The Sadistic Killer Who Taunted Police | Forensic Files

[Music] Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at
any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers, for
confidential support, and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this
episode on your app or on our website. It was just after 6:00 on the evening of Saturday, February 3, 1990, when married
couple Frank and Audrey Roberts realized they still hadn't heard from their friend, Dr. David Burkett.
David lived next door to them in Lynthorp, a small neighborhood in the industrial portside town of
Middlesbrough in England's northeast. The trio along with some other neighbors often got together to socialize on
Saturday nights. They had discussed attending the Middlesbrough Little Theater Club later
that evening, but the minutes continued to tick by without David contacting the couple to confirm their plans.
Audrey called David's home phone at around 6:30 p.m., but there was no answer. When they still hadn't heard
from David by 7:50, Audrey decided to duck over to his house and leave a note asking him to get in touch with them by
9:00. 56-year-old David Burkett was a recently divorced father of three who lived alone
in a large two-story home on Cornfield Road, a treelined residential street in an affluent part of town. As Audrey
approached, she noticed that the curtains to David's Bay windows, which were typically kept open, were closed.
She knocked on the door. There was no answer. Audrey slipped the note under David's
front door and then turned down the laneway that ran alongside his house. She caught a glimpse of his kitchen and
noticed that the windows were fogged up and it smelt like burnt potatoes. Thinking David might be busy cooking
dinner, Audrey returned home to await his call. But 9:00 came and went with no word. So
the group decided to go to the theater without him. By 4:00 the next afternoon, there was
still no word from David, and his curtains remained closed. His pet cats were also waiting by the front door,
eager to be fed. Concerned for David's welfare, Audrey Roberts, decided to call his youngest
daughter, 16-year-old Laura, who lived with her mother nearby. David's other two children, aged 23 and
26, no longer lived at home. Ever since their parents divorced 2 years earlier, Laura had felt sorry for
her father living all alone in that big house. She made every effort to visit him as
often as possible. As soon as Laura received Audrey's call, she immediately felt that something was
wrong. She rushed over to Cornfield Road where some of David's neighbors had gathered outside.
Fearful of what Laura might find inside, they tried to stop her from entering, but Laura pushed her way through and
unlocked the front door. The scene she found would haunt her for years to come. David was lying face down in the
hallway, the walls and carpet covered in blood. As Laura later recalled to the telegraph, it was as if I could see
myself going into the house. I was on the outside looking in. Someone called the police and an
ambulance. And then the nightmare of it all began. [Music] Although Middlesborough had its fair
share of crime, Dr. David Burkett's house on Cornfield Road was not the kind of place police expected to find a
murder. The brutal scene inside the six-bedroom semi- detached home was at complete odds
with the dignified reputation of the neighborhood and with the David himself. David was an eminent and highly
respected dermatologist who primarily worked at the Carterquest Hospital in Middlesborough.
He also had a deep fascination with bones and worked as a consultant paleopathologist for the government
helping to identify ancient diseases. So prized were his skills that people sent him bones to examine from all over
the world. Despite his incredible intellect, David was a modest man who took quiet pride in
his talents, never talking about himself unless asked. He was described by one acquaintance as
a gentleman in every sense of the word. This made it all the more shocking for police as they entered the home and
found what had clearly been a savage and brazen attack. Crime scene examiners determined that
the killer had most likely struck as David answered the front door. David had an alarm system and there were
no signs of forced entry, meaning that he had likely willingly let them inside and maybe even knew them.
As David opened the door, the killer had hit him multiple times in the head with
a blunt object, probably a hammer. A lack of defensive injuries indicated David hadn't seen the attack coming.
Two pieces of green cord had been tied around his arms and used to drag him further down the hallway towards his
study, where the asalent launched a second assault. In total, David had sustained
approximately 17 ferocious and fatal blows to the front, sides, and back of his head.
In his kitchen, the oven was still on, and there were two pots of burnt vegetables inside, suggesting the killer
had attacked while David was in the middle of cooking. The initial assumption was that the
murder must have been motivated by theft. David's wallet and a small fob watch were missing from the inside
pocket of his jacket, while some drawers and cupboard doors had been left open throughout the house.
The police wondered whether the asalent could have been looking for cash, drugs,
or jewelry, but it didn't really look like David's things had been ransacked or rifled through.
Nothing else appeared to be missing, and overall, everything was neat and tidy. With the burglary angle not quite
checking out, police turned to David's friends and colleagues, seeking information about who could have
possibly wanted him dead. But nobody had a bad word to say about him. By all accounts, David Burkett was
well-liked. He had always been a private and reserved person who was most often at
work, but he'd recently made an effort to spend more time with his neighbors. They all knew him to be nothing but kind
and friendly, often stopping to chat with towns folk whom others wouldn't give the time of day. He frequented the
Middlesbrough Bowling Club, which was just across the street from his home, testing his general knowledge skills in
the weekly quiz night. Fellow members described him as an unassuming and polite gentleman.
They couldn't fathom who would want to hurt him. With David's murder starting to look
more like a random attack, fears were high that the killer could strike again. Pressure was on for the police to make a
quick arrest. 70 officers were assigned to the case, led by Detective Chief Inspector Brian
Leonard. They door-nooked houses in the area, distributed posters about the crime
around town, and set up a police caravan at the end of Cornfield Road, where potential witnesses could provide
information. They were particularly eager to speak to anyone who might have seen David Burkett
on Saturday, February 3, 1990, and could help piece together a timeline of his movements.
