Dressed to Kill | Death Comes Knocking | Forensic Files

[AUDIO LOGO] [INTENSE MUSIC] - It was Nicki's cousin who found Nicki. She was lying face-up, and there was
blood matted around her head. TIM CORKETT: The community were really shocked. Everybody knew her, and nobody had
a bad word to say about her. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: It's disturbing that there's broken porcelain on the floor and blood.
TIM CORKETT: A violent murder is something that's unheard of in Letchworth. - It just doesn't make sense.
[EERIE MUSIC] NARRATOR: This video, provided by a neighbor, shows a threatening man.
He's seen walking past a home holding an axe. - Help! Help me! [KNOCK] [KNOCK] [KNOCK]
[POLICE SIRENS WAILING] NARRATOR: Police have been called to a block of flats on a quiet housing estate.
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: A number of things will be going through police's minds as they are driving towards Ivel Court.
You'll know that there's a female, deceased. And you'll be thinking about your fast-track actions.
What can I do very quickly that may bring about an early resolution to this investigation?
Until you get there, you don't know exactly what you're going to face. [INTENSE MUSIC]
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: Nicki's cousin told the police that she was concerned for Nicki
because she had failed to pick her mom up from a hospital appointments. This was very unlike Nicki.
So she naturally went round, but got no response from knocking on her door. The cousin then goes away and gets some keys to her flat
so she can let herself in to check on Nicki. NARRATOR: Inside the flat, 26-year-old
Nicola Collingbourne is dead on the kitchen floor. [SOMBER MUSIC] GRAHAM MCMILLAN: The attending officers
can see that Nicki has got a head injury because there's massive blood around her head.
They can also see a cut to her wrist. We've got a head injury, a broken ceramic pot.
It was actually a ceramic chicken that people used to use to keep eggs in. And there was clear evidence of blood
staining on that pot and a dustpan and brush in Nicki's hand. NARRATOR: It's a confusing scene.
Did Nicki have an accident? Was she attacked? [TENSE MUSIC] GRAHAM MCMILLAN: Whenever an offense occurs,
there's a saying about the golden hour principles. The golden hour is the time immediately after an offense
when evidence is at its ripest, DNA or fingerprints. That's why we get scenes of crimes officers in there
straight away. It's vitally important that we examine the scene and take away any samples for further forensic examination
at a laboratory. JP ASHER: I was the first journalist on the scene. It was a bit after 8 o'clock in the morning
that we got this call through to the newsroom from a member of the public who said that there'd
been a death on the Jackman's Estate in Letchworth at Ivel Court. The mood was a bit eerie because this harrowing thing
had happened. And yet, I arrived. And from the outside, there wasn't any sign of anything like that at all.
There was a police car there, but that could have been there for anything. I still wasn't sure quite what to think at that stage.
You know, I really was just asking questions and trying to find out what was happening.
I spoke to a couple of the residents, and then I just said, oh, I hear something
has happened in the night. Do you know about it? And the first woman I spoke to, she
had heard it from one of the other people, that someone has died in one of the flats.
At first, we thought that it was a suicide. But the way she put it to me was, oh,
there was such a mess and so much blood, we thought it couldn't be. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
TIM CORKETT: News of Nicki's violent death spread quickly, as it wasn't the sort of thing that-- that would
happen in that community. It's a very pleasant place to live. People were horrified by what they heard had gone on.
NARRATOR: Murder here is unusual, and Nicki doesn't fit the profile of a typical victim.
- We can see by speaking to her family that Nicki was a lovely person. She was well-loved, and she'd do anything for her friends
and family, literally anything for them. - This was somebody from a close-knit local family, somebody who was well-thought-of and well-liked.
[EERIE MUSIC] - Nicki was born and bred in Letchworth. She loved children. She worked in a nursery.
She was living on her own in the flat. She was single, and her family said she was looking for the right man
to have some children of her own. She was the primary carer for her mother who was ill,
and she would often take her to hospital in Stevenage. People relied on her. She was just a popular person on the estate.
Her family wouldn't believe that she'd taken her own life. She loved life too much, and she loved her family too much.
