In 1985 the flying squad was looking for a gang of armed robbers who were strapping remote-controlled explosive devices to their victims. A 14-year-old saw Crimewatch and gave police information they could scarcely believe. It led to eight months surveillance, threw up the names of some notorious London criminals and led to the arrest of the gang. The case made criminal history when one of the robbers, Donald Barrett , turned supergrass for the second time. The handling of a double supergrass posed new problems for the officers close to Barrett and to those in charge of the investigation.
In 1986 Crimewatch made appeals on three separate murders. Now with special access to police records Crimewatch File reconstructs the inside story of a major police investigation. Between December 1985 and May 1986 three young women - Alison Day , Maartje Tamboezer and Anne Lock - were raped and murdered. At first the cases seemed quite separate, but definite links soon emerged. Then police discovered another connection - to 27 rapes in North London. The investigation involved four police forces and over a million hours of inquiries, until tiny but crucial clues took them to the home of a 28-year-old unemployed carpenter from Kilburn.
Crimewatch File reconstructs the inside story of a major police investigation. A uniformed police officer is shot dead during a routine enquiry in the centre of Leeds and police face an apparently motiveless crime. The killer leaves few clues. Not since the 'Ripper' murders have West Yorkshire police been confronted with such a massive enquiry. The investigation involved four police forces, and reached its unexpected and dramatic climax two-and-a-half years later.
Crimewatch File looks behind the scenes at a major police investigation and how a murder was solved with help from the public. Home Office records show that it is extremely rare for somebody to be convicted of murder if the victim's body has not been found. In October 1987, Shirley Banks disappeared in Bristol. Three weeks later, her Mini was discovered in the garage of a Bristol businessman, John Cannan. Police believed they had a murderer in their cells. But they had no real evidence, and no body.
Crimewatch File reconstructs the inside story of a police investigation. A gold bracelet and an old-fashioned hunch led to Greater Manchester Police's biggest manhunt for a rapist whose identity was unknown for nearly seven years. The trail spanned the entire country and ended in a dramatic shooting.
In January 1986, a Lake District hotelier was murdered in her hotel. Cumbria police quickly identified a suspect, but they had no evidence and no idea where he was. But the killer had left behind clues, one of which would inextricably link him to the murder. This is the story of how the police made that vital connection.
In August 1986 a dismembered body was discovered by a passing motorist on the edge of Ashdown Forest in Sussex. Eight weeks later police received a letter reporting a woman missing. Could she be linked to the body in the forest and would the letter lead to her murderer?
It began as a small inquiry into a spate of burglaries on the Isle of Wight. Rumours that a local man was involved led to a series of raids during which local detectives discovered a mass of documents and notebooks containing hundreds of criminal contacts. With the help of Crimewatch viewers, the country's police forces combined to corner one of Britain's most reckless gangs of armed robbers.
It took just one viewer's call to Crimewatch UK to put police on the track of the murderers of Cardiff teenager Karen Price. The case began when workmen found the body of a woman in a shallow grave in the garden of a basement flat. It had been there for nine years, and police had little to go on except for a few fragments of clothing. Experts from across the country were called in and forensic scientists began a painstaking reconstruction of the victim's face. The result was so realistic that two social workers were able to identify her. Det Chief Supt John Williams , who was leading the inquiry, then contacted Crimewatch UK 'because they can reach people the police cannot get to'
On Sunday 4 November, Ronald Harrison read the lesson at his local church. Three days later the body of this respectable retired headmaster was found by his cleaning lady. The police noticed cut marks on Harrison's body and what appeared to be a straightforward death quickly turned into a murder inquiry. Then the police discovered that the victim was a homosexual with a secret life, but this was just the first in a chapter of revelations.
On her way home from a party in west London a teenage girl was raped by a man posing as a minicab driver. Six months later, a teenager in Ealing was raped by a man who lured her into his car with an offer to take her home. Detectives believed they were looking for the same man. A tip-off from a Crimewatch viewer gave the police their breakthrough. Presented by Sue Cook. Producer Shirley Taylor
Dr David Birkett, an eminent and well-liked dermatologist, was found murdered in his Middlesbrough home, but police could find no motive for his killing. As detectives and forensic experts went to work, they received a chilling anonymous letter from the killer.
Wednesday 22 January young estate agent Stephanie Slater was abducted in Birmingham and held hostage. In a bizarre series of notes and telephone calls, the kidnapper demanded a ransom of £175,000 for her safe release and threatened to kill her if the police were called in. Detectives began a covert inquiry and links were established with another unusual case, the abduction and murder of Leeds teenager Julie Dart. In a secret operation the regional crime squad arranged to pay the ransom through Stephanie's boss Kevin Watts. They hoped to arrest the kidnapper as he collected the money but they knew that they could be dealing with a ruthless murderer who was likely to kill again.