A travel agent who worked in Linthorp Village recognized the David from one of the police posters and recalled that he
had come into the travel agency at around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. He had picked up a brochure for an
upcoming trip to the United States that he was planning with his daughter. The travel agent knew David as he was a
regular customer and noted nothing out of the ordinary about his behavior. Later that evening at 5:20 p.m., a
Linthorp resident had been cycling down the laneway that ran alongside David's house when he noticed a David sitting
alone at his kitchen table. As David had failed to answer phone calls from around 6:30 on, and Audrey
Roberts visited the house at 7:50 to find the curtains drawn, police deduced that the murder must have been committed
sometime between that last sighting of David and when Audrey stopped by. This was confirmed by a post-mortem
examination, which found that David had died between 6:00 and 7:00 on Saturday evening.
DCI Brian Leonard told reporters, "We can't rule out the possibility that the murderer may have been in the house
when the neighbor called and might have left sometime later, so we would still like to appeal to witnesses from
Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon at 400 p.m. Cornfield Road was a quiet place, and
there was little reason to be in the area unless you lived there or were visiting someone who did.
However, a football game between Middlesborough and Aston Villa had taken place that evening, and spectators were
known to park their cars around the neighborhood. An evening mass had also been held at
the Holy Name of Mary Church located at the top of Cornfield Road. Police appealed for anyone who might
have parked or passed through the area to think back and remember if they had seen anything at all that could help
with the investigation. It had been a very messy crime scene, and whoever was responsible had likely
been covered in blood. David's house was protected from the road by a high fence and large trees.
It was also positioned in a slight curve, placing it just out of sight of the bowling club.
While no one had seen anything suspicious on David's property, it was reported that a scruffily dressed man
with long straggly black hair had been seen in the Lynthorp area earlier that day asking for directions to Cornfield
Road. At around the same time that David was spotted through his kitchen window,
witnesses reported seeing two young men standing on the street outside his home.
They were both white and aged around 18 to 20 years old. One was approximately 5'9 with fair hair and the other was
around 5'11 with longish dark hair. DCI Leonard appealed for the men to come forward even if they had no information
to share to eliminate themselves from the inquiry. He also sought further information about
two men who reportedly ran out onto the dark street in front of a car at around 7:20 p.m.
When emergency services operator Pauline Collins heard about David Burkett's murder, she recalled a strange phone
call that she'd received on the night of Saturday, February 3. Pauline was just about to knock off work
for the evening when a call had come through to 999 just before 900 p.m. Police said an unidentified man 26
Cornfield Road. He then hung up. The connection had been poor, but the man's voice came through clearly enough
for Pauline to notice that he sounded odd. Most people who called 999 were obviously panicked and anxious, but this
man sounded calm and steady. Pauline patched the call through to the police. As the man hadn't said which
town he was calling from, the police asked Pauline to get a trace on the call. It came back as having been made
from a pay phone on the corner of Union Street and Parliament Road in Central Middlesbrough, roughly 1.4 4 miles from
David Burkett's home. Because the man hadn't provided any further information or mentioned any type of crime, the call
had ultimately been brushed off as a hoax. It was only in the wake of David's murder that police realized its
importance. Because the call was made no more than 3 hours after David had been killed and 12
hours before his body was discovered, they wondered if the caller knew the killer or perhaps he was the killer and
had been trying to direct police to the crime. Officers went to the pay phone on Union
Street and conducted a forensic examination, but found nothing of use to the investigation.
They appealed for the caller or anyone else who had been in the vicinity of the pay phone at the time of the call to
come forward. David's eldest son, Simon, also made an emotional plea for the caller to phone
again. DCI Leonard told reporters, "I am convinced now that the caller has knowledge of the murder and knows the
identity of the killer. We have not ruled out the possibility that he may have even been the killer.
I believe the man has a conscience and is shocked and disturbed by the brutality of this vicious killing.
With no immediate suspects coming to light, police focused on three potential clues found at the crime scene.
The first was a handwritten note found on David's hallway table which appeared to have come from a 24-hour motorcycle
courier service called Demon Dispatches. Mr. Burket, it read a dispatch rider called today with a parcel. Phone the
above number as soon as possible to arrange a convenient time for delivery. David often received parcels from
courier services, so there was nothing overtly unusual about this note. However, police considered the
possibility that someone could have used this as a guise to lure David to his front door before launching an attack.
The phone number on the dispatch note wasn't connected to an office, but to the pay phone on Union Street, where the
999 call had been placed on the night of David's murder. Police were unable to determine whether
or not David had called the number, but their theory gained traction when they discovered a motorcycle tire track in
David's driveway. Furthermore, they looked into Demon Dispatches and discovered that the
company had actually ceased operations 2 years prior. Investigators tracked down the company's
former director, a man named Alan Thompson. Allan couldn't shed any light on the
situation, but he willingly handed over all of the company's old files, including employment records and
delivery receipts. All up, Demon Dispatches had 49 former employees on its books.
Police were able to track down about half of them with relative ease. It turned out that only one of them had
used a motorcycle for their deliveries, and it just so happened that he lived less than a 5-minute walk from David
Burkett's home. Police paid a visit to the man whose name was Jim Lee. Asked for his
whereabouts on Saturday, February 3, Lee said he couldn't recall. A recording of his voice was sent to a
local expert to be analyzed against the 999 call made on the night of David's murder.
They determined it wasn't the same person. Lee also provided a handwriting sample
which was compared to the note pretending to be from Demon Dispatches. That wasn't a match either.
Jim Lee eventually provided an alibi which was checked out and confirmed by police, putting them back at square one.
Their next step was to sort through all of Demon Dispatch's delivery receipts, of which there were about 250,000.
They were on the lookout for anything that had been sent to David Burkett's home and the name of the courier who
delivered it. The police believed that David's murder hadn't been random after all, but a
targeted and carefully orchestrated attack. They just had to figure out who would want to hurt him and why.