She would never have left her mum who relied on her, or the rest of her family. [GENTLE MUSIC]
NARRATOR: How did Nicki die? Investigators believed she'd been dead at least a day before she was found.
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: For the officers attending, the first impression could have been that this
is a case of suicide. There's a cut to the wrist, which could be consistent with self-harm,
but there's a lack of blood from the wrist. Why is that? You have that open mind, but you've also got an instinct.
Because it just doesn't look right, does it? You've got a broken ceramic pot, a dustpan and
brush in one hand, with a cut wrist, and a clear head injury. The scene as a whole is not giving
you a clear answer that this is anything other than foul play. It just doesn't make sense that a third-party is not involved.
TIM CORKETT: It was clear Nicki hadn't taken her own life. It hadn't been an accident.
Somebody else was involved. She'd been murdered. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: The big question is, who done it?
Who was it? Who's killed Nicki Collingbourne? NARRATOR: With no idea who the perpetrator is or their motive,
detectives canvass the neighborhood. [TENSE MUSIC] - It's very important to carry out house to house
inquiries straight away. People may not know they've seen something significant.
So it's vital that we go knocking on doors to see who's seen anything at all. We need information as soon as possible.
And that could be anything from the description of a vehicle to a description of a person.
- Is this some random person who's just going to flats and doing this? GRAHAM MCMILLAN: I think the most important thing
in this case is the house-to-house inquiries of people who can see or have sight of the entrance
to the flats. Has anyone seen anyone suspicious going in there? Just parked here where we are now,
you can see there's a community center across the way. There's a number of shops on the ground floor.
And then the flats are above those. When you look at Nicki's flat, it's a first-floor
flat in a corridor. So we're not likely to get an eyewitness seeing somebody go into a flat unless there was anybody in the corridor,
then they could come and go unseen. [POLICE SIRENS WAILING] NARRATOR: Police fail failed to find an eyewitness,
so refocus the investigation. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: One of the fast-track actions on a case like this would be to look for CCTV.
The offender has gone in on the ground floor and gone up to Nicki's flat on the first floor.
So the police need to do a CCTV trawl for the entrance of the offender and the exit.
Just sat in my car now, I can see a shop. It looks like they've got a CCTV camera
outside looking down onto the entrance doorway. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] TIM CORKETT: The home surveillance
system in the flats had recently been upgraded. The new cameras had been installed at the entrance
to the block of flats and along the corridor of the first floor where Nicki lived.
- Luckily, there was a static camera overlooking Nicki's front door. Has the offender been captured on CCTV?
[DRAMATIC MUSIC] JP ASHER: Letchworth is an hour north of London. It's what's called a Garden City in England.
It's a place combining the perceived benefits of town and country. It's full of these wider streets
with gardens and gaps between the houses. TIM CORKETT: Letchworth isn't a place that you'd associate with violent murders, people killing
an innocent, young woman. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] JP ASHER: Nicki's death was the biggest thing that had happened
in the town for some time. It became national news within an hour. The fact that this is a lone woman in her flat,
a lone attacker, that would have been quite frightening for a lot of people. NARRATOR: As detectives investigate Nicki's murder,
they struggle to find a motive. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: One hypothesis was this is a burglary gone wrong.
Facts that lead away from that is that nothing was taken from Nicki's flat. If this was a burglary, then we'd
expect, even after death, that the offender would have taken stuff from Nicki's flat.
I'm not ruling out that they would try and stage the scene, because they've got to try and
evade capture by the police. However, it just doesn't feel like she was the victim of a burglary.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Police seize a number of hours of CCTV because we need to know who was going into those flats
and who was coming away. We need to identify other householders but also potential witnesses.
So it is very important that we identify everybody who we've seen within our time parameters.
TIM CORKETT: The police laboriously went through hours of footage, knowing that Nicki
had died the day before. And then, suddenly, bingo. It paid off. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: When police reviewed the footage
from the camera overlooking Nicki's doorway, but also the entrance to the flats, they saw a man wearing
a high-visibility jacket. [EERIE MUSIC] - He looks like a workman, and he's gone straight to her flat.
