1 00:00:10,101 --> 00:00:14,261 Rita Ellis, an unsolved murder. 2 00:00:14,341 --> 00:00:19,341 1967, a brutal attack on a cold November night. 3 00:00:20,781 --> 00:00:23,341 She was an RAF service woman. 4 00:00:23,421 --> 00:00:24,181 Yeah. 5 00:00:24,261 --> 00:00:26,941 And it's remained unsolved for 53 years. 6 00:01:16,061 --> 00:01:20,101 I've got Rita Ellis's inquest here from 1968, 7 00:01:20,181 --> 00:01:21,741 which is very detailed. 8 00:01:21,821 --> 00:01:24,261 It describes a lot of background on the case 9 00:01:24,341 --> 00:01:25,981 and where her body was found 10 00:01:26,061 --> 00:01:30,061 Rita Ellis was murdered on the 11th of November, 1967. 11 00:01:30,141 --> 00:01:33,061 So it was the night before Remembrance Day. 12 00:01:33,141 --> 00:01:34,461 She was a cook, wasn't she? 13 00:01:34,541 --> 00:01:35,821 Yeah, she'd been at the camp 14 00:01:35,901 --> 00:01:38,621 for five months before her death, 15 00:01:38,701 --> 00:01:42,061 and this was her second posting. 16 00:01:42,141 --> 00:01:44,261 Now, this is interesting. 17 00:01:44,341 --> 00:01:48,021 According to the inquest, she was due to babysit that night 18 00:01:48,101 --> 00:01:50,781 for a Wing Commander Watson. 19 00:01:50,861 --> 00:01:54,701 We've got also a report that she's seen walking 20 00:01:54,781 --> 00:01:58,301 towards a red car and she was found dead here 21 00:01:58,381 --> 00:02:02,981 at RAF Halton, one of the largest RAF training bases 22 00:02:03,061 --> 00:02:04,381 in the UK. 23 00:02:04,461 --> 00:02:06,341 And at the time of Rita's murder, 24 00:02:06,421 --> 00:02:10,421 there were 2000 people working on the camp. 25 00:02:11,341 --> 00:02:15,061 I think a starting point is to walk Rita's last moments 26 00:02:15,141 --> 00:02:18,301 and see what that could tell us about her death. 27 00:02:18,381 --> 00:02:20,261 Let's head to the crime scene. 28 00:02:23,781 --> 00:02:26,021 According to the inquest, 29 00:02:26,101 --> 00:02:30,421 her body was found in a copse beyond these trees. 30 00:02:32,301 --> 00:02:37,301 31 00:02:41,661 --> 00:02:43,301 I think this is it. 32 00:02:44,501 --> 00:02:46,261 Rowborough Copse. 33 00:02:47,941 --> 00:02:52,941 34 00:02:54,461 --> 00:02:56,381 So Rita's body would have been found 35 00:02:56,461 --> 00:02:59,221 up against one of these posts. 36 00:03:02,061 --> 00:03:03,821 So eerie, isn't it? 37 00:03:04,821 --> 00:03:06,621 She was partially clothed. 38 00:03:06,701 --> 00:03:07,901 She had been strangled, 39 00:03:07,981 --> 00:03:10,861 it looks like by her own knickers. 40 00:03:10,941 --> 00:03:13,421 And there was a crude attempt at covering her, 41 00:03:13,501 --> 00:03:15,141 wasn't there, with foliage? 42 00:03:15,221 --> 00:03:17,461 Yeah, rather inexpertly, if you ask me. 43 00:03:17,541 --> 00:03:20,981 It was relatively easily found the following morning 44 00:03:21,061 --> 00:03:22,501 by a dog walker. 45 00:03:28,021 --> 00:03:33,021 These posts mark the western perimeter of RAF Halton. 46 00:03:33,421 --> 00:03:35,901 So the very edges of the camp. 47 00:03:35,981 --> 00:03:39,381 48 00:03:39,461 --> 00:03:42,541 How do we think that Rita got here? 49 00:03:45,461 --> 00:03:48,181 Did she come willingly in the car? 50 00:03:48,261 --> 00:03:52,141 Did she realise something was wrong and try and run away? 51 00:03:52,221 --> 00:03:53,661 Was she dragged here? 52 00:03:53,741 --> 00:03:56,381 I just don't know the answer to that. 53 00:03:56,461 --> 00:03:58,421 Does the inquest tell us anything? 54 00:03:58,501 --> 00:03:59,901 Well, the inquest gives us 55 00:03:59,981 --> 00:04:01,981 a bit more definitive information 56 00:04:02,061 --> 00:04:05,341 and it was Keith Simpson that was the pathologist. 57 00:04:05,421 --> 00:04:07,941 He put the time of death about 9:00 PM. 58 00:04:08,021 --> 00:04:09,341 This area would have been dark. 59 00:04:09,421 --> 00:04:10,381 We were in November. 60 00:04:10,461 --> 00:04:11,821 This is isolated. 61 00:04:11,901 --> 00:04:13,981 It's a disused area. 62 00:04:14,061 --> 00:04:17,821 So the perpetrator would have had time to do what it is 63 00:04:17,901 --> 00:04:19,981 that they wanted to do. 64 00:04:20,581 --> 00:04:21,341 And here, again, 65 00:04:21,421 --> 00:04:23,461 there's something that might be significant. 66 00:04:23,541 --> 00:04:25,821 She was virgo intacto, 67 00:04:25,901 --> 00:04:28,581 so there had been no penetration, 68 00:04:28,661 --> 00:04:32,181 although there was chafing at her vagina. 69 00:04:32,261 --> 00:04:34,861 But crucially, she was still a virgin. 70 00:04:47,661 --> 00:04:49,261 What do you do with a case like this 71 00:04:49,341 --> 00:04:51,061 which is over 50 years old? 72 00:04:51,141 --> 00:04:53,901 Can it ever be solved when the possible perpetrator 73 00:04:53,981 --> 00:04:55,501 might even be dead now? 74 00:04:56,621 --> 00:04:59,101 Well, it's not easy is it? 75 00:04:59,181 --> 00:05:02,861 It's 1967, so we don't have ANPR. 76 00:05:02,941 --> 00:05:05,141 We don't have mobile phone records. 77 00:05:05,221 --> 00:05:06,861 We don't have CCTV. 78 00:05:06,941 --> 00:05:08,141 Forensic evidence? 79 00:05:08,221 --> 00:05:10,221 Rita's case was reopened 80 00:05:10,301 --> 00:05:13,341 by the Thames Valley Police in 2007. 81 00:05:13,421 --> 00:05:16,021 And, surprisingly, they have been able 82 00:05:16,101 --> 00:05:20,421 to generate a full DNA profile of the perpetrator. 83 00:05:20,501 --> 00:05:21,341 That's gonna be useful. 84 00:05:21,421 --> 00:05:23,301 Yeah, but any testing they've done 85 00:05:23,381 --> 00:05:26,901 in the investigation hasn't led to a conviction. 86 00:05:44,541 --> 00:05:47,421 I think we should guard against simply thinking 87 00:05:47,501 --> 00:05:51,661 of Rita as just another murdered girl. 88 00:05:52,661 --> 00:05:53,861 We've gotta build up a picture 89 00:05:53,941 --> 00:05:56,301 of what she was like when she was alive. 90 00:05:56,381 --> 00:05:57,941 Have a look at this. 91 00:06:01,981 --> 00:06:04,621 I've managed to uncover some footage 92 00:06:04,701 --> 00:06:08,741 of her passing out parade at RAF Spitalgate, 93 00:06:08,821 --> 00:06:11,341 where she did her training. 94 00:06:12,781 --> 00:06:15,301 Look, there they are having a laugh. 95 00:06:15,381 --> 00:06:17,901 Still haven't seen Rita though. 96 00:06:17,981 --> 00:06:18,781 -There she is. -Where? 97 00:06:18,861 --> 00:06:20,661 There she is, just there 98 00:06:20,741 --> 00:06:22,981 with her hand on her mouth. 99 00:06:23,061 --> 00:06:25,301 So on the outskirts of the fun. 100 00:06:25,381 --> 00:06:27,461 Here she comes 101 00:06:27,901 --> 00:06:29,421 She looks shy, doesn't she? 102 00:06:29,501 --> 00:06:33,501 Being in front of the camera, with her head down. 103 00:06:33,581 --> 00:06:36,061 And that totally fits with the descriptions 104 00:06:36,141 --> 00:06:37,901 that we have of her. 105 00:06:39,301 --> 00:06:40,501 The inquest describes her 106 00:06:40,581 --> 00:06:44,021 as a lonely girl looking for company. 107 00:06:44,101 --> 00:06:45,821 She didn't have a boyfriend. 108 00:06:45,901 --> 00:06:47,581 She didn't drink or smoke. 109 00:06:47,661 --> 00:06:51,141 And she spent her time off duty reading 110 00:06:51,221 --> 00:06:53,341 or watching television. 111 00:06:53,421 --> 00:06:56,781 And another description is that she was a shy person 112 00:06:56,861 --> 00:06:58,021 that, if an officer came along, 113 00:06:58,101 --> 00:06:59,741 she wouldn't dare to say to him, 114 00:06:59,821 --> 00:07:01,261 are you the wing commander? 