Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 13 - Worgan - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: Two young children are expected home from school, but their parents are nowhere to be seen.
And there's an ominous note at the bottom of the stairs. NEIL LANCASTER: No more suffering.
I got pushed too far this time. Daddy loves you. NARRATOR: What greeted police as they enter the house
will shock friends and family. EMMA KENNY: For Kelly's family, this attack came completely out of the blue.
Worgan went from being the picture perfect son-in-law, to their daughter's murderer.
PAUL HOLDER: She thought that she was going to marry Mr Perfect. NARRATOR: How had Kelly and George Worgan's marriage
become a murder story? JANE MONCKTON SMITH: He knew the dream was over. He just couldn't deal with the rejection and the humiliation.
[music playing] NARRATOR: When Kelly Holder married George Worgan, she took her vows whilst nursing a secret that made
the big day even more special. PAUL HOLDER: I also had an inkling that when I walked her
down the aisle, when I held her hand that there might be two going down the aisle and not one.
HANNAH HOLDER: My sister's wedding dress kept changing. She had one size and then she tried
it on I think a week or so before and found, oh, it didn't fit. So she had to get another size.
PAUL HOLDER: Weeks later I find out that she was pregnant. NARRATOR: It was just another surprise
in a whirlwind love story that had begun less than a year earlier. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Kelly met George Worgan
for the first time on May Day, 2011. HANNAH HOLDER: Kelly and George both met on the buses
because George was a bus driver. I think he was like, a new driver and didn't know the route as well he should have done.
So she went off and showed him the route. And I think that's where it sort of started.
NARRATOR: Kelly was living at home in rural South Gloucestershire, England with her mom, dad, and youngest sister, Hannah, at the time.
They had no idea that she had met the man she was soon to marry. HANNAH HOLDER: With the whole dating process,
it was very secretive to my sister. PAUL HOLDER: Well, Kelly kept it secret, the relationship.
But we knew because Kelly would be up late at night on the phone and we could hear what she was saying.
HANNAH HOLDER: At the time, she was babysitting for a friend. And on a night time, we--
she started to be on her phone a lot, And we started to realize she wasn't really babysitting.
She was actually meeting George. PAUL HOLDER: And one day mom said to Kelly, you know, it's about time you brought him back to the house
for us to meet. HANNAH HOLDER: And he was a very quiet person. Very shy. PAUL HOLDER: People like his co-workers
said that he was the nicest person you could ever meet. And we felt that he was a nice person.
HANNAH HOLDER: He was like a nice guy. You could easily get on with him. PAUL HOLDER: We had no problems with him.
We treated him like a son. NARRATOR: To Kelly's family, George seemed like a decent enough young man.
There were no obvious character flaws to concern them. And it was easy to see why George would fall for Kelly.
PAUL HOLDER: Kelly was a wonderful girl. She was very friendly. She would help any body strangers.
And she was a very nice girl to meet. And very loving. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Kelly was a bubbly, happy person.
She was described as a bright light who could brighten up even the darkest days.
HANNAH HOLDER: And she would help anybody. Even if you're a stranger she would just help.
She's that type of person who would always help others. PAUL HOLDER: And she has a lot of friends.
She helped people in the village that where we live. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Well, Kelly and George met on the bus
that he was driving. So he obviously started talking to her. They'd struck up a friendship that turned into a relationship
very quickly. They probably both wanted to be in this relationship. But why did it have to be so fast?
NARRATOR: Dr. Jane Monckton Smith is a forensic criminologist specializing in homicide,
stalking, and coercive control. She has painstakingly researched domestic violence
and has pointed to eight steps in a relationship which can lead to murder. What we do know is that George and Kelly started
their relationship very quickly, and it moved on at quite a speed. At such a speed, people commented on it.
Now this is one of the first red flags for somebody who might be a problem in a relationship with us.
They are usually people who want to be in a relationship. It's how they find their stability.
HANNAH HOLDER: The relationship was a little bit quick of-- of when they met, how they got engaged,
and to the wedding. I don't know if she really properly knew him. Like, with about moving in together.
It just felt so soon. So quick. NARRATOR: Kelly met George in May 2011, and they soon began planning for a wedding the following spring.