Then the surveillance footage shows this person knocking on Nicki's door. As Nicki opens the door, this figure
tries to force their way in, Nicki, we assume, pushing against the door, trying to keep that person out.
But they force their way in. - The CCTV footage shows that the intruder arrived at 8:30 on the Monday morning and are inside for three hours.
We know that because the flat is on the first floor, and the front door doesn't open again for three hours.
The intruder is then seen to leave with two small bags. [OMINOUS MUSIC] The discovery of that person on the CCTV is a breakthrough.
We now have a good image of the person we'd like to speak to, but that could be any one of a number
of tradespeople in a white van that we see every day. He could have just pulled up, gone into the flat,
committed the murder, then drove away again. So at that point, the police don't have anything
to go on apart from one CCTV image of an unknown male, and they have to investigate from there.
TIM CORKETT: It's vital that the police identify this person. They need to know who he is.
Is he the killer? Or can he be ruled out of their inquiries? - As in all police investigations,
we examine victims' phones. We live a lot of our lives on these phones, so it's very important to find out who Nicki was in contact
with prior to her death. From the examination of Nicki's phone, we could see that there were a number of phone
calls with a local locksmith. It was important for us to identify that locksmith.
NARRATOR: As detectives track down the locksmith, they also speak to those closest to Nicki.
- The police need to build up a picture of the victim. If you find out how a victim lived,
you may find out how they died. Do the friends and family hold any information which would
help us find Nicki's killer? TIM CORKETT: Nicki's relatives were asked if Nicki had any problems with any men,
anybody that she'd fallen out with, an ex-boyfriend, perhaps. The answer that they were given was no.
Everybody loved her. - Nicki's family didn't know of any male who Nicki was in dispute with.
NARRATOR: Police look into the locksmith. - When I've ever investigated, say, a burglary,
we've always had to eliminate tradespeople from inquiries. There may be fingerprints left from the window installer.
There may be a locksmith who's left a thumbprint or even DNA. So tradespeople, we try and find the lawful excuse for them
leaving trace evidence at the scene. And this was the case with the locksmith. He had an alibi.
He just went round there to change the locks. So police now eliminate the locksmith from their inquiries.
At this point of the investigation, they're quite frustrated. They have a CCTV image of a person they'd like to speak to,
but they don't know who that person is. They've also carried out a CCTV trawl in the locality.
They've gone to shops, businesses, and video doorbells from local houses. They've got a vast amounts of footage,
but the only image they've got of the person they want to speak to is from the flat itself.
[TENSE MUSIC] The biggest challenge for the police on this investigation is, how do they go from CCTV imagery
to the identification of the person in the high-vis jacket? [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NICK BARRIERO: At first glance, there
doesn't appear to be anything remarkable going on here. This appears to be a bearded man
in a high-vis jacket walking into a building, very nonchalant, not in a hurry. Seems completely normal.
It appears that this person is familiar with this building. They know where they're going.
They go straight to that door. In this type of investigation, it would be common for the police to take a still frame
from the video like this and put out a description of the suspect to the public.
They're looking for a man, large build, light-colored hair, goatee, thick-rimmed glasses.
So the first thing that I want to do when I look at this video is, I just want to get a better look at this person.
So I'm going to brighten and enhance the contrast and the colors to get the best look possible.
Now, looking at this enhancement, it's clear that the goatee is a completely different
color than this person's hair. It's also clear that this work vest has never been worked in.
It appears to be brand new. Is this a disguise? Is this person trying to hide their true identity?
[OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: The autopsy on Nicki's death is released. - The pathologist didn't actually reveal
a cause of death for Nicki. However, the fractured skull, that would have rendered her unconscious.
It shows that Nicki was the victim of an assault, and that the ceramic chicken was the most likely weapon.
NARRATOR: The report confirms that Nicki died around the same time as the man in the high-vis vest
was caught on security footage. - We've got an unknown intruder going into Nicki's flat.
She's been assaulted using the ceramic chicken and has suffered a head injury. And we believe that the cut to the wrist
was staged to make it look like a suicide. And then that person from the CCTV has left the scene a number of hours
later after clearing it up or staging the scene to make it look like something else.