115 00:07:01,341 --> 00:07:04,421 She'd have just got in the car, assuming it was him. 116 00:07:04,501 --> 00:07:06,021 That might be quite important. 117 00:07:06,101 --> 00:07:10,461 Another contemporary described her as a gentle soul 118 00:07:10,541 --> 00:07:13,141 who wouldn't have been able to put up much of a fight. 119 00:07:13,221 --> 00:07:15,741 She had no aggression in her. 120 00:07:15,821 --> 00:07:19,421 All of these descriptions paint a similar picture 121 00:07:19,501 --> 00:07:22,221 of her, don't they, that she was a lovely girl, gentle. 122 00:07:22,301 --> 00:07:27,301 quiet, timid, shy, and vulnerable to other people. 123 00:07:28,381 --> 00:07:29,141 But I suppose 124 00:07:29,221 --> 00:07:32,221 if we're trying to discover who it was that killed her, 125 00:07:32,301 --> 00:07:34,781 we really need to know much more 126 00:07:34,861 --> 00:07:37,821 about that final hour that she's alive. 127 00:07:54,581 --> 00:07:57,981 David, I tracked down this guy called Steve Tank 128 00:07:58,061 --> 00:08:00,781 who was an apprentice at RAF Halton. 129 00:08:00,861 --> 00:08:04,941 Apparently he saw Rita on the night she died. 130 00:08:06,581 --> 00:08:08,621 Steve, how well did you know Rita? 131 00:08:08,701 --> 00:08:11,341 Well, I didn't know Rita at all until that night. 132 00:08:11,421 --> 00:08:15,181 And, as it transpires, I might well have been one 133 00:08:15,261 --> 00:08:18,261 of the last ones to see her alive. 134 00:08:20,541 --> 00:08:22,101 So what happened that night? 135 00:08:22,181 --> 00:08:24,901 I was going out with a trainee nurse 136 00:08:24,981 --> 00:08:26,381 and I'd arranged to meet her 137 00:08:26,461 --> 00:08:28,541 outside the WAF block that night. 138 00:08:28,621 --> 00:08:30,581 Where was that, the WAF block? 139 00:08:30,661 --> 00:08:31,941 It was just at the top of this hill. 140 00:08:32,021 --> 00:08:33,461 Yeah. 141 00:08:33,821 --> 00:08:35,261 And to the left. 142 00:08:37,421 --> 00:08:38,901 It was about quarter past seven, 143 00:08:38,981 --> 00:08:42,061 I turned up to meet Liz, Liz Hearn, 144 00:08:43,181 --> 00:08:47,621 and she came out of the WAF block with her friend 145 00:08:48,941 --> 00:08:51,901 who I later found out was Rita Ellis. 146 00:08:51,981 --> 00:08:55,621 She said, Rita's gonna be babysitting. 147 00:08:55,901 --> 00:08:59,341 Can we walk her down to the guard room? 148 00:08:59,901 --> 00:09:01,581 November night, it would have been dark 149 00:09:01,661 --> 00:09:02,381 at that time as well. 150 00:09:02,461 --> 00:09:05,421 It was cold and it was foggy, misty. 151 00:09:05,501 --> 00:09:06,261 Right. 152 00:09:06,341 --> 00:09:08,781 So I said, yes, but you know, I don't really want to 153 00:09:08,861 --> 00:09:11,181 because at that time we weren't allowed to associate 154 00:09:11,261 --> 00:09:13,981 with any of the other staff. 155 00:09:14,061 --> 00:09:16,021 I could have got thrown out of the Air Force. 156 00:09:16,101 --> 00:09:17,781 -For being with Liz? -Yes. 157 00:09:17,861 --> 00:09:18,621 Right. 158 00:09:18,701 --> 00:09:22,821 So we walked down to the guard room here. 159 00:09:22,901 --> 00:09:24,261 So I think we were only there 160 00:09:24,341 --> 00:09:26,461 for about three or four minutes. 161 00:09:26,541 --> 00:09:28,261 She said, well, you might as well go. 162 00:09:28,341 --> 00:09:29,101 I'll be all right. 163 00:09:29,181 --> 00:09:30,141 I'm getting picked up. 164 00:09:30,221 --> 00:09:30,981 Rita said that? 165 00:09:31,061 --> 00:09:32,341 Rita said that, yeah. 166 00:09:32,421 --> 00:09:34,981 So what time do you think you left Rita? 167 00:09:35,061 --> 00:09:37,781 Between 25 past, half past seven. 168 00:09:37,861 --> 00:09:41,261 And that was the last time you saw Rita? 169 00:09:41,341 --> 00:09:42,701 That's the first and last. 170 00:09:42,781 --> 00:09:44,021 -First and last. -Yeah, yep. 171 00:09:44,101 --> 00:09:47,101 And when did you find out about what had happened to Rita? 172 00:09:47,181 --> 00:09:50,501 It must've been about two days later, I suppose, 173 00:09:50,581 --> 00:09:53,141 when we were all being interviewed by the police 174 00:09:53,221 --> 00:09:55,621 'cause they'd said the name. 175 00:09:55,701 --> 00:09:58,141 It was then I realised it was Rita Ellis 176 00:09:58,221 --> 00:10:00,421 that we'd walked down to the guard room with. 177 00:10:00,501 --> 00:10:01,261 Yeah. 178 00:10:04,581 --> 00:10:08,141 Do you have a theory of who you think might be responsible? 179 00:10:08,221 --> 00:10:09,941 No, I haven't a clue. 180 00:10:10,021 --> 00:10:12,541 Honestly, I wouldn't know. 181 00:10:13,981 --> 00:10:18,981 182 00:10:19,741 --> 00:10:21,821 I've dug out some newspaper articles 183 00:10:21,901 --> 00:10:24,621 and taken some facts from the inquest 184 00:10:24,701 --> 00:10:28,221 to try and work out Rita's last movements. 185 00:10:28,301 --> 00:10:30,821 So let's see if we can actually plot them down. 186 00:10:30,901 --> 00:10:33,181 Steve says he thinks that he might have been one 187 00:10:33,261 --> 00:10:35,101 of the last people to see Rita that night 188 00:10:35,181 --> 00:10:40,181 and he escorted Rita and Liz from block seven at 7:15 PM 189 00:10:42,181 --> 00:10:47,181 to the guard room, which was about five minutes walk away. 190 00:10:47,341 --> 00:10:49,781 Then he and Liz left Rita there 191 00:10:49,861 --> 00:10:53,021 at the guard house at about 7:25 PM. 192 00:10:53,101 --> 00:10:54,941 Okay, the next thing that we know for sure 193 00:10:55,021 --> 00:10:57,741 from the coroner's inquiry is that the wing commander 194 00:10:57,821 --> 00:11:00,461 is gonna leave his house at 7:31 195 00:11:00,541 --> 00:11:02,061 and therefore it's gonna take some minutes 196 00:11:02,141 --> 00:11:03,381 to get to the camp, 197 00:11:03,461 --> 00:11:06,261 but the key thing is he's already running late. 198 00:11:06,341 --> 00:11:07,221 And there was confusion 199 00:11:07,301 --> 00:11:09,781 about where he was going to pick up Rita, wasn't there? 200 00:11:09,861 --> 00:11:12,421 So it was possible that Rita was at the guard house 201 00:11:12,501 --> 00:11:14,141 whilst the wing commander 202 00:11:14,221 --> 00:11:17,141 was outside the women's accommodation block. 203 00:11:17,221 --> 00:11:18,461 So they would have missed each other. 204 00:11:18,541 --> 00:11:21,301 Well, and he can't go into it because he's a man. 205 00:11:21,381 --> 00:11:23,461 Therefore, he had to return home 206 00:11:23,541 --> 00:11:25,621 because he wanted to get his wife 207 00:11:25,701 --> 00:11:29,821 because his wife could go into the female accommodation. 208 00:11:29,901 --> 00:11:31,981 So then the next known thing is 209 00:11:32,061 --> 00:11:35,501 that Rita was seen by Sylvie Banks who said in the inquest 210 00:11:35,581 --> 00:11:40,581 and that her friend Rita was in block seven at 8:00 PM 211 00:11:40,981 --> 00:11:44,301 and Sylvie asked her what she was doing that night 212 00:11:44,381 --> 00:11:46,701 and Rita said that she was going to babysit. 213 00:11:46,781 --> 00:11:50,581 Now, meanwhile, the wing commander has gone home. 214 00:11:50,661 --> 00:11:54,101 He's got his wife with him now, but crucially, 215 00:11:54,181 --> 00:11:57,981 they searched block six, not block seven. 216 00:11:58,061 --> 00:11:59,261 Oh, so he's made a mistake. 217 00:11:59,341 --> 00:12:00,101 Yeah. 218 00:12:00,181 --> 00:12:03,261 And the next thing that we know from the police report 219 00:12:03,341 --> 00:12:05,141 is that there was a sighting of Rita 220 00:12:05,221 --> 00:12:09,781 between 8:00 and 8:15 at the gymnasium. 