00:00:04
[dramatic music]
00:00:07
- When a murder's committed,
it's always a race against time
00:00:10
to find the truth, to
separate fact from fiction,
00:00:14
to catch the killer and to make
sure that justice is served.
00:00:20
But what happens when the
truth vanishes with the victim?
00:00:24
I'm Dr. Richard Shepherd
00:00:26
and I've spent my entire career
as a forensic pathologist
00:00:29
performing nearly
23,000 autopsies.
00:00:35
I've learned that the
dead don't hide the truth
00:00:38
and they never lie.
00:00:40
Through me, you'll be hearing
directly from the victim
00:00:45
with the aid of a
state-of-the-art laboratory
00:00:47
using groundbreaking technology,
00:00:50
I'll be investigating a
series of intriguing crimes
00:00:54
where, from the victim's
bodies, I'll revealed to you
00:00:57
the truth behind these murders.
00:01:00
[photos snapping]
00:01:02
[soft music]
00:01:09
[phone dialing and ringing]
00:01:12
- [Dispatcher] Good
morning Dorset police.
00:01:17
- On 17th of June, 2013,
00:01:20
Dorset police pay a welfare
visit to a flat in Bournemouth.
00:01:24
It's the home of taxi
driver William Spiller,
00:01:26
who hasn't been
seen for some time.
00:01:29
And there they make
a gruesome discovery.
00:01:32
[beeping]
00:01:38
[phone dialing and ringing]
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- Dorset police receive
a phone call from a woman
00:01:43
who says she's concerned.
00:01:46
She's had no contact with her
boyfriend for some weeks, now.
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The problem the police
have in relation
00:01:53
to a phone call
like that is that
00:01:57
they're both adults,
they're both grownups.
00:02:00
These are not uncommon
things to happen.
00:02:03
If as an adult you don't
want to contact somebody
00:02:05
or call them, then you're
perfectly entitled to do that.
00:02:09
It's a very difficult situation
00:02:12
for the police to deal with.
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[dramatic music]
00:02:17
- William's girlfriend
hadn't heard from him
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for quite a while,
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and obviously she was worried,
something didn't seem right,
00:02:24
and the neighbors
also alerted them.
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They're reporting
there are flies,
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dead flies, flies everywhere.
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Swarming and a smell.
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The police or a social
services type of organization
00:02:38
must go and look 'cause you
know there are welfare concerns.
00:02:43
- The woman had
been receiving texts
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and messages via the phone
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but had never actually
spoken to the boyfriend.
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And that was unusual.
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And at that point, I think
Dorset police were quite right
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to decide that they would go
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and check on the
person's welfare,
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which is basically you
go knock on the door
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and say, are you okay?
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[police knocking]
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They enter the block of flats
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and as they approach
the front door,
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they're aware of an
odor, a musty smell.
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They force entry into the flat.
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[door clicking]
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- The smell was coming
from the bedroom
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and there discovered this
absolutely horrific scene.
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- Any experienced
officer will tell you,
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once you've witnessed that
odor of decomposition,
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you will never forget it.
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There's a TV in the bedroom
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and the TV is on
a makeshift table
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made of four plastic boxes.
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And it's obvious to them
because of the infestation
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and the smell that they
contained remains of some sort.
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- When the police smelt this
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and saw all the flies
around these plastic boxes,
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which are clear, so they
would've seen these body parts.
00:04:13
- A further search
is made of the flat
00:04:17
and in a filing cabinet,
they find a box.
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When they open up that box
to see what the content is,
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their worst fears are realized.
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They discover it's a human head,
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an absolutely horrific
find for the officers
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that go there initially
to find human remains
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that have been dismembered.
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[drawer rumbling]
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- It must have been so
traumatic for the police
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to deal with in
that investigation.
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- Imagine that the
forensic scientists
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or the detectives that came on
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after would've
been very surprised
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by the head in the
filing cabinet.
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So this particularly grizzly
murder would've certainly
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affected, you know, some of
the police in terms of trauma
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that they may have
suffered afterwards
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from dealing with the case.
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- At this point, the
officers withdraw,
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the flat is cordoned off,
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and obviously detective
branch is informed
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and a homicide
investigation is commenced.
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- [Richard] It was
immediately clear
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from the way the body
parts have been stored
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that this was not typical
of a murder scene.
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- It would be unusual for
the police to find something
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so ordered and
something so obvious.
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I mean, usually, if someone
is dismembering a body,
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it's to conceal it not to
use it as a table for the TV.
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So the police would've been
very confused about why
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has this person gone
to so much time to
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put a body in boxes
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and then just to leave it
there for it to discovered.
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So in this case, this
isn't about concealment,
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this is about order.
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[tense music]
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- The evidential trail
starts right away.
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This is actually a very
complex crime scene.
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Even down to some of the things
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that perhaps might
not be obvious.
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Do all the body parts belong
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to the same body
is the first thing,
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or are we looking
for other victims?
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[dramatic music]
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- As a pathologist,
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when I'm faced with
multiple body parts,
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the first thing I must do
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is make sure they all
belong to the same person.
00:06:45
We could possibly be dealing
with a serial killer,
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but in this case, there
is a torso, a head, arms,
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and legs, all neatly
severed through the joints
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and stacked in plastic boxes.
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They did all fit together
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and DNA testing confirmed
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they all belonged
to the same person.