So we know that the person responsible for Nicki's murder is the person on the CCTV.
NICK BARRIERO: So if this person is in a disguise, what else can we learn from this video that
might help identify a suspect? One technique we can use is called photogrammetry.
This is the type of thing that a forensic analyst would do that most police departments just can't.
By taking measurements from this video, we can get an approximate height of this suspect.
Someone's height can't be changed. They can change their physical appearance, but they can't change how tall they are.
That's why every mugshot you see, there's a height chart behind the suspect. In this footage, we can see that the lines that
are straight in the real-world are actually curved in the footage. And that's because this lens is a wide-angle lens,
and it creates some distortion. I am able to correct for the distortion. So now that the footage is undistorted,
we need to tell the software where this camera is in 3D space. The lines that are highlighted in green are the y-axis,
and this tells the software, this is the ground plane. And all of the orange lines are the z-axis.
Now we need to take a reference measurement in the real-world. This yellow line on the screen indicates
that reference measurement. Let's say it's 78 inches. Once the software knows that reference measurement,
it can use that reference to calculate the height of the suspect. In this case, the red line is showing almost 68 inches,
or 5 foot 8". So I would tell the police, you're looking for a suspect that's approximately 5 foot 8".
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: The figure in the high-vis jacket is detective's prime suspect.
But who is he? GRAHAM MCMILLAN: I'm looking at this footage, and I'm thinking they're not walking right.
There's almost something false about the way they're walking. The person in the footage is also trying to move
their arms at the wrong time. It's not a natural way of moving your arms. So that would pique my interest as to why that person
is walking that way. So from the initial suspicions of the way the person was walking, a gait analysis of the body frame
was-- was carried out. NARRATOR: A person's gait, or walking style, can be distinctive.
It's influenced by age, gender, height, and weight. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: On initial appearances,
the person on the CCTV looked to be a man. He's got a goatee beard, and he's dressed very masculine.
The gait analysis results from the CCTV indicated that the offender could be a woman.
When you realize that this person could be a woman, you'd ask, why would they do that?
Is this person known to Nicki? NARRATOR: Detectives turned to Nicki's family. Had she fallen out with a woman?
- The family then revealed that Nicki was in dispute with her half sister, Yvonne Caylor.
They shared the same father, but Yvonne was 27 years older than Nicki. She'd gone to live in America and was quite
estranged from the family. [EERIE MUSIC] TIM CORKETT: Yvonne Caylor had left the UK
when Nicki was only a baby. And so when Nicki was an adult, she decided to visit
her to get to know her better. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: At some point, Nicki went over to America
to join her and to live there for a while, but that didn't work out. They fell out, and Nicki came back
home and got herself a flat. Yvonne herself then returned from America and moved in with Nicki.
TIM CORKETT: Nicki's family were surprised that she said she could stay with her in her small flat.
But that was the sort of kind, considerate, and thoughtful person Nicki was. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: But they had a tempestuous relationship.
They were always falling out. Yvonne was very jealous of the relationship that Nicki had with their shared father.
NARRATOR: Living together for four months, their relationship eventually broke down.
TIM CORKETT: During a row they had, Yvonne had lifted a laptop above her head and brought it down at speed, crashing to the floor.
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: Nicki is concerned about Yvonne. She's a much bigger woman. They were always arguing.
And it got to the point where Nicki actually evicted Yvonne from her flat. She had to have the locks changed.
It had become that toxic. [INTENSE MUSIC] NARRATOR: On the day Yvonne moved out,
they had another big argument. JP ASHER: Yvonne made an allegation of assault against Nicki, which resulted in Nicki being arrested.
TIM CORKETT: While Nicki was being questioned at the police station, Yvonne called a locksmith
and told that person that she'd locked herself out. She showed some identification to say that she lived there,
and she was let in. She went there and stole some personal items. These included dolls that had been
left to Nicki by her grandmother that were worthless but were very important to her.
NARRATOR: At the police station, officers finish with Nicki. - Nicki had been told by the police
she had no case to answer. She went back to her flat and discovers that she's been burgled.