After two arduous weeks, they finished sorting through the receipts, but didn't find a single record that led them back
to David or to Cornfield Road. Alan Thompson, the former director of Demon Dispatchers, also recalled that
his house had been broken into about a year before David Burkett's murder and some papers featuring the company's
letterhead were stolen. It was therefore possible that the killer wasn't connected to the company in any way, but
perhaps had a history of breaking and entering. The note was sent to a handwriting
expert who determined that the author was right-handed and hadn't tried to mask their natural handwriting.
They noted distinct characteristics to the letters B, P, and D, which could be helpful to compare against any further
samples. The second clue found at the scene of David Burkett's murder was a white
plastic bag that was lying in the hallway, not far from his body. David's cleaner said she'd never seen
the bag in the house before, leading police to believe that the killer had brought it with him. It had come from a
co-op supermarket and was marked with a distinctive red and blue print advertising a tea promotion.
Police made inquiries with the supermarket chain and discovered that the bag had been distributed by all
stores in the region 2 years prior. With multiple outlets, there was no way of determining which location it had
come from, but there was no doubt about its significance. Blood stains on the outside of the bag,
coupled with small tears at the bottom, indicated that the killer might have used it to conceal the murder weapon
during the attack. Its handles were also stretched, as though they'd been wrapped around
something. Police appealed to anyone who recognized the bag or had noticed a similar one
missing from their home to come forward. While the bag itself was sent for forensic analysis,
scientists conducted numerous experiments by placing a hammer inside a similar plastic bag and wrapping the top
of the bag around the handle of the hammer before using it to bash a test object.
When using a cross peen hammer, one with a wedged shaped blade that runs perpendicular to the handle, the bag
tore in exactly the same way as the co-op bag found in David's house. They then tested the cross pane hammer
against the damage to a patch of carpet at the crime scene, which had a semicircle shaped cut on it.
It was a perfect match. Because the co-op bag was made of plastic, it couldn't be tested for
fingerprints using the standard powdering technique. Instead, forensic scientists used an
advanced method that required the bag to be placed inside a heated cabinet along
with a container of superglue. If any fingerprints were present, the fumes from the glue would create white
chalky deposits along their ridges, which would then become visible after the bag was placed in a tub of yellow
dye. The scientists completed this process and then placed the bag inside a special
machine that acted as a high energy light source. They viewed the bag through a series of
filters that aimed to highlight any fingerprint ridges present. Near the handle of the bag, there it
was, a partial right-hand thumb print. Although this was a solid lead, the plastic bag could have changed hands
many times over the years, and police couldn't be sure that the print had come from the killer.
They sent it off to be checked. while turning their focus to the third and final clue.
The two pieces of thin green cord that had been tied around David Burkett's arms didn't appear to have come from
inside his home. This not only suggested that the killer had brought the cord with him, but that
he also knew a thing or two about forensic procedures. The asalent had used the cord to drag
David down the hallway, presumably to avoid touching him and transferring any identifiable fibers in the process.
If police could identify where the cord came from, it could put them one step closer to finding the killer. The
problem was they couldn't even be sure what type of cord it was. Upon initial inspection, it looked as
though it could have come from an item of sportsware, such as a snow jacket or something similar.
Inquiries were made with numerous sports stores, but no one recognized the cord.
Police sought help from various rope and cord manufacturers, making inquiries with companies as far away as Pakistan,
but nothing brought them any closer to locating the green cord's origin. Meanwhile, checking the partial
thumbrint found on the plastic bag was proving to be a slow and painstaking process.
Back in 1990, there was no national fingerprint database with searches only done regionally and by hand.
The job was assigned to a senior fingerprint expert named Judith Kirby. She spent the first two weeks of the
investigation manually comparing the partial thumbrint to the 20,000 files of active criminals in Middlesborough.
There were no matches. Her next task was to compare the print to every criminal file in England's
northeast. There were about 300,000 all up, and it could take Judith months with no
guarantee of an outcome. Police were growing frustrated with the lack of progress in the investigation.
It took 3 weeks alone just to conclude their meticulous search of the crime scene, during which family members
realized that something else was missing from David's house after all. In one of his back bedrooms, he'd kept
an ancient skull. It had come from a monk who had been beaten to death several hundred years prior, and David
used it when conducting lectures on the study of ancient man. The skull was no longer there.
David's son, Simon, provided a sketch of the skull that he' drawn years earlier for a school assignment. Interestingly
enough, the injuries the monk had sustained bore some resemblance to David's head injuries.
Police wondered whether there was any significance to this or if it was merely a coincidence.
While it was possible that David's killer had taken the skull, it was just as possible that David had lent it to a
colleague or one of his pupils. Police initially withheld the details about the skull from the public while
appealing for people to be on the lookout for David's missing fob watch or wallet.
They said the wallet would likely have been discarded under a bush or in a bin, while the watch might have made its way
to a jewelry store or secondhand dealer. David's funeral was held in his hometown, and more than 250 mourers
attended to pay their respects. The service was led by a reverend who'd known David personally and commended his
humbleness. He told those gathered. David wasn't one to talk about himself. He didn't speak about his profession or
his achievements. One thing he did talk about was taking part in the London Marathon, which he
ran and finished and raised money for his favorite charity. It was worth more to him than any of his
medical qualifications. Police who attended the funeral became more eager than ever to make an arrest.
DCI Leonard told reporters, "Someone knows the killer and is shielding him. It may be a wife, mother,
girlfriend, relative, or friend. He may have spoken to them about what happened. He was bound to have had
bloodstained clothing, and they may have washed the clothes. he would have been in a very shaken and shocked condition
when he came home. I would urge them to contact me. With 100 officers still working the
case, the investigation was bogged down as letters trickled in from people claiming to be responsible for David's
murder. The inaccurate details they provided proved these confessions were false, but
it was a waste of valuable police time and resources. Nonetheless, DCI Leonard and his team were disgusted.