00:07:07
This was the body of a
white man in his 40s,
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who was large, he was
around 20 plus stone
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and the cuts who the
bone were not those
00:07:16
of an expert which suggested
he'd been dismembered
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using some kind of saw.
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Certainly the cuts
weren't smooth
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or made with surgical
tools, but who was it?
00:07:30
- One of the most important
things in a situation like this,
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you have to identify the victim,
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that is of paramount importance.
00:07:41
- The dismembered body was
in such a state of decay.
00:07:44
There was very little left
to identify the remains,
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but what we did
have was his teeth.
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The inner soft tissue of the
tooth is covered by a layer
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of enamel, which is a
very, very hard substance,
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capable of withstanding
incredibly high temperatures,
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and can sometimes last for
hundreds of years after death.
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Comparing the teeth with
dental records confirmed
00:08:09
that this was 48-year-old
taxi driver William Spiller.
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- William was known
locally as a gentle giant.
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He's a fun-loving, humorous man
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that was known to
a lot of people.
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William was in a
long-term relationship
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with a woman called Glenys.
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It was her that had called
the police initially.
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- William was a taxi driver.
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He seemed very popular where
he lived down in Bournemouth.
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He was also a doorman at one
time. He loved playing snooker.
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He did all this sort
of usual things.
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He had a caravan at the
beach and he'd go down there
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and he was also a father.
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[dramatic music]
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- [Richard] William
had a 27-year-old
son, Nathan Robinson,
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who spent his childhood
growing up in the Midlands
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with his mother before
moving to Bournemouth
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to be with his dad.
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- Nathan studied at
Aberystwyth University.
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He has a degree in mathematics
00:09:09
and at one point he
was considering doing
a master's degree.
00:09:14
- Nathan had just
finished a degree,
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graduated from Aberystwyth,
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with he'd gone and lived
down in Bournemouth.
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He didn't actually have
a job at that time,
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but the two were
living together.
00:09:28
- It was fairly obvious
when William was found
00:09:30
that nobody had been in
the flat for some time.
00:09:33
However, Nathan had lived
with William for some years.
00:09:37
So where is Nathan now?
00:09:41
Nathan falls into two camps.
00:09:43
He's either in the suspect
camp or the victims.
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He could be either
at this point.
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If Nathan is a
suspect or a victim,
00:09:53
what's imperative, regardless
of which camp he's in,
00:09:58
we need to find him as
a matter of urgency.
00:10:00
[dramatic music]
00:10:07
[dramatic music]
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- In a quiet cul-de-sac
in Bournemouth,
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police have launched
a murder investigation
00:10:20
after finding the
dismembered body
00:10:22
of taxi driver William Spiller
00:10:23
neatly packed in storage boxes.
00:10:26
[dramatic music]
00:10:32
There was a torso, a
head, arms, and legs,
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all neatly severed
through the joints
00:10:39
and stacked in plastic boxes.
00:10:41
The dismembered body was
in such a state of decay,
00:10:44
there was very little left
to identify the remains,
00:10:48
but dental records confirmed
00:10:51
this was 48-year-old
William Spiller.
00:10:55
William shared his flat
with his 26-year-old son,
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Nathan Robinson.
00:11:00
- Nathan's not there.
00:11:03
From the investigative
perspective, why
is he not there?
00:11:07
Nathan now has a foot in
two potential boxes here.
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He's either a suspect,
he could be a victim.
00:11:16
We need to find out
which one he's in.
00:11:20
- Police launched a countrywide
search for William's son.
00:11:27
William's body was dismembered
and badly decomposed.
00:11:31
But could it still
tell us something about
00:11:33
what had happened to him in
those moments before he died,
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he was found to have
a number of stab
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and slash wounds
all over his body.
00:11:42
If we look at the torso,
we can see the spine
00:11:44
and the ribs that protect
the vital internal organs.
00:11:50
But if we look at just the
soft tissue of the torso,
00:11:53
we can see that the
wounds are superficial.
00:11:55
They cut through the skin
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and the underlying muscle only,
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they go nowhere near
penetrating through the ribs
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and into the vital organs.
00:12:05
And that's really important
00:12:07
because it tells us that
the weapon that used
00:12:09
to cause these injuries is very
sharp but also very shallow.
00:12:13
[dramatic music]
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- During the search of the flat,
00:12:18
police seized a Stanley
knife, a box cutter,
00:12:23
a saw, and a hacksaw
00:12:27
- While the Stanley knife
was the likely weapon used
00:12:30
to inflict soft tissue
wounds on William,
00:12:32
these injuries
alone weren't enough
00:12:34
to have caused William's death,
00:12:37
but there was something
else his body told us
00:12:40
about this brutal attack.
00:12:44
Often at a post-mortem,
it's not what you see,
00:12:47
but what you don't see
that can become important.
00:12:51
And as you look
at William's arms,
00:12:52
I can see there are no slash
wounds to his lower arms
00:12:56
and wounds like that are caused.
00:12:58
When someone raises their
hand to defend themselves,
00:13:01
they're called
defensive injuries,
00:13:03
and the lack of those
defensive injuries in this case
00:13:06
suggests to me that
this was a sudden attack
00:13:09
and that William was
taken by surprise.