HANNAH HOLDER: The wedding happened on March 16, 2012. NARRATOR: Kelly's sister, Hannah,
found out much later that Kelly very nearly didn't go through with it. HANNAH HOLDER: There was mentions that my sister
met with other people. I think with friends more so than family. But especially before the wedding,
she was thinking of putting it off or not going through it. But everything was pretty much booked.
So I think that's one of the reasons she's like, she went ahead with it. And she didn't want to let us down because as a family
we put quite a bit of money into her wedding. And I guess she didn't want us to waste it.
NARRATOR: Whatever instinct was telling Kelly to walk away from George Worgan, she pushed it
to the back of her mind. And for a while, she may have felt that she'd made the right decision.
PAUL HOLDER: It was the most wonderful day in my life walking my own daughter down the aisle.
It was a beautiful service. She was excited. She flew down the aisle. She didn't walk.
She-- she couldn't wait to be married. HANNAH HOLDER: She did look like, a bit like a princess a little bit.
She did have-- I think she had a little tiara on her head. PAUL HOLDER: At the end of the service
I got up and shook George's hand and congratulated him on marrying my daughter. We went back in to the party and she was dancing with him
and it was a very special moment to see your daughter happy. As a father, that's all you want to see,
is your daughter to be happy. HANNAH HOLDER: It was a lovely day and you would think there was nothing wrong.
PAUL HOLDER: But it was that energy I remember. Her excitement. And it was her special day.
That's-- that's what I will always take with me. The energy of the day. How excited she was that she found Mr Right
and that she was going to marry the perfect man that's going to take care of her.
He promised mom that he would look after her and protect her. NARRATOR: By summer of 2018, the couple
were living in the small port of Avonmouth on the Severn estuary. It's a part of the world popular with starters
setting out on married life. Homes are relatively inexpensive to rent or buy. Schools are good, and the couple would have
been thinking about school. A few months after their marriage, the happy secret that Kelly had been nursing on her wedding day
arrived. A baby girl. A year later, a little boy followed. EMMA KENNY: They have children together.
And really people document the fact that they're incredibly happy. They're constantly having fun together.
They're very family orientated. They post a great deal on social media. And they genuinely look like the picture-perfect couple
with the picture-perfect family. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: They had two children. And they regularly shared their exploits on Facebook
with friends and family. NARRATOR: It was all Kelly had ever wanted. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: She was a devoted mom.
And probably, family was very, very important to her. HANNAH HOLDER: Yeah. She's very loving.
She's always thinking about her children. NARRATOR: Although the images suggest an idyllic start
to family life, Jane Monckton Smith has investigated spousal murders for over a decade,
and believes appearances can be deceptive. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Here we have two people for whom
family is very important. And this is quite often in-- in the history where there's a lot of trouble.
So you have a woman usually, who's very devoted to her children. Family means a lot to her.
So that-- that actually feeds the very traditional nature of the other partner. Somebody like George.
He was very traditional. He wanted a family. He was the head of that family. He was the provider for that family.
So you've got two people together who are joined by a, you know, a joint belief in how life should be.
NARRATOR: Monckton Smith believes this picture of family life isn't always a realistic goal.
JANE MONCKTON SMITH: I think that probably a lot of people for whom family is absolutely everything,
it's an ideal that they have in their head. Almost a dream that this life can be perfect.
It very rarely is. And anything that comes along to puncture that bubble, the perfect family perhaps doesn't exist,
can cause quite a lot of tension. NARRATOR: The bubble of Kelly and George Worgan's
happy marriage would soon burst. The consequences of the simple fact that the pictures posted did not tell the full story
would be catastrophic. PAUL HOLDER: And on social media she was putting pictures of her children and the wonderful life
that we all thought she was living at the time. HANNAH HOLDER: My sister she had a few little mishaps.
A little accident she had. And when she ended up in hospital a few times-- [music playing]
NARRATOR: Having enjoyed a whirlwind romance and a big white wedding, Kelly and George Worgan still
enjoying the honeymoon phase of their marriage, had become popular members of the local community.
