00:00:01
don't Nelson was a ruthless killer he
00:00:04
would stop at nothing to succeed in his
00:00:07
enterprise you're dealing with a killer
00:00:10
at Catlett's vicious but I put my knee
00:00:15
across Nielsen's throat the wound to his
00:00:17
head said I'll kill you you bastard
00:00:21
in the 1970s I was a young television
00:00:25
reporter working a lot in the north of
00:00:27
England and I vividly recalled the name
00:00:30
of Donald Nielsen also known as the
00:00:32
Black Panther and his reign of terror
00:00:34
for ten years he was hunted by the
00:00:37
police for robbery kidnap and murder
00:00:40
communities in central England were
00:00:42
petrified of the deadly man in the black
00:00:45
balaclava
00:00:47
but how did Nielson get away with his
00:00:50
crime spree and couldn't he have been
00:00:53
brought to justice a lot sooner
00:00:56
[Music]
00:01:12
I'm Fred Dynegy and as the official
00:01:15
biographer to the Kray twins I quickly
00:01:18
learn that the myth of crime can often
00:01:20
overtake the facts of what actually
00:01:23
happened that's why I'm reinvestigating
00:01:26
some of Britain's most evil murderers in
00:01:29
the 1970s the killer donald nielsen
00:01:32
terrified central England not only did
00:01:35
he kill three postal workers but he
00:01:38
kidnapped a 17 year old girl from her
00:01:40
bedroom she too would end up dead
00:01:44
donald nielsen was born on the 1st of
00:01:47
august 1936 just a few miles outside of
00:01:51
bradford growing up in wartime Britain
00:01:54
meant that family life was tough for the
00:01:56
young boy especially as his father was a
00:01:59
strict disciplinarian something that
00:02:02
would rub off on Nielson in later life
00:02:05
I'm always fascinated by the early lives
00:02:08
of murderers and the way their childhood
00:02:11
might have had an impact on the crimes
00:02:13
they would later commit it's a
00:02:15
fascination that's shared by one of
00:02:17
Britain's leading criminologists David
00:02:19
Wilson when he was growing up he was
00:02:23
called Donald nappy and therefore he was
00:02:25
bullied at school people would taunt him
00:02:27
by using his surname dirty nappy nipper
00:02:30
nappy and so forth so he didn't progress
00:02:33
as he might have progressed at school
00:02:35
and also because he was so small he
00:02:38
never grew to being taller than 5 foot 6
00:02:41
there's a sense in which he didn't quite
00:02:43
fit in he's incredibly close to his
00:02:47
mother but when he's 10 his mother dies
00:02:50
and that leads to the first time he gets
00:02:53
into trouble he breaks into the local
00:02:56
co-op and therefore the first brush with
00:02:58
the law
00:02:59
it wasn't until Nielsen turned 18 that
00:03:02
he found some direction in his life up
00:03:05
until 1963 national service was
00:03:08
mandatory Nielsen was one of two million
00:03:11
men conscripted to serve two years in
00:03:13
the British Army one man who in the
00:03:17
1970s reported on the Panthers case and
00:03:20
trial is
00:03:22
drue right he met some of the key
00:03:24
characters involved and he's agreed to
00:03:26
share with me what he knows
00:03:29
he loved the army absolutely loved he
00:03:32
was called up for National Service and
00:03:35
he did his normal training surprisingly
00:03:40
he failed his Bren gun training so he
00:03:42
had to go and do its 10-week training
00:03:44
course all over again he later said that
00:03:48
he'd done that on purpose and it will
00:03:51
surprise me actually because he so loved
00:03:53
the army
00:03:54
I just wanted to carry on it was the
00:03:56
happiest part of his life so far Nielson
00:03:59
served in Kenya Cyprus and Aden during
00:04:03
his two years in the Army
00:04:06
such was his devotion that he only asked
00:04:09
for one break that was to marry his
00:04:11
childhood sweetheart
00:04:12
Irene it was a secret affair and neither
00:04:16
Donald nor Irene's family who were told
00:04:18
off the ceremony by 1960 they had a
00:04:21
daughter Katherine so Donald left the
00:04:24
Army in search of a new career to
00:04:26
support his family so he's come out of
00:04:30
the army he's a married man he's going
00:04:33
to try and find a job he's going to try
00:04:35
and find someplace to live but he's a
00:04:37
drifter he's Restless
00:04:38
he's never been much of an apprentice
00:04:40
he's developed carpentry skills plumbing
00:04:43
skills but nothing that he does he's
00:04:45
really able to stick at I think he's
00:04:48
probably his most successful Enterprise
00:04:50
was in fact doing building for various
00:04:53
people but it didn't make him a lot of
00:04:55
money and
00:04:57
he yearned to do better so he's rootless
00:05:01
and listless and crucially he needs to
00:05:03
find a way of explaining that not just
00:05:06
to those people around him like his wife
00:05:08
but he needs to find a way of explaining
00:05:11
not getting on to himself I think he was
00:05:15
fairly cheesed off
00:05:17
because he was working as well sits off
00:05:18
and around him he saw various people
00:05:21
particularly immigrants I think who he
00:05:24
felt were getting money off the state
00:05:27
and he didn't see why they should get
00:05:30
more money than he was actually earning
00:05:31
so in the winter months he turned to
00:05:35
crime by 1965 age 29
00:05:41
Nielson began breaking into houses and
00:05:44
targeted the middle classes he believed
00:05:47