221 00:12:10,941 --> 00:12:14,141 And then there's this account in the newspaper 222 00:12:14,221 --> 00:12:18,261 that she's seen walking towards a man driving 223 00:12:18,341 --> 00:12:21,101 a red Cortina around about 8:10 224 00:12:21,181 --> 00:12:23,461 and then the next definitive piece of information 225 00:12:23,541 --> 00:12:26,501 that we have, according to the coroner's inquiry, 226 00:12:26,581 --> 00:12:29,421 is that she was murdered at 9:00 PM. 227 00:12:31,701 --> 00:12:35,021 But just to make things even more complicated, 228 00:12:35,101 --> 00:12:37,621 on the 50th anniversary appeal, 229 00:12:37,701 --> 00:12:40,301 the Thames Valley Police say that night, 230 00:12:40,381 --> 00:12:44,221 two events, that civilians could come to, were being held. 231 00:12:44,301 --> 00:12:47,661 There was bingo and a disco on camp. 232 00:12:47,741 --> 00:12:51,261 And therefore who actually is responsible here? 233 00:12:51,341 --> 00:12:55,821 Is it someone on the camp or someone from the community? 234 00:12:55,901 --> 00:12:56,701 Well, whoever they are 235 00:12:56,781 --> 00:13:00,861 they committed a terrible crime and we need their name 236 00:13:00,941 --> 00:13:03,141 and we need to find them. 237 00:13:16,661 --> 00:13:19,501 I've traced a policeman who worked in the incident room 238 00:13:19,581 --> 00:13:22,381 on the first investigation into Rita's murder. 239 00:13:22,461 --> 00:13:25,141 His name is Michael Clanfield. 240 00:13:25,221 --> 00:13:27,821 I'm hoping he can give us some information. 241 00:13:27,901 --> 00:13:29,901 Have you had any luck with former officers? 242 00:13:29,981 --> 00:13:30,741 Yes, I have. 243 00:13:30,821 --> 00:13:32,861 I've tracked down an ex policemen 244 00:13:32,941 --> 00:13:34,221 who was actually there 245 00:13:34,301 --> 00:13:37,741 on the day that Rita's body was found. 246 00:13:42,301 --> 00:13:44,541 This is the actual incident room. 247 00:13:44,621 --> 00:13:47,541 That handsome chap there is me with dark hair. 248 00:13:47,621 --> 00:13:49,061 Oh my goodness. 249 00:13:50,021 --> 00:13:51,701 What were the early theories 250 00:13:51,781 --> 00:13:53,541 about what had happened to Rita? 251 00:13:53,621 --> 00:13:58,621 I think the feeling was that maybe she mistook 252 00:13:58,741 --> 00:14:00,981 the car that pulled up. 253 00:14:02,821 --> 00:14:06,101 At that time, when we used to go out to any nightclubs, 254 00:14:06,181 --> 00:14:08,181 the girls would stand on the road for a lift home 255 00:14:08,261 --> 00:14:09,181 and thumb a lift home. 256 00:14:09,261 --> 00:14:11,261 It was like normal practise. 257 00:14:11,341 --> 00:14:13,581 Chaps, you always used to go there and pick girls up 258 00:14:13,661 --> 00:14:15,221 they didn't know just to give them a lift home 259 00:14:15,301 --> 00:14:16,541 to start a relationship. 260 00:14:16,621 --> 00:14:18,301 How does that fit though, with Rita, 261 00:14:18,381 --> 00:14:20,701 still thinking that she was going babysitting? 262 00:14:20,781 --> 00:14:25,581 Now, if the offender pulled up and she was anxious to go, 263 00:14:25,661 --> 00:14:29,381 she could have volunteered that information quite easily. 264 00:14:29,461 --> 00:14:33,301 Have you come to pick me up for babysitting? 265 00:14:33,381 --> 00:14:37,381 And all he's got to say is yes and she gets in. 266 00:14:37,701 --> 00:14:40,581 That's what sits with me more logically. 267 00:14:40,661 --> 00:14:42,821 So random opportunity was taken. 268 00:14:42,901 --> 00:14:45,021 And was the wing commander, 269 00:14:45,101 --> 00:14:47,381 by virtue of having been the man 270 00:14:47,461 --> 00:14:49,581 who was meant to be picking up Rita 271 00:14:49,661 --> 00:14:50,941 for babysitting that night, 272 00:14:51,021 --> 00:14:53,021 was he an early person of interest in the investigation? 273 00:14:53,101 --> 00:14:57,181 At the beginning, he was obviously a first one, 274 00:14:57,261 --> 00:14:58,941 needs to be seen. 275 00:14:59,021 --> 00:15:01,861 From what I've heard, he was quite angry. 276 00:15:01,941 --> 00:15:03,141 He was not happy. 277 00:15:03,221 --> 00:15:05,021 I mean, he was a high ranking officer 278 00:15:05,101 --> 00:15:08,261 and this was a young apprentice and she'd let him down. 279 00:15:08,341 --> 00:15:10,061 So she was going on my report, 280 00:15:10,141 --> 00:15:11,341 which is not the reaction 281 00:15:11,421 --> 00:15:13,381 of someone who's took her up in the woods and murdered her. 282 00:15:13,461 --> 00:15:14,221 Right. 283 00:15:14,301 --> 00:15:15,621 And were there people 284 00:15:15,701 --> 00:15:18,061 of interest early in the investigation? 285 00:15:18,141 --> 00:15:20,261 Because this was a sexual offence. 286 00:15:20,341 --> 00:15:21,101 Yes. 287 00:15:21,181 --> 00:15:24,141 A lot of the inquiry was based on people 288 00:15:24,221 --> 00:15:26,341 who might have a sexual tendency. 289 00:15:26,421 --> 00:15:27,501 Right. 290 00:15:27,581 --> 00:15:30,781 Most of the information seemed to come from the females 291 00:15:30,861 --> 00:15:33,901 of having bad experience with males. 292 00:15:33,981 --> 00:15:35,621 We call them stalkers now, don't we? 293 00:15:35,701 --> 00:15:36,461 Right?. 294 00:15:36,541 --> 00:15:39,181 But in them days, they were just creeps, weren't they? 295 00:15:39,261 --> 00:15:40,781 But they were the same type of person 296 00:15:40,861 --> 00:15:44,781 that gave a female an uncomfortable feeling. 297 00:15:44,861 --> 00:15:48,021 So in the statement taken, if it was a person of interest, 298 00:15:48,101 --> 00:15:49,261 they would take swabs 299 00:15:49,341 --> 00:15:52,821 and do the basics and the fingerprints and things like that. 300 00:15:52,901 --> 00:15:56,501 And why did the police take DNA swabs 301 00:15:56,581 --> 00:16:01,221 at the time when DNA testing wasn't common practise? 302 00:16:01,301 --> 00:16:05,141 My opinion is it was an avenue 303 00:16:05,221 --> 00:16:07,221 that hadn't been used 304 00:16:07,301 --> 00:16:11,741 that would have possibly ruffled the suspect's feathers 305 00:16:11,821 --> 00:16:14,421 and cause some sort of irrational behaviour. 306 00:16:14,501 --> 00:16:15,821 And because it was a murder, 307 00:16:15,901 --> 00:16:20,461 you'd get a Home Office pathologist and forensics. 308 00:16:20,541 --> 00:16:21,821 They would retain everything 309 00:16:21,901 --> 00:16:25,381 in any shape or form for future examination. 310 00:16:40,341 --> 00:16:43,581 You're the last person alive 311 00:16:43,661 --> 00:16:46,341 who attended the crime scene on that Sunday morning. 312 00:16:46,421 --> 00:16:47,661 That's right, yeah. 313 00:16:47,741 --> 00:16:51,741 When you walked into the murder site itself, 314 00:16:51,821 --> 00:16:55,021 what were your first impressions? 315 00:16:55,101 --> 00:16:56,901 Yeah. Shock. 316 00:16:56,981 --> 00:16:58,421 Shock, really. 317 00:17:01,981 --> 00:17:04,861 You couldn't take a lot of it in. 318 00:17:06,701 --> 00:17:09,781 All around was items of her clothing 319 00:17:09,861 --> 00:17:12,061 on the trees and things. 320 00:17:15,341 --> 00:17:17,901 It implied to me that she'd been terrified. 321 00:17:17,981 --> 00:17:23,061 and running around, fighting for her life, so to speak. 322 00:17:26,181 --> 00:17:29,181 The body was not a pretty sight. 323 00:17:29,261 --> 00:17:32,581 Poor girl was lying there, on her back, 324 00:17:34,701 --> 00:17:36,021 almost naked. 325 00:17:36,101 --> 00:17:39,861 326 00:17:39,941 --> 00:17:42,021 Been to many, many death scenes before, 327 00:17:42,101 --> 00:17:47,181 but this was one which you can't forget it, to be honest. 