PAUL HOLDER: When she moved into Avonmouth she accumulated a lot of friends who she looked after and helped them
and supported them and looked after her own children. Also got part time jobs, as well,
to help with the income of the family down there. NEIL LANCASTER: It seemed from the outside
that they had a good, happy and stable, loving family life. EMMA KENNY: Whilst the stuff that was posted online
often had lots of loving sentiments, it really did appear that it was genuine. So it wasn't contrived.
It translated to that actual relationship. And they seemed to be the real deal. NARRATOR: Even later on when Kelly and George's marriage
hit a rocky patch, the couple continued to post photo after photo of holidays, day trips, family outings.
All accompanied by loving captions. "My family is everything to me." "Love my family."
"Love always and forever." Was Kelly hiding their struggles from friends and family,
offering an unreal snapshot of their relationship? PAUL HOLDER: And on social media she
was putting pictures of her children and the wonderful life that we all thought she was living at the time.
HANNAH HOLDER: Over the Facebook photos, yeah. It just seems like, everything was happy.
Everything was normal. I think she was trying to hide it, I guess. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: And to the outside world,
this was a very happy, loving, traditional fairy tale family. I think the reality of what was actually
going on in that relationship was probably very different. NARRATOR: In fact, the couple were facing
mounting pressures that would soon turn their blissful marriage sour. Kelly found herself at home alone, and a lot.
HANNAH HOLDER: She became like, a single parent. Where she was doing everything.
She-- she was really struggling. And I started to get down there a bit more just to help out.
PAUL HOLDER: She-- she wouldn't talk about the relationship. Not with me. People have falling outs or whatever it is,
and everything would be fine. And if it was any more-- more than that then Kelly would probably
tell me or tell somebody because Kelly could talk to anybody. We don't have secrets in our house.
HANNAH HOLDER: I didn't want to go down that because the atmosphere was horrible.
It didn't feel comfortable. And now I kind of, wish I spent more time down there to be able to help her because she
was crying for help. NARRATOR: Kelly's younger sister Hannah began to have serious concerns about George,
and about what kind of father he was to his two young children. HANNAH HOLDER: But when he comes home he-- he wasn't like a dad
where he wouldn't interact with the children very much. He didn't want to do anything.
He just sat in a chair like, oh, you just go and play somewhere else. I don't want you.
NARRATOR: Kelly's close family could see that things weren't right, but they struggled to put their finger on what exactly
was going wrong within the four walls of the terraced house on Napier Road. PAUL HOLDER: I wish Kelly had spoken to us
and explained what was going on. And that we were always there to help her and her children.
And we were there through their marriage supporting them. Emotionally, financially, babysitter.
Anything that they wanted they only had to come and ask. NARRATOR: Only much later in court
would it emerge quite how hard Kelly and George Worgan were finding it to make ends meet.
NEIL LANCASTER: Seven years into this relationship on the surface and to the outside world, everything
is going well. Kelly is posting Facebook messages portraying them as a normal happy family.
However, underneath this they are in severe financial difficulty. They are in significant debt.
EMMA KENNY: And we know that financial difficulties are one of the biggest stresses in a relationship.
It's a cause for massive discourse. And also, it tends to be a stressor on a personal psychological level.
So it can affect your mental health very, very badly. NEIL LANCASTER: There is the threat potentially
of losing houses, losing cars. To a working-class man who wants to look after his family,
is this a step too far? NARRATOR: George Worgan was a man who told family and friends that he wanted the perfect life.
He appeared to portray himself, his wife, and children as a contented, successful stable unit.
When it became clear that this facade was slipping, George Worgan seemed to withdraw from the family.
To blame Kelly for what he perceived as his failure. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: It could be that the overspending
is an attempt to create this dream life. This dream family that they both clearly want.
Kelly, devoted mom. She-- this is the life she wants. She wants family and children.
He wants, as well, this family unit. He doesn't actually trust himself that he can maintain it.
But he is using finances, probably, to create this dream, for him as much as anybody else.
NEIL LANCASTER: Worgan was a normal guy with a normal job. He was a bus driver. He drove a BMW.
So I think we can take from that that perhaps to some degree image was important to him.
JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Financial difficulties, you know, have tentacles that go out through--
through the whole of a relationship. And for somebody who is dependent on that relationship
for their identity and who they are and their ego and their status and everything.
