quarter
32:34
Speaker 2: of a mile from where Gladys lived.
32:39
Speaker 1: Jason Ward lived close to Gladys at the time of
32:42
Speaker 1: her murder, but by the time of the mass DNA screening,
32:45
Speaker 1: he had moved just outside of their priority perimeter. His
32:51
Speaker 1: DNA and fingerprints were found at the crime scene. But
32:54
Speaker 1: in order to secure a conviction, the forensics searched his
32:58
Speaker 1: home for more incriminating evidence.
33:04
Speaker 3: As a crime scene manager, there are several different potential
33:08
Speaker 3: crime scenes that you'd be called to. Obviously, the scene
33:11
Speaker 3: where the body is... We would be involved in the
33:14
Speaker 3: arrest of the suspect, suspect being dealt with in custody,
33:18
Speaker 3: any clothing or shoes taken from him. I would ensure
33:23
Speaker 3: that a CSI would be assigned to go into the
33:26
Speaker 3: suspect's address to search for any items that might link
33:30
Speaker 3: back to the offence and the attack on Gladys Godfrey.
33:33
Speaker 3: In this case, because there was quite a long gap
33:35
Speaker 3: between the offence happening and the offender being arrested, potentially
33:41
Speaker 3: a lot of the evidence Any clothing or shoes or
33:46
Speaker 3: anything taken from the crime scene by the offender, any
33:48
Speaker 3: trophies or anything like that, might well not be in
33:51
Speaker 3: the suspect's property.
33:54
Speaker 2: On searching Jason's home address, we recovered, actually recovered a
34:00
Speaker 2: Euroland shoe.
34:02
Speaker 1: The shoe was immediately sent to the lab to be
34:04
Speaker 1: compared against the bloody shoe print found at the crime scene.
34:07
Speaker 3: Every action that we take is ultimately trying to prove
34:11
Speaker 3: or disprove an offender or offenders have been at that scene.
34:15
Speaker 3: So if we were able to match up any possible
34:17
Speaker 3: offenders' footwear that they had with the footprints that were
34:20
Speaker 3: found at the crime scene. So it could be excellent
34:23
Speaker 3: evidence to be able to link that shoe to the
34:26
Speaker 3: crime scene.
34:32
Speaker 1: Despite the amount of forensic evidence, Jason Ward is denying
34:35
Speaker 1: his ever being in Gladys' homes. The scientists worked tirelessly
34:39
Speaker 1: against the clock to strengthen the case against him and
34:42
Speaker 1: prioritise tests on the Euroland shoe.
34:46
Speaker 3: If the crime scene footprint is good enough, it may
34:49
Speaker 3: be possible to match this against a suspect's shoe. Firstly,
34:54
Speaker 3: you're looking for the unique damage on the sole of
34:56
Speaker 3: the shoe. We would be able to compare against the
35:00
Speaker 3: marks that had been found at the crime scene.
35:03
Speaker 2: The foot pattern was analysed and it actually did match
35:08
Speaker 2: the footmark that had been recovered in blood.
35:10
Speaker 1: This is a breakthrough moment for the investigation team. But
35:15
Speaker 1: through further examination of the shoe, they hope to uncover
35:20
Speaker 1: even more compelling evidence to make Jason Ward back to the.
35:31
Speaker 7: Crime scene.
35:32
Speaker 1: Nottinghamshire Police turned to a pioneering forensic technique called familial
35:36
Speaker 1: DNA searching. which led to the arrest of 22-year-old Jason
35:40
Speaker 1: Ward for the murder of 87-year-old Gladys Godfrey. DNA and
35:45
Speaker 1: fingerprint evidence has linked Ward to the murder, but police
35:48
Speaker 1: still need more evidence to secure a conviction. A shoe
35:53
Speaker 1: recovered from Ward's home has matched the bloody footprint from
35:56
Speaker 1: the crime scene, and upon further analysis, forensics believe they
36:00
Speaker 1: have found more compelling evidence.