328 00:17:47,381 --> 00:17:48,901 Was there evidence 329 00:17:48,981 --> 00:17:51,901 that she had been sexually assaulted at the time? 330 00:17:51,981 --> 00:17:54,701 It appeared to me she had, yeah. 331 00:17:54,781 --> 00:17:55,981 Just the way she was lying, 332 00:17:56,061 --> 00:17:58,381 her clothing removed and 333 00:18:00,581 --> 00:18:01,901 and just, why was she lying 334 00:18:01,981 --> 00:18:06,061 there like that in the first place, you know? 335 00:18:06,541 --> 00:18:10,141 Doug, if she had screamed at this spot. 336 00:18:10,221 --> 00:18:12,861 Nobody would have heard, no. 337 00:18:13,581 --> 00:18:15,101 The garage would've been closed. 338 00:18:15,181 --> 00:18:17,181 Tea rooms was closed. 339 00:18:18,221 --> 00:18:23,221 It's a good 50 yards in from the main road. 340 00:18:23,821 --> 00:18:26,901 Why would they go to such a remote spot 341 00:18:27,821 --> 00:18:29,581 in the first place? 342 00:18:30,061 --> 00:18:32,861 Was she going there willingly 343 00:18:34,301 --> 00:18:36,181 or was she forced there? 344 00:18:36,261 --> 00:18:38,221 The only sense I can make is 345 00:18:38,301 --> 00:18:42,501 that she was taken there by the perpetrator. 346 00:18:43,621 --> 00:18:46,221 Whether it was someone she knew 347 00:18:46,301 --> 00:18:49,501 or a complete stranger, I can't say, 348 00:18:49,581 --> 00:18:52,741 but I mean, I can't see him dragging her there, 349 00:18:52,821 --> 00:18:54,381 to be honest. 350 00:18:54,461 --> 00:18:59,141 I mean, there would've been plenty of time to escape. 351 00:19:01,221 --> 00:19:05,301 Did you or your colleagues form any impression 352 00:19:05,381 --> 00:19:10,181 as to who this might have been that killed Rita? 353 00:19:10,261 --> 00:19:12,781 Initially? No, no. 354 00:19:12,861 --> 00:19:15,901 But afterwards, you just sort of start thinking, you know, 355 00:19:15,981 --> 00:19:17,141 is it somebody local? 356 00:19:17,221 --> 00:19:20,221 Is it somebody from the camp? 357 00:19:20,301 --> 00:19:21,941 Someone she knew? 358 00:19:22,141 --> 00:19:23,741 One fellow was sort of suspected. 359 00:19:23,821 --> 00:19:28,821 He used to live in the scrapyard 360 00:19:29,021 --> 00:19:30,621 down at Rosie Bridge. 361 00:19:30,701 --> 00:19:31,461 Who was that? 362 00:19:31,541 --> 00:19:33,741 That was a fellow named Fletcher. 363 00:19:43,981 --> 00:19:45,341 I've got a suspect. 364 00:19:45,421 --> 00:19:47,781 It's a guy called Fletcher. 365 00:19:47,861 --> 00:19:49,461 Right, tell me what you know about him. 366 00:19:49,541 --> 00:19:51,901 Well, at the minute, not very much, 367 00:19:51,981 --> 00:19:55,581 but apparently he lived in a scrapyard near 368 00:19:55,661 --> 00:19:57,501 to where Rita was murdered. 369 00:19:57,581 --> 00:20:01,621 And here's the thing, he'd previously been investigated 370 00:20:01,701 --> 00:20:03,181 for sexual assaults. 371 00:20:03,261 --> 00:20:04,021 Well, I'll look into that 372 00:20:04,101 --> 00:20:06,261 and try and find out some more information. 373 00:20:06,341 --> 00:20:11,341 374 00:20:15,381 --> 00:20:16,701 This is our man. 375 00:20:16,781 --> 00:20:20,221 His name was Joseph Hulson Fletcher. 376 00:20:20,541 --> 00:20:22,181 He was a scrap metal dealer 377 00:20:22,261 --> 00:20:26,821 and he lived in a caravan in the woods around the RAF camp. 378 00:20:26,901 --> 00:20:29,301 And a short time after Rita's murder, 379 00:20:29,381 --> 00:20:31,581 he was arrested for the sexual assault 380 00:20:31,661 --> 00:20:33,741 of a 17-year-old girl. 381 00:20:34,581 --> 00:20:35,341 How old was he? 382 00:20:35,421 --> 00:20:37,021 He was 49. 383 00:20:37,981 --> 00:20:40,701 But there's just one problem. 384 00:20:40,781 --> 00:20:43,541 I contacted Thames Valley Police because, as you know, 385 00:20:43,621 --> 00:20:45,821 they've got a DNA profile of the killer. 386 00:20:45,901 --> 00:20:47,701 They won't give specific details 387 00:20:47,781 --> 00:20:49,701 about the DNA profile they have, 388 00:20:49,781 --> 00:20:53,621 but they have told us that we can rule out Fletcher 389 00:20:53,701 --> 00:20:56,461 because his DNA doesn't match the DNA they have 390 00:20:56,541 --> 00:20:58,021 of Rita's killer. 391 00:20:58,101 --> 00:21:01,661 And neither does Wing Commander Watson's. 392 00:21:01,741 --> 00:21:04,381 Well, it's back to square one then. 393 00:21:05,861 --> 00:21:07,221 Well, I've arranged for us to speak 394 00:21:07,301 --> 00:21:12,741 to some apprentices from RAF Halton who were there in 1967. 395 00:21:13,261 --> 00:21:15,461 Will you tell me how you learned about Rita's murder? 396 00:21:15,541 --> 00:21:18,741 I don't think it was straight away. 397 00:21:19,821 --> 00:21:22,661 It was about the time that we were asked to go 398 00:21:22,741 --> 00:21:26,741 and give witness statements to the police. 399 00:21:26,941 --> 00:21:29,141 Were you shocked that this murder 400 00:21:29,221 --> 00:21:31,541 could have taken place on the camp? 401 00:21:31,621 --> 00:21:33,341 Yes, definitely. 402 00:21:33,421 --> 00:21:35,421 It's just not something we'd never thought would happen. 403 00:21:35,501 --> 00:21:38,021 In 50 years, has there been another murder at Halton? 404 00:21:38,101 --> 00:21:40,101 No, so it was pretty unique. 405 00:21:40,181 --> 00:21:43,061 Pretty shocking, to be honest. 406 00:21:44,021 --> 00:21:46,701 Do you remember rumours about any suspect 407 00:21:46,781 --> 00:21:49,981 who people thought might have been responsible? 408 00:21:50,061 --> 00:21:52,661 There were a couple people in the frame. 409 00:21:52,741 --> 00:21:55,661 One was an apprentice who was a bit 410 00:21:55,741 --> 00:21:57,941 of a loner, an oddball. 411 00:21:58,021 --> 00:22:01,741 He was also a boxer who was notorious 412 00:22:01,821 --> 00:22:06,221 for his ability to be physical. 413 00:22:07,341 --> 00:22:08,621 Get into fights? 414 00:22:08,701 --> 00:22:10,461 Yeah, he'd get into fights. 415 00:22:10,541 --> 00:22:15,541 My abiding memory is of him holding a guy's belt 416 00:22:17,181 --> 00:22:22,181 and his neck and ramming his head into a stone wall, 417 00:22:23,781 --> 00:22:27,221 which resulted, as it turned out, with a fractured skull. 418 00:22:27,301 --> 00:22:28,821 Oh my goodness. 419 00:22:28,901 --> 00:22:30,541 So if you were going to look at someone 420 00:22:30,621 --> 00:22:32,381 to put in the frame, 421 00:22:34,061 --> 00:22:37,741 probably he would be an ideal candidate. 422 00:22:37,821 --> 00:22:40,221 But there was also a corporal 423 00:22:40,301 --> 00:22:43,301 that lived with us in the block. 424 00:22:44,981 --> 00:22:46,701 The corporal was a very strange bloke. 425 00:22:46,781 --> 00:22:47,901 You could never get to know him. 426 00:22:47,981 --> 00:22:49,141 He was slightly remote, 427 00:22:49,221 --> 00:22:50,501 and he was quite a tough guy, you know? 428 00:22:50,581 --> 00:22:52,301 Why did he become a suspect? 429 00:22:52,381 --> 00:22:54,461 The first time I heard it mentioned 430 00:22:54,541 --> 00:22:56,301 was at this reunion in 1989. 431 00:22:56,381 --> 00:22:58,941 You know, we had discussed, who do you think did it? 432 00:22:59,021 --> 00:23:01,941 One person said to me, I'd heard 433 00:23:02,021 --> 00:23:05,501 that this guy had blood on his hands or his shirt. 434 00:23:05,581 --> 00:23:08,301 That's, again, hearsay and second thing, 435 00:23:08,381 --> 00:23:09,581 but that's the first time I heard about that 436 00:23:09,661 --> 00:23:11,901 and that was quite a shock. 