And maybe they've used money to maintain this facade that they're the head of the family.
Once that starts to get pricked, the whole house of cards start to fall down. NEIL LANCASTER: Debt does strange things to people.
Debt changes people. The pressure from not knowing whether you're going to be able to keep paying your bills
and keep a roof over your family's head can be all encompassing. It can change people.
It can make normal people do things they wouldn't do. NARRATOR: As George and Kelly found themselves struggling
financially, George became increasingly difficult to live with. NEIL LANCASTER: I wonder if he felt those difficulties.
I wonder if he felt that sense of shame. That the threat and the pressure that they were
under financially made him feel ashamed that he was not fulfilling his role as a provider for his family.
JANE MONCKTON SMITH: This was a man who was getting out of his depth. He was trying to maintain a status for himself
that he couldn't maintain. It was starting to get away from him. Kelly was not happy in that marriage.
And I do not think that it was just about money. People like George are generally quite controlling.
They need to know that they have control of the family unit. They're not going to let it get away.
NARRATOR: Throughout 2017 and 2018, George would insist on the family doing things his way,
keeping control over others. It's a key red flag for analysts. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: We are not ready to accept, it would seem,
in society that controlling your partner is abuse. We don't see any danger in it.
But the thing is, it's always controlling people who are the most dangerous when their control is taken away
PAUL HOLDER: I think that that didn't happen because he wanted to keep it all quiet and carry on keeping
control of everything. He tried getting Kelly to move away from us and go and live somewhere else nearer to his family.
But Kelly would-- didn't want that. Kelly wanted to come back to where we lived and in our area with her friends.
NARRATOR: In hindsight, perhaps there were signs that George's controlling behavior
had taken an aggressive turn. HANNAH HOLDER: Well, my sister, she had a few little mishaps.
A little accident she had. And when she ended up in hospital a few times. And now we're thinking, was it because of him?
Of how physical he got with my sister? PAUL HOLDER: And maybe she thought that he would change.
And maybe he made some promises that he didn't keep. You know, that he wouldn't do it again or something.
NARRATOR: While Kelly's closeness to her family might have been a source of irritation for George,
her relationship with his family was toxic. EMMA KENNY: Another big problem in the relationship
was that Kelly didn't have a good relationship with Worgan's family. Now this is problematic.
Because when you are in a relationship, you ideally want to be able to navigate those with the support
of your families. And of course, it's very difficult if your partner has a family that you don't connect with.
HANNAH HOLDER: She might say she might have an issue with the in-laws So I try to get
her to talk to me about it. Try to see if I can help. But she just fobbed it off and said,
you know what, everything's OK. But now-- now I can say it. Yeah. That something wasn't quite right.
NARRATOR: For a couple already under pressure this could only have driven a greater wedge between them.
EMMA KENNY: Worgan would undoubtedly have felt like he was in a difficult position.
You know, you don't want to hurt your wife. You want to make sure that she feels fully supported.
But it's actually really difficult not connecting with your family. You know, it's part of your heritage.
It's who you relate to. Often, you've got close bonds. So knowing how to navigate love for your family
along with love for your wife can be very problematic. NARRATOR: Money worries. Difficult relationships with the in-laws.
A husband who was increasingly incapable of dealing with financial worries. A husband controlling by nature.
The Worgans' marriage was far from strong but they did try to make it work. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Yet despite all this,
the couple tried valiantly to work through their difficulties. They wanted to stay together.
NEIL LANCASTER: There are clearly issues within their relationship. But they do seem to be trying to work through it.
This is a case of relationships having their ups and downs. This seems to be a down with the financial difficulties
and the other things from family pressures. Messages between them seem to suggest that they
are still very much a couple. There is no great break down. There's no suggestion they were ever going to be
separating or getting divorced. This just seemed to be a low point in their marriage.
NARRATOR: But as the couple struggle to keep their heads above water, they rowed more and more.
Kelly wondered if their marriage could survive while George began to consider taking the ultimate step
to stop his wife leaving him. NEIL LANCASTER: All we know is that at the time at that property there clearly had been a large confrontation.