they were the only people to keep their
00:05:49
money at home now he's incredibly
00:05:52
successful as a house burglar indeed
00:05:55
there are some 400 burglaries which he
00:05:59
is believed to have committed and he was
00:06:01
never caught by the police he would keep
00:06:04
the newspaper cuttings of the burglaries
00:06:07
when they were reported as a
00:06:09
psychologist like criminologist I know
00:06:11
that often offenders will take cuttings
00:06:15
of their crimes often in a voyeuristic
00:06:18
way but in relation to Nielson
00:06:21
the indication is that he kept those
00:06:24
cuttings as a way of informing himself
00:06:26
and it was almost so if it was a manual
00:06:28
that he was training himself up so that
00:06:31
he could become a better burglar and
00:06:34
Nielsen wanted a better life for his
00:06:36
family he changed their surname from
00:06:39
nappy to Nielson to avoid his daughter
00:06:41
Katherine suffering the same bullying
00:06:43
he'd experienced they had no idea about
00:06:46
his secret life and also played an
00:06:48
unwitting role in helping him prepare
00:06:50
for his robberies unlike a family that
00:06:54
goes out into the park to go for a
00:06:56
picnic or whatever and he also would
00:06:58
take them on maneuvers he would go and
00:07:00
hide in the woods and have them find him
00:07:03
so these were like trial runs if you
00:07:06
like and the family were intimately
00:07:08
bound up with these
00:07:09
trial runs although there's absolutely
00:07:11
no evidence to indicate that they were
00:07:14
aware of what Nielsen was doing behind
00:07:17
our backs the house robberies gave
00:07:19
Nielson enough cash to get through the
00:07:21
winter but he wanted to make more he was
00:07:24
after more money for the risks he was
00:07:26
taking Nielson decided to move to the
00:07:29
next level back in the 1970s many
00:07:33
villages in the Midlands had small
00:07:35
community post offices where people used
00:07:38
to keep their money Nielson decided to
00:07:41
adapt the techniques he'd used for
00:07:43
breaking into people's houses to
00:07:45
entering small post offices in the
00:07:47
middle of the night Nielson was
00:07:49
meticulous in his preparation he would
00:07:51
spend weeks studying the layout of his
00:07:54
intended target he made every attempt to
00:07:57
ensure he'd never be caught
00:08:00
he's usually masked he's dressed and
00:08:03
black
00:08:03
he's clearly wearing gloves he's
00:08:05
carrying a gun the gun was loaded this
00:08:08
wasn't just for show he was intending to
00:08:11
use these weapons to get some insight
00:08:15
into the mind of an armed robber I've
00:08:17
arranged a meeting with Tom Kerrigan in
00:08:19
the 80s and 90s he committed a series of
00:08:22
armed robberies on post offices and
00:08:25
banks
00:08:25
he was released having served a nine
00:08:28
year sentence how did your own life of
00:08:31
crime begin that was about 15 6 to 15
00:08:35
when I rubbed my first shot and we got
00:08:39
in with people who who were a bit older
00:08:41
than us and who were a bit more ruthless
00:08:44
than us as well and so going along on on
00:08:47
robberies with those kind of people you
00:08:49
know give us a sense of ruthlessness as
00:08:51
well to carry out you know serious
00:08:54
Roberts with loaded weapons they never
00:08:57
occur to you you could kill somebody
00:08:59
yeah yeah but it didn't worry you didn't
00:09:04
worry us no my consciousness about who
00:09:09
might be a victim to me was secondary to
00:09:11
what I wanted you know so if I'm gonna
00:09:13
rob something I want to go in there
00:09:15
fully and just take what I need to take
00:09:17
what I want
00:09:18
no one's gonna stand in my way this was
00:09:20
a motto that Donald Nielsen also stood
00:09:23
by as he began breaking into post
00:09:25
offices throughout central and northern
00:09:27
England the first nine he attempted
00:09:30
including this one were successful the
00:09:33
10th though was to change his life and
00:09:35
the lives of the family he encountered
00:09:38
forever
00:09:40
Donald Nielsen was 37 when he targeted a
00:09:44
small sub post-office in Harrogate 20
00:09:47
miles north of his home as thus kept our
00:09:50
family slept inside Nielsen turned off
00:09:53
the power to the alarm and entered the
00:09:55
premises but things didn't go to plan I
00:10:00
think in the past he'd relied on
00:10:03
creeping into somebody's bedroom and
00:10:05
finding the keys either on a bedside
00:10:09
table or concealed in some of these
00:10:10
trousers or something this time he
00:10:12
couldn't find any and he therefore had
00:10:15
to go and wake somebody up Nielsen
00:10:19
forced the postmasters 18 year-old son
00:10:21
at gunpoint to search for the keys
00:10:24
unable to find them the black panther
00:10:27
marched the son into his father's
00:10:28
bedroom
00:10:29
Donald skipper woke immediately he was
00:10:32
faced with a man dressed in black
00:10:34
pointing a shotgun at him realizing the
00:10:38
intruder was alone the postmaster left
00:10:41
out of bed to attack him Nielson didn't
00:10:44
hesitate in pulling the trigger killing
00:10:47
Donald skipper dead in front of his
00:10:49
family he escaped without stealing any
00:10:53
money leaving a scene of devastation
00:10:55
behind if you're constantly getting your
00:10:58
money getting access to your money by
00:11:01
committing robbery and never being