From the outset of the investigation, they'd been disappointed by what they felt was a general lack of concern from
the public. Despite their extensive public inquiries, they realized that people weren't coming forward with information
that later came to light through different means. The head of the county's criminal
investigation department told reporters, "The death of any human being other than
by natural causes should be of great concern to us." Detectives investigating these offenses
often come to the conclusion that very few people care. Using David Burkett's murder as an
example, he said, "When Detective Chief Inspector Leonard appeals for anyone who
was in the vicinity of Cornfield Road at a particular time, he means everyone." Many people conclude that because they
cannot recall anything from say driving down Cornfield Road, they have nothing to offer.
That is totally wrong. It is important to identify every person who was in the vicinity of the scene between the
material times because one thing is certain, Dr. Burkett's killer was there. Appealing to the public directly, he
said, "When you read, see, or hear on television a policeman asking for help in an investigation of a serious crime,
please take notice. He is talking to you. He isn't Tagot or Berserak or Sherlock Holmes. He is working for you,
and with your help, he can be successful." By March, almost a month had passed since David Burkett's death, and police
still hadn't identified a prime suspect. Then they received a call from a local man, Ray Benson, not his real name.
Rey had cast his mind back to the night of Saturday, February 3, and recalled that he'd been waiting for a bus on the
corner of Union Street and Parliament Road at about 900 p.m. He'd glanced over at the nearby pay
phone and noticed that an agitated man was loitering around it. The man walked up to the phone a couple of times and
picked up the receiver before hanging it up without making a call. He walked across the street and stood in
the doorway of a bedding shop, muttering to himself before crossing back over to
the pay phone. This time, he picked up the receiver and placed a call before walking off down
Parliament Road. For the police, this was a significant breakthrough. The timing of Ray's reported sighting
matched perfectly with the suspicious call made to 999 on the night of David Burkett's murder.
Ry was also able to provide a clear description of the man. He was white between the ages of 35 and 45 and 6 ft
tall with a medium build. He had a round face with a high forehead and short sandy colored hair that was receding at
the sides. A sketch of the man was drawn and distributed with the DCI Leonard telling
reporters, "He may be our man, but if not, we want to eliminate him from our inquiries."
Around 30 people called in to report the names of individuals they believed matched the sketch, but all of these
leads went nowhere. Then an envelope arrived at the police station. [Music] addressed to Detective Chief Inspector
Brian Leonard and marked as urgent. The envelope contained a slightly disjointed
and fragmented letter that had been neatly written using a stencil. It read, "Hello, chums. Pigshit Leonard.
You have me wrong. I have no conscience. Smashing his head in gave me a buzz better than smack. could get addicted to
it. If I did, you'd soon know. Believe me, this is no wind up. I done the business on his head. He was a skin
expert, eh? When I'd finished, he didn't have much skin. Not on his head, anyway.
That was a little test I set myself. Passed with flying colors, wouldn't you say?
I'm writing this cuz you won't get any nearer to me to talk. and walk away. Know what I've done. I'm facing life.
Who gives a [ __ ] Not me. Letting you know I've kn to lose. No, the way I like it. Tread carefully, pig
and Joe public. Get too warm and you burn. Phoned the pigs for fun so I could laugh
at you. Know your every move, pig. You're barking up the wrong tree with theft. More like fun.
Do I sicken you, pig? You ain't seen nothing yet. At the bottom of the letter, the writer
had stopped using the stencil and had written in regular handwriting the words, "One has to live by the chosen
way or not at all." This was followed by what looked like a Japanese symbol and the words, "Death is
release." The second page of the letter was also handwritten and contained what appeared
to be a poem. It read in part, "If my karma is to conquer, I shall conquer. If my karma is
to be conquered, I shall be conquered." What difference does it make? Heaven and
earth are my parents. Psychot tandem is my home. Stoicism is my body. Flash of lightning my eyes.
I can throw my life away at an instant. Can you? While the police had already received
their fair share of bogus letters in relation to David Burkett's murder, this one was different.
The others had all been filled with obvious falsities and incorrect details, but this one contained something that
made investigators freeze in their tracks. In the stencileled portion of the letter, the author had written.
Who else would know about the hamster cage in the back bedroom? During the search of David's home, the
police had indeed found an empty hamster cage in the back bedroom. The hamster belonged to David's
daughter, Laura. She explained that the hamster had been eating things in her room, so David had
moved it into the back room. This had happened just a few days before he was killed either on the Thursday or
the Friday. The only people who knew about it were David, Laura, and David's house cleaner.
The police had never released this detail to the public. Meaning that whoever wrote the letter had to have
been in the house around the time that David died. The letter provoked mixed reactions for
investigators. On the plus side, they now had a solid clue, as well as something to compare to
the handwriting from the demon dispatchers note. But the letter also confirmed what
they'd feared all along, that the killer was a dangerous, sadistic man who had targeted David with no logical motive,
and that he intended to strike again. [Music] The letter was analyzed by a forensic
psychologist who concluded that David's killer likely felt powerless in his day-to-day life. He might have been
abused or rejected, and fantasizing about violence was a way for him to escape. Acting on that violence had restored a
sense of power for him, and that feeling became addictive. The forensic psychologist had seen
similar traits in serial killers, and he believed there was a high chance that the killer would strike again if not
caught. The fact that the killer had singled out Detective Chief Inspector Brian Leonard
specifically, coupled with his clear hatred of police sparked fears that the detective could be his next target.
DCI Leonard was on edge. He had a family of his own and worried about their safety. He began checking outside his
house at night to make sure nobody was there while keeping his fears to himself so that his family didn't worry.
Not wanting to take any chances, DCI Leonard decided that anyone who was arrested in Middlesborough from that
point on would have their fingerprint compared to the one found on the plastic bag in David Burkett's home, regardless
of the crime they were being arrested for. Police also expanded their search countrywide.
