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In a quiet English village a few hours
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drive from London, a threat was
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delivered to a local farmer.
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Impaled on a fence post, a severed
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lamb's head along with the message, "You
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next."
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The note said little about its author,
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but between the lines it said plenty.
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Nestled among the lush rolling hills of
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England's west country is the tiny
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village of Horton, a cluster of houses
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lining one main street, a farming
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community where life is simple, quiet,
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and peaceful. But in the spring of 1984,
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the peace and quiet was shattered
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following a series of bizarre events
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that took place here at Widden Hill
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Farm.
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44year-old Graham Backhouse and his wife
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Margaret lived at the farm with their
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two children. Back House had inherited
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the farm from his father, but by all
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accounts, Back House, a former
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hairdresser, was not having financial
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success as a farmer. he had to take over
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the the farm. He had no option in the
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business. Uh and there was a pretty
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obvious that he was a kind of reluctant,
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grudging farmer, but it was well known
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that uh the farm was not making money.
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On March 30th, 1984,
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Backhouse reported a grizzly and
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terrifying discovery. A severed lamb's
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head had been impaled on his fence post.
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placed next to it a note warning in
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large handwritten letters, "You next."
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[Music]
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Back House told police that this wasn't
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the first time threats had been made
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against him.
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>> He told me that he was receiving
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um telephone calls of a threatening
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nature
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um even threats to kill. As I recall,
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>> Back House also told police about a
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threatening letter he had received in
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the mail,
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>> which said, words to the effect, um,
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"You have ruined my sister's life. Um,
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I'm going to get you, you bastard."
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>> Less than two weeks later, the threats
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turned violent.
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Margaret Backhouse was heading into town
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to do some shopping.
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She decided to take her husband's car
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because her car was having some
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mechanical difficulties.
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Graham was in the barn
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and never heard the explosion or
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Margaret's screams for help over the
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music from his radio.
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The bomb was unsophisticated but
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extremely powerful. It had been planted
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directly under the driver's seat.
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>> Strictly speaking, it wasn't a bomb. It
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was a shortened version of a shotgun. It
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was constructed from a galvanized steel
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pipe, 2-in diameter, quite a thick wall
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to the pipe. Margaret Backhouse survived
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the explosion because the force of the
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bomb was directed downwards by the
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highquality construction of the driver's
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seat. But doctors still had to remove
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more than a pound of pellets and
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shrapnel from Margaret Backhouse's body.
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The bombing stunned villagers who now
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had to accept the fact that the threats
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against Graham Backhouse were serious.
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>> When bombs go off, you got to take it
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seriously. And people were
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thinking that there must be something
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behind this. It was the only possible
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conclusion that we all reached that the
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bomb must have been for Graham back
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house. But who wanted Graham Backhouse
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dead and why?
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On the same day of the car bomb
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explosion which seriously injured
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Margaret Backhouse, a threatening letter
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was delivered to the Backhouse farm and
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the message said something to the effect
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came twice last week but the pigs were
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about. The note ended with the words see
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you soon. The words twice and were had
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both been misspelled and experts
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believed that the spelling errors were
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deliberate. Investigators also examined
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the note found beside the severed lamb's
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head, the one which stated, "You next."
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An analysis of that note revealed a
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possible clue, an impression from a
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circular doodle. When a doodle is made
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on a piece of paper, the pressure from
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the writing instrument leaves an
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impression on the pages underneath the
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original doodle. Doodle impressions can
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be found using a technique called
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oblique lighting which casts shadows
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across the indentations of the paper
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>> so that you can see the impression as a
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row of shadows and these can then be
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photographed.
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>> Police ask Graham back house to identify
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all individuals who may have wanted to
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harm him. He was interviewed at some
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length about who his enemies were, uh,
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who his ex-girlfriends were, and things
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of that nature.
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Back house told police about one
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possibility, a former quarry worker
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named David Hodkinson. Back house said
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he once had a sexual affair with
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Hodkinson's wife. Hodkinson would have
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had access to explosives and was also an
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electrician who specialized in wiring
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automobiles. On the day the uh explosion
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took place, this person was in fact um
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out of the country on holiday and had
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been out of the country for uh 3 or 4
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days beforehand. When Hodkinson's alibi
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checked out, police turned their
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attention to one of Graham Backhouse's
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neighbors, Colin Bedale Taylor. He was a
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retired engineer, seriously depressed
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over the death of his 19-year-old son,
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Digby, who died in a car crash 2 years
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earlier. But Dale Taylor and Back House
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were involved in a bitter land dispute
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which they couldn't seem to resolve.