00:13:11
[dramatic music]
00:13:17
- So there's no defensive
wounds on the body
00:13:20
and you're talking about
a man as big as William
00:13:24
who is 20 stone and 6'4.
00:13:26
So what you're looking at
here is a surprise attack
00:13:30
or an attack by somebody
actually trusted,
00:13:35
and there was no time, obviously
00:13:37
for William to defend himself.
00:13:40
- When the police
attend any homicide
00:13:42
in a domestic environment,
00:13:45
one of their suspicions is
an immediate family member
00:13:48
because unfortunately
40% of all homicides
00:13:52
actually are domestic homicides
in the home by relatives.
00:13:56
It's actually more
common than you think
00:13:58
and people are more
at risk sometimes
00:14:01
from people they
know than strangers.
00:14:04
And so therefore the police
would first investigate
00:14:08
the immediate family
members for a motive,
00:14:12
for potential harm
to each other,
00:14:15
and they would suspect
that a domestic argument
00:14:18
that had gone too
far, et cetera.
00:14:20
However, they would've
been shocked by the fact
00:14:22
that this body had
been dismembered, and
ordered into boxes,
00:14:29
and left there in the apartment
in such an ordered way
00:14:31
because that sort of approach
00:14:33
to a body is very unusual
00:14:35
in a family murder
or domestic murder.
00:14:38
- [Richard] The police
investigation continued
00:14:40
to focus on Nathan Robinson,
00:14:43
and detectives began
to build a picture
00:14:45
of his relationship
with his father.
00:14:49
- When the police were
searching the flat
00:14:51
looking for evidence,
one of the things
00:14:54
they found was an IOU note
from Nathan to William,
00:15:01
for an absolutely staggering
sum, 36,000 pounds.
00:15:08
That is just unbelievable.
00:15:13
Nathan doesn't have a job
00:15:15
and William is
effectively funding
00:15:18
Nathan's lifestyle.
00:15:20
[dramatic music]
00:15:22
- There seemed to be an
issue of money between them.
00:15:26
Nathan, he was certainly seeing
in his father a cash cow.
00:15:32
He owed his father
a lot of money
00:15:33
and if he needed anything,
he would go to his father.
00:15:36
He didn't actually have a job,
00:15:38
although he did
have a good degree.
00:15:40
He seemed to depend on
his father for money
00:15:43
and the relationship seemed
pretty heavily biased that way.
00:15:50
- There were obviously problems
within the relationship
00:15:53
and a lot of this
stems about money.
00:15:56
William lent Nathan some money
00:15:59
so that he could go on
holiday to Thailand.
00:16:02
The understanding was that
that money will be paid back
00:16:05
to William, but
that never happened.
00:16:08
And the problem arose
00:16:10
because William now
didn't have that money.
00:16:13
He was unable to pay the
insurance for his taxi.
00:16:18
It's his livelihood. That's
how he makes his living.
00:16:21
[soft music]
00:16:23
- Nathan wasn't in education,
00:16:25
so the father's
expectation would be
00:16:28
that he should support himself
through being employed.
00:16:31
And of course there would've
been a disappointment
00:16:35
for the father if
that didn't happen.
00:16:37
So that would've
created conflict.
00:16:40
- [Richard] Police
inquiries with friends
00:16:42
and family revealed
that Nathan, his father,
00:16:45
repeatedly clashed over money.
00:16:47
- Do you expect me
to subsidize you
00:16:49
for the rest of your life?
00:16:51
Was one of the remarks that
was heard by a neighbor
00:16:54
during one of their arguments.
00:16:57
- Money can be a source
00:16:59
of conflict in a
relationship within a family.
00:17:01
It certainly can be.
00:17:03
There was a conflict
between them about money
00:17:06
and that seemed to
escalate over time.
00:17:10
- [Richard] As work continued
on tracking Nathan down,
00:17:14
detectives needed to
establish a timeline of events
00:17:17
around William's death.
00:17:20
- The time when that person
might have died is paramount
00:17:24
because it will direct
your investigation.
00:17:29
It will also give you a window
of when that person died.
00:17:33
You get that, you know where
to start your inquiries
00:17:38
- [Richard] Pinpointing
an exact time of death
00:17:41
was difficult, but
the hatched flies
00:17:43
and state of decay
suggested William's body
00:17:46
had been in the flat
for around four weeks.
00:17:50
- There was confirmation from
Glenys about contact she had
00:17:54
and contact she then
didn't have with a victim.
00:17:58
And that period of
time is narrowed down
00:18:02
as to when it's highly likely,
00:18:05
most likely, that
William was killed.
00:18:07
- [Richard] A phone call from
her neighbor corroborated
00:18:10
this timeframe.
00:18:11
[phone dialing and ringing]
00:18:14
- [Dispatcher] Good
morning, Dorset Police.
00:18:16
- [Richard] The
neighbor went on to say
00:18:17
he'd heard a commotion
and William calling out
00:18:20
to phone for an ambulance on
the night of the 16th of May.
00:18:24
[dramatic music]
00:18:30
With a rough time of death,
00:18:32
the investigation
could pick up speed
00:18:34
and hone in on a
potential suspect.
00:18:37
- Part of the
investigative process,
00:18:39
the victim is
gonna be lifestyle.
00:18:43
Where do they work?
What hours do they work?
00:18:45
Who are their friends?
Where do they frequent?