Because David Burkett had attended conferences all over England, a questionnaire was created and sent out
to hundreds of his business associates, investigators hoped that one of them might know something about his lifestyle
or provide some kind of clue that could propel the investigation forward. By early May, leads continued to crop up
locally, but the police still hadn't identified any prime suspects. Wanting to draw national attention to
the case, they sought help from BBC's Crime Watch, a television program that produced reconstructions of unsolved
crimes in the hopes of generating leads from the public. An episode about David Burkett's murder
aired on Thursday, May 10, 1990, with a focus on key aspects of the case, including the stolen skull, the plastic
bag, the strange man seen at the phone box, and the partially stencled letter. DCI Leonard believed there was a high
possibility that the killer would call into the program. He told viewers, "It would appear the letter was written
by an intelligent person who possibly has some knowledge of both the murder of Dr. Burkett and also the house where he
lived. I am anxious to speak to anyone who can give me information about the anonymous
letter." The host looked directly into the camera and said, "Remember, this killing is a very brutal
and very weird one, and the killer might strike again. Please help if you can." The segment generated roughly 50 leads
with several people calling in to say they recognized the poetry in the letter. It was from The Mo, a novel by American
author Eric Van Lusbader that told a tale of revenge and deadly games amongst Japan's samurai.
As police followed up these new lines of inquiry, fingerprint expert Judith Kirby
continued the painstaking job of comparing the partial thumbrint against every print on record, as well as those
of recent arrestes. After 18 fruitless weeks, Judith went on leave. Her colleague John Bainbridge
took over the task in her absence. John was in his first day of the laborious job when he came upon the file
of a man who had recently been arrested in Middlesborough for the suspected theft of a motorcycle.
He had prior convictions, too, having only recently been released from a youth correction facility after serving 5
years for robbery, wounding with intent, and a breach of probation. John compared the man's print to the one
from David Burkett's murder. There was no mistaking it. It was a match. [Music] John felt conflicted. On one hand, he
was over the moon to have finally made a major breakthrough in the case. On the other, he felt bad for Judith, later
telling Crime Watch, "After all this hard work, she had actually missed this moment, which comes
once in a lifetime." Detective Chief Inspector Brian Leonard and his team immediately got to work
learning everything they could about the motorcycle thief. It turned out that on the same night
that the Crime Watch episode aired, two Middlesborough police officers had been patrolling Oxford Street when they drove
past a dark alleyway and noticed a man loitering on a motorcycle. Suspicions aroused, they went to
question him, but as soon as the man noticed them, he sped off down the narrow laneway.
The officers chased him on foot and came across his abandoned motorcycle in the middle of the alley. It looked like the
driver had accidentally crashed into the wall before fleeing the scene. The officers gave chase, but because of
how quickly everything happened, they hadn't had time to grab their torches and could barely see anything through
the dark. The officers called for backup, and within minutes, the area was swarming
with police. Officers jumped the alley's fence, which took them to a residential area. They
searched the surrounding gardens until eventually they found a man hiding in the bushes.
He rire of petrol. The man, who was white with a shaved head and facial tattoos, was placed
under arrest for suspicion of stealing the motorcycle and taken to the police station to be formally charged.
He was identified as Reginald Wilson, a 25-year-old with a proclivity for violence and prior for theft, robbery,
and burglary. On the right side of his face was a large tattoo of a serpent and on his
forehead were the words psychopath and chaos. Wilson had his fingerprints and mugsh
shot taken as a matter of routine and was then released on bail with none of the officers giving it any more thought.
with the discovery of the matching print, Reginald Wilson was propelled into the position of prime suspect in
the murder of David Burkett. While he'd never worked for Demon Dispatches, he was known to ride a motorcycle and was
clearly no stranger to breaking and entering. But police couldn't find any connection
between the suspect and victim. Back in the early 1980s, Wilson had been a drug user, and he'd sometimes
frequented the laneway that ran alongside David's house. Investigators theorized that David could have once
chased Wilson away, and he'd held a grudge ever since, but there was nothing to support this theory.
A background check revealed that Reginald Wilson's problems with authorities started when he was a
teenager. Issues at home led to poor attendance and bad conduct at high school. He was
removed from his family on a place of safety order, then placed in a boarding school for boys run by social services.
A full care order was made for Wilson in 1977, and from that point on, he moved between various residential institutions
and had numerous run-ins with the law. At the age of 19, Wilson entered a general store wearing a black mask and
attacked the shop owner with a blunt object. The owner's wife heard the commotion and tried to intervene, but
she too was attacked. The husband and wife were treated for head injuries and Wilson was eventually
identified after blood stains on his clothes were matched to his victims. He spent 5 years in youth custody where
he was denied parole due to disruptive behavior. He was released in August 1988, 18
months before David Burkett's murder. A police surveillance team was tasked with watching Reginald Wilson around the
clock to learn more about him. They discovered that he lived with his girlfriend Sharon in a two-story
two-bedroom home in the Winnie Banks area of Middlesbrough just a mile west from David Burkett.
Sharon went to work as a cleaner at a local restaurant each day, while Wilson himself appeared to be unemployed.
He mostly spent his time wandering around alone, dressed in a camouflage print jacket and listening to what
looked like a Walkman. They soon discovered it wasn't a Walkman at all, but a police radio scanner.
At one point, the surveillance team watched Wilson as he stole a motorcycle off the street in broad daylight. On
another occasion, he made his way down Union Street and entered what appeared to be an abandoned building.
It was located right on the main street and just around the corner from the phone booth used to make the 999 call on
the night of David Burkett's murder. After Wilson left, the team went inside to check the building out. It looked
like he'd been using it as some kind of hideout. Graffitied across the walls was a
picture of a skull along with the words up yours and 13 years of hell. Now it's my turn, pig.