A supermarket manager is forced to rob his own store while his family is held hostage. Police took a calculated risk when a man they arrested gave information about the gang. Later, they discovered that all was not what it seemed.
Two months after Elizabeth McCormack complained to police that her ex-boyfriend had raped her, she was found brutally murdered. Police attempts to charge chief suspect John Omokhoje foundered because of lack of evidence. It became a long and complicated battle of wits, which ended when police got a lucky break.
Nearly five years ago, young vagrant David Paterson was shot and seriously wounded as he chased an armed robber. Today, he is still in hospital - partly-paralysed and receiving round-the-clock care. Tonight's programme looks at the police investigation which led to the jailing of the gunman.
The Lost Boys is a two-part reconstruction of the key elements in a major police investigation into a string of child murders in the 1980s. The seven-year inquiry was sparked off by the discovery of the body of a 14-year-old boy in an Essex field. He was the victim of a paedophile ring, operating out of an East London council estate, which may have been involved in as many as 20 murders. If this programme is screened tonight, the second part will be shown next week.
Crucial leads from one of the convicted murderer's cellmates in Wandsworth prison enabled the police to establish links between this and other murders of young boys. The subsequent investigation, Operation Orchid, attracted huge press and public attention, but the eventual decision of the Crown Prosecution Service left the police officers involved feeling both angered and disgusted.
Sue Cook presents this reconstruction of a criminal investigation into a string of brutal armed robberies, solved with the help of Crimewatch UK. The raiders targetted banks, post offices and other businesses in a series of raids, taping up and handcuffing their victims. Operation Mackenzie, launched by the Surrey Police, brought together seven UK police forces, Interpol, the Spanish judicial authorities and Crimewatch viewers. Before the case was brought to its conclusion members of the investigating team had been savaged by a pit bull terrier, conducted an unsuccessful armed raid on a false address and had lost track of a suspect during a car chase in south London.
A dramatic reconstruction giving the behind-the-scenes story of a real police investigation, solved by a Crimewatch UK viewer. In April 1993 a young woman was subjected to a violent rape in south west London, but the police had little to go on. Presented by Sue Cook.
Nick Ross presents another behind-the-scenes story of a real police investigation in which Crimewatch UK played a key role. When two elderly men were murdered in Lincoln in 1991, police had very little to go on. Then a tiny clue - traces of paint on an axe head - led them on a journey across Europe, back to Lincoln, and eventually to the killer.
In February 1993, a newly married couple, Harry and Nicola Fuller, were found murdered in Wadhurst, East Sussex. It seemed to be an apparently motiveless shooting. The investigation which followed spanned nearly two years, encompassing two trials, until the cold-blooded killer, who became known as "the Iceman", was brought to justice.
In October 1994, nine-year-old Daniel Handley went missing from his home in Beckton, east London. A paedophile abduction was suspected and the Metropolitan Police launched one of the largest and most publicised searches in its history. Tonight's film tells the story behind the headlines and reconstructs the nine-month investigation which resulted in two successful convictions at the Old Bailey in May this year.
The first of three drama-documentaries tellingthe stories behind cases featured on Crimewatch UK. In January 1995, in the quiet seaside town of Morecambe, a garage owner and his assistant were murdered. Detectives soon identified the killer, but had to penetrate the violent south London underworld to catch him.
The second of three drama-documentaries telling the stories behind cases featured on Crimewatch UK. For years, Olympic swimming coach Paul Hickson had sexually abused the teenage girls in his care. An alert off-duty policeman and one girl's courage in speaking out prompted a two-year criminal investigation that led to Hickson's imprisonment. Narrated by Jill Dando. The final programme will be shown later this year.
In a random and brutal attack, Merlyn Nuttall was assaulted and left for dead. This factual drama tells her courageous story and recalls the hunt by the police for her attacker.
The story of a successful real-life police investigation featured in Crimewatch UK. Two days after Christmas 1995 Anne Fidler suffered a frenzied and sustained attack in her home. Seven weeks later Glenda Hoskins was drowned in her bath. Within 24 hours the police had the name of a suspect and Glenda's former boyfriend Victor Farrant quickly became the most wanted man in Britain.
This documentary exposes the horrific attacks by con man Leslie Salter which left 90-year-old Enid Poole and 86-year-old Mair Lougher fighting for their lives. Charming but evil, Salter brought fear to the elderly community of Barry in South Wales. The programme charts the hunt for Salter and the moving story of his victims.
Over a period of eight months in 1998, disc-jockey Richard Baker, aged 34, committed a series of sexual assaults on lone women as they made their way home at night. His reign of terror ended after his brother rang the BBC's Crimewatch programme. Baker was convicted of charges including three rapes and one attempted rape and received four life sentences. This Crimewatch File Special traces the story of the case and hears from Baker's victims who describe their harrowing ordeal.