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They lived 200 yards apart. Colin Bedale
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Taylor was wellliked in the small
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farming community. He was a woodworker
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and handyman who built this bench for
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his friends in the village with the
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words by a while inscribed on the back
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rest. Despite the differences between
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Backhouse and Bedale Taylor, police did
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not seriously consider him a suspect in
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the car bombing. There was no reason to
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suspect that Mr. Pedal Taylor was in any
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way, shape, or form involved in this
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incident.
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>> With no other leads, Back House and his
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family were given 24-hour police
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protection immediately following the
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bombing. After a week, Graham Backhouse
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began to resent the police intrusion and
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asked them to end the aroundthe-clock
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protection. Before they left, police
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installed an alarm button connecting the
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back house home directly to the police
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station. Just 2 weeks later, the alarm
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sounded.
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>> Police cars began streaming up the hill.
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We knew that something was seriously
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wrong.
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>> When the police arrived at the farm,
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they saw a horrific scene of blood and
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death. Blood was found on the kitchen
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floor. The chairs had been overturned.
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And at the bottom of the stairs, at the
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end of a hallway,
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lay the body of Colin Bedale Taylor,
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Back House's neighbor. He had been shot
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twice in the chest. In his right hand,
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firmly clutched, was a Stanley knife
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inscribed with his own initials, CBT.
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Back house was bleeding profusely with
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gaping slash wounds on his face and
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chest.
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Well, I'd pop in to see how your wife is
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fairing.
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>> She's doing very well. Thank you.
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>> He told police that Bedale Taylor
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stopped by to ask how his wife was doing
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in the hospital following the car
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bombing.
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>> Justice.
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>> Without warning, Colin flew into a rage
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and attacked Back House with a Stanley
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knife. It's
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>> me that set the bomb in your car.
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>> You should have been the victim, not
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her.
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>> He said he was doing God's work. blamed
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Back House for the death of his son and
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admitted planting the car bomb. Back
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House ran to the hallway, grabbed his
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shotgun, and shot Bedale Taylor in
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self-defense.
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Police roped off the farm and called for
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forensic detectives to conduct an
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examination. They were particularly
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interested in the blood trails, the one
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they could see and the one they couldn't
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find.
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Graham Backhouse told police that he
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killed Colin Bedale Taylor in
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self-defense after his neighbor went
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berserk and attacked Backhouse with a
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Stanley knife. Back house said his
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neighbor admitted planting the carbon
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and that it was intended for him, not
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his wife. When police searched Bedale
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Taylor's property, they found evidence
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linking him to the bombing.
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>> We found a long section of pipe on
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grounds quite close to Colin Beetle
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Taylor's home, and this matched the
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remnants of the bomb that were
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reconstructed.
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>> The obvious implication was that the
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pipe bomb had been made by him and come
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from his land.
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>> But forensic detectives were confused by
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what they found at the scene of the
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attack. First, the blood spatter on the
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kitchen floor told a story, but it was a
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story inconsistent with Backous's
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version of events.
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>> The staining was predominantly in the
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form of small circular drips of blood.
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The circular drops of blood found on the
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kitchen floor were not consistent with
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the struggle, but indicated that the
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blood dripped from an individual
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standing still.
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>> Blood dripping vertically to a surface
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during a passive act of bleeding will
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form circular spots or stains. But if we
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have a violent movement of the body, the
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flicking of the hand,
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see a different shape of stain. They're
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more elongated and some of the stains
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will show a tail shape to them pointing
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in the direction of travel that the
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blood impacted the surface.
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>> And there was something missing. Back
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house said he ran for his life from the
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kitchen down the hall to get his gun,
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but police could find no trail of blood.
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We seem to have a man who was dripping
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blood profusely in the kitchen manages
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to to move over 15t of carpeted hallway
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without leaving any drips of blood. And
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police were faced with another
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discrepancy.