437 00:23:16,301 --> 00:23:18,421 So that's two more suspects, 438 00:23:18,501 --> 00:23:21,581 the apprentice and the corporal. 439 00:23:30,781 --> 00:23:34,461 What do you remember about the investigation at the time? 440 00:23:34,541 --> 00:23:36,541 That's interesting. 441 00:23:39,661 --> 00:23:41,181 The apprentice. 442 00:23:41,901 --> 00:23:44,181 He was known to be a boxer. 443 00:23:44,261 --> 00:23:46,261 Now he was described to me 444 00:23:46,341 --> 00:23:49,661 as someone who was pretty violent 445 00:23:49,741 --> 00:23:54,061 and got into horrible fights, but it's not him. 446 00:23:54,141 --> 00:23:57,301 I've spoken to the police and he was a person of interest, 447 00:23:57,381 --> 00:23:59,421 but they did a DNA test on him 448 00:23:59,501 --> 00:24:01,901 and he's been forensically eliminated. 449 00:24:01,981 --> 00:24:04,421 That's a bit of a surprise. 450 00:24:04,501 --> 00:24:07,701 The second suspect was a corporal. 451 00:24:07,901 --> 00:24:10,141 It was a story that seemingly emerges, 452 00:24:10,221 --> 00:24:13,021 not during the investigation, 453 00:24:13,101 --> 00:24:15,581 but several years later. 454 00:24:15,661 --> 00:24:19,061 It was never reported to the police at the time, 455 00:24:19,141 --> 00:24:21,781 but I still think about him being seen 456 00:24:21,861 --> 00:24:23,901 with blood on his hands. 457 00:24:23,981 --> 00:24:25,421 On the night of Rita's murder? 458 00:24:25,501 --> 00:24:26,261 Yeah. 459 00:24:26,341 --> 00:24:31,181 I don't know how much to give credence to that story. 460 00:24:32,781 --> 00:24:35,421 Rita's murder was a strangulation. 461 00:24:35,501 --> 00:24:37,941 It doesn't say anywhere in the inquest 462 00:24:38,021 --> 00:24:40,301 there was blood from her injuries 463 00:24:40,381 --> 00:24:43,381 and indeed, it wasn't mentioned by Doug Manderfield, 464 00:24:43,461 --> 00:24:45,061 who saw her body. 465 00:24:45,141 --> 00:24:48,261 So it could just be hearsay years later. 466 00:24:48,341 --> 00:24:50,061 Well, I checked with the police. 467 00:24:50,141 --> 00:24:55,141 They confirmed that they have this person's details, 468 00:24:55,381 --> 00:24:56,741 but we can't take it forward anymore 469 00:24:56,821 --> 00:25:00,021 because the files are closed to us. 470 00:25:00,181 --> 00:25:05,181 So with all these names out of the frame as suspects, 471 00:25:05,341 --> 00:25:08,181 we're still no farther forward. 472 00:25:08,261 --> 00:25:09,421 Where next? 473 00:25:16,221 --> 00:25:18,541 Well, we might not have any suspects, 474 00:25:18,621 --> 00:25:21,101 but I don't feel we're at a dead end. 475 00:25:21,181 --> 00:25:23,861 I just think we need to broaden the search 476 00:25:23,941 --> 00:25:27,341 to find out what was happening at the area at the time. 477 00:25:27,421 --> 00:25:30,861 I'm gonna reach out to some local newspapers 478 00:25:30,941 --> 00:25:32,821 to see if we can get more information. 479 00:25:32,901 --> 00:25:33,821 Good idea. 480 00:25:33,901 --> 00:25:35,181 I'm gonna head to the archives 481 00:25:35,261 --> 00:25:37,861 to see if any historical newspaper reports throw up 482 00:25:37,941 --> 00:25:39,261 any new leads. 483 00:25:39,701 --> 00:25:41,901 Because this case is so old, 484 00:25:41,981 --> 00:25:46,101 I think it's key to try to understand that late 60s period. 485 00:25:46,181 --> 00:25:48,141 Politics and attitudes towards women were 486 00:25:48,221 --> 00:25:51,701 so different back then, things could be pretty repressive. 487 00:25:51,781 --> 00:25:53,781 And Rita worked on an RAF base, 488 00:25:53,861 --> 00:25:56,341 a highly masculine military world. 489 00:25:56,421 --> 00:25:57,181 I agree. 490 00:25:57,261 --> 00:25:58,581 And you've got to ask, 491 00:25:58,661 --> 00:26:02,541 did all of that have a bearing on Rita's murder? 492 00:26:11,061 --> 00:26:15,101 Three girls have been savagely attacked in seven weeks. 493 00:26:15,181 --> 00:26:18,741 One of them, Rita Ellis of RAF Halton, died. 494 00:26:18,821 --> 00:26:21,341 Ann Simmons was attacked on her way home 495 00:26:21,421 --> 00:26:23,821 on November the 25th. 496 00:26:23,901 --> 00:26:27,021 Janet X was the victim of a brutal attack 497 00:26:27,101 --> 00:26:28,621 at Little Tring. 498 00:26:31,661 --> 00:26:35,181 Another girl has been accosted by an assailant, 499 00:26:35,261 --> 00:26:37,221 and this time in Wingrave. 500 00:26:40,021 --> 00:26:42,261 I've just discovered there were a number of attacks 501 00:26:42,341 --> 00:26:43,701 on women in the same area 502 00:26:43,781 --> 00:26:46,181 in the three months after Rita was killed 503 00:26:46,261 --> 00:26:48,861 and police at the time clearly linked the offender 504 00:26:48,941 --> 00:26:50,581 to Rita's murder. 505 00:26:51,301 --> 00:26:52,861 Well, sadly, you may be able 506 00:26:52,941 --> 00:26:54,941 to add another attack to the list. 507 00:26:55,021 --> 00:26:57,741 Through speaking to the local newspaper, 508 00:26:57,821 --> 00:27:00,901 I found a woman who was attacked four months 509 00:27:00,981 --> 00:27:04,141 after Rita was murdered in the local area. 510 00:27:04,221 --> 00:27:07,981 She was only 15 when it happened and she never reported it 511 00:27:08,061 --> 00:27:10,381 to the police at the time. 512 00:27:11,021 --> 00:27:12,981 She says she's happy to talk to me, 513 00:27:13,061 --> 00:27:15,821 but she doesn't want to be identified. 514 00:27:15,901 --> 00:27:17,461 Linda, can you tell me what happened 515 00:27:17,541 --> 00:27:21,581 to you in the spring of 1968? 516 00:27:23,501 --> 00:27:26,221 Well, I'd been to a discotheque 517 00:27:26,301 --> 00:27:28,461 and gets very hot in there, 518 00:27:28,541 --> 00:27:31,141 so I decided to go for a walk 519 00:27:31,221 --> 00:27:34,101 and post a letter at the same time. 520 00:27:34,181 --> 00:27:35,341 This is in Aylesbury? 521 00:27:35,421 --> 00:27:37,021 In Aylesbury. 522 00:27:37,101 --> 00:27:41,101 And a car stopped and he called me over. 523 00:27:42,541 --> 00:27:45,061 The man, I think he was in his 20s, 524 00:27:45,141 --> 00:27:48,941 was fair haired, and he had a distinctive chin 525 00:27:49,021 --> 00:27:50,861 and he was well spoken. 526 00:27:50,941 --> 00:27:51,741 Well spoken? 527 00:27:51,821 --> 00:27:52,581 Yeah. 528 00:27:52,661 --> 00:27:56,261 He said he had medical supplies and if he didn't get them 529 00:27:56,341 --> 00:28:00,541 to Halton Hospital, somebody was going to die, 530 00:28:01,821 --> 00:28:03,861 and could I show him the way? 531 00:28:04,981 --> 00:28:08,661 He opened the door and I did get in the car. 532 00:28:14,221 --> 00:28:18,301 He drove down a little lane and he said, 533 00:28:18,381 --> 00:28:19,861 I've got to stop the car. 534 00:28:19,941 --> 00:28:22,621 And I tried to get out the car 535 00:28:22,701 --> 00:28:23,821 and I couldn't get out. 536 00:28:23,901 --> 00:28:24,621 I just couldn't. 537 00:28:24,701 --> 00:28:27,261 I don't know why I couldn't get out. 538 00:28:27,341 --> 00:28:30,741 And he got really, really angry. 539 00:28:30,821 --> 00:28:32,581 I start panicking. 540 00:28:33,341 --> 00:28:35,421 I knew I was in trouble. 541 00:28:35,741 --> 00:28:38,341 I'm trying to fumble around and get out, 542 00:28:38,421 --> 00:28:41,101 and he just puts his hands around my throat, 543 00:28:41,181 --> 00:28:43,261 starts strangling me. 544 00:28:44,021 --> 00:28:47,021 And said, you're not going to give me trouble as well. 545 00:28:47,101 --> 00:28:52,101 You're not going to give me trouble as well? 546 00:28:52,381 --> 00:28:54,261 What did that make you think? 547 00:28:54,341 --> 00:28:55,541 He's done it before. 