36:06
Speaker 7: When you're trying to connect a perpetrator to a crime scene,
36:11
Speaker 7: it's obviously very helpful if the perpetrator leaves something at
36:15
Speaker 7: the crime scene. But it's even more helpful if they
36:18
Speaker 7: take something away from the crime scene. So, for instance,
36:22
Speaker 7: if the offender leaves semen at the crime scene, but
36:26
Speaker 7: later on blood from the victim is detected on the offender,
36:31
Speaker 7: that's far more powerful evidence than just the one way.
36:35
Speaker 3: Any potential blood, we would take a tiny little swab.
36:39
Speaker 3: We would use a test called KM of Castle Mayer.
36:42
Speaker 3: This is a colour-changing test where we apply chemicals to
36:45
Speaker 3: this piece of filter paper that we've swabbed the blood with,
36:48
Speaker 3: and it changes colour. If it changes to a purple colour,
36:52
Speaker 3: it means that it's a positive for blood. If it's positive,
36:57
Speaker 3: then they would further swab it and submit that swab
37:00
Speaker 3: for DNA profiling to the lab.
37:06
Speaker 1: The blood sample provided a full DNA profile, which is
37:09
Speaker 1: then compared to Gladys Godfrey's DNA.
37:14
Speaker 3: It matched, so we were able to ascertain that that
37:17
Speaker 3: is actually from Gladys Godfrey, which again ties into the
37:20
Speaker 3: crime scene.
37:23
Speaker 2: With only hours.
37:24
Speaker 1: Left on Jason Ward's custody limit, police put this breakthrough
37:27
Speaker 1: evidence to him.
37:29
Speaker 2: Subsequently admitted that it was him that had entered Gladys'
37:35
Speaker 2: home He admitted the sexual assault. It was clear to
37:40
Speaker 2: us that the person that was responsible for the sexual
37:43
Speaker 2: assault had actually murdered Gladys as well.
37:48
Speaker 1: With the mountain of forensic evidence recovered from three key scenes,
37:52
Speaker 1: police now had enough to charge Jason Ward with the
37:56
Speaker 1: murder and sexual assault of Gladys Godfrey.
38:01
Speaker 2: Upon being charged, he admitted the full offence. When confronted
38:07
Speaker 2: with the amount of evidence that we'd gathered in this case,
38:12
Speaker 2: he didn't have anywhere to go, quite frankly. It was
38:16
Speaker 2: an emotional time for the investigation team. You were always
38:22
Speaker 2: wary during that 15 months, until we arrested this man,
38:27
Speaker 2: that he was out there and he might strike again.
38:32
Speaker 1: Paul Bacon was brought in as a defence solicitor to
38:35
Speaker 1: represent Jason Ward.
38:37
Speaker 4: We obviously represent the client as best we can. If
38:40
Speaker 4: they're pleading not guilty, we fight the case as hard
38:43
Speaker 4: as we can. But if they tell us or it
38:45
Speaker 4: comes clear there's evidence which is overwhelming, we advise them
38:48
Speaker 4: that their plea has to be guilty. Then our role
38:50
Speaker 4: then is to try and mitigate the penalties for them.
38:54
Speaker 4: You have to look for the reasons for someone to
38:57
Speaker 4: do what they've done, particularly so in this case. and
39:01
Speaker 4: we did arrange for psychological and psychiatric reports to be prepared.
39:05
Speaker 4: We're looking, obviously, for possibly a defence, diminished responsibility, that
39:12
Speaker 4: sort of thing.
39:13
Speaker 6: It is relatively common for the defence to argue a
39:16
Speaker 6: line of diminished responsibility based on mental health capabilities. A
39:20
Speaker 6: great body of literature indicates that those who commit very
39:24
Speaker 6: serious violent offences, such as murder, are more likely to
39:27
Speaker 6: be experiencing psychopathic traits, a disregard for others and the
39:33
Speaker 6: feelings of others, a lack of empathy. This is a
39:36
Speaker 6: reflection of their brain functioning.
39:43
Speaker 1: Jason Ward was put forward for a psychiatric assessment. in
39:47
Speaker 1: an attempt to ascertain the reason behind his actions.