JP ASHER: When Nicki saw that the door had been messed with and the dolls were missing, she immediately
knew what must have happened. Who else would break in and take these dolls? SOHOM DAS: It is bizarre to me that Yvonne
would orchestrate this break-in, but she doesn't take anything of value. She just takes a couple of dolls.
So clearly, they must have been symbolic. They must have held some kind of emotional value.
Her actions were, of course, risky because there's a chance that she could have been caught.
So it feels like this was some kind of threat towards Nicki, some way of just making her feel uncomfortable.
Yvonne is trying to send a message to Nicki, which is basically, she is vulnerable.
[EERIE MUSIC] [POLICE SIRENS WAILING] NARRATOR: With Nicki in no doubt that Yvonne
had burgled her flat and stolen the dolls, she called the police. TIM CORKETT: Yvonne is charged with burglary.
During that time, she contacts Nicki's mother, Rena, trying to get her to say that some of the items were left
or belonged to Yvonne. And with that, she now faces a second charge, not just burglary, but also one of perverting
the course of justice. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] GRAHAM MCMILLAN: Yvonne tried everything she could to make
that burglary charge go away. This is very, very big. This is massive. It's something that the police can now concentrate on to find
out what's going on here. - Yvonne was getting desperate. She wanted to stop that burglary trial going ahead.
NARRATOR: While the burglary charge is a potential motive, on the face of it, Yvonne doesn't fit the profile.
- It's very, very rare that we have a sister-on-sister murder in the UK. And it may have been a shock to even the detectives
to think that the victim's sister could be the one who's killed her. SOHOM DAS: Familicide, when an individual
kills own members of their family, is extremely rare. And the perpetrator is usually the father or
the husband, often in the context of domestic violence or jealousy if their wife is leaving them.
For sororicide to occur, the circumstances have to be extraordinary. It's usually in the context of either mental illness
or extreme domestic conflict. NARRATOR: Although Yvonne is a good suspect, to build their case, investigators need
to tie her to the crime scene. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: Police have reviewed the CCTV images many, many times.
And now they know that the person is wearing a disguise, they take the imagery to family members.
TIM CORKETT: The family are shown the CCTV of this person in the luminous jacket.
Immediately, they identify Yvonne Caylor. - That was a massive boost for the investigation.
The shock the family must have felt when they realized that they could see Yvonne Caylor on CCTV, and she'd gone to such lengths
to try and hide her identity. I can only imagine the grief the family have gone through when they realized that.
SOHOM DAS: Clearly, there's a pre-planned element to Yvonne's behavior. She put in a lot of effort to disguise herself
to gain entry into that flat. What we don't know is what her intentions were once she'd
got through the threshold. - There was bad blood, but the family were shocked that Yvonne had gone to this extent
to attack Nicki and kill her. NARRATOR: Detectives believe Yvonne's disguise was designed to mislead Nicki.
If she'd recognized Yvonne at the door, there's little chance she would have opened it.
[TENSE MUSIC] TIM CORKETT: As part of their investigation, detectives discovered correspondence
that Nicki had been having with her GP, saying that she was living in fear. Nicki was petrified of her half-sister.
She took a photograph of belongings that she'd piled up against her door and sent that to her relatives saying, "This
is how I have to live now." GRAHAM MCMILLAN: Now that the police know that it's Yvonne Caylor in the CCTV,
clearly wearing a fake mustache and probably wearing a wig as well, they went round to the local joke shop.
And they found two employees who recognized Yvonne Caylor as coming into the shop
and buying a fake wig and a goatee beard. NARRATOR: Yvonne Caylor is taken into custody.
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: Whenever anyone is arrested for an offense, and they're interviewed under caution,
as the caution says, "This can be used in evidence." When we interview a suspect, we don't
go in before the interview and tell them everything that we've got. We don't show our hand straight away.
There is a process, a method, a strategy, so Yvonne Caylor doesn't know what the police know.
POLICE OFFICER: Yvonne, do you recognize the person in that CCTV? - Bow-legged. Fat and bow-legged to me.
I'm fat, but I'm not bow-legged. And it looks like a man to me, but I couldn't see his face.
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: She is shown the CCTV, denies her it's her. She described what she sees as a fat, bow-legged man.