00:18:47
Where might they be expected
to be at any particular time?
00:18:51
'Cause that's where
the paths of our victim
00:18:53
and our suspect or suspects
may well have crossed.
00:18:56
There's a huge
amount of work to do.
00:18:59
We all leave a pattern
wherever we go.
00:19:02
Going into places,
in buying things,
00:19:06
you're using cards, credit
cards, debit cards, even cash.
00:19:12
One of the main investigative
strands these days,
00:19:14
closed circuit TV,
00:19:19
hundreds of hours of CCTV
is seized and looked at.
00:19:26
On that CCTV, we see Nathan.
00:19:30
Nathan is at the
railway station.
00:19:33
Nathan is seen buying a
ticket to travel to Scotland.
00:19:37
[train rumbling]
00:19:42
[dramatic music]
00:19:44
- [Richard] This trip
to Glasgow in Scotland
00:19:46
happened on the 17th of May.
00:19:48
The day after a
neighbor reported a
00:19:50
commotion at William's flat.
00:19:53
It made Nathan
the prime suspect,
00:19:58
but with no criminal record,
00:20:00
lots of friends, and
no concrete evidence,
00:20:03
he seemed an unlikely murderer.
00:20:05
Police continued to investigate.
00:20:09
- Now that we know
where Nathan has gone,
00:20:11
crucial evidence is being
gathered in Scotland.
00:20:14
We need to know his
movements, where he's been,
00:20:17
who he's seen, and what he's
actually doing in Scotland.
00:20:20
[beeping]
00:20:23
His friends said that he
was being extravagant,
00:20:25
he was buying the meals, he was
staying in expensive hotels.
00:20:29
- He treats his friends,
he's buying drinks.
00:20:31
He's buying food.
00:20:32
You see this large ask, you see
00:20:35
he's trying to
impress his friends.
00:20:37
He has a definite sense
of, in my opinion,
00:20:40
a definite sense of
entitlement about him.
00:20:43
He feels this is his right.
He's there showing off.
00:20:49
- Question is, where
does this money come?
00:20:52
- But we know that he
doesn't have any money,
00:20:54
he doesn't have a job,
00:20:55
and his father didn't want
to give him any more money.
00:20:58
You can only assume that he's
taken his father's money.
00:21:03
- After leaving Scotland,
Nathan's spending
spree continues.
00:21:06
He goes to see his mother.
00:21:07
He takes her on an expensive
spa weekend in a hotel.
00:21:11
- When he goes
down to Birmingham
00:21:14
when he takes his mother
out again, look at me.
00:21:17
I'm the business.
00:21:18
He's the center of his
world, totally egocentric,
00:21:22
but he wants admiration,
00:21:24
which you always
see in narcissists.
00:21:27
- In the four weeks since
leaving Bournemouth,
00:21:29
Nathan had spent
over 8,000 pounds.
00:21:32
[glasses clinking]
00:21:35
- [Richard] So did Nathan
murder his father for money?
00:21:38
- He used his father's
money to an extreme,
00:21:41
spending a lot of
money in a weekend,
00:21:44
that may tell me that he was
half expecting to be caught,
00:21:48
and he was having a big
splash before he got caught.
00:21:53
- Police eventually
track Nathan down
00:21:55
and they arrested
him on suspicion
00:21:57
of being involved in
the murder of William.
00:22:01
His remark when he is
arrested is, is this a joke?
00:22:05
[dramatic music]
00:22:14
[dramatic music]
00:22:21
- After William Spiller's
body was discovered,
00:22:23
carefully dismembered
00:22:25
and neatly packed
in storage boxes,
00:22:27
police arrested
their prime suspect,
00:22:30
his 26-year-old son,
Nathan Robinson.
00:22:33
William's body had been
slashed with a knife,
00:22:37
but there were no
defensive wounds
00:22:39
suggesting a surprise attack
by someone in the home.
00:22:43
Shortly after the murder,
00:22:45
Nathan had gone on a
spending spree in Scotland
00:22:48
and Birmingham with
his father's money.
00:22:52
- Well, it seemed that
after he'd cleaned up
00:22:54
and he'd ordered the flat
in the way that he did,
00:22:58
that he couldn't remain there.
00:23:00
He needed to leave the flat
00:23:02
and go away to Scotland,
to Glasgow to see friends.
00:23:06
And so obviously the
environment of his
00:23:09
father being there
was impacting on him
00:23:12
that he couldn't stay
there the weekend.
00:23:16
- Police eventually
tracked Nathan down
00:23:18
and they arrest him on suspicion
00:23:20
of being involved in
the murder of William.
00:23:22
[handcuffs clicking]
00:23:25
His remark when he is
arrested is, is this a joke?
00:23:29
It's a strange response for
somebody that's been arrested
00:23:32
for such a serious offense.
00:23:35
I've experienced silence,
I've experienced anger,
00:23:39
I've experienced confusion,
00:23:42
but that response is strange.
00:23:46
I think it's the response
of somebody in denial
00:23:51
and certainly is going to
be denying any involvement.
00:23:56
And what they now
want to know is
00:24:01
how much do the police know?
00:24:03
In other words, how much
evidence have you got
00:24:06
that I'm involved in this?
00:24:08
[dramatic music]
00:24:10
- This is classical
of narcissism.
00:24:13
They don't expect to get
caught. They're very arrogant.