548 00:28:55,621 --> 00:28:57,861 And then I immediately thought, 549 00:28:57,941 --> 00:29:00,941 you're the one that killed Rita. 550 00:29:03,941 --> 00:29:06,781 Linda, did you feel fear for your life? 551 00:29:06,861 --> 00:29:08,861 I think he would have killed me 552 00:29:08,941 --> 00:29:14,021 if I hadn't quietened down and done what he told me to do. 553 00:29:14,661 --> 00:29:17,301 He pulled me over onto his lap 554 00:29:18,701 --> 00:29:21,021 and then he assaulted me. 555 00:29:22,061 --> 00:29:24,461 Are you able to describe the things he does to you? 556 00:29:24,541 --> 00:29:25,381 I'd rather not. 557 00:29:25,461 --> 00:29:27,981 -Too painful? Mm. 558 00:29:28,701 --> 00:29:33,421 And in the end he drove me home. 559 00:29:33,501 --> 00:29:35,581 And when you got home, 560 00:29:35,661 --> 00:29:37,181 did you tell anybody that night? 561 00:29:37,261 --> 00:29:38,141 No. 562 00:29:38,221 --> 00:29:40,221 You just didn't feel able? 563 00:29:40,301 --> 00:29:41,581 No, I couldn't, no. 564 00:29:41,661 --> 00:29:44,701 Linda, when did you report this to the police? 565 00:29:44,781 --> 00:29:47,341 About 12 or 13 years later. 566 00:29:47,421 --> 00:29:49,581 So we're in the 1980s? 567 00:29:49,661 --> 00:29:51,261 Yeah, early 80s. 568 00:29:51,341 --> 00:29:54,581 Years ago, you didn't talk about those things. 569 00:29:54,661 --> 00:29:56,861 You know, I'd have been probably frowned on. 570 00:29:56,941 --> 00:30:00,181 But it was different times. 571 00:30:00,261 --> 00:30:03,421 -It really was. 572 00:30:03,501 --> 00:30:05,741 I'm glad times have changed 573 00:30:05,821 --> 00:30:08,621 and women can talk about them now, 574 00:30:08,701 --> 00:30:12,421 and you're not looked down on or frowned on, 575 00:30:12,501 --> 00:30:14,061 but years ago, you couldn't. 576 00:30:14,141 --> 00:30:17,341 And I'm sure there's other people out there 577 00:30:17,421 --> 00:30:19,781 and the same thing's happened to them. 578 00:30:28,341 --> 00:30:30,301 What did you find out? 579 00:30:30,381 --> 00:30:33,141 You know those sex assaults that you uncovered 580 00:30:33,221 --> 00:30:35,101 -in the newspapers? Yeah. 581 00:30:35,181 --> 00:30:38,421 At the time after Rita's murder. 582 00:30:38,501 --> 00:30:40,501 I've interviewed one woman, 583 00:30:40,581 --> 00:30:43,621 who didn't want to be identified, 584 00:30:44,621 --> 00:30:48,181 who said that she was attacked by this man. 585 00:30:48,261 --> 00:30:52,981 Now, this poor woman was so ashamed. 586 00:30:53,061 --> 00:30:56,861 She just didn't feel able to go to the police. 587 00:30:56,941 --> 00:30:58,341 And indeed it took several years 588 00:30:58,421 --> 00:31:02,781 before she was prepared to report what happened to her. 589 00:31:02,861 --> 00:31:05,261 Well, there are still echoes of that today, aren't there, 590 00:31:05,341 --> 00:31:07,101 where victims of sexual assault 591 00:31:07,181 --> 00:31:09,941 are afraid to come forward and, you know, 592 00:31:10,021 --> 00:31:15,021 from feeling ashamed or for fear of not being believed. 593 00:31:15,341 --> 00:31:17,541 And these are issues that the Me Too movement 594 00:31:17,621 --> 00:31:19,501 is trying to address. 595 00:31:19,581 --> 00:31:22,541 Listen to this article that I found 596 00:31:22,621 --> 00:31:27,181 which highlights the attitude to sexual crimes in the 1960s. 597 00:31:27,261 --> 00:31:32,181 This is about Rita, but the article goes on to say, 598 00:31:32,261 --> 00:31:36,021 "Some reported incidents are really only trumped-up excuses 599 00:31:36,101 --> 00:31:37,381 "by girls wishing 600 00:31:37,461 --> 00:31:40,141 "to explain away embarrassing circumstances." 601 00:31:40,221 --> 00:31:41,621 That's truly, truly shocking. 602 00:31:41,701 --> 00:31:44,341 And, get this, women are foolhardy 603 00:31:44,421 --> 00:31:47,501 if they walk along dark lanes at night, unaccompanied. 604 00:31:47,581 --> 00:31:50,661 So, all blaming women and the victims. 605 00:31:50,741 --> 00:31:54,061 I cannot stand that kind of victim blaming approach 606 00:31:54,141 --> 00:31:55,021 to criminology. 607 00:31:55,101 --> 00:31:58,781 -It's awful. -And trivialising the crimes. 608 00:31:58,861 --> 00:32:01,341 If we think about all of that, though, 609 00:32:01,421 --> 00:32:05,741 in relation to Rita's case, you can, in a way, 610 00:32:05,821 --> 00:32:09,181 see these sorts of attitudes playing out. 611 00:32:09,261 --> 00:32:13,661 Rita's life was coldly disposed of by her killer, 612 00:32:13,741 --> 00:32:17,581 all because he wanted sexual gratification. 613 00:32:18,661 --> 00:32:21,181 614 00:32:21,261 --> 00:32:25,221 But the question is, can we unmask Rita's killer 615 00:32:25,301 --> 00:32:28,421 as being the same person who committed the string 616 00:32:28,501 --> 00:32:31,821 of sexual attacks in the local area? 617 00:32:32,261 --> 00:32:34,381 I want to profile these attacks 618 00:32:34,461 --> 00:32:36,861 to see if they are connected to Rita. 619 00:32:36,941 --> 00:32:39,061 So I'm gonna meet a local journalist 620 00:32:39,141 --> 00:32:42,341 to see if he might be able to help me. 621 00:32:43,541 --> 00:32:44,381 Hi. 622 00:32:50,141 --> 00:32:54,381 Sam, there were a number of attacks in the weeks and months 623 00:32:54,461 --> 00:32:56,461 after Rita was murdered 624 00:32:56,541 --> 00:32:58,981 around RAF Halton that have 625 00:32:59,061 --> 00:33:01,501 similar characteristics to each other. 626 00:33:01,581 --> 00:33:04,501 Yes, there's multiple press reports. 627 00:33:04,581 --> 00:33:06,821 And Little Tring, where we're driving to at the moment, 628 00:33:06,901 --> 00:33:08,781 was the second in the sequence of attacks 629 00:33:08,861 --> 00:33:10,221 after Rita's murder, was it? 630 00:33:10,301 --> 00:33:12,821 Janet X, as she was known. 631 00:33:12,901 --> 00:33:17,301 She was a student nurse at West Hertfordshire Hospital 632 00:33:17,381 --> 00:33:21,461 and she was visiting a friend who lived in Little Tring. 633 00:33:21,541 --> 00:33:24,261 How far away is Little Tring from Halton? 634 00:33:24,341 --> 00:33:25,741 It's about four miles. 635 00:33:25,821 --> 00:33:28,021 So this is very close to the camp? 636 00:33:28,101 --> 00:33:29,341 Correct. 637 00:33:29,421 --> 00:33:33,701 And we're just approaching the location now. 638 00:33:48,781 --> 00:33:50,941 So Janet X was walking down this road 639 00:33:51,021 --> 00:33:52,621 when she suddenly become aware 640 00:33:52,701 --> 00:33:54,221 of a man walking in front of her 641 00:33:54,301 --> 00:33:58,541 and he's turned around and asked her for the time. 642 00:33:58,621 --> 00:34:00,541 She immediately recognised that she was in danger 643 00:34:00,621 --> 00:34:04,621 and she started to run, but he's grabbed her. 644 00:34:04,701 --> 00:34:06,461 He's hit her with a cosh 645 00:34:06,541 --> 00:34:08,221 and ultimately dragged her into the field. 646 00:34:08,301 --> 00:34:11,221 Is she unconscious and he's pulling her into the field? 647 00:34:11,301 --> 00:34:13,541 Yeah, she said that she lost consciousness 648 00:34:13,621 --> 00:34:16,541 and he dragged her about 300 yards into the field. 649 00:34:22,101 --> 00:34:23,181 Do we have any indication 650 00:34:23,261 --> 00:34:26,141 about how bad her injuries were? 651 00:34:26,221 --> 00:34:28,101 No, but, I mean, the police described it 652 00:34:28,181 --> 00:34:30,181 as a very brutal attack 653 00:34:30,261 --> 00:34:33,461 and they said that he must've thought she was dead. 654 00:34:35,661 --> 00:34:37,341 Well, there are similarities, aren't there, 655 00:34:37,421 --> 00:34:38,861 to the murder of Rita? 656 00:34:38,941 --> 00:34:41,101 The age of the victims. 