The Footpath Murders | S1 E4 | Forensic Files | FULL EPISODE | Forensic Files

[Applause] [Music] on a deserted footpath early on the morning of November 22nd 1983 a hospital worker witnessed a
terrible sight it would be the first case in the world where DNA evidence help find the
Killer [Music] [Music] narborough England a quiet little village of about 6,000 residents where
violent crime is almost unheard of it is something you expect to happen in a city
not in a small village community 15-year-old Linda man was a typical teenager quiet but popular she
liked school and enjoyed being with friends on a cold November evening Linda left her home in nbor to walk the mile
or so to her friend's house when Linda didn't return home by midnight her frantic parents called the
[Music] police early the next morning her semi-nude body was discovered along a secluded footpath known locally as the
black pad detective David Baker was called to the scene her clothing was in the state of
dis array her jeans removed uh and her underclothes were stwn about it was a cold night and she'd
got a a scarf around her neck and and and the scarf had been used uh to strangle her she was very brutally uh
attacked sexually assaulted word of Linda's murder traveled quickly in the otherwise quiet Village the people were
horrified horrified I'm very worried particularly those with the young girls young
daughters a search of the crime scene turned up little of substance but the autopsy provided some important clues
about Linda Man's last moments alive five the absence of injury to her private parts and also generally on her
body there was very little injury to her would suggest that it was not a violent
attack and that she may have died very quickly the conclusion was that um she was strangled and then raped a Sean
sample taken from Linda's body turned out to be an extremely important piece of evidence it came from an individual
with type A blood and a pgm1 plus profile but this matched 10% of the adult male population in England since
Linda man's body was found only a few hundred yards from a local Psychiatric Hospital some speculated that the killer
may have been a patient others weren't so sure the thing that I was very anxious to establish is that it was
unlikely to have been a psychiatric patient from the hospital it was much more likely to be a man leading a normal
life perhaps with a a family uh certainly one who had friends relatives and contacts who thought of him as a
normal individual Linda man was in the wrong place at the wrong time former cop turned author Joseph wau wrote a
best-selling book intitled The blooding it Chronicles the events surrounding the
murder of Linda man and the history-making investigation which would follow it's very unusual and still is in
a village like narb in Britain for a complete stranger to Ambush and murder someone uh
on a foot path I mean it was so unheard of police questioned thousands of people
about Linda man's whereabouts on the night she was killed they put more into a murder investigation over there which
they call an inquiry uh than we do here because they have so few murders compared to
us Linda man was buried in a churchyard not far from where she was murdered on the day of her funeral police set up a
surveillance and videotaped the crowd for anything or anyone unusual often one finds that um criminals will revisit the
scene of the crime or some other uh activity associated with the crime and it was just a precaution today police
issued a new poster to try to jog people's memories but it was of little help the investigation dragged on for
months then a year with no eyewitnesses few strong leads and several false Trails the
murder hunt hit a dead end well really in any police investigation after a week or two uh the trail is usually cold it's
quite difficult we suffer all the time yes please come forward what all along Linda's parents held out hope that the
killer of their daughter would be caught the only thing that they could possibly
get now was Justice for their daughter and that seemed to be going away from them it's always frustrating when uh you
know you've not got an answer to a problem and I mean you're forever looking over your shoulder a to see what
you've missed and then trying to guess what might happen in the future and the search for Linda man's killer continued
for the next 3 years 3 years had passed since the murder of Linda man and life in the
small village of narbar was beginning to return to normal until the afternoon of
July 31st 1986 another 15-year-old school girl Dawn Ashworth was walking home from her
part-time job at a new stand instead of taking the main road she took a shortcut
down a thickly overgrown foot path called 10 lb Lane when Dawn didn't return home by 9:30
that night her parents called the police another teenage girl was missing Dawn Ashworth went missing last night we all
hoped and prayed that this was not a repeat of the Linda Manas yes 2 Days Later police discovered Dawn ashworth's
nude body under some heavy brush and hay she was discovered less than a mile from where Linda man was murdered 3
years early earlier like Linda man Dawn Ashworth had been strangled and sexually assaulted
Dawn had quite marked injuries to uh gendel area which would indicate was a very violent attack uh and her injuries
elsewhere in the body would also indicate that she had um suffered violent injury therefore she had been
attacked violently which would indicate that she had put up a fair struggle before she died Seaman samples taken
during 's autopsy revealed that the attacker had the same blood type as Linda man's murderer there were other
similarities as well there were signature elements in the crime certainly uh both murders took place on
foot paths both girls were uh teenagers um both girls were walking alone both manually
strangled both um severely sexually assaulted all school girls were advised to travel in groups and not to walk
anywhere alone Dawn ashworth's father had given his daughter the same advice I war and wander about the
dangers of going down there on a road we've got to find the fiend really that did this to