00:11:03
caught then it's like going to the
00:11:05
office has he had a good day at the
00:11:07
office he gets lots of money a bad day
00:11:10
at the office somebody tries to stop him
00:11:12
he has to shoot them but he sees it as
00:11:14
simply an occupation this gives him the
00:11:18
stature
00:11:18
that's denied to him by only being five
00:11:21
foot six this gives him the confidence
00:11:23
that's knocked out of him at school
00:11:26
because his surname was nappy these
00:11:28
things are really central in trying to
00:11:32
explain the story of the black panther
00:11:34
Nielsen had no remorse for the man he'd
00:11:37
murdered it was a warning to other
00:11:39
postal workers not to get in his way the
00:11:43
black panther wouldn't be afraid to kill
00:11:46
again
00:11:47
to get what he wanted I'm Fred Dinah and
00:11:53
I'm investigating the crimes of the
00:11:55
Black Panther donald nielsen how did he
00:11:59
manage to murder four people commit over
00:12:02
400 robberies and evade the police for
00:12:05
so long
00:12:06
in 1974 Nielsen was being hunted by the
00:12:10
police for the murder of postmaster
00:12:12
Donald skipper the thief was now a
00:12:15
killer but it didn't deter him from
00:12:18
continuing with his spate of robberies
00:12:20
in once very successful robbery after
00:12:24
the first shooting he escapes with
00:12:26
something like four and a half thousand
00:12:28
pounds and he goes and cashes the postal
00:12:32
orders that he got from that robbery in
00:12:34
the Midlands where whereas in fact he'd
00:12:37
robbed in the north and in signing for
00:12:40
the postal order he'll often use
00:12:43
pseudonyms which are deliberately chosen
00:12:46
to taunt the police so for example he'll
00:12:49
sign a name saying be ware or C trail
00:12:55
because the postal order can be traced
00:12:57
back to the particular post office that
00:13:00
were robbed and he's taunting the police
00:13:02
he's letting the police know I've got
00:13:04
one over on you he had rules and those
00:13:08
rules were things like he would always
00:13:10
take money cash and orders thinks it
00:13:16
couldn't be traced he'd never have a
00:13:18
third party involved so he didn't have
00:13:20
to fence stuff and he always had an
00:13:24
escape route completely planned down
00:13:26
unlike Nielsen tom kerrigan never pulled
00:13:29
the trigger when he was an armed robber
00:13:31
but he does know the mentality needed to
00:13:35
commit such frightening crimes when when
00:13:38
you had hurt people did you feel badly
00:13:41
about it
00:13:42
no I'm robbing the shop and robbing a
00:13:44
post off and robbing the bank in my head
00:13:48
there wasn't any victims so I was doing
00:13:51
because this was an Institute I was
00:13:53
robbing or something that had loads of
00:13:55
money everybody knows or should know
00:13:57
in order to stay out the way if you get
00:13:59
in the way it's your choice
00:14:00
you know so if you want to come against
00:14:03
you know something with a mask and a
00:14:05
loaded shotgun you know with with a
00:14:07
clear intent to not get caught then then
00:14:11
you have to live with that consequence
00:14:14
away from crime Nielsen continued to try
00:14:17
and live a normal family life he spent
00:14:20
his time renovating his house into flats
00:14:22
which he rented out to make extra money
00:14:24
his home life was becoming fractious
00:14:27
with his daughter he was a strict
00:14:29
disciplinarian he punished any of her
00:14:32
misdemeanors with lengthy periods of
00:14:34
what he would call hard labor forcing
00:14:37
her to move piles of bricks across the
00:14:39
yard for no reason she had no idea her
00:14:42
father was living a murderous double
00:14:44
life from his time in the army Nielsen
00:14:48
had developed a fascination with guns
00:14:50
his attic was like an armory full of
00:14:53
deadly weapons an arsenal with which to
00:14:56
plan his next post office raid in
00:14:59
September 1974 8 months after his first
00:15:04
killing another post office raid went
00:15:07
terribly wrong Nielsen had targeted a
00:15:11
small post office in Accrington an hour
00:15:13
west of his home he'd made his usual
00:15:16
preparations but failed to discover that
00:15:19
the owner Derrick Aston was an ex Royal
00:15:22
Marine a man who was willing to fight to
00:15:25
protect his premises and family he was
00:15:29
again woken from his bed don't know what
00:15:32
woke him but
00:15:34
got out of bed and I seem to recall that
00:15:37
his wife pushed the only thing that was
00:15:39
available beside them bizarrely a vacuum
00:15:41
cleaner and said attacking with this he
00:15:45
managed to get him out of the bedroom
00:15:47
and onto the landing where he was shot
00:15:51
almost point-blank range in the shoulder
00:15:54
the wounded postmaster bravely fought
00:15:57
with the masked intruder and summoning
00:16:00
all his strength he threw him down the
00:16:02
stairs Nielson then pulled a second
00:16:05
weapon from his jacket he was shot
00:16:07
through his troubles with a - - the gun
00:16:11
was fired up the stairs and it
00:16:14
unfortunately entered his body you know
00:16:17
that was straight trajectory which went
00:16:19
through stomach and the poor guy died
00:16:22
very soon afterwards Nielson was now a
00:16:26
double murderer it didn't seem to affect
00:16:28
him though as far as he was concerned he
00:16:31