657 00:34:41,181 --> 00:34:43,021 What happens to the victims. 658 00:34:43,101 --> 00:34:47,101 This perpetrator clearly left Janet X for dead, 659 00:34:47,181 --> 00:34:50,261 according to what you've told me. 660 00:34:50,661 --> 00:34:52,501 And, of course, the timeline is very interesting. 661 00:34:52,581 --> 00:34:57,221 It's within a matter of a few weeks after the murder of Rita 662 00:34:57,301 --> 00:35:01,541 and it's only four miles away from RAF Halton. 663 00:35:01,621 --> 00:35:04,421 I've also heard from another woman 664 00:35:04,501 --> 00:35:08,261 who was attacked around this time, 665 00:35:09,581 --> 00:35:11,461 and she was pretty convinced 666 00:35:11,541 --> 00:35:16,541 that the person who attacked her had also killed Rita. 667 00:35:20,181 --> 00:35:23,421 Do you know, you're giving me a lot to think about. 668 00:35:23,501 --> 00:35:27,381 Do we know if the victim from here, Janet X, 669 00:35:27,461 --> 00:35:30,261 gave a physical description to the police? 670 00:35:30,341 --> 00:35:31,821 She actually gave a description. 671 00:35:40,501 --> 00:35:44,381 So this is the photo fit from Janet X's description? 672 00:35:44,461 --> 00:35:45,741 Correct. 673 00:35:45,821 --> 00:35:48,021 And this also matches the description 674 00:35:48,101 --> 00:35:52,181 of the man who attacked the girl in Wingrave. 675 00:35:53,101 --> 00:35:57,541 So this might be the face of Rita's killer. 676 00:36:14,061 --> 00:36:16,061 Trilby man. 677 00:36:17,581 --> 00:36:22,141 Let's run through what we know about his MO. 678 00:36:22,221 --> 00:36:24,701 We know he has access to a car. 679 00:36:24,781 --> 00:36:26,941 We know that he knows the local area, 680 00:36:27,021 --> 00:36:30,541 and that he uses a ruse to get girls into the car. 681 00:36:30,621 --> 00:36:32,741 He asks them for the time 682 00:36:32,821 --> 00:36:34,781 or he says that he's got medical supplies. 683 00:36:34,861 --> 00:36:38,541 That, to me, suggests that he has a level of confidence 684 00:36:38,621 --> 00:36:43,061 and he even looks confident, the way he dresses. 685 00:36:43,301 --> 00:36:45,661 And, of course, no one has ever been caught 686 00:36:45,741 --> 00:36:49,181 for these attacks or for Rita's murder. 687 00:36:49,261 --> 00:36:51,741 And, of course, we know that he uses a level of violence 688 00:36:51,821 --> 00:36:55,821 because he used a cosh in the Little Tring rape 689 00:36:55,901 --> 00:36:58,941 and he attempted to throttle Linda. 690 00:37:01,341 --> 00:37:04,221 But I still have a problem here. 691 00:37:04,781 --> 00:37:07,981 If this is a sequence of attacks, 692 00:37:08,061 --> 00:37:10,181 then after Rita's murder, 693 00:37:10,261 --> 00:37:13,421 they've deescalated in their severity, 694 00:37:13,501 --> 00:37:17,381 and, in my experience, that rarely happens. 695 00:37:17,461 --> 00:37:19,661 If you think about what happens to Rita 696 00:37:19,741 --> 00:37:22,581 and then what happens to Linda. 697 00:37:22,661 --> 00:37:26,581 In Linda's assault, after the assault finishes, 698 00:37:26,661 --> 00:37:28,381 he takes her to her home. 699 00:37:28,461 --> 00:37:31,661 Now that's a very different MO 700 00:37:31,741 --> 00:37:34,381 from the one that we've been discussing. 701 00:37:34,461 --> 00:37:38,181 And even in the Little Tring rape, he achieves coitus, 702 00:37:38,261 --> 00:37:40,101 but he doesn't kill that victim. 703 00:37:40,181 --> 00:37:42,181 But he left her for dead, didn't he? 704 00:37:42,261 --> 00:37:44,381 So he thought that he'd killed her. 705 00:37:44,461 --> 00:37:46,101 Yeah, but he's been with a victim 706 00:37:46,181 --> 00:37:48,061 who's actually died, Rita, 707 00:37:48,141 --> 00:37:49,461 and therefore he knows the difference 708 00:37:49,541 --> 00:37:52,861 between killing someone and leaving them for dead. 709 00:37:52,941 --> 00:37:55,581 So I have real problems here. 710 00:37:56,461 --> 00:38:00,261 I'm convinced Trilby man did not kill Rita 711 00:38:00,341 --> 00:38:04,101 because the MOs are just too different. 712 00:38:16,901 --> 00:38:18,461 So frustrating, isn't it, 713 00:38:18,541 --> 00:38:20,381 not being able to pinpoint the name 714 00:38:20,461 --> 00:38:21,261 of viable suspects. 715 00:38:21,341 --> 00:38:23,661 Well, with the passage of time 716 00:38:23,741 --> 00:38:28,181 and such limited avenues of research, we can't. 717 00:38:28,381 --> 00:38:33,101 But what we can do is, using 21st-century technology, 718 00:38:33,181 --> 00:38:37,301 begin to understand how and why she was killed. 719 00:38:50,221 --> 00:38:52,021 We need to look at the murder using 720 00:38:52,101 --> 00:38:54,661 the latest medical technology 721 00:38:54,741 --> 00:38:59,421 to see if that offers any new information on Rita's death. 722 00:38:59,501 --> 00:39:01,621 So I've asked a leading pathologist 723 00:39:01,701 --> 00:39:04,901 and an anatomy lecturer to help us. 724 00:39:05,741 --> 00:39:09,421 Siobhan has set up the digital anatomy table 725 00:39:09,501 --> 00:39:13,501 with all the marks that Simpson describes. 726 00:39:13,581 --> 00:39:16,341 It's absolutely incredible. 727 00:39:18,701 --> 00:39:21,701 This is a real way of piercing through some 728 00:39:21,781 --> 00:39:25,341 of the myth that we've inherited in relation 729 00:39:25,421 --> 00:39:28,781 to what happened to poor Rita. 730 00:39:28,861 --> 00:39:30,341 David, you've had the opportunity, 731 00:39:30,421 --> 00:39:34,981 for the first time in 50 years, to really look at this case 732 00:39:35,061 --> 00:39:37,821 from a pathologist's point of view. 733 00:39:37,901 --> 00:39:39,581 What have you discovered? 734 00:39:42,461 --> 00:39:45,501 The description given by the autopsy report 735 00:39:45,581 --> 00:39:47,261 by Keith Simpson is quite limited, 736 00:39:47,341 --> 00:39:51,261 so I suspect he sanitised it for the jury inquest, 737 00:39:51,341 --> 00:39:53,541 so not all the details are there. 738 00:39:53,621 --> 00:39:56,181 But, I mean, he gave the cause of death 739 00:39:56,261 --> 00:40:00,341 and he specifically talked about the mark around the neck 740 00:40:00,421 --> 00:40:02,381 and he described a ligature mark. 741 00:40:02,461 --> 00:40:04,061 He describes it being at the front of the neck, 742 00:40:04,141 --> 00:40:05,621 so what he's basically saying is 743 00:40:05,701 --> 00:40:10,221 that the strangulation was probably from behind 744 00:40:11,861 --> 00:40:14,261 Your revelation that she's strangled 745 00:40:14,341 --> 00:40:18,861 from behind didn't really emerge at the inquest. 746 00:40:18,941 --> 00:40:21,661 She was strangled from behind. 747 00:40:21,741 --> 00:40:22,541 Yeah. 748 00:40:22,621 --> 00:40:25,381 That's with her own knickers. 749 00:40:26,021 --> 00:40:27,021 The thing that struck me is, 750 00:40:27,101 --> 00:40:29,821 if he had intended to do it, 751 00:40:29,901 --> 00:40:32,461 he might've brought something to use for strangulation 752 00:40:32,541 --> 00:40:35,261 like a rope or use his own belt or a tie, 753 00:40:35,341 --> 00:40:39,141 but it's quite specific, isn't it, to use her knickers? 754 00:40:39,221 --> 00:40:40,541 It's odd. 755 00:40:40,621 --> 00:40:41,741 I mean, it is odd. 756 00:40:41,821 --> 00:40:44,861 It does imply that that her knickers were already off, 757 00:40:44,941 --> 00:40:48,941 unfortunately, before she was strangled. 