00:24:17
No way is this
anything to do with me.
00:24:20
It's very casual denial.
00:24:23
[dramatic music]
00:24:26
- He wants to elicit a response
from the arresting officers.
00:24:30
He wants them to
carry on talking.
00:24:34
He wants them to say something
back, even if it's just,
00:24:40
no, it's not a joke, mate.
00:24:41
He's now entered a conversation
that he has started.
00:24:44
That's the start of
him trying to control.
00:24:49
- Nathan claimed he was
innocent of his father's murder,
00:24:52
but William's body would
reveal more answers
00:24:54
about what happened the
night he was killed.
00:24:58
It's the job of the forensic
pathologist to determine
00:25:01
what was the fatal injury.
00:25:03
There were knife wounds
all over William's body,
00:25:06
but critically there were
also injuries to his neck.
00:25:10
The neck is where there are
some major blood vessels
00:25:13
and you can see
them here in red,
00:25:14
there's the carotid artery,
00:25:16
which carries blood from
the heart up to the brain,
00:25:18
and the jugular veins which
carry blood back to the heart.
00:25:23
Some of these blood
vessels are protected
00:25:25
beneath this big
muscle of the neck,
00:25:27
the sterner mastoid muscle.
00:25:29
But there's one
blood vessel here,
00:25:31
one branch of the jugular vein
00:25:32
that sits on top of this muscle.
00:25:36
And if it's cut, it's going
to bleed torrentially,
00:25:39
and is likely to cause
death very quickly,
00:25:42
without immediate
medical assistance.
00:25:45
William Spiller's neck
was severed in this place.
00:25:49
An injury that
would have produced
00:25:51
a considerable amount of blood.
00:25:54
Cutting up the body would
create even more blood.
00:25:57
But when police first
discovered William,
00:26:00
the flat didn't look
like a crime scene.
00:26:03
- One of the things
that was noticed was
00:26:05
that the flat was very clean.
00:26:06
In other words, if somebody
is dismembered at that flat,
00:26:11
you would expect there
to be blood staining,
00:26:14
blood spattering, a
whole array of things.
00:26:16
If you dismember somebody,
00:26:18
it's very difficult to
clean up afterwards.
00:26:21
Takes quite a considerable
amount of effort.
00:26:25
One of the things that the
police discovered afterwards
00:26:28
was that the neighbor
had complained to Nathan
00:26:32
that he had a pink liquid
00:26:34
coming down the wall
in his bathroom.
00:26:39
- The neighbor came upstairs
to inquire what that was,
00:26:45
to report it to him,
00:26:46
and he immediately
covered for that.
00:26:49
The neighbor said he was very
cool, calm, and collected.
00:26:51
- [Richard] Nathan claimed
he had spilled red wine.
00:26:54
- Nathan didn't bat an eyelid
00:26:58
and was absolutely
normal in explaining why
00:27:01
that was happening
to the neighbor.
00:27:04
- It was a pink fluid,
00:27:06
was probably a mixture
of bleach and blood.
00:27:08
[dramatic music]
00:27:14
- [Richard] Armed
with this information,
00:27:16
detectives homed in on the CCTV
00:27:19
that captured Nathan's movements
00:27:21
around the time of the murder.
00:27:23
- He goes out and he buys
steam cleaning equipment.
00:27:26
He actually buys
two steam cleaners.
00:27:31
- There's a lot of
evidence to indicate
00:27:33
that Nathan is in fact
the killer of his father.
00:27:37
- [Richard] And a
forensic sweep of the flat
00:27:39
revealed critical evidence
00:27:41
that the killer hoped
to have washed away.
00:27:46
- Just because
you clean up blood
00:27:49
doesn't mean to say
it's not still there.
00:27:51
So it might look
clean, but it's not.
00:27:55
From the investigative
process of using a liquid,
00:27:59
be it bleach, be it soapy water
00:28:01
to try and get rid
of blood stains.
00:28:03
What you're actually
doing is spreading it.
00:28:06
That stain that was
six inches around,
00:28:10
when you dilute it
now becomes 12 inches,
00:28:13
14 inches, 24 inches.
00:28:16
And what you're actually
doing is moving the blood
00:28:19
into the cracks and the crevices
00:28:22
where you may not
be able to see it,
00:28:25
but forensically we can find it.
00:28:28
[dramatic music]
00:28:30
- Cuing up a body, especially
in a domestic environment
00:28:34
rather than the
clinical environment,
00:28:35
will make a lot of mess.
00:28:37
The systematically go
through and clean that up.
00:28:39
It shows a level of not
thinking about what has happened
00:28:43
and just getting on with the job
00:28:45
and thinking about it as a task,
00:28:48
cleaning task rather
than what it represents.
00:28:51
This was just something
that had to be cleaned up
00:28:54
and ordered, which he did
meticulously and very carefully.
00:28:58
So obviously this, to him,
00:29:02
was just a task that
needed to be done.
00:29:06
- So he was completely in
control of what he was doing.
00:29:09
You know, there was no sort
of lost touch with reality.
00:29:12
He knew what he'd done, knew
what he was going to do,
00:29:15
he was going to try
and cover for himself
00:29:18
to get away with this murder.
00:29:22
- [Richard] Nathan also spun
a web of lies to make it look
00:29:24
as if his father
was still alive.