PAUL HOLDER: We're still looking for answers on why all this happened. NARRATOR: As they argued over money worries and a rift
between Kelly and her husband's family, George upped the level of his need to control.
JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Now it's not necessarily just the financial difficulties that would
have really upset George. It would be the threat that those financial difficulties
had to the relationship and what he perceived those financial difficulties would do to the relationship.
He knew that the relationship was getting away from him. He was losing his grip of it.
NARRATOR: A major red flag as relationship issues escalate is when a partner threatens
the other in one particular way, and Kelly did precisely that. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Kelly was going to leave him.
NEIL LANCASTER: There is a suggestion from the family that there were arguments behind closed doors.
PAUL HOLDER: The eldest would take the youngest in the bedroom when they had their arguments and--
and throwing toys, whatever. EMMA KENNY: It's obvious that Kelly started to question
the legitimacy of her relationship at some point because she starts to wonder whether they're
actually in a full-on relationship still together. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Kelly has told her friends that she
wants to end the marriage. She's very, very unhappy. They've probably been arguing about this.
She will have told him as well, that she's not happy, and he probably can see at this point
that things are irretrievable. The finances are out of control. And his wife wants to leave him.
NARRATOR: Kelly told a couple of friends that she feared her marriage was over. But to her family and to most of the people they knew,
the Worgans still kept up the facade that they were living a blissful family life.
HANNAH HOLDER: Yeah. I just wish now she asked for help. Where even if she was always smiling but deep down
there was something going on that you wouldn't even know it was happening. And that-- that's what's hard.
That she had this smile but underneath she was actually probably hurting. That you couldn't see it.
NEIL LANCASTER: Often in domestic cases such as this it is really, really common that couples
don't want the outside world seeing their problems. Nobody likes to have their dirty washing laundered in public.
NARRATOR: This wall of silence made the events of the 28th of November, 2018, all the more shocking for Kelly's loved ones.
The tragedy unfolded as a knock came at the door. HANNAH HOLDER: They said they were the police.
And then they said, I'm sorry but your sister passed away. And when they said that I was like, you're joking.
NARRATOR: The day had begun unremarkably. There was nothing to suggest that a terrible crime
was about to be committed. NEIL LANCASTER: So the morning of the 28th of November
was a normal day. They took their children to school. HANNAH HOLDER: My sister told my mom that she went to a school
assembly for her son, because he had a speech or something he-- he was doing. And yeah, it was like, a lovely morning apparently.
She was all happy. Like, nothing was wrong. EMMA KENNY: They'd also been shopping
and then they'd come home together. So there was this very united family fun experience.
HANNAH HOLDER: They went to Costco's in Avonmouth. And that's when they were sort of like,
last seen together in public. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: And when they returned to the family home,
it's believed that they had an argument. We have no way of knowing what that argument was about.
NEIL LANCASTER: We know that they went home. We don't know what happened when they got home.
We don't know what happened that made Worgan murder his wife. NARRATOR: The first Kelly Worgan's family
knew that anything was wrong was later that evening when her mother, Glynnis, tried
to get in touch with Kelly. HANNAH HOLDER: My sister always talked to my mom, like, throughout the day.
She's always messaging my mom. So she got a bit concerned. Like, she hasn't heard from her.
Goes all like, radio silent. NARRATOR: For the following morning, Hannah holder and her parents had their answer about what
had happened to Kelly. Tattering the landlord to come down to open the door. NEIL LANCASTER: At Around 7:00 PM that same day,
police get called out of concern for her welfare. Police attend the scene and they find her body there.
HANNAH HOLDER: The next thing I know, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. When I opened it I saw my mom and my dad with two unknown men
and they asked come into my room. They said they were the police. And then they said, I'm sorry but your sister passed away.
And when they said that I was like, you're joking. My dad said, I'm sorry. That's when I knew that this wasn't a joke.
NARRATOR: Heartbroken, Kelly's family began to piece together what had happened.
HANNAH HOLDER: When they brought us home they actually told us that George killed her.
NEIL LANCASTER: All we know is that at the time at that property there clearly had been a large confrontation.
Now this resulted in George using a ligature of some type, to strangle his wife.