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Back house said he shot the Dale Taylor
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after his face and chest had been
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slashed, but his blood was not found on
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the gun. Had he been attacked before
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firing the gun, blood from his face
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wound or from his hands would have
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dripped onto the gun as he fired in
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self-defense. So, both features missing
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from the gun suggested that he wasn't
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bleeding and hadn't blood staining on
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him at the time that he picked up that
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gun.
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>> The victim was found clutching the
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Stanley knife firmly in his right hand.
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The forensic pathologist found this
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highly unusual. when somebody's shot or
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when somebody dies, they go limp.
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Uh so then I would expect to see
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the response of the body's response to
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being shot twice in the chest and death
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taking place simply to relax and the
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knife would fall from the hand. It
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wouldn't be clutched tightly in the
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hand. And Bedale Taylor's right palm was
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bloody. When an individual holds a knife
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during an attack, the knife usually
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prevents blood from staining the entire
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palm.
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>> There's an area of the palm which is
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either very lightly stained with blood
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or not stained with blood. Um the knife
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protects that part of the palm.
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>> Back house's chest wound was also
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inconsistent with the struggle
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>> cuz normally if you're cut you withdraw,
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your body jerks away. So, how on earth
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are you going to get a wound which then
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travels almost half the circumference of
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the chest in a onetoone confrontation?
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I would never expect to see that pattern
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of injury.
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>> And back house had no defensive injuries
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commonly found when a person fends off a
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knife attack.
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>> They actually grab hold of the weapon
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itself and they get cuts across the
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fingers and the palm. And sometimes you
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find that they've tried to block the
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weapon, put their hand up, and they get
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cuts in the back of the forearm or the
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side of the forearm or on the back of
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the hand. None of these were present
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here. And there was something else,
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something small but significant. When
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police searched Backhouse's study, they
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found a notepad. On one of the pages was
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a circular doodle. The ink doodle found
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on Back House's notepad was identical to
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the impression found on the U. Next
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note.
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>> It was a whole series of circles. Quite
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a complicated thing. The impressions
00:14:30
were quite deep so that you had a good
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photograph and you were able to get a
00:14:34
good alignment and you could see clearly
00:14:36
that it came from this doodle. It was
00:14:38
exactly the same. There was no doubt
00:14:40
whatsoever about it. This is the doodle
00:14:43
that we're talking about here. Uh you
00:14:46
can see just various scribble. When we
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turn the page,
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I think you can still see the
00:14:54
impression. This note is now very old
00:14:58
and has been well handled. So it's not
00:15:00
terribly clear now, but it is still
00:15:02
there. Just see it there. Still see the
00:15:07
impression just there.
00:15:10
proof that the UN next note was written
00:15:14
on Graham Backhouse's own notepad.
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>> We now had a document in the form of the
00:15:20
UNX note that we could positively link
00:15:23
with Wenhill Farm.
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>> Police believed they could now piece
00:15:27
together the bizarre events which led to
00:15:30
the coldblooded murder of Colin Bedale
00:15:33
Taylor.
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After two straight years of crop
00:15:39
failures, Graham Backhouse was £50,000
00:15:42
in debt to a local bank and was in
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desperate need of funds.
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Back House devised an elaborate scheme
00:15:51
to get out of debt once and for all. His
00:15:54
plan was to kill his wife and collect on
00:15:58
her life insurance policies, which he
00:16:00
had recently doubled to 100,000.
00:16:04
But he wanted the murder to appear as if
00:16:07
Margaret had been killed by someone out
00:16:10
to kill him. So Backhouse fabricated the
00:16:13
story about the threatening phone calls
00:16:15
and letters.
00:16:18
Back house himself wrote the you next
00:16:20
note and impaled the severed lamb's head
00:16:23
on his fence post establishing the ruse
00:16:26
that someone was out to get him. With
00:16:30
the stage now set, Backhouse turned his
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attention to the murder of his wife. He
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planted a pipe bomb under the driver's
00:16:40
seat of his own car.
00:16:46
He knew his wife would drive his car
00:16:49
into town the next morning because her
00:16:51
car was having mechanical problems.