39:50
Speaker 6: There's little research that explores elderly sexual abuse. There's some
39:55
Speaker 6: evidence to indicate that offenders are motivated by opportunity for sex, anger,
40:02
Speaker 6: and the idea or the belief that an elderly victim
40:06
Speaker 6: does not pose a threat in return. It's possible that
40:11
Speaker 6: Jason would have seen Gladys as an ideal victim through
40:14
Speaker 6: which to achieve those means for sexual gratification and with
40:19
Speaker 6: little threat in return. We refer to this kind of
40:23
Speaker 6: decision-making process as a cost-benefit analysis. So by attending the
40:28
Speaker 6: scene with the first attack, he would have had the
40:30
Speaker 6: opportunity to look at entry points, layout inside the building,
40:35
Speaker 6: assess the level of vulnerability of the person that lives there.
40:39
Speaker 6: It shows some element of planning that they didn't just
40:42
Speaker 6: stumble across this address, that they had left their home
40:46
Speaker 6: with the intention to visit this location and this victim specifically.
40:53
Speaker 1: Jason Ward was described as a loner who abused solvents.
40:58
Speaker 6: Research indicates that solvent abuse of this kind can lead
41:02
Speaker 6: to temporary and longer-term impacts on brain functioning. including facets
41:10
Speaker 6: such as impulsiveness, sensation-seeking, emotional disengagement and numbness to certain acts.
41:18
Speaker 6: Sustained and regular long-term use of solvents may have impacts
41:23
Speaker 6: that may have influenced the commission of this.
41:25
Speaker 8: Act of crime.
41:27
Speaker 2: Whether he had abused the aerosol He'd gone out, he
41:33
Speaker 2: may have seen Gladys at the doorstep and then viewed
41:38
Speaker 2: Gladys as a target is our suspicion.
41:43
Speaker 4: I felt he was perplexed, confused, really difficult to understand
41:52
Speaker 4: his motivation and I think he found it difficult to
41:55
Speaker 4: understand his motivation too.
41:56
Speaker 9: At the first court hearing, Jason Ward pleads guilty to
42:03
Speaker 9: the murder, rape and indecent assault of Gladys Godfrey and
42:07
Speaker 9: the burglary of her home.
42:09
Speaker 8: The judge here at Nottingham Crown Court described this as
42:12
Speaker 8: a truly horrendous crime.
42:15
Speaker 1: At court, the judge took the defence's psychiatric reports into consideration.
42:20
Speaker 1: He handed Jason Ward a life sentence with a minimum
42:24
Speaker 1: term of 22 years.
42:28
Speaker 7: This was the first time This process of familial searching
42:32
Speaker 7: was used to solve a murder anywhere.
42:35
Speaker 2: In the world.
42:37
Speaker 4: At the time we did this, I don't think any
42:38
Speaker 4: of us realised it would be a landmark case.
42:41
Speaker 7: It's good to have played one's part. Other people have
42:44
Speaker 7: taken it on and the techniques are much more advanced now.
42:49
Speaker 2: To be involved in its inception, development and use is
42:55
Speaker 2: very gratifying. It's a fantastic thing that detected many, many
43:00
Speaker 2: serious crimes around the world.
43:03
Speaker 3: Every loss of human life is a tragedy, but if
43:06
Speaker 3: it's a death of an elderly victim or a child,
43:09
Speaker 3: there is something inside you that drives you. No-one should
43:14
Speaker 3: fear living in their own home.
43:19
Speaker 4: What's remarkable about this is this new technique of using
43:22
Speaker 4: familiar DNA started here in Mansfield. And if you think
43:26
Speaker 4: about it, If Gladys hadn't scratched his face, pulled a
43:29
Speaker 4: gold earring from his ear, then this success that others
43:34
Speaker 4: are having around the world would never have happened. It
43:36
Speaker 4: started here, and I suppose to that extent, it's quite
43:41
Speaker 4: an remarkable achievement.
44:04
Speaker 9: Thank you for watching.