Now she fought back. There's evidence that she fought back. But he was just too strong for her.
NARRATOR: To experts, the method that George Worgan used to kill his wife is one of the most shocking
elements of the tragic case. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Kelly was murdered by strangulation
through ligature. Now, this is a quite slow way to kill someone. If you've just lost your temper and you're just
thrashing out with the nearest weapon, that's not what you would do. You wouldn't pick up a ligature and start to strangle somebody.
It takes some time. The person will fight. You will be able to see the life coming out of them.
This is something you have to be committed to once you've started If somebody is going to die.
It probably takes a couple of minutes to do. NEIL LANCASTER: The second he laid hands on that ligature
he was going to kill her. He intended to kill her. EMMA KENNY: It takes time, which means you
have time to stop the action. So he doesn't just start to strangle her, he goes through with that main objective.
He intends to kill her. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: He would have had many, many opportunities to stop strangling Kelly.
She would have been fighting him. She would have been making a noise. She would have been suffering.
He would have been in no doubt at all for at least a couple of minutes of what he was doing.
He would have had time to rethink what he was doing. Perhaps the reason he didn't stop
was because he had always intended that she would die, then. NARRATOR: It was a brutal act of violence.
One that Kelly's loved ones still struggle to understand. You know we're still looking for answers
on why all this happened. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: This is the-- the kind of case that people look
at and say, damn, the red mist must have come down. He must have just lost it. There's no explanation for this.
He was a wonderful man. He's just pushed beyond his limits. When we actually know that that's--
that's not the case at all. There would have been a lot of things going on in this relationship but because we don't
recognize them as dangerous, Kelly wouldn't have said anything about it. She probably wouldn't have recognized it herself.
But in these cases there's always a reason. PAUL HOLDER: Why did he do it? Why did he destroy a life and his children's lives?
My life, my family was torn apart from it. So we just want to know why? Why would you do something so awful when you could just
walk away and get a divorce? NARRATOR: It seems divorce was not an option that George
Worgan was willing to consider. More often than not in these cases, the killer has control issues.
They need to keep very tight control over their family. And when that control starts to ebb,
they can become very dangerous. One question always arises to me in a case like this.
Something like this just out of character, but so out of character, to strangle his wife almost in cold blood.
I have to ask myself, did George always have the capacity to do this within him?
NARRATOR: When police found Kelly Worgan's lifeless body in the living room of the family home
they knew immediately that they were investigating a murder. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: It's important for police
to keep an open mind whenever they attend a crime scene. But in this case, they would have
found a woman who had clearly been strangled with ligature marks around her neck.
With no sign of forced entry, suspicion would have quickly fallen on her husband.
NARRATOR: But George was not in the house. In fact, he hadn't been heard from in hours.
At the bottom of the stairs police found a hastily scrawled note. He left her in the living room.
And he wrote a note which he left on the stairs. NEIL LANCASTER: He says in this note, "No more suffering.
I got pushed too far this time." EMMA KENNY: But he also writes in that note that she's pushed him too far.
So that suggests that something happened during that experience. That he feels legitimized murdering her.
JANE MONCKTON SMITH: This was him justifying what he'd just done. He is the one who has suffered.
He is the one who was pushed too far. He is saying this is Kelly's fault. She pushed me to do this.
He's taking no responsibility whatsoever for what he's just done, despite the manner
in which he's just killed her. NARRATOR: To criminologists, George Worgan was trying
to control the narrative. He wanted investigators, his children, his family, to see him as a victim, not
the cold blooded killer. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: "Daddy loves you," written on the note
is more about wanting their sympathy than not wanting them to suffer. If he didn't want them to suffer he
wouldn't let them walk in the house and even find that note. This was about him.
This was about his ego. This is calling himself daddy. I'm a daddy. I'm not a bad person.
I love you I'm not a bad person. Daddy loves you it's not even heartfelt, is it?
NARRATORS: For investigators, the nose on the stairs was as good as a smoking gun.
They were in little doubt about who had murdered the mother of two. But their main suspect was long gone.
There was a killer on the loose, and detectives had no idea where to begin looking.