00:17:05
But Back House never expected his wife
00:17:07
to survive the explosion. Desperate and
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fearing the police would consider him a
00:17:13
suspect. Back House panicked and decided
00:17:16
to set up a scapegoat, someone to divert
00:17:18
the police inquiry from himself.
00:17:22
The logical choice was his neighbor
00:17:26
Colin Bedale Taylor. Back
00:17:28
>> I'm fine.
00:17:30
>> Thanks for coming about the furniture.
00:17:31
I'm
00:17:31
>> villagers knew that the two were
00:17:33
involved in a land dispute.
00:17:36
>> When Bedale Taylor accepted Graham's
00:17:38
invitation to discuss a piece of
00:17:40
furniture, he had no way of knowing he
00:17:44
had walked into a death trap.
00:17:47
Going
00:17:49
[Music]
00:17:54
Colin was shot twice in the chest in
00:17:57
cold blood
00:18:00
[Music]
00:18:02
to make the shooting appear to be in
00:18:04
self-defense. Back house slashed himself
00:18:07
in the face and chest with a knife he
00:18:09
had inscribed with his neighbors
00:18:11
initials. Bleeding profusely from the
00:18:14
self-inflicted wounds, back house
00:18:16
overturned kitchen chairs to make it
00:18:18
appear there had been a struggle, never
00:18:21
realizing the shape of the blood spatter
00:18:24
would indicate no struggle at all. Back
00:18:27
house's own blood was found on the
00:18:29
victim's shirt because he stood directly
00:18:33
over the body when he placed the knife
00:18:35
in the dead man's hand. With the crime
00:18:38
scene now complete, Graham Backhouse
00:18:42
called the police. Sometime earlier,
00:18:45
Back House planted a piece of pipe on
00:18:46
Bedale Taylor's property identical to
00:18:49
the type used in making the car bomb.
00:18:53
When the forensic evidence contradicted
00:18:55
Back House's version of events, he was
00:18:57
arrested for both the attempted murder
00:19:00
of his wife and the murder of Colin
00:19:03
Bedale Taylor. In addition to the blood
00:19:06
spatter evidence, the doodle impression
00:19:09
found on Backhouse's notepad, and the
00:19:11
medical examiner's opinion that the cuts
00:19:14
on Graham Backhouse were self-inflicted.
00:19:17
Another crucial piece of evidence helped
00:19:20
seal the case. It came from the letter
00:19:24
delivered to the Backhouse farm on the
00:19:26
day of the bombing. Forensic detectives
00:19:29
wanted to analyze the glued envelope for
00:19:32
saliva, hoping to determine the blood
00:19:35
type of the individual who sent the
00:19:37
letter. But they discovered much more
00:19:41
under the microscope.
00:19:43
The fiber found in the envelope matched
00:19:46
fibers found in a brown cardigan sweater
00:19:50
owned by Graham Backhouse. further proof
00:19:54
that Backhouse had mailed the
00:19:56
threatening letter to himself. Graham
00:19:59
Backhouse's plotting continued from his
00:20:02
prison cell. He conned a fellow prisoner
00:20:05
into smuggling out an unsigned letter to
00:20:07
a local newspaper. The letter implicated
00:20:10
Colin Bedale Taylor in the car bombing,
00:20:12
but the letter was confiscated and
00:20:15
Backous's handwriting matched the
00:20:18
handwriting on the letter delivered to
00:20:19
the farm on the day of the bombing.
00:20:22
After a 16-day trial, Graham Backhouse
00:20:26
was convicted of all charges against him
00:20:30
and received two life sentences.
00:20:34
>> If somebody had set out to write a novel
00:20:36
along those lines, it would never have
00:20:37
been accepted by anybody. I mean, this
00:20:39
is absolutely truth being stranger than
00:20:42
fiction.
00:20:42
>> This was an outstanding case in many
00:20:44
respects, principally because without
00:20:49
forensic evidence, there was no case.
00:20:51
The worst aspect was of course the fact
00:20:53
that he picked on a totally innocent man
00:20:56
in the village uh and killed him for no
00:20:59
other reason than to try to remove blame
00:21:02
from himself. And that's what made it a
00:21:04
diabolical murder.
00:21:08
[Music]
00:21:18
Heat. Heat.
00:21:22
[Music]
00:21:29
[Applause]
00:21:33
[Music]