my daughter to our daughter and um stop it from happening again police launched an extensive investigation into
the murder of dawn Ashworth and within a week police got a break Witnesses saw a
young man in the vicinity of 10 lb Lane on the afternoon of dawn ashworth's death he was 17-year-old Richard
Buckland a kitchen worker at the psychiatric hospital located just a few hundred yards from where both Linda man
and Dawn Ashworth had been murdered police brought him in for questioning and he quickly became their Prime
Suspect for one thing he knew details of the murder which weren't in the newspapers in addition to that when we'
questioned Mr bookland uh he couldn't really account for his movements on uh that particular afternoon if I were
working on the case I probably would have become very suspicious uh given the things he told
the police given his background given his reputation around the village for uh liking to scare girls they're walking
home from school things like that finally after 15 grueling hours of interrogation Richard buckin confessed
to the rape and murder of dawn Ashworth police finally had their man given the similarities between the two
murders police were convinced that Buckland also raped and murdered Linda Man 3 years earlier buckin denied it was
he telling the truth the answer lay just a few miles away in a university Laboratory
Richard Buckland confessed to killing Dawn Ashworth but insisted he had nothing to do with the murder of Linda
Man 3 years earlier police were convinced he was lying and set out to find the truth here at the University of
Leicester ironically less than 10 miles away from where both teenagers were murdered Dr Alec jeffri a geneticist had
been researching her hereditary diseases when he accidentally discovered an amazing technique called DNA or genetic
profiling there was a case of Eureka you could see individual identification you
could see parentage analysis paternity disput sorting out immigration cases David Baker said well look let's cement
the case against this young man let's go to this geneticist at leester University
this Dr Alec Jeff and take the SE samples from both murders and cement our case with this new thing called genetic
fingerprinting whatever it is and let's just prove that he did both of them because we know he must have done both
of them Dr jeffri wasn't sure that he could do what Baker wanted because this sort of analysis had never been done
before Dr jeffy's breakthrough technique for analyzing DNA is called restriction
fragment length polymorphism or rflp it can identify an individual based on just a small amount of their DNA DNA
that can come from semen blood hair roots and other cells DNA is a complex chemical which is present in all living
cells it's a little like a computer program containing coded instructions on how to make a human being no two
individuals have the same DNA pattern except for identical twins Dr jeffy's task was to take the seen recovered from
Linda man and Dawn Ashworth and compare it to the blood sample from Richard Buckland to see if it was a match first
white blood cells from Richard buckland's blood sample were treated with a special chemical solution that
allows the DNA a sticky white substance to float free next the DNA is cut into smaller
pieces using special proteins called restriction enzymes which act like chemical scissors the DNA fragments must
then be sorted out by a process called electroforesis the DNA is marked with the radioactive die and placed in
separate Lanes on an electrooptic gel then it's subjected to an electric field under ultraviolet light you can
see how the electrical current draws the negatively charged fragments through the
gel to the positive end of the tray the separated fragments are then visualized on x-ray film called an auto
radiogram which resembles a barcode showing an individual's unique genetic makeup Dr Jeff first used this technique
to resolve an immigration case and after that a paternity dispute but this would
be the first time that was ever attempted in a criminal case to reveal the identity of a double Murderer let's
start with uh Linda man this is her DNA profile taken from my hair next track is
a mixture of semen and vaginal fluid from that victim showing her DNA profile as expected plus a single man Sean DNA
profile next victim daor Ashworth this is her blood DNA profile a band here and another one off to the uh
left Trace Amounts of seamen recover from that victim both revealed two faint bands whose position on the auto
radiograph is very similar to the Sean profile seen from Linda man so first conclusion both girls have been raped
and therefore presumably murdered by the same man what about the prime suspect Richard Buckland this is his blood DNA
profile here and here completely different from the Sean profile conclusion both girls have been raped
and therefore presumably murdered by the same man and that man was not the prime
suspect Richard Buckland the result shock the police it was it was a blow to us they didn't
basically didn't believe a word that we were saying and that was quite right healthy skepticism of of an entirely new
technology and indeed I didn't believe the results myself so we did retesting the testing was done again independently
by home office friendsit scientists all pointing to the same conclusion namely that buckin was not the guilty party in
this case after four months in custody Richard Buckland was released and became the first person in the world to be
exonerated of murder through the use of DNA profiling I have no doubt whatsoever
that he would have been found guilty had it not been for the DNA evidence he would been jailed for life I mean that
was that was a remarkable occurrence but why did Richard Buckland confess to a crime he didn't commit then the pressure
started getting really hard just didn't have a chance he had to have discovered the body himself because in the terms of
his confession he was able to give a very detailed description of her clo where the body was in what position it
lay the ligature and so on details that nobody could possibly know unless they'd