00:29:27
- After William's death,
00:29:29
Nathan goes to a
huge amount of effort
00:29:31
to cover up the
fact that he's dead.
00:29:35
- So he didn't want
that murder discovered.
00:29:38
He had the foresight
to make sure
00:29:40
that nobody would be
calling around for a while.
00:29:44
[dramatic music]
00:29:47
[notification chiming]
00:29:50
- He pays the rent for the
flat a month in advance
00:29:53
so nobody's gonna come
knocking on the door.
00:29:56
He actually used his
father's phone to communicate
00:29:59
with William's
girlfriend Glenys,
00:30:00
to convince her that
he's still alive.
00:30:04
- She'd had some text messages
00:30:06
and those that she'd had,
she didn't actually think
00:30:10
sounded quite right
00:30:11
because she knew that William
would be in touch with her.
00:30:16
- He sends messages
saying that William's gone
00:30:18
to the Midlands because
one of his friends is dying
00:30:21
and he wants to be with him.
00:30:22
You know, a terribly
cruel thing to do.
00:30:27
- [Richard] And when Glenys
first tried to report
00:30:29
William missing to the
police, Nathan called them
00:30:32
with his own version of events.
00:30:58
- He's actually
explaining away why
00:31:01
his father is not being seen
00:31:04
and all the time he knows
exactly where his father is.
00:31:09
Just a cold, callous,
calculating thing to do.
00:31:17
I think that Nathan is
looking for excuses.
00:31:24
He knows the evidence that's
against him gets overwhelming
00:31:28
and he's trying
every single avenue
00:31:31
to get out of it.
00:31:34
- But he'd reached
the end of the road.
00:31:36
[dramatic music]
00:31:38
On the 18th of June, 2013,
Nathan Robinson was arrested
00:31:42
and later charged with the
murder of his father, William,
00:31:46
the unlawful disposal of
human remains, and theft.
00:31:51
- What we understand
by patricide,
00:31:54
when a son or daughter
kills a parent
00:31:58
is that the relationship between
00:32:00
the son and the
father is detached
00:32:05
and possible hatred
between each other.
00:32:08
There must been level
of conflict in the past
00:32:12
and indeed what we
found in this case,
00:32:15
that it was so extreme that he
committed murder, patricide.
00:32:20
- There is a link and
a bond that we all have
00:32:23
with our family, which is close,
00:32:25
and the breaking of that bond
00:32:28
almost feels like sacrilege.
00:32:31
- Nathan was a very
cold, calculated killer
00:32:35
and he certainly never
expected to get caught.
00:32:37
[dramatic music]
00:32:41
- The evidence
that's against him,
00:32:42
to be quite frank,
it's overwhelming.
00:32:44
[dramatic music]
00:32:46
- [Richard] The police were
confident they had their man.
00:32:48
But in court, Nathan
Robinson denied murder
00:32:51
on the grounds of
diminished responsibility.
00:32:54
[dramatic music]
00:32:57
- And what that means is
that he's saying to the court
00:33:01
and wanted to prove to the court
00:33:03
he actually didn't know what
he was doing at the time
00:33:06
because he had no
mental faculties
00:33:09
that enabled him to know
what he was doing at all.
00:33:14
[knife clicking]
00:33:15
- [Richard] But was there
a reason why he did it?
00:33:19
- During the court case,
00:33:20
Nathan makes an absolutely
explosive claim.
00:33:25
He'd forgotten about it and
suddenly it came back to him.
00:33:29
[dramatic music]
00:33:34
[dramatic music]
00:33:39
[beeping]
00:33:42
- When police officers carried
out a welfare check on a
00:33:45
Bournemouth flat, they
discovered the dismembered body
00:33:48
of taxi driver William Spiller
stored in plastic containers.
00:33:54
The postmortem showed that
wounds across William's body
00:33:57
were inflicted by
a Stanley knife,
00:34:00
also found at the flat.
00:34:02
William's son, Nathan
was the only other person
00:34:05
living at the flat.
00:34:06
Around the time of the murder,
00:34:08
neighbors had
reported a commotion.
00:34:10
Nathan was spotted on CCTV
buying cleaning products,
00:34:15
and then went on a spending
spree with his father's money.
00:34:18
After a nationwide search,
00:34:21
police arrested
William's son, Nathan,
00:34:24
and charged him with murder.
00:34:25
[dramatic music]
00:34:33
- He eventually goes to court
and he pleads not guilty.
00:34:35
As part of that not guilty plea,
00:34:38
he's offering up a defense,
a defense that is known
00:34:41
as diminished responsibility.
00:34:43
[dramatic music]
00:34:45
If you're found guilty with
diminished responsibility,
00:34:48
you cannot be given a
whole life sentence.
00:34:51
You will be sentenced to a much
lesser term of imprisonment.
00:34:56
- There's an element of
sadism almost in this
00:35:00
because he's making
William's girlfriend
00:35:03
and the family of his father
00:35:06
go through the horrific
details of the crime.
00:35:09
If he'd have pleaded guilty,
none of that would've happened,
00:35:12
but now he's got the
best of both worlds.
00:35:14
He's trying for that,
he's trying to get
a reduced sentence,
00:35:17
and he's enjoying the details
of his crime coming out
00:35:21
and it's a kind of
celebrity notoriety
00:35:25
that you get from that as well.