758 00:40:49,021 --> 00:40:51,021 The pathologist also talks about bruising on the knees, 759 00:40:51,101 --> 00:40:54,021 will, knee bruising is sort of collapsing forwards, 760 00:40:54,101 --> 00:40:56,861 and then bruising on the toes. 761 00:40:56,941 --> 00:40:59,381 Now, toe bruising tends to suggest 762 00:40:59,461 --> 00:41:01,781 that she's probably dug her feet into the ground 763 00:41:01,861 --> 00:41:03,461 while she's being strangled 764 00:41:03,541 --> 00:41:06,741 which would support strangulation from behind. 765 00:41:06,821 --> 00:41:08,701 Because if you're being strangled from the front, 766 00:41:08,781 --> 00:41:10,541 you then get injuries on the back of the heels 767 00:41:10,621 --> 00:41:13,861 'cause they sort of kick on the ground. 768 00:41:13,941 --> 00:41:14,861 And the weird thing is, 769 00:41:14,941 --> 00:41:18,661 there isn't much talk about other injuries. 770 00:41:18,741 --> 00:41:23,381 You've got just one area of bruising on the left arm. 771 00:41:23,461 --> 00:41:26,221 There's no evidence from the pathology, is there, 772 00:41:26,301 --> 00:41:29,501 of a tremendous fight being put up by her? 773 00:41:29,581 --> 00:41:32,621 Not in the pathology given at the inquest, no. 774 00:41:32,701 --> 00:41:35,261 There's no vegetation marks. 775 00:41:35,341 --> 00:41:38,981 Would the vegetation marks be from running away? 776 00:41:39,061 --> 00:41:39,821 Yes. 777 00:41:39,901 --> 00:41:40,621 Yeah, running away through- 778 00:41:40,701 --> 00:41:41,941 And you'd see scratches on her legs or... 779 00:41:42,021 --> 00:41:43,101 Yup. Yup. 780 00:41:43,181 --> 00:41:44,821 I think one of the police officers talks about, 781 00:41:44,901 --> 00:41:47,781 in the inquest, dense undergrowth. 782 00:41:47,861 --> 00:41:49,981 So we assume there's lots of bracken, 783 00:41:50,061 --> 00:41:51,901 lots of sharp bits of vegetation 784 00:41:51,981 --> 00:41:53,421 which would scratch the leg. 785 00:41:53,501 --> 00:41:54,541 So you'd expect to see that. 786 00:41:54,621 --> 00:41:57,821 So it implies that there isn't much of a struggle. 787 00:41:57,901 --> 00:41:59,581 And does it also imply she's likely 788 00:41:59,661 --> 00:42:02,061 to have known her murderer? 789 00:42:02,141 --> 00:42:04,901 That is the implication, yes. 790 00:42:07,141 --> 00:42:11,101 This fact that's revealed that she's virgo intacta, 791 00:42:11,181 --> 00:42:14,341 can we take that as read 792 00:42:14,421 --> 00:42:17,181 that she was still a virgin when she died? 793 00:42:17,261 --> 00:42:18,061 I don't think we can. 794 00:42:18,141 --> 00:42:21,181 I think there might be a degree of massaging the evidence 795 00:42:21,261 --> 00:42:24,021 for the family at the inquest. 796 00:42:25,541 --> 00:42:28,741 One of the problems is you can actually have penetrative sex 797 00:42:28,821 --> 00:42:31,261 and not actually tear the hymen. 798 00:42:31,341 --> 00:42:32,421 It said in the inquest 799 00:42:32,501 --> 00:42:35,861 that she was a very quiet, unassuming individual. 800 00:42:35,941 --> 00:42:37,941 Maybe she went along with it 801 00:42:38,021 --> 00:42:41,341 because she was a timid individual. 802 00:42:42,181 --> 00:42:44,701 The knickers being off and her being strangled 803 00:42:44,781 --> 00:42:49,781 with her own knickers implies that it was going too far, 804 00:42:50,261 --> 00:42:52,101 is how I've seen things. 805 00:42:52,181 --> 00:42:53,901 This isn't what I was expecting. 806 00:42:53,981 --> 00:42:55,701 It's now going too far. 807 00:42:55,781 --> 00:42:56,621 I'm leaving. 808 00:42:56,701 --> 00:42:58,061 It implies a degree of consent 809 00:42:58,141 --> 00:43:00,661 at the start of the process. 810 00:43:01,661 --> 00:43:05,861 I get the impression of this being a young man, 811 00:43:06,061 --> 00:43:09,661 inexperienced, didn't set out 812 00:43:09,741 --> 00:43:11,621 to do what he eventually did, 813 00:43:11,701 --> 00:43:15,821 which is why he's having to use Rita's own underwear 814 00:43:15,901 --> 00:43:17,261 to strangle her. 815 00:43:17,341 --> 00:43:18,821 And I certainly didn't get the impression 816 00:43:18,901 --> 00:43:21,021 that we're dealing with a putative serial killer. 817 00:43:21,101 --> 00:43:23,381 I didn't get the impression that this is the, you know, 818 00:43:23,461 --> 00:43:26,101 this is somebody who is a psychopath, 819 00:43:26,181 --> 00:43:27,341 which is, I believe the word- 820 00:43:27,421 --> 00:43:28,461 What that the coroner said, yeah. 821 00:43:28,541 --> 00:43:30,341 That the coroner used. 822 00:43:30,421 --> 00:43:31,701 I just get the impression 823 00:43:31,781 --> 00:43:36,781 of a dreadful five minutes of madness. 824 00:43:48,061 --> 00:43:52,061 What emerges is a very different profile of the perpetrator 825 00:43:52,141 --> 00:43:56,581 from some of the things that have previously been suggested. 826 00:43:56,661 --> 00:43:58,661 It becomes obvious now, doesn't it, 827 00:43:58,741 --> 00:44:02,221 that Rita knew the person who killed her? 828 00:44:10,381 --> 00:44:12,181 In my life as a criminologist, 829 00:44:12,261 --> 00:44:13,421 because there's a body 830 00:44:13,501 --> 00:44:15,541 because there's a DNA profile, 831 00:44:15,621 --> 00:44:17,101 that would normally be game over. 832 00:44:17,181 --> 00:44:19,261 We'd catch the person. 833 00:44:19,701 --> 00:44:21,981 This is much more complex. 834 00:44:37,861 --> 00:44:39,541 We're back at Rowborough Copse 835 00:44:39,621 --> 00:44:41,021 where Rita's body was found 836 00:44:41,101 --> 00:44:44,181 and where we began this investigation. 837 00:44:44,261 --> 00:44:48,301 53 years ago, the inquest said that Rita was murdered 838 00:44:48,381 --> 00:44:50,061 by persons unknown. 839 00:44:50,141 --> 00:44:51,821 Are we any further forwards? 840 00:44:51,901 --> 00:44:54,301 Have we taken our civilian investigation 841 00:44:54,381 --> 00:44:56,661 as far as we can, do you think? 842 00:44:56,741 --> 00:45:00,541 Yeah, and I think we've made a little progress. 843 00:45:00,621 --> 00:45:03,421 We can now establish a motive 844 00:45:03,501 --> 00:45:06,941 that Rita was killed after a sexual encounter 845 00:45:07,021 --> 00:45:09,141 that went horribly wrong. 846 00:45:09,221 --> 00:45:11,661 And we can say that, in all probability, 847 00:45:11,741 --> 00:45:14,541 she knew the person who killed her. 848 00:45:14,621 --> 00:45:18,101 Seven out of 10 women who are murdered 849 00:45:18,181 --> 00:45:21,021 are murdered by someone that they know. 850 00:45:21,101 --> 00:45:24,381 And when it comes to narrowing down suspects, 851 00:45:24,461 --> 00:45:28,461 I think we're back to looking at someone who did this coming 852 00:45:28,541 --> 00:45:33,501 from the camp and that Rita knew who it was that killed her 853 00:45:34,421 --> 00:45:37,781 and that culprit has never been caught. 854 00:45:37,861 --> 00:45:39,501 But everyone that knew Rita says 855 00:45:39,581 --> 00:45:42,261 that she was an unassuming and trusting person. 856 00:45:42,341 --> 00:45:46,341 So we just don't know what she submitted herself to. 857 00:45:46,421 --> 00:45:48,821 She may have been scared or coerced, 858 00:45:48,901 --> 00:45:51,581 and this was the 60s and women were expected 859 00:45:51,661 --> 00:45:52,781 to be more compliant. 860 00:45:52,861 --> 00:45:55,421 They didn't have the voice that they do now. 861 00:45:55,501 --> 00:45:58,301 And for that, it seems that, sadly, 862 00:45:58,381 --> 00:46:01,021 Rita paid the ultimate price 863 00:46:01,781 --> 00:46:05,981 In relation to solving who killed Rita Ellis, 864 00:46:06,621 --> 00:46:10,141 that's a mystery that still eludes us. 865 00:46:11,541 --> 00:46:16,541