was just one of the jobs he needed to do
00:16:34
to avoid capture the two murders of
00:16:37
postal workers in the space of eight
00:16:39
months had not only grabbed the police's
00:16:41
attention but also that of the press the
00:16:46
headlines described the robberies
00:16:48
however nobody had witnessed the Black
00:16:50
Panthers face descriptions were vague
00:16:53
photo fits differed he was about five
00:16:57
foot six pretty stocky very dark hair
00:17:01
slightly swarthy I mean when he went out
00:17:05
he must have presented quite a menacing
00:17:06
figure because he would have been
00:17:08
dressed in black with a black hoodie he
00:17:11
had a number of hoods with him always in
00:17:16
fact there was a characteristic he
00:17:17
always had spares of everything Neilson
00:17:21
see himself
00:17:22
I think Nielsen did not see himself as
00:17:25
an offender he used so many techniques
00:17:30
of neutralization to justify his
00:17:32
behavior he was just an honest bloke
00:17:34
being prevented from making his way in
00:17:37
the world because there are too many
00:17:39
rich people too many people on benefits
00:17:41
that our working class fellow can't get
00:17:44
a start in life must turn to crime if
00:17:46
he's going to provide for his fine
00:17:48
Emily and I think crucially a lot of the
00:17:50
dressing up that wearing the camouflage
00:17:52
gear wearing the mask all of this gives
00:17:55
us a clue a window into thinking about
00:17:58
his psychology it's almost like a roller
00:18:01
coaster you know your mask is on your
00:18:04
head and you read you've got everything
00:18:06
you've got your weapons in place
00:18:08
everything's in place now the fantasies
00:18:11
now just about to become real and so
00:18:13
when you're at the height of one of the
00:18:17
I guess one of the best feelings that
00:18:19
I've ever had you know and the last
00:18:21
thing you want to do is make that not
00:18:23
happen you know and so as soon as you
00:18:26
pull that mask then you become somebody
00:18:27
else you you used psychologically cut
00:18:30
yourself off from being a caring human
00:18:33
being Nielsen had established a routine
00:18:37
in the summer he would carry out workers
00:18:39
of joyner and take his family on
00:18:41
inexpensive holidays as the winter
00:18:45
months approached and the work dried up
00:18:47
he begin planning his next set of
00:18:49
robberies Nelson was probably unaware
00:18:55
that his next victim had also spent time
00:18:58
in the forces he'd also suffered for
00:19:00
years as a prisoner of war
00:19:03
Sidney Grayland and his wife Peggy were
00:19:05
in their mid-50s and ran the local post
00:19:08
office in Langley he always claimed to
00:19:12
have thoroughly researched each of his
00:19:15
targets I don't think he can have done
00:19:17
in the gralen case because the
00:19:18
Grayling's had a very specific routine
00:19:21
Sidney Grayland always after he'd
00:19:24
received the mail and and seen the last
00:19:26
mail out of the place he would then go
00:19:28
and do a locking out procedure and go
00:19:31
and fetch the car ready to take his wife
00:19:33
home and he stuck to that routine
00:19:38
everybody said that but
00:19:41
this night when he went out his wife
00:19:43
heard a bump and lo and behold he'd
00:19:48
encountered the black Bell sir
00:19:50
Peggy Grayland went into their garage
00:19:52
and discovered her husband Sidney
00:19:54
slumped on the floor he tried to warn
00:19:57
her he'd been shot before she could
00:19:59
react an unmasked Donald Nielsen
00:20:01
attacked her I think he pistol whipped
00:20:09
her and it was she was really just a
00:20:12
very lucky to live to be honest it was
00:20:15
only because two policemen on their
00:20:17
rounds realized something was wrong they
00:20:19
saw the lights burning when they
00:20:20
shouldn't have been burning and went and
00:20:22
investigated and found a scene of
00:20:24
carnage
00:20:26
Donald Nielsen had committed his third
00:20:29
murder thankfully Peggy Grayland
00:20:31
survived
00:20:33
she gave police the first description of
00:20:35
the unmasked Black Panther Nielsen knew
00:20:39
the police now had a clearer picture of
00:20:42
what he looked like he was also
00:20:44
concerned that post office security had
00:20:46
become too tight to continue his
00:20:49
robberies but crime was his main source
00:20:51
of income and he wasn't willing to stop
00:20:54
he would soon be wreaking more havoc
00:20:56
through Central England this time as a
00:20:59
kidnapper I'm Fred Danish and I'm
00:21:03
investigating the murders committed by
00:21:05
Donald Nielsen otherwise known as the
00:21:08
black panther back in 1975 Nilson was
00:21:13
being hunted by the police for killing
00:21:15
three postal workers despite taking
00:21:18
almost 30,000 witness statements they
00:21:21
were no closer to uncovering the
00:21:23
identity of the brutal murderer
00:21:26
the cries that he is committing are
00:21:28
becoming far more serious and they're
00:21:31
becoming far more serious because of
00:21:32
course he's not caught he begins to
00:21:35
incorporate the identity of being a
00:21:38
super offender something who can evade
00:21:40
capture somebody who's got one over on
00:21:43
the police there were police forces from
00:21:46
four different counties hunting the
00:21:48
criminal responsible for the spate of
00:21:50
post office murders for my investigation
00:21:55