- Bow-legged. Fat and bow-legged to me. - That was the impression she was trying to achieve.
She continues to play out her plan to the police officers. - It looks like a man to me, but I couldn't see his face.
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: She does refer to the person as a male. And she says "he." POLICE OFFICER: Why do you say he looks like a man.
GRAHAM MCMILLAN: But just after then, she uses the phrase, "they." - It's what they're wearing looks like a dude.
- So she's gone from he to they. So is that a slip? POLICE OFFICER: Yvonne, is that you?
- Of course, that ain't me. Why would you think that's me? GRAHAM MCMILLAN: She's maintaining
her innocence in this video. And to be fair, she's answering the questions quite well.
She's answering them, as though it was a third person. But she's had time to prepare for this.
YVONNE CAYLOR: Why would you think that's me? POLICE OFFICER: Because, to me, it looks like the person
was wearing a wig and a beard. - I don't know about a wig, but they look like they have a beard.
POLICE OFFICER: As in a fake beard? - I couldn't tell it was fake beard. POLICE OFFICER: Do you own a fake beard?
- No, I don't own a fake beard. - And she answers some questions, like, do you own a fake beard?
And she almost laughs and shuts her eyes while she's thinking of the question because she's probably disposed of it.
So the truthful answer now is, she doesn't own a fake beard, because she got rid of it.
POLICE OFFICER: We suspect that person-- - Is me. POLICE OFFICER: --has murdered your sister.
- Well, it ain't me. GRAHAM MCMILLAN: And what I say on this interview tape is a cold, calculated killer who's trying to stick
to a story of, It wasn't me. POLICE OFFICER: We suspect that person-- - Is me. POLICE OFFICER: --has murdered your sister.
We believe it's you. You said it's not you. YVONNE CAYLOR: Ay, [MUMBLES]. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
- Yvonne totally denied the accusation that she was responsible for Nicki's death
during all her interviews with the police. She denied any involvement in Nicki's murder.
However, the pressure is on because what the police want to do is charge Yvonne with this offense.
She is a flight risk. She has previously lived in America, and the concern would be that she
would try and make her way back there again should she be bailed. NARRATOR: Police get the forensic results on DNA
taken from the crime scene. - The forensic examination of the scene discovered that there was blood left
on parts of the ceramic chicken that rendered Nicki unconscious. TIM CORKETT: Nicki's DNA is on it, as you would expect,
but also, there's blood that matches Yvonne. - Therefore, the blood on the pot can be attributed to Yvonne during the time
of the attack on Nicki. - The police were able to reconstruct the chicken-shaped pot, but some
of the pieces were missing. - Yvonne Caylor did try to clear up the pieces of the smashed pot, but
didn't make a very good job of it, because only about half the pieces were picked up.
- And it's surmised that they were in the bag that Yvonne was carrying when she left the block of flats.
JOHN PRICE: There was also blood staining in the bathroom, the DNA of which matched that of the deceased, but also
other DNA, the profile of which matched Yvonne Caylor consistent with the proposition
that some effort had been made to wash, for example, her hands clean before she had left the flat.
[EERIE MUSIC] - Police can now pinpoint Yvonne Caylor at the murder scene at the time of death.
She's been identified on CCTV by a family member. She is seen to go into the flat at a time
consistent with the time of death from the pathology report. And she's left her blood, her DNA, on broken fragments
from the ceramic chicken. - The evidence is now so strong that the police are in no doubt
that Yvonne was the person who hit her on the head with the ceramic pot and killed her before
staging the half-baked attempt to make it look like suicide. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
- Yvonne was due to appear in court charged with burglary on the day that Nicki died.
I believe this really angered Yvonne because Nicki is going to say that she stole items from her.
And if she gets a criminal conviction for burglary, she can't go back to America.
Everything had come to a head for Yvonne. She was so angry and enraged that she couldn't stop proceedings.
And the person in the way is Nicki Collingbourne. - What the police also discovered
was that, on her computer, Yvonne had been making plans to flee the UK. She was looking at ways to get to Spain,
possibly going to drive there, and then was going to catch a flight from Spain back to the United States.
