Left for Dead - The Murder of Hilda Murrell

The first case in this episode concerns a horrific murder in Shrewsbury in 1984, when 78-year-old environmental campaigner Hilda Murrell is found dead close to her abandoned car. Her killing was brutal, but the investigation quickly stalls. Police pursue more than 2,000 suspects, find no usable evidence and are left with only unsubstantiated rumours about a possible motive. They do recover biological fluid from the victim’s undergarment, but without modern DNA techniques, the case goes cold.

Nearly 20 years later, police reopen the investigation and turn to leading forensic biologist and expert witness Dr Colin Dark. With 25 years’ experience in cold-case work, he knows that advances in DNA technology could finally offer a way through.

After an extensive search of the evidence stores, Colin is able to extract only a partial DNA profile from the victim's clothing – a result that could have generated thousands of possible names on the National DNA Database. But just one match comes back: Andrew George, who was only 16 years old when Hilda was murdered.

George denies killing her and pleads not guilty, but the forensic evidence helps secure his conviction. He is sentenced to serve at least 15 years of a life sentence. The programme includes revealing interviews from BBC reporter Giles Latcham and Nick Partridge, who was a young police traffic officer at the time of the killing.

The second case reveals how cell site analysis and forensic science helped catch the killer of 22-year-old Abdul Deghayes.

During a drug deal in a Brighton car park, Abdul is stabbed and later dies in hospital. He and his friend Colby Broderick were out drinking when they called a dealer contact known as Frank to buy drugs.

Detectives turn to ANPR cameras to trace the car used by the dealer, Daniel MacLeod, on the night of the killing. They seize his Citroen and carry out a forensic examination of the vehicle. Searches of properties linked to MacLeod also uncover a bloodied T-shirt.

Expert witness and forensic scientist Suzanne Winter is tasked with analysing the clothing for biological evidence. Her tests show that the blood on the shirt is Abdul Deghayes’s, while DNA on the collar matches Daniel MacLeod.

Suzanne also examines swabs taken from MacLeod’s car and finds Abdul’s blood inside the vehicle, suggesting someone wet with his blood – possibly his attacker – has been inside.

MacLeod’s phone records are then sent to cell site and radio frequency expert Paul Hope. His analysis places the phones at the murder scene and links MacLeod to the property where the bloodied T-shirt was found.

Together, the forensic evidence and phone data help build the case against Daniel MacLeod. He is charged with Abdul’s murder, and in November 2019, is found guilty by a jury.