This would have prompted an immediate and urgent manhunt that would have been managed at the highest
levels of the police force. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: A high-speed pursuit, especially with a potentially dangerous suspect at the wheel,
is incredibly dangerous. NARRATOR: Mother of two, Kelly Worgan, had been strangled to death in the living
room of her Avonmouth home. Her husband George, the prime suspect, had gone on the run.
CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Following the attack, Worgan packed a large knife, some clothes,
Kelly's bank cards, and phone, and headed off in the family BMW. NEIL LANCASTER: Now the motorways in Great Britain
are heavily surveilled. They're covered with a multitude of CCTV cameras and crucially, ANPR, Automatic Number Plate Recognition.
Now, that means that the computer will capture the plates and they'll be able to give
live real-time information back to the investigators that this is where this car is right now.
CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Worgan had headed north in the BMW. Police caught up with him almost 300 miles
away near Carlisle in Cumbria. NEIL LANCASTER: So eventually, police catch up with him.
They get behind him. And this is now a police chase. He's refusing to stop and he's in a powerful motorcar.
He's not stopping. He's got nothing to lose. He's got a knife in the car. He's just killed his wife.
He's not going to stop for anybody. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: He failed to pull over when asked to do so by the police and a pursuit ensued.
NEIL LANCASTER: There's going to be a number of police cars involved in this chase.
It's going to be controlled by a trained controller sitting at various control rooms.
Now you're in the police car behind. You've got it. You are trying to give a good commentary,
which is good evidence that's being recorded in real-time. So everything he's doing, every move he's making,
every junction he's passing, every dangerous bit of driving, is being described and recorded for evidence
later down the line. There'll be a number of police cars all with highly trained
advance drivers pursuing this guy with blue lights and sirens on trying to bring this to a safe resolution.
The first priority of the police as in all types of Investigation is public safety.
A high-speed pursuit, especially with a potentially dangerous suspect at the wheel of the target vehicle,
is incredibly dangerous. NEIL LANCASTER: Now police chases are dangerous things because you can't control what the person you're chasing
is going to do. They could crash into anybody at any time. One thing is, it's on a motorway.
There's no pedestrians around. So that limits some of the risk factors. So there is always a balancing act by the controller
as to is this chase too dangerous? CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: In this case, the police were able to get ahead of George Worgan and deploy a stinger.
Now a stinger is a concertinaed piece of metal that can be very, very quickly extended across the road
into the path of a vehicle that you want to stop. Now it has hollow spikes mounted on this metal.
Each of which will then puncture the tires and then allowing those tires to safely
deflate at a reasonable rate. He would slide it out in front of the car. The BMW passes over it.
And then just as quickly he retracts it. The car's tires are now disabled. They safely deflate.
And the car will come to a halt. And at that point the arrest can be affected. NARRATOR: When officers pull George Worgan from his car,
they were horrified at his condition. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Worgan was in no fit state to drive.
He'd taken a vast quantity of anti-depressants and paracetamols and his eyes were hardly open.
NARRATOR: Even as the effects of the drug wore off, Worgan refused to answer detectives questions.
NEIL LANCASTER: So Worgan is now in custody and he's taken to a police station. He's interviewed at length but answers, no comment,
to any questions asked of him. He completely disengages from the process. HANNAH HOLDER: When they caught George
it was on dangerous drive in to begin with. And when they got at Carlisle, there
was a report that of a murder back in Avonmouth. First he got charged with dangerous driving
then he stayed at Carlisle for that night. And then they brought him back down to Bristol the morning.
And then he got charged with my sister's murder. So he got-- technically he got charged twice, I think.
CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: On the 30th of November, 2018, Worgan was formally charged with Kelly's murder, as well
as dangerous driving, having put police officers and members of the public at significant risk
by evading capture. He made no comment during interview and shut down emotionally.
Later he claimed to remember nothing about Kelly's death. NARRATOR: Was George Worgan overwhelmed by remorse or guilt
or simply unwilling to accept the horror of his own actions? JANE MONCKTON SMITH: He would not
have wanted to take responsibility for what he's just done. He would not have wanted anyone to even look at him.
You know, he would not have wanted to stand in court and say, yes, I killed my wife.