Soon. The police had no doubt that Reginald Wilson was a dangerous man. After surveilling him for 3 days, they decided
it was time to make their move. But they needed to be smart about it. They didn't know what kind of weapons
Wilson might have, and given his clear hatred for police, it was far too dangerous to try and arrest him at home.
Instead, on Friday, June 22, 1990, 4 and 1/2 months after David Burkett's murder,
a team of undercover officers watched Wilson as he rode his bike along the street.
When he stopped to use a pay phone, the officers barricaded him in and arrested him on suspicion of murder.
Meanwhile, a search warrant was executed at Wilson's house. It was clear that he'd worked hard to
cultivate a macho image for himself. In the backyard were four guard dogs, an Alatian, two pitbull terriers, and a
Rottweiler. Police searched to Wilson's bedroom and found walkie-talkies turned to the
police radio frequency as well as an axe and a small notebook. In the notebook was stencled writing
that looked just like the stencil used in the taunting letter sent to police. Wilson also kept what appeared to be a
hit list featuring the names of several senior police officers. In his attic were torn up pieces of
paper with passages of writing similar in tone to the letter. The handwriting was an exact match to the writing on the
fake demon dispatchers note found at David Burkett's home. Because of Wilson's previous
convictions, he'd been banned from owning firearms. The search team used a telescopic sensor
to check the walls behind the stairs. Hidden inside the plaster board, they found a lethal cache of weapons,
including a Sornoff shotgun, a Premier shotgun, a combat 8mm handgun, 73 shotgun cartridges, a crossbow, hammers,
a collection of knives, knuckle dusters, and even a rocket launcher. There was also a pair of black woolen
gloves that had a hole in the right thumb. the same thumb that had left a partial print on the plastic bag found
in David Burkett's hallway. Although Wilson didn't have a telephone, he did own a phone book.
Investigators flipped through it and found that the names and addresses of several people had been circled.
One was David Burkett. Another was Alan Thompson, the former director of Demon Dispatches, whose house had been broken
into the year before David's murder. Thirdly was the home address of Detective Chief Inspector Brian Leonard.
[Music] At the police station, Reginald Wilson denied having anything to do with the
David Burkett's murder. He also denied writing the taunting letter to the police and said he'd never even owned a
stencil. When shown the stencileled writing found in his notebook, Wilson said he'd penned that freehand.
Police searched his parents' home and found a Helix brand stencil that was an exact match to the writing in his
notebook as well as the letter sent to the police. In another room, police questioned
Wilson's girlfriend, Sharon. She was reluctant to answer any questions, saying that Wilson had threatened to
kill her if she ever spoke out against him. Sharon was clearly scared of Wilson, but she said it hadn't always
been that way. The two had met through mutual friends and began dating in November 1988.
At first, Wilson was caring and attentive, taking Sharon out for drinks and celebrating special occasions like
her birthday and Valentine's Day. But after they moved into their house in Winnie Banks, he started to change.
Sharon said Wilson became obsessed with motorbikes, dogs, and guns, and complained that he was having severe
headaches. He became increasingly withdrawn, spending weeks at a time practically
living in their attic, reading obscure books and writing dark pros. He developed a deep interest in physical
fitness and survival techniques. He often spent time on the Yorkshire Moors fending for himself.
While Sharon said that Wilson could be extremely violent, she insisted he'd never physically assaulted her. She also
claimed to know nothing about David Burkett's murder. It was only when the police showed her
the evidence they'd collected that she began to let her guard down. Sharon recalled that Wilson had acted
strangely on the night that the Crime Watch segment about David's case had aired. While he had never shown any
interest in the show before, he had asked Sharon to tape the segment before going out for the night.
Sharon admitted that Wilson's behavior had been increasingly bizarre of late. She said he had recently acquired two
Doberman puppies, but he became so enraged by their constant whining that he had smashed both of their heads
against the back wall. The police searched the dog run in the backyard and found pieces of green cord
that resembled the cord that had been used to drag David Burkett's body. Sharon said she'd never seen the cord
before because she was too scared to go into the backyard, but she thought it looked like part of a stretchy dog leash
that Wilson owned. Sharon said that Wilson had recently sold one of his pit bulls, but had
obtained the home address of the woman he'd sold it to. He'd sneaked over to her house a few weeks later and stole
the dog back along with the green leash. The green cord found at the crime scene
was microscopically compared to the cord found at Wilson's home. Both of them had been made using a
distinct type of nylon with the same unique color signature, proving they were a match.
Blank pieces of paper seized from Wilson's home were also examined using electrostatic detection apparatus, a
forensic technique that reveals writing impressions left when one piece of paper
is placed on top of another. Clear indentations from the stencileled letter that had been sent to the police
proved that Reginald Wilson was the author. Further indentations also confirmed that
law enforcement's suspicions about further attacks were correct. Written in Wilson's handwriting was a
note that read, "Plan to kill as many pigs as I can before they kill me. Idea is to put as much fear into the police
as possible. Kill one, frighten a hundred." He wrote that he would call 999 and say
he'd just come home from work to find his rear window had been forced open or that the window to the garage had been
broken. He could say that property was damaged or someone had been assaulted or that
his child was missing. Wilson continued, "Nine times out of 10, when someone phones the police with a complaint or
report similar to the above, only one copper comes to take notes. If more than one comes, depending on the escape route
and place of ambush," he wrote. "If good, still go ahead with plan. If not 100% sure, abort."
Sharon told the police that a few weeks earlier, Wilson had left the house with a gun, telling her he was going out to
kill a policeman. Police checked their incident books from the night in question and discovered
that someone had called 999 to report a domestic dispute. The address they gave was the abandoned
building on Union Street that Regginald Wilson had been using as a hideout. Two officers had attended the address
and then left without incident. Based on Wilson's writings, police believed that Wilson had lured the
police there, then lay in wait, intending to ambush an officer. He had aborted his plan when two
officers arrived instead of one. DCI Leonard later remarked, "They will probably never know just how
lucky they were. If one had gone, Wilson would almost certainly have killed him.