- Somebody who is so cold as to be able to put a plan together to murder their half-sister
is a danger to the public. She's certainly a danger to other family members. I mean, who else is she going to kill?
NARRATOR: Yvonne Caylor is charged with the murder of her half sister, Nicki Collingbourne.
JP ASHER: When it became clear that it was the sister of Nicki Collingbourne who had been charged, that was quite shocking for everybody.
- The community were astounded to learn that Nicki had been killed by the woman that she'd given board and lodging to.
NARRATOR: Nicki's body is released so she can be laid to rest. TIM CORKETT: Nicki's funeral was a big event.
Friends and family from Letchworth and from all over the country were there to pay their respects.
- Nicki had an important role in the family. She was her mother's carer, so it must have made this even harder for the whole family
to accept her loss. - Sadly, the day before Nicki was laid to rest, her mother, Rena, died.
Her family said that she couldn't cope with the death of Nicki. [SOMBER MUSIC] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
NARRATOR: Six months after Nicki's murder, Yvonne Caylor goes on trial for killing her half-sister.
TIM CORKETT: The trial was held at Luton Crown Court in a small courtroom. The public gallery was packed with members of Nicki's family
all watching Yvonne, who sat motionless in the dock. JOHN PRICE: Yvonne Caylor pleaded not guilty.
She did so upon the basis that she was not the person who had gone to the flat on that morning
and who had carried out the killing. In other words, she was not the person wearing the high-visibility jacket
and sporting a beard and a large pair of spectacles. [EERIE MUSIC] GRAHAM MCMILLAN: The video footage
placing Yvonne Caylor at the scene in this case was crucial. Because it's a first-floor flat,
there's one way in and one way out. Luckily, there was a static CCTV camera, so that was always going to catch the killer
going in and going out. Yvonne Caylor knew that. That's why she disguised herself
at the time of the murder. NARRATOR: Local reporter JP Asher covers the trial. JP ASHER: She's asked by her barrister,
did you murder your half-sister? And she replies, "No, sir." Did you have any part in her death?
She replies, "No, sir." When they present the evidence of a locksmith, she says, at no point did I call a locksmith.
And when they ask about this phone call to Rena Hibbert-Jones, Nicki's mother to try to have Rena lie about who
certain items had belonged to, she says, "I have never phoned her ever. She wouldn't know what I sound like."
When confronted with the evidence of going to a fancy dress shop to try on disguises, she replies,
"I would have to cut my hair off to put a wig on." And finally, asked if she's the intruder on the CCTV,
she replies, "Since I left, I have never been back there, not once, ever." TIM CORKETT: All the way along, when interviewed by police
and in court, Yvonne ran what journalists might call the shaggy defense. "It wasn't me."
To people in court, it was laughable that Yvonne went into the witness box and denied that she was the person wearing
a wig, big-frame glasses, and a fake King Charles I beard, along with a hi-vis jacket.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] - There was then extensive scientific evidence-- DNA analysis of blood staining, and
there was evidence of motive, background acrimony which had arisen between the two sisters,
culminating in Yvonne Caylor being charged with an offense of burglary. And it was an important feature of the case
that the killing was carried out on the very day on which the trial for the charge of burglary could have been commenced.
- Yvonne's actions and her behaviors confuse me because, on the one hand, some elements of what
she did was pre-planned. She had gone out of her way to get a disguise. But the rest of it just seems very sloppy and impulsive--
from breaking into Nicki's house to steal some trivial objects, to trying to wear a disguise
to fool Nicki, who presumably would have recognized her quite easily being her sister, to going around
and attacking her sister in such a violent manner, and then trying to cover it up in such a sloppy way.
To me, it just speaks to her chaotic personality. JOHN PRICE: I recall that what shocked me about the trial
was that Ms. Caylor seemed unfazed by the strength of the evidence against her. I think that those who were there
might have thought that she had overestimated her own abilities to avoid the consequences
of what, in fact, she'd done. TIM CORKETT: To reporters covering the case, the evidence was pretty overwhelming,
and it looked to us that Yvonne would be found guilty. But you never know with juries.