I've gone to meet a man who was involved
00:21:58
in the case
00:21:58
Detective Inspector Harold Wright would
00:22:01
eventually come face to face with Donald
00:22:04
Nelson people had seen and heard him
00:22:08
speaking and by now we knew that we're
00:22:13
dealing with a killer about five feet
00:22:16
five well-built very fit you see we knew
00:22:20
so much about him but when got his name
00:22:24
and address
00:22:25
he hadn't been fingerprinted that was
00:22:27
the thing if he'd had a bit of form
00:22:30
he'd have been arrested before without
00:22:33
any doubt by 1975 Nielson had made over
00:22:37
40,000 pounds from robbing houses and
00:22:40
post offices
00:22:41
however the career criminal believed the
00:22:44
risk he was taking deserved to bring him
00:22:46
more reward he believed kidnap would be
00:22:50
a more lucrative venture and he already
00:22:52
had the perfect victim in mind while
00:22:56
flicking through his local paper Nielson
00:22:59
stumbled across what to most may appear
00:23:02
to be an innocuous article it
00:23:05
highlighted how a local businessman who
00:23:07
ran his family coach company had left
00:23:10
82,000 pounds to his daughter Leslie
00:23:13
Whittle and a hundred and seven thousand
00:23:15
pounds to his son Ronald the company was
00:23:18
doing well and became a prime target for
00:23:21
Nielson Nielson spent three years
00:23:25
devising a plan to kidnap one of the
00:23:28
whittles and hold them for ransom he
00:23:31
would later tell police that he'd
00:23:32
targeted Ronald but it was 17 year old
00:23:35
Leslie
00:23:36
who would suffer at his hands this is
00:23:40
the first time he's going to literally
00:23:41
take another person and have that person
00:23:45
with them through the commission of a
00:23:47
crime
00:23:48
but remember by the time he's kidnapped
00:23:50
Leslie Whittle he has murdered three
00:23:53
people she was just a very ordinary
00:23:56
teenage girl with a boyfriend and went
00:24:01
to college in Wolverhampton and nobody
00:24:04
had a bad word to say about her on the
00:24:06
evening of January the 14th 1975
00:24:09
Donald Nielsen traveled 140 miles south
00:24:13
to the Whittle family home in hi Lee it
00:24:17
was a stormy evening
00:24:18
and Leslie wouldn't have heard anyone
00:24:20
enter her room during that night she
00:24:24
came face-to-face with the black panther
00:24:26
her kidnapper
00:24:28
I can't imagine what her whole ordeal
00:24:31
would have been like it must have been
00:24:33
horrendous for from the moment when she
00:24:36
was taken kept in the back of her car
00:24:38
underneath a piece of foam mattress if
00:24:42
the Panthers to be believed transported
00:24:46
all that way I mean it must have taken I
00:24:48
would have think at least an hour and a
00:24:50
half maybe two hours to get to Kitts
00:24:52
Grove and then taken down through the
00:24:56
series of tunnels come I can't really
00:25:00
imagine it into a place that was dark
00:25:02
and dank and horrible absolutely
00:25:05
horrible for I've traveled to kids Grove
00:25:09
in Staffordshire to visit the park where
00:25:12
Leslie was held I want to learn why this
00:25:14
location became so instrumental in the
00:25:17
Black Panther case
00:25:21
bath pool park these days is a pleasant
00:25:24
enough spot the center of the local
00:25:27
community but no one knew back in 1975
00:25:31
that seventeen-year-old Leslie was being
00:25:34
held hostage in a drainage ditch like
00:25:36
that
00:25:37
with a wire noose around her neck it was
00:25:41
pitch-black down there she'd no idea
00:25:44
where she was or if anyone was gonna
00:25:47
come and save her all that she would
00:25:50
have heard during that time is the
00:25:52
vermin down in the shaft moving about
00:25:55
down there she wondered voices or
00:25:57
anything of that nature from ground
00:25:59
level she might've heard the trains
00:26:02
going by there's a railway line of
00:26:05
course some 50 yards away from the top
00:26:08
of the shaft she possibly averred trains
00:26:12
moving and that's all that you would
00:26:14
have heard vermin and trains when
00:26:17
Nielson kidnapped Leslie he left a
00:26:20
ransom note on her bed he'd told the
00:26:22
wittle family if they wanted to see her
00:26:25
alive they had to act quickly her
00:26:27
brother Ronald was instructed to take
00:26:30
fifty thousand pounds to a phonebox near
00:26:32
Birmingham the kidnapper believed
00:26:34
getting the money would be easy but he'd
00:26:37
underestimated just what was involved
00:26:39
and so had the police kidnapping was a
00:26:43
very isolated type of crime in those
00:26:47
days this was one of the first major
00:26:50
kidnappings in the country everything
00:26:53
about this kidnapping goes wrong and the
00:26:56
Olson had left a ransom note which is
00:26:59
discovered and it says don't call the
00:27:01
police the ransom was going to be fifty
00:27:03
thousand pounds no the first thing the
00:27:06
family did the right thing the family
00:27:07
did was to obviously telephone the
00:27:10
police West Mercia police wanted to keep
00:27:13
Leslie's kidnapped secret they feared if
00:27:16
the Black Panther knew they were
00:27:18
involved he would kill Leslie and
00:27:20
disappear their secrecy didn't last long
00:27:23
within hours her kidnap had been leaked
00:27:26
to the media and was being reported live
00:27:28
on the local news it was soon hitting
00:27:31