actually seen the body with Buckland now out of the picture a double murderer was
still loose and of course the next stage was for David Baker then to make what I
think was an incredibly courageous decision a DNA man hunt police sent letters to all men between the ages of
13 and 33 living in The Villages of of narbar and Enderby the letter asked each man to volunteer for a blood and saliva
test I'm sure they expected uh that the real killer if he was indeed a resident of The
Villages would probably try to uh Escape responsibility of giving a blood sample
DNA testing would only be performed on those who had the same blood type as the killer which was about 10% it was really
an attempt to try and flush out uh the guilty party which is what it did but not the way police have
hoped the Trap was Now set a DNA Manhunt to flush out the killer of Linda man and
Dawn Ashworth it was a bold plan more than 5,000 men voluntarily gave blood and saliva samples but one worker at
this local bakery didn't his name was Colin Pitchfork and was already known to police for earlier convictions for
indecent exposure he didn't want any further involvement with the police so he persuaded coworker Ian Kelly to take the
blood test for him Kelly lived outside the area and wasn't asked to take the test himself Kelly was the perfect foil
Pitchfork spun him a yarn that um he'd already given blood on behalf of somebody else who uh couldn't go because
he was wanted by the police etc etc and uh Kelly ostensibly swallowed that Hook Line and Sinker since police required
identification before taking a blood sample Kelly needed some photographic proof he was Colin
Pitchfork they both went down to a photo booth and took a passport-sized photo of
Ian Kelly Pitchfork took his own passport slit the plastic casing with a razor blade and
neatly inserted Kelly's photo in its place the police failed to observe that a photograph had been substituted for
the original one and therefore they believed that this was Colin Pitchfork and there was his picture to prove it
perfect Ian Kelly then took the blood test for Colin Pitchfork of the more than 5,000 men who voluntarily gave
blood and saliva samples none matched the profile of the murderer but no one could anticipate
what would happen next on a summer's evening one year after Dawn Ashworth was found brutally
raped and murdered Ian Kelly joined fellow Bakery workers at this local pub and the conversation turned to the
DNA Manhunt a young woman in the group overheard Kelly bragging that he had taken the blood test for Colin
Pitchfork she sat there and listened to that and thought to herself there's something not right about this this
isn't something that someone normally does no matter how afraid he is of the police and so she put in a call to the
leerer uh murder inquiry team and that's what made them focus on Colin pitch for
police quickly located Pitchfork to question him about the blood test and what he might know about the two murders
within a very short time he confessed to killing both Linda man and Dawn Ashworth
Pitchfork uh believed in DNA fingerprinting right away not that he knew any more about it than the rest of
the world but he'd been following it in the newspapers and he believed in it and
he knew that it was as good as an ink fingerprint and he knew he was finished when they arrested him so he confessed
quite readily without this breakthrough the chances are the police NE would have
never caught pitch for and I think it's fairly clear that had he not been caught
then he would have killed and killed and killed again Colin Pitchfork was 27 years old married with two children his
wife had no idea she was married to a serial killer I think he was able to deceive her perfectly well so that
nobody in the whole world knew that he was the guilty person it's the same story uh the wife the brother the mother
the friends of serial killers never suspect that they could be serial killers on January 22nd
1988 Colin Pitchfork became the first person ever to be convicted in a murder case solved by DNA profiling and was
sentenced to life in prison for his part in the deception Ian Kelly was convicted of conspiracy to
pervert Justice and sentenced to an 18-month prison sentence which was suspended he served no time for his
crime you did I was wrong for doing what I [Music] did I think we've learned a lot from the
deaths of both of these two girls certainly the scientific advances that um have been made with um DNA has uh
spread itself now throughout uh the world it was this case of all cases where on which DNA really cut its teeth
in a forensic sense the door has been opened to a whole new aspect of medical investigation people will be talking
about this case 100 years from now not because of my book but because of Alec Jeffrey's discovery
[Music] a [Music]

In 1986, scientists and detectives use DNA to solve a string of rapes and murders in the UK.

Brief Summary

The episode covers the murders of Linda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, highlighting the first use of DNA evidence to solve a double homicide.

Key points

The Murder of Linda Man. In 1983, the brutal murder of 15-year-old Linda Man shocked the small village of Narborough, England.
Another Tragedy: Dawn Ashworth. Three years after Linda's murder, 15-year-old Dawn Ashworth was also found murdered, raising fears of a serial killer.
DNA Profiling Breakthrough. The investigation took a groundbreaking turn with the introduction of DNA profiling, leading to the exoneration of Richard Buckland.
Colin Pitchfork's Confession. Colin Pitchfork confessed to the murders after being caught in a DNA manhunt, marking a significant moment in forensic history.
Legacy of the Case. The case of Linda Man and Dawn Ashworth changed forensic science forever, showcasing the power of DNA evidence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was a cold night and she’d got a scarf around her neck.

Describing the circumstances of Linda Man's murder.

2:29WatchMar 3, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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