00:35:27
So I think that would
have appealed to him
00:35:29
because I do think
he wants attention.
00:35:33
- As part of Nathan's
diminished responsibility plea,
00:35:36
Nathan accepts that
he killed his father.
00:35:39
He accepts that
he watched him die
00:35:41
and that he didn't
call an ambulance
00:35:43
that could have
potentially saved his life.
00:35:45
He then says he has no memory
whatsoever of those events.
00:35:50
[dramatic music]
00:35:57
Nathan then says the
next thing he remembers
00:36:00
is he's in the shower washing
off the blood from his father.
00:36:04
Now, I would suggest that
the cognitive thought process
00:36:11
of realizing that you
have to wash the blood off
00:36:13
to get rid of
evidence means that
00:36:16
there is a thought process
00:36:20
that has been followed
from the actual event
00:36:24
of killing his father,
which he has accepted.
00:36:27
And it's selective,
is being selective in
00:36:32
what not to remember.
00:36:35
- [Richard] The prosecution
argued against the plea
00:36:37
of diminished responsibility,
00:36:39
claiming Nathan had a
clear, financial motive
00:36:42
for murdering William.
00:36:44
- Father of 48, supporting his
son of 26 is nothing unusual
00:36:50
as long as that son is
in higher education,
00:36:53
and he's seen to be achieving.
00:36:55
The arguments come
when he's dropped out,
00:37:00
Nathan owed his
father 36,000 pounds.
00:37:04
What are you gonna do? When
are you gonna get a job?
00:37:05
That's when the arguments come.
00:37:07
And of course there would've
been a disappointment
00:37:10
for the father if
that didn't happen.
00:37:13
[soft music]
00:37:16
- In my opinion, he had
a sense of entitlement.
00:37:19
He wanted the money,
00:37:20
his father was fed up
with giving him money.
00:37:23
He clearly had a grudge
against his father.
00:37:25
[soft music]
00:37:28
- And of course the most
telling thing is the fact
00:37:30
that the way Nathan
wanted to spend his time
00:37:33
after he'd murdered his father
was to support his mother,
00:37:37
show her a good time,
00:37:38
go out and spend
money with his mother.
00:37:40
And he obviously
had an emotional
attachment to his mother
00:37:43
that was absent for his father
00:37:46
because he took his
mother's surname,
00:37:48
not his father's surname.
00:37:51
The Id of his complex
was first talked about
00:37:55
by Sigmund Freud
00:37:56
and he suggested
that sometimes a son
00:38:00
competes with the father for
00:38:02
the attention and
love of the mother,
00:38:04
and so that the son and
father are in conflict.
00:38:07
And in some cases
this can be so extreme
00:38:11
as to lead to violence
between the father and son
00:38:13
and even death and homicide.
00:38:17
- [Richard] After the
prosecution rested their case,
00:38:19
it was the turn of
Nathan's defense team.
00:38:23
- Nathan's barrister
suggested during the case
00:38:26
that this was an unusual
crime, that it was a result of
00:38:31
a sudden snapping that
caused the killing,
00:38:35
and that the crime
had no motive.
00:38:38
- But did William's
body support this claim?
00:38:42
The multiple injuries on
William's body would tend
00:38:45
to indicate a sudden
explosion of violence.
00:38:49
But the fact that Nathan
watched him bleed to death
00:38:52
and then dismembered his body
00:38:54
would suggest something
far more calculated.
00:38:58
We know that Nathan had used
00:38:59
a Stanley knife to
inflict the injuries,
00:39:02
but the police also
found a couple of saws
00:39:05
that he'd used to
dismember the body.
00:39:08
William Spiller was a
big man, he was 6'5.
00:39:12
That's nearly two meters
tall, weighing 160 kilograms.
00:39:15
That's about 25 stone.
00:39:18
Dismembering him would
not have been easy.
00:39:21
Joints are particularly complex
with interlocking pieces
00:39:24
of bone held together
with tight ligaments.
00:39:27
Take the shoulder
joint, for example,
00:39:29
here the head of the
humerus, the clavicle,
00:39:32
and part of the shoulder
blade all are fixed together
00:39:35
by tight fibrous bands.
00:39:37
And then we can see how
they're surrounded by muscle
00:39:40
and other ligaments
keeping it together.
00:39:43
Dismembering a
body is never easy.
00:39:46
It must have taken
him hours and hours.
00:39:49
William's dismembered
body revealed
00:39:52
that this was not a moment of
madness, quite the opposite.
00:39:57
This was a considered
and determined action.
00:40:00
[dramatic music]
00:40:04
- There's no doubt
that the son was
00:40:06
emotionally detached
from his father.
00:40:08
This particular individual
would've been particularly
00:40:11
callous and not have much
empathy for a victim.
00:40:15
And to have
systematically tied it up
00:40:17
and then stack them in boxes
00:40:19
after dismembering the body
00:40:21
shows a level of
detachment from reality,
00:40:24
and that what has
gone on in a room.
00:40:26
[dramatic music]
00:40:31
- It's so bizarre that he
went to all that trouble
00:40:34
to dissect the body, to put
it in all these plastic boxes,
00:40:40
which to me seems
like utter contempt,
00:40:43
utter contempt for his father,
00:40:45
and then to build them
up and to put the TV on
00:40:51
and to use that as a stand.