The police had amassed concrete evidence placing Reginald Wilson at the scene of
David Burkett's murder, but they still didn't have a motive for anything that connected the two men to one another.
It emerged that the previous December, David had placed his prized ancient skull in the front window of his home
with a sprig of holly coming out of it as a bit of a Christmas joke. The police believed that the skull might
have caught Wilson's eye as he was passing by, inadvertently putting a target on the unsuspecting David's back.
As one detective who worked the case later remarked to UK true crime show Murder Town
to murder without motive. If he hadn't have dropped that carrier bag, we would probably have never traced him ever. He
was trying to commit obviously the perfect murder. Reginald Wilson pleaded not guilty to
the murder of David Burkett and was held in custody awaiting trial while also facing other smaller charges including
possession of a shotgun. In July 1990, he was being transferred to the magistrate's court via a prison
bus when he attacked a prison officer with a homemade knife, slashing the side of his face and neck.
Three guards managed to fight Wilson off, and the officer survived the attack, leaving Wilson with additional
charges for attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm. A forensic psychiatrist assessed Wilson,
finding that while he was suffering from a psychiatric disorder, he was still fit
to stand a trial. Based on Wilson's history of offending, the psychiatrist concluded that he had
considerable potential to cause harm to others, stating he is less impulsive and more
calculating than most psychopaths, rendering him more of a liability. Wilson's murder trial went ahead in July
1991. The prosecution case was that Wilson had been motivated by nothing more than his
desire to kill and to see if he could outsmart the police. He'd planned the attack against David
carefully, disguising himself as a motorcycle courier, not only because it would give him easy access to David, but
also because wearing a helmet allowed him to hide his distinctive facial features.
Once David let him inside, Wilson bludgeoned him to death with a hammer wrapped in a plastic bag.
It was possible that the phone calls from David's neighbors checking if he'd be joining them at the theater had
temporarily interrupted Wilson. He then searched the house for the ancient skull, staging a ransacking
before attacking David a second time. Wilson took the stand in his own defense, but this did nothing to help
his case with reports deeming his behavior on the stand as psychopathic. After 18 days of hearings, it didn't
take the jury long to declare Reginald Wilson guilty. The judge praised the work of
detectives, stating, "The quality of the investigation, in my view, could not have been better. It reflects highly on
the officer in charge and his whole team. The investigation itself was one of complexity and difficulty.
It required cooperation from a number of different arms both at police level and
the level of forensic scientists. Since this man's arrest, it is clear that the case has been prepared with the
utmost skill and presented to the court in the same fashion. I wish to commend all those officers,
especially the senior officer in the highest terms. Turning his attention to the killer, the
judge said, "Regginald James Wilson, you have been convicted on what, in my view
is clear evidence of a most appalling murder. I regard you as a result of what I've
heard during the course of this trial as an exceptionally dangerous man. The sentence of the court is one of life
imprisonment. I propose to recommend to the home secretary that in your case a sentence
of life imprisonment will be one that should be served in its entirety. Life, I will recommend should mean life.
At the time, very few prisoners in England had been given a whole life sentence.
Reginald Wilson became one of them before being led out in handcuffs attached to police officers flanking
him. Wilson shouted, "You may contain me, but you'll never control me." [Music] The life sentence came as a relief to
the investigators who had worked on the case. One detective told reporters, "He set out to kill and he did it. If he
ever gets out, I'm sure he will kill again." DCI Leonard said that Reginald Wilson
was the most evil, dangerous, and cunning criminal he'd encountered in his 27-year career. He praised the
painstaking detective work that brought Wilson to justice, telling reporters, "We are just relieved he is behind bars.
He was so confident he would never be caught, but he made mistakes." No one was more relieved than David
Burkett's loved ones. Reginald Wilson unsuccessfully appealed his conviction with the home secretary
declaring that in his case, quote, "Life would mean life." In 1996, Wilson was caught attempting to
break out of prison after he cut through the bars of his cell and tried to escape
over the jail wall via a makeshift ladder he'd fashioned out of old furniture. 3 years later, he tried to stab a prison
officer for the second time and was transferred to the prison's close supervision center unit where he was
deemed an exceptional risk. For David Burkett's family, the fact that Wilson would be behind bars for the
rest of his natural life was the only thing that gave them some sense of solace.
However, they received a terrible shock 17 years after Wilson's conviction in 2008.
An officer who had worked on the case knocked on the door of David's ex-wife to let her know that Wilson had been
granted a hearing to apply for a review of his whole life sentence. David's family learned that in 2003
changes had been made to the UK's Criminal Justice Act that allowed convicted murderers to apply for
judicial reviews of their sentences. While the power of this decision had previously gone to the home secretary,
the responsibility had shifted to the high court and the parole board. The officer assured David's family they
had nothing to worry about. But 2 days later, it was announced that Wilson's sentence had been reduced to a minimum
of just 18 years. David's family were horrified. They objected to the decision in a
letter to the attorney general, writing, "How can a life meaning life sentence, which could be anything up to 70 years
considering Wilson's age at the time of the murder, be so dramatically and inexplicably reduced? Is our father's
life worth less now than it was then?" The attorney general immediately referred the case to the Court of
Appeal, where a panel of judges found the 18-year sentence to be manifestally lenient for a crime of such a serious
and sadistic nature. It turned out that the judge who'd been tasked with reviewing Wilson's sentence
had not been given adequate paperwork, nor had David's loved ones been invited to submit representations.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice apologized for this oversight and said changes would be made to the
process to ensure the same thing didn't happen to another family. The Court of Appeal overturned the
reviewed ruling, re-sentencing Reginald Wilson to a minimum term of 30 years, making him eligible for parole in 2020.