NARRATOR: After four weeks, the jury reaches a verdict. - The jury decided that Yvonne Caylor was guilty of murder.
TIM CORKETT: There was huge relief from Nicki's family in the public gallery. Yvonne was impassive.
NARRATOR: Before handing Yvonne her sentence, the judge invites Nicki's family to give impact statements.
- The victims' families testimony spoke of Nicki being a wonderful person, how she
would have been a brilliant mother, and that she'd had her life stolen from her at such a young age when
she had so much to live for. It was heartbreaking to hear what they said. NARRATOR: Yvonne Caylor is sentenced to life imprisonment
with a minimum of 20 years. - The judge told Yvonne Caylor that she was a violent, dishonest, and deceitful
person who was ultimately a selfish and heartless killer. As Yvonne was being led down to the cells,
she looked across at the public gallery, muttered something, and scowled at Nicki's relatives.
- Did she show remorse during the trial? Certainly not. As to whether Yvonne got what she deserved,
I think the answer would be justice was done. - I think the sentence was fair. Yvonne wouldn't take responsibility
for what she'd done. Over the years, I've covered scores of murder cases, and this must go down as one of the most bizarre.
Yvonne was a manipulative person who needed to be in control. She's killed Nicki for revenge, and
she's concocted her plan to kill her in a most bizarre way that, if you saw on a TV drama, you'd think,
well, why would you do that? You're not going to get away with it. NARRATOR: Central to the case against Yvonne
was the security footage. [INTENSE MUSIC] - The availability of CCTV cameras, public and private,
has transformed the type of evidence which is available in court to place before a jury.
It would have been unheard of many years ago, but it is now by no means uncommon.
- Gone are the days of police solving crimes by informants. Now they're trawling through reams and reams of surveillance
footage to find the culprit. - With the increase in doorbell cameras, I can say that such surveillance
footage has assisted every investigation reach a conclusion. It was so unnecessary.
It's bad enough if you kill a stranger. But what sort of person have you got to be
to kill your own half-sister? JP ASHER: That's an aspect people would have found quite shocking because murder
in this community is rare in any case. Why do something so terrible to somebody who did nothing to deserve it?
TIM CORKETT: Nicki had her whole life ahead of her. She would have been a brilliant mother,
and it was just so unfair and so undeserving. - What I always found the most tragic of all about this
was that she had taken this person into her home, and it was ultimately Nicki Collingbourne's kindness
that led to this. [SOFT MUSIC] GRAHAM MCMILLAN: The selfish actions of Yvonne Caylor
has left a lasting impact on this community. Nicki, who was only 26 when she was murdered.
She could have gone on and had a family. Her children could be living on the estate now.
Her children could have been going to school. We will never know. Yvonne's actions have robbed Nicki's family
of a loving daughter. The impact of-- of her murder has been huge on family, friends, and the community as a whole.
It's absolutely devastating. [THEME MUSIC] [AUDIO LOGO]

When Nicki Collingbourne is murdered in her home, the prime suspect is a man in a high-vis jacket caught on CCTV. Detectives later discover it's Nicki's estranged half-sister in disguise.

This true crime series delves into the chilling stories of homicide investigations where crucial evidence is captured on doorbell camera or home security footage.

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Brief Summary

Nicki Collingbourne is murdered by her half-sister Yvonne Caylor, leading to a shocking investigation and trial.

Key points

Nicki's Shocking Murder. Nicki Collingbourne was found dead in her flat, shocking the community.
CCTV Breakthrough. Police discover crucial CCTV footage of a suspect entering Nicki's flat.
Family Ties and Tensions. Nicki's relationship with her half-sister Yvonne was tumultuous and strained.
Yvonne Caylor Charged with Murder. Yvonne Caylor is charged with the murder of her half-sister, Nicki Collingbourne, shocking the community.
Yvonne's Trial. Yvonne Caylor's trial reveals shocking evidence and her bizarre defense.
Impact of Nicki's Murder. Nicki's murder leaves a lasting impact on her family and community.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It just doesn't make sense.

Commenting on the shocking murder of Nicki.

0:42WatchApr 2, 2026

Tension

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