00:40:52
I mean that really
is a horror movie.
00:40:55
When the police
eventually arrived,
00:40:58
they found that
his father's head
00:41:00
was actually in
the filing cabinet.
00:41:03
- No matter how emotionally
detached you are
00:41:05
from your father, you know
what your father looks like.
00:41:08
So the head
represented a challenge
00:41:12
to the way he was trying
00:41:14
to blank the whole
thing out of his memory.
00:41:16
And so it had to be hidden
away so the son could forget
00:41:19
what had happened in that room.
00:41:22
- [Richard] But was his motive
really just purely financial?
00:41:26
- So from the veracity
of the attack,
00:41:28
from slitting his throat
with a Stanley knife,
00:41:30
and then when his father
was laying on the floor
00:41:32
pleading for an ambulance
and bleeding out
00:41:34
to continually stab him,
00:41:36
means there was real
hatred in the act,
00:41:39
which suggests that it
wasn't just an argument
00:41:41
about financial concerns and
about the amount of money
00:41:46
that his dad, as a taxi driver,
00:41:47
was paying for his
son to sit at home.
00:41:50
This was something else.
00:41:53
- During the court case,
00:41:54
Nathan makes an absolutely
explosive claim.
00:41:57
He says that when he was 13
00:41:59
he was sexually
abused by his father.
00:42:03
He'd forgotten about it and
suddenly it came back to him.
00:42:08
- Nathan tried to claim that
he'd suffered from PTSD,
00:42:11
that he'd been
abused by his father
00:42:13
and that had a
really bad childhood.
00:42:16
If somebody has
post-traumatic stress disorder
00:42:19
from a long period of abuse,
00:42:21
if that had happened
in childhood,
00:42:24
then yes, I could see
how a person could snap
00:42:31
or a child might want to
get out of that situation.
00:42:34
He seemed to kind of
come out of the blue,
00:42:36
his defense of abuse.
00:42:40
[soft music]
00:42:42
- He knows it can't be proved,
00:42:46
but also he can't be
disproved as well.
00:42:49
- Nathan says,
while I was sexually
00:42:51
and physically
abused as a child,
00:42:53
that may well have happened.
00:42:55
We do know that children
00:42:58
who have been sexually
abused under the age of 10
00:43:03
are much more likely
00:43:05
to commit homicide than children
00:43:08
who have not had
that experience.
00:43:10
But with no evidence,
00:43:11
the court finds it difficult
00:43:13
because he could be making it up
00:43:16
as a way of defending himself.
00:43:18
[soft music]
00:43:23
- William is described as
a caring, loving father.
00:43:27
- His father always kept him.
00:43:28
He didn't have to
have him at the flat.
00:43:30
Nathan didn't have
to go and live there.
00:43:32
He could have gone and live
somewhere else, you know,
00:43:34
after his degree
course finished it.
00:43:37
It just doesn't wash.
00:43:38
There's nothing there
actually in his past
00:43:41
or they had nothing there
that could back up that claim.
00:43:46
- Nathan is easily able
to manipulate William
00:43:50
to wrap him around
his little finger
00:43:51
to get him to do what he wants.
00:43:54
We can speculate as to why
William is happy to do that.
00:44:00
It could be guilt, it could
be a whole host of reasons.
00:44:02
It's up to the jury to decide
00:44:04
whether or not they believe him.
00:44:06
[dramatic music]
00:44:09
- [Richard] We'll never
know exactly what happened
00:44:11
between William and Nathan
00:44:13
and why their
relationship broke down
00:44:15
with such devastating
consequences.
00:44:18
After a three week trial,
the jury took just two hours
00:44:22
to return their verdict.
00:44:25
- Nathan was found guilty and
sentenced a life imprisonment.
00:44:29
The judge remarked
during his sentencing
00:44:32
that this was a callous,
00:44:34
cold-blooded, premeditated
murder of William.
00:44:37
The motive being financial.
00:44:41
- He believed the money was his.
00:44:42
He had this sense
of entitlement.
00:44:45
It was there and he would do
what it took to get this money
00:44:49
and then to cover his tracks.
00:44:52
- I think the only way
you can look at Nathan,
00:44:55
when you know all
the circumstances,
00:44:58
and all the facts
of this case is
00:45:01
he was a cold,
calculating person.
00:45:05
He was driven by money.
00:45:08
People say that money
is the root of all evil,
00:45:13
and that's actually not correct.
00:45:15
What is correct is
the love of money
00:45:18
is the root of all evil.
00:45:21
Nathan is just pure evil.
00:45:24
[dramatic music]
00:45:28
- It was a fatal
wound to the neck
00:45:30
that killed William Spiller.
00:45:32
But the lack of defense
wounds proved he didn't expect
00:45:35
to be attacked by his own son
and left to bleed to death.
00:45:40
Nathan tried to
cover his tracks,
00:45:42
throw the police off the scent
00:45:43
and claim childhood abuse
had triggered the assault.
00:45:48
But the clinical dismembering
of William's body
00:45:50
proved this was no
sudden snap of anger.
00:45:54
It was considered
and calculated.
00:45:57
And for that reason,
00:45:59
his body revealed the cold,
hard truth about his murder.
00:46:03
And a dangerous killer
was brought to justice.
00:46:06
[dramatic music]