EMMA KENNY: The fact that Worgan completely shuts down after he's murdered his wife and when he's being interviewed
by the police, that would suggest that he's in a state of shock to some degree. It's that slow coming to your senses
that you have done something that is indisputably permanent. That is completely damaging both for your self,
your wife, and your children. And it's that recognition. And it's too overwhelming.
NARRATOR: For Kelly's grieving family, George's silence has added to their pain.
They worry that they'll never fully understand what led up to her death or what happened in the final moments
of her life. HANNAH HOLDER: And I'm just thinking, what the hell happened? I just want to know why did he do it.
PAUL HOLDER: Struggling to cope. Struggling to try and get our heads around why this has happened.
And he's not spoken to the police. He refuses to talk to anybody. He tries to get manslaughter not
murder because of mental health issues, but that didn't work. NARRATOR: As the trial approached,
there was a breakthrough of sorts. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: But he did eventually plead guilty to murder.
NARRATOR: Worgan's admission of guilt brought mixed feelings for Kelly's family.
HANNAH HOLDER: When he stood up and said he was guilty, I was sort of, relieved, I guess.
Like, he-- at least he said the truth. That's like, probably the only real truth he actually said,
I guess. It was a relief to hear him say it. But then at the same time I kind of, wanted
a trial because of finding things that wasn't said to us through the whole process.
NEIL LANCASTER: On the 7th May, 2019, Bristol Crown Court, Worgan was sentenced to life imprisonment
with a recommendation that he serve 12 and 1/2 years before being considered for release.
HANNAH HOLDER: 12 and 1/2 years. It didn't really seem long enough. He showed remorse to the judge but he
didn't show remorse to my family or not even to his children. NARRATOR: At the sentencing hearing
there was some consolation for Kelly's family who have agonized over what they could
have done differently to help prevent the tragedy of her murder. HANNAH HOLDER: The judge did say it wasn't
our fault. Like, nothing we could have done could have prevented it. I think it's important to state
that nobody could have foreseen this happening. No one could have said on the evidence available
that this offense would happen. NARRATOR: For Jane Monckton Smith who studied hundreds
of domestic murders, the likes of George Worgan are sinister for the very reason that they don't outwardly
look like violent men. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: When we look at a case like this afterwards it seems that there's no clues at all that it could
possibly have ended this way. Everyone will say, well, what happened? He must have just lost it.
It's inexplicable. He was such a nice guy. But the truth is usually very, very different.
More often than not in these cases, the killer has control issues. They need to keep a very tight control over their family.
And when that control starts to ebb they can become very dangerous. We only recognize violence as dangerous.
We really need to recognize control as even more dangerous than violence. PAUL HOLDER: Why did he do it?
Why did he destroy a life? My life, my family was torn apart from it. So we just want to know why?
Why would you do something so awful when you could just walk away and get a divorce?
HANNAH HOLDER: It's a surreal experience. Like, I'm still waiting for her to come home.
And I don't know if there will be a time where that feeling will go. I think it's like a nightmare waiting to end, I guess.
But it's not-- not never going to end. [music playing]

Kelly and George Worgan were the picture of wedded bliss. But they were hiding debt, despair and a controlling marriage.

Though wedded couples vow to stay together until death do they part, this new true crime series looks at what happens when a groom or bride causes their beloved's death.

Brief Summary

Kelly Worgan's seemingly perfect marriage to George turned tragic, leading to her murder amid financial struggles and controlling behavior.

Key points

A Shocking Discovery. Police enter the house to find a shocking scene that will devastate friends and family.
The Perfect Son-in-Law. George Worgan transforms from a beloved son-in-law to a murderer, shocking everyone.
The Whirlwind Romance. Kelly and George's relationship escalates quickly, raising red flags for those around them.
The Illusion of Happiness. Despite appearing to have a perfect family life, Kelly and George face hidden struggles.
Financial Struggles. Beneath the surface, the couple grapples with severe financial difficulties that threaten their marriage.
The Struggle to Maintain Control. As financial pressures mount, George's need for control escalates, leading to conflict.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was a bright light who could brighten up even the darkest days.

Describing Kelly's personality.

3:58WatchJun 8, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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