the headlines
00:27:32
all over the UK and you know Fred it is
00:27:35
a very very key case in this respect the
00:27:40
handling by the police of the media in
00:27:43
the Lesley Whittle case was an utter
00:27:46
complete disaster
00:27:48
the police feared that media coverage
00:27:50
had scared the black panther away
00:27:53
they told Leslie's brother not to make
00:27:55
the ransom drop it was a mistake
00:27:58
Donald Nielsen had been waiting for the
00:28:01
money the police have had to learn how
00:28:04
to engage the media appropriately so
00:28:07
that the media don't conduct their own
00:28:09
inquiries so that the media will stay on
00:28:11
site but nonetheless staying on site
00:28:14
giving them something so that they can
00:28:16
put out on the six o'clock news
00:28:18
remarkably Donald Nilsson was undeterred
00:28:22
by the press coverage
00:28:23
he contacted Raoul Whittle again and
00:28:25
told him to follow a series of clues
00:28:28
he'd written they would eventually tell
00:28:30
him where to leave the fifty thousand
00:28:32
pound ransom but Nielsen's instructions
00:28:35
weren't clear professor David Wilson is
00:28:39
going to show me why Ron whittles
00:28:40
attempt to give the black panther his
00:28:42
ransom was doomed from the start so why
00:28:47
have you brought me here so I've written
00:28:49
a series of puzzles which I've placed
00:28:51
around about the park very much in the
00:28:53
way that Donald Nielsen had left clues
00:28:56
for the police for the family of Leslie
00:28:58
Whittle to follow and this Dymo tape is
00:29:01
the kind of thing that Nielson wrote his
00:29:04
clues upon so can you follow the clues
00:29:06
walk on path round corner to second
00:29:10
right goal post stop for instructions
00:29:13
second right goal post so is it isn't
00:29:15
the one I thought it was do you think
00:29:17
it's gonna be this one than him this is
00:29:20
it this it's confusing but there's
00:29:23
something in the back of the net here so
00:29:25
this could be another clue I can tell
00:29:28
you no it isn't another clue you've come
00:29:31
quite rightly because you saw a bag
00:29:32
there so actually it was this goalpost
00:29:35
you should have gone to so already I
00:29:37
would have
00:29:38
stood up
00:29:39
over the next five days Ron Whittle
00:29:43
failed several times to deliver the
00:29:45
ransom the clues he was given had no
00:29:48
punctuation were ambiguous and only made
00:29:51
sense to Nielson himself so this one
00:29:57
says follow tree line to 5th pre from
00:30:01
left of end of path to get instruction
00:30:04
but which end of the path does it mean
00:30:06
that and all that you see that's is part
00:30:09
of the problem we've got to interpret
00:30:11
how he thinks and then communicates to
00:30:14
you well I would guess I would guess
00:30:16
it's that way but not saying or is it is
00:30:19
it this path here morning does that
00:30:24
count as one or is that number one
00:30:26
Ronald was sent another demand it told
00:30:30
him to drive through the night to a park
00:30:32
in kids Grove little did he know it was
00:30:35
the same place where his sister was
00:30:38
being held
00:30:41
went wrong with leg ups the phone box
00:30:43
had been directed to he couldn't find
00:30:46
the Dymo tape it had in fact been pushed
00:30:50
down the back of the board of the
00:30:53
payphone nevertheless wrong couldn't
00:30:56
find it he did eventually find it but he
00:30:59
spent some 20 minutes literally
00:31:01
searching the phone box and he must have
00:31:02
been in a right old state anyway another
00:31:06
problem Ronald faced was that the Black
00:31:08
Panther had left all the clues in public
00:31:11
places so this was saying his three
00:31:14
number five where's the clue well that's
00:31:16
a very good question because I know
00:31:18
where I placed it and it's not there and
00:31:21
therefore it's fallen down or it's been
00:31:24
moved so it may have dropped around here
00:31:27
somewhere everywhere
00:31:30
that's the clues the first thing I've
00:31:32
got right so far say it says put bag
00:31:37
with money into ditch by next three but
00:31:41
there's another problem which way which
00:31:42
way which way did he mean by the next
00:31:45
tree is at that tree or is it that tree
00:31:48
there what a nightmare it's clear to see
00:31:51
that with time against him and in a
00:31:53
distressed state Ronald Whittle would
00:31:55
have had no chance following the Black
00:31:57
Panthers demands the last clue took him
00:32:00
to bath pool park where he waited for a
00:32:02
torch light to flash at him but again
00:32:05
he'd misread Nielsen's instructions and
00:32:07
was in the wrong place
00:32:09
Nielsen was obviously watching from the
00:32:12
vantage point Ron Whittle had been
00:32:15
directed to look for Nielson flashing a
00:32:18
light a torch Nielson saw in fact a
00:32:22
police car early on and he said he saw a
00:32:25
helicopter something denied by the
00:32:27
police and he started to believe that a
00:32:31
police operation had been put together
00:32:33
so he was spooked
00:32:36
Donald Nielsen made several attempts to
00:32:38
collect the ransom but each time he
00:32:41
failed a week after Leslie's kidnap
00:32:47
communications stopped
00:32:51
the wittle family had no idea if Leslie
00:32:54
was dead or alive and worse was yet to
00:32:59
come
00:33:01
I'm Fred Dodge and I'm investigating the
00:33:05