After the decision, David's daughter, Laura, spoke to the Telegraph about how distressing the process had been for her
family. Wilson was 25 when he murdered dad. If he is out in another 12 years, he'll still be younger than dad when he
was killed. No one can ever fully comprehend what this man has done to us. Although we
took comfort from the decision, it has been horrendous to drag up all these awful memories again.
The criminal justice system was criticized again in November 2022 after it was publicly revealed that the parole
board had approved Reginald Wilson's request to be transferred to an open prison.
An open prison is a minimum security prison where inmates are permitted greater freedom to work, study, or visit
family to help them reintegrate into society. There are no walls, bars, or guards in the traditional sense.
The board stated that there had been a major improvement in Wilson's behavior since 1999.
He had taken therapeutic and behavior offending courses in which he had quote developed exceptional levels of personal
responsibility, life skills, resilience, and maturity. Wilson said an open prison would allow
him to work with professionals to develop release plans. The parole board's recommendation was
sent to the Secretary of State for approval, but in February 2023, Justice Secretary Dominic Rob denied the
transfer. Wilson, now going by the name of Reginald Zenshen, disputed the rejection
in the High Court later that year, arguing that Rob's decision had been unlawful.
As he had served his minimum sentence of 30 years, the High Court judge clarified
that Wilson had completed the punishment portion of his sentence and therefore the only question that remained was
whether he continued to pose any risk to the public. While acknowledging the severity of
Wilson's crime, the judge stated, "The fact is that the claimant is not serving a whole lifetime, and thus the
prospect remains of his being released into the community at some point." Transfer to open conditions allows the
testing of compliance and the efficacy of relapse prevention strategies along with an informed assessment of how best
to manage the individual in the community. Thus, the parole board recommendation in
this case was nothing to do with being soft on a person convicted of murder. It was a difficult and responsible decision
made by a properly constituted statutory body based on the unanimous evidence of
experts and professionals with a view to maximally protecting the public going forward.
explaining his decision in a detailed 26-page judgment, the judge concluded that Rob had acted unlawfully in his
rejection and ordered that he remake his decision in accordance with the law. As of 2025, Reginald Wilson remains in
high security prison. [Music] For David Burkett's loved ones, one of the hardest things to reconcile was that
someone as kind and harmless as David could be the target of such a horrific and senseless crime.
Still baffled by the case decades later, a fellow member of the Middlesbrough Bowling Club told Murder Town.
David was one of ours. He was part of our community. He was such a nice person for it to happen to. It was brutal and
it was utterly pointless. David's murder had a long and lasting effect on his daughter Laura. She had
always planned to follow in her father's footsteps by becoming a doctor. But after the discovery of his body, she
took a year off from her studies to recover from the trauma. If David's murder had taught her one
thing, it was that anything could happen behind closed doors without anyone else
realizing what was going on. Because of that, Laura no longer felt safe being home alone.
She couldn't even go into an empty room of a house. In 2008, Laura told the Telegraph, "I
couldn't even go to the bathroom on my own. I would sit outside my home in the car, waiting for hours until someone
came to accompany me inside. I couldn't go out after dark by myself or sleep by myself.
I lost all the friends I'd grown up with because they couldn't cope with the horror of the situation.
That was hard for me because I am a social person. It took years and years to build any kind of normality.
Laura said that her father's murder impacted her family in different ways. Her dreams of becoming a doctor were
quashed and she fell heavily into debt after buying a house with her father's inheritance when she was too young to
properly manage her finances. She told the Telegraph, "The murder damaged our ability to flourish and be
happy. There was no counseling at the time, no victim support scheme. Over the years, I've had therapy of every kind.
After being plagued by nightmares and flashbacks for over a decade, Laura was just beginning to heal when Reginald
Wilson's sentence was unexpectedly reduced, and she felt herself reliving the trauma all over again. Her saving
grace was how quickly the courts had acted to overturn that decision. Laura found a moment of solace during
one of the high court hearings when the presiding judge made the unprecedented request of asking the court to pause for
a moment to remember David Burkett. Finding comfort in that small act of humanity, Laura said,
"It was lovely to have that little bit of silence for Dad. [Music] [Music]

After respected dermatologist Dr David Birkett was found bludgeoned to death in his Middlesbrough home, police struggled to uncover a motive or identify a suspect for what appeared to be a targeted attack. As the months passed by with no arrests, it began to look like the assailant had succeeded in his plan to pull off the perfect murder. But then the cracks began to show.

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

SOCIAL LINKS

Website https://www.casefilepodcast.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/casefile Twitter https://twitter.com/case_file Instagram https://www.instagram.com/casefilepodcast Patreon https://www.patreon.com/casefile Casefile Presents https://casefilepresents.com

RESOURCES

For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-330-david-birkett

Brief Summary

The episode details the murder of Dr. David Burkett and the investigation leading to Reginald Wilson's conviction.

Key points

Laura's Heartbreaking Discovery. Laura Burkett finds her father lying dead in a pool of blood, a scene that haunts her.
The Investigation Begins. Police launch a massive manhunt for the killer, fearing they could strike again.
The Slow Investigation. Police struggle to identify the origin of a green cord linked to the murder.
The Skull's Mystery. A missing skull from David's home raises questions about its significance.
Police Seek Public Help. DCI Leonard appeals for information from the public regarding David's murder.
Chilling Letter from the Killer. A letter reveals the sadistic nature of David's murderer and hints at future violence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was as if I could see myself going into the house.

Laura's haunting recollection of discovering her father's body.

3:52WatchSep 20, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from Casefile

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.