crimes Donald Nielsen committed in the
00:33:07
1970s he killed anybody who would get in
00:33:11
his way
00:33:11
and now he was responsible for the
00:33:14
kidnapping of a 17 year old girl called
00:33:17
Leslie wittle Donald Nielsen disappeared
00:33:23
when he didn't receive the ransom he
00:33:24
demanded for Leslie wittle safe return
00:33:28
the search was now on not only to catch
00:33:32
the man known in the media as the black
00:33:34
panther but also to find Leslie Whittle
00:33:37
seven weeks had passed after the failed
00:33:39
ransom drop at bath pool park now Harold
00:33:43
Wright and his team carried out a proper
00:33:45
search of the area
00:33:49
they discovered a tunnel running 60 feet
00:33:52
under the park inside they found Leslie
00:33:55
whittles dead body
00:33:56
she'd been hacked it was a shocking
00:34:02
sight when it was a 17 year old girl
00:34:06
wired a noose around her neck hanging
00:34:10
down there in pitch darkness that poor
00:34:13
girl had been hanging there possibly for
00:34:16
several days before she died even if
00:34:20
he'd meant the girl to remain alive he'd
00:34:23
left a 60 feet underground with a wire
00:34:28
noose around the neck so that if she
00:34:30
slipped you'd of hung herself so she
00:34:33
couldn't move about off the landing or
00:34:36
anything she was fastened there like a
00:34:38
dog the search for the black panther
00:34:42
went cold
00:34:43
there'd be no new post office raids or
00:34:46
kidnaps but the police weren't giving up
00:34:50
every day we briefed a hundred of fifty
00:34:54
offices or thereabout as to what had
00:34:58
gone on during the previous 24 hours
00:35:00
while he'd been on duty you know and
00:35:02
this was every day for now in policies
00:35:05
not thing that died away and then come
00:35:09
back again it was by pure chance that
00:35:12
Stuart Mackenzie became involved in the
00:35:15
case he was a Bobby on the beat at the
00:35:17
time now I'm going to find out how he
00:35:20
and his colleague Tony White became
00:35:22
instrumental in the capture of the Black
00:35:25
Panther we were sat down a side road
00:35:30
catching up on the previous night's
00:35:32
paperwork and whilst we sat there Tony
00:35:35
looked up through the front windscreen
00:35:37
of the car and said see that chap there
00:35:41
I don't like the way he's walking
00:35:42
something wrong with him
00:35:44
come on let's go and check him out so I
00:35:48
drove the car and we pulled up at the
00:35:50
side of him Tony then wound the window
00:35:52
down of the car and said good evening
00:35:54
sir would you mind telling us your
00:35:56
details and the next thing I hear is
00:35:59
don't move
00:36:01
any tricks in your dead to which I sort
00:36:04
of looked to me left and saw that I was
00:36:09
looking down the business end of a
00:36:10
sawn-off shotgun to which my words were
00:36:15
poor canal Donald Neilson force Tony
00:36:20
white into the back and climbed into the
00:36:23
passenger seat and then he put the gun
00:36:25
in my armpit and he said drive any
00:36:29
tricks are you dead
00:36:31
of course I said well where to he says
00:36:34
just drive any tricks and you're dead
00:36:37
the black panther demanded they drive
00:36:39
him to bleed worth that town six miles
00:36:42
away at no point were they to look at
00:36:45
him or each other slowly Stuart's
00:36:48
colleague managed to change his position
00:36:50
on the back seat at that point we've got
00:36:53
eye contact and my main concern was you
00:36:56
know sort of kept doing that always get
00:36:58
this gun from outta my armpit and he
00:37:00
kept going
00:37:02
that's all shaking sensei now
00:37:05
and I'm going down towards this children
00:37:07
show and I said that's it I'm lost I
00:37:09
said I don't were there though right
00:37:11
here and I physically swung the car over
00:37:14
to the right wrong side of the road or
00:37:16
whether we go left and I swung it back
00:37:18
again and at that point Nielson looked
00:37:22
out the window I hit the brakes that God
00:37:25
the gun goes off at the same time I hit
00:37:28
the door and have rolled out the police
00:37:30
car as I'm doing that Tony shouts he's
00:37:34
shot me thinking that his partner was
00:37:37
dead
00:37:38
Stuart force Nielsen out of the car in
00:37:41
doing so he grabbed hold of the shotgun
00:37:43
that had nearly killed him I put my knee
00:37:46
across Nielsen's chest and throat put
00:37:50
the gun to his head and said I'll kill
00:37:53
you you bastard and I'm not ashamed to
00:37:54
say that because it was our lives that
00:37:57
were at risk and I'm sort of stood like
00:38:00
this with an armlock and don't be
00:38:02
knowing to me his ferreting under his
00:38:05
jacket and as we found out later it got
00:38:08
knives under his coat that's what he was
00:38:10
going for miraculously Tony White wasn't
00:38:13
dead and came to Stuart's aid their car
00:38:16
had come to a standstill outside a fish
00:38:18
and chip shop the customers came out to
00:38:20
help subdue the man who'd attacked the
00:38:23
police in the end Stuart and Tony had to
00:38:26
prevent members of the public killing
00:38:28
the man they'd captured it had taken 10
00:38:31
years but through a stroke of pure luck
00:38:34
the Black Panthers reign of terror was
00:38:37
finally at an end next morning I was on
00:38:40
duty at kids Grove when an assistant
00:38:45
chief constable from Nottingham phoned
00:38:46
up and spoke to me he said I think we've
00:38:49
got your man
00:38:51
simple as that I said we'll come over so
00:38:55
we brought him back and we got the kids
00:38:57
Grove about our past 1:00 in the morning
00:39:00
but we didn't go to bed we had a couple
00:39:03
of hours talk with Nielson by what did
00:39:06
he say to you well not admitting
00:39:10
anything but the least he gives us a
00:39:12
name and address
00:39:14
the police searched Nielsen's house and
00:39:17
quickly discovered the Attic there they
00:39:20
found his cache of weapons we recovered
00:39:23
so many exhibits at the house we didn't
00:39:27
need him to confess to the crime so we
00:39:30
got enough evidence to put him before
00:39:32
the court and say to the jury well you
00:39:35
decide on June the 14th 1976
00:39:39
Donald Nielsen pleaded not guilty to the
00:39:42
nine charges against him including the
00:39:44
murder of four people the trial at
00:39:48
Oxford Crown Court meant the public were
00:39:51
finally going to hear from the man who'd
00:39:53
evaded capture for ten years you know
00:39:56
it's very very unusual in my experience
00:39:59
and I've been to many court cases about
00:40:01
serial offenders they rarely take the
00:40:05
stand Nielson wanted to go and put his
00:40:08
side of the story because he believed he
00:40:12
had a site to describe it's an
00:40:15
incredibly arrogant attitude and you
00:40:19
said very close in court on a number of
00:40:23
occasions - to Nielson what were your
00:40:26
impressions of him he really did look a
00:40:31
little bit evil menacing the one time
00:40:34
that really stands out for me was when
00:40:36
he was handed a weapon one of the
00:40:39
sawn-off shotguns they he'd used in his
00:40:41
raids and just in front of him
00:40:44
were all the exhibits there were two
00:40:46
rows of exhibits and there were shells
00:40:48
from those guns and he was handed the
00:40:52
gun and he literally turned it round
00:40:55
like that and everybody in the press box
00:40:57
and in the galleries and so on all
00:40:59
instinctively ducked
00:41:02
he almost was trying to present himself
00:41:05
as some kind of antihero for example in
00:41:08
terms of robbing the sub post offices he
00:41:10
said well it's government money
00:41:11
nobody's been harmed ignoring of course
00:41:14
the fact that he had murdered three sub
00:41:17
post masters in the commission of those
00:41:20
robberies so he's using a variety of
00:41:22
techniques of neutralization to say
00:41:23
don't think of me is this really bad
00:41:26
offender and you know I'm just a regular
00:41:29
guy is the kind of attitude that he's
00:41:31
trying to put over the crucial part of
00:41:34
Nielsen's testimony came when he
00:41:36
described the death of Leslie Whittle he
00:41:39
admitted that he ran back down the
00:41:41
complex to hide and he claimed that it
00:41:44
was at this point that Leslie went over
00:41:46
the edge as she tries to make room for
00:41:49
him on what was a fairly narrow ledge I
00:41:52
think it was one of the times he gave
00:41:54
himself away because he said she saw my
00:41:57
face she saw the panic in my face and
00:42:00
said well he'd always told us that you
00:42:03
were wearing a mask and he said no no it
00:42:07
was spite kind of demeanor and he tried
00:42:10
to backtrack but he had said that I
00:42:13
think we can dismiss his argument quite
00:42:17
simply he has by the stage that he
00:42:20
kidnapped Leslie already killed three
00:42:22
people I've got no doubt that when he
00:42:25
didn't get that ransom he killed Leslie
00:42:27
Whittle this was a belief that was also
00:42:30
held by the jury and after just five
00:42:33
hours deliberation they returned to give
00:42:36
their verdict
00:42:41
Donald Nielsen was found guilty he was
00:42:44
given five life sentences for the murder
00:42:47
of Leslie Whittle and the three
00:42:49
postmasters the judge recommended that
00:42:54
Nielson receive a whole life tariff
00:42:57
he's now spending the rest of his life
00:42:59
in prison the impact of his crimes is
00:43:03
still felt amongst the victims and their
00:43:06
families today Stuart Mackenzie and Toni
00:43:09
white both received a Queen's gallantry
00:43:12
medal for capturing Donald Wilson it
00:43:16
wasn't it wasn't so much for us but we'd
00:43:21
done something that every policeman in
00:43:24
the country had been trying to do and
00:43:28
when we'd arrested him we thought
00:43:29
yes we've got him and this medal really
00:43:33
is for Hogg please for to say that we
00:43:35
got one of the most evilest dangerous
00:43:38
men that ever walked this earth at that
00:43:41
time the list of donald Nielsen's crimes
00:43:45
makes shocking reading he committed over
00:43:48
400 robberies two attempted murders and
00:43:51
carried out four brutal killings the
00:43:55
facts of this case are extraordinary the
00:43:58
police took 30,000 witness statements
00:44:01
and still it took a simple coincidence
00:44:04
to catch this lone man it shows that
00:44:07
sometimes no matter how hard the police
00:44:10
work it is a random piece of luck that's
00:44:13
the important factor in bringing a
00:44:15
criminal to justice without that luck
00:44:18
Donald Nielsen may never have been
00:44:20
caught thankfully he is behind bars and
00:44:24
will remain there for the rest of his
00:44:26
life
00:44:31
[Music]
00:44:41
[Music]
00:44:49
[Music]
