00:00:06
in a remote coastal town in Cornwall in
00:00:09
the southwest of England 32-year-old
00:00:12
Kirby noden
00:00:13
vanished she was never
00:00:16
found her boyfriend Dean low had killed
00:00:20
her Dean had smashed kby around the head
00:00:24
with the rock with such force that it
00:00:26
had shattered into pieces they were
00:00:29
together such a long time she must have
00:00:31
loved him she must have in some weird
00:00:35
way how on Earth do you do what Dean did
00:00:37
which was to dismember that body and
00:00:39
dispose of it and then to carry on
00:00:43
living as if nothing had happened Dean
00:00:46
and Kirby although they had a chaotic
00:00:49
relationship I always believed that they
00:00:51
loved each other and that they were made
00:00:52
for each other you don't do that to
00:00:54
somebody and expect people to still see
00:00:56
you as human you're a monster Dean was
00:00:59
perceived as the nightmare of the
00:01:01
family I still care about him family is
00:01:04
important and we were all close as kids
00:01:08
and family's family isn't it
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[Music]
00:01:27
[Music]
00:01:32
on April 23rd 2018 Dean low was put on
00:01:36
trial at Truro Crown Court for the
00:01:39
murder of his long-term girlfriend Kirby
00:01:44
noden I'm Lucy Clark Billings and I'm a
00:01:47
journalist I covered this case at the
00:01:49
time the atmosphere in court was
00:01:51
incredibly sad I thought I was going to
00:01:54
report on a case that would be very
00:01:56
gruesome and very Grizzly but I had
00:01:59
absolutely no idea I was going to be
00:02:00
listening to
00:02:02
this Kirby had been murdered using blunt
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trauma her body had laay there for a
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couple of days and then he'd made a
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decision that he had to get rid of her
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body and he made the decision that the
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easiest way to dispose of Kirby would be
00:02:20
for him to dismember
00:02:24
her despite confessing to the murder
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both to Rebecca and other family members
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and to the police off officer at the
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scene of the crime Dean shocked Everyone
00:02:32
by pleading not guilty his defense in
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court was that k and a gentleman that
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she was seeing had come and filled
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colostomy bags full of Kirby's blood and
00:02:44
spray these colostomy bags all around
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the room and then they had raped
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him and then moved to South Africa
00:02:55
together I have absolutely no idea where
00:02:57
where it's come from
00:03:03
that was one of the strangest things
00:03:05
I've ever reported on it wasn't just the
00:03:07
murder itself which was awful to witness
00:03:10
and awful to report on but it was this
00:03:13
fantasy thread that went through the
00:03:14
whole trial him claiming it was all a
00:03:17
big setup and that Kirby was at
00:03:19
fault it's probably just a drug induced
00:03:23
fantasy that he's had maybe to try and
00:03:27
help himself deal with what he's done
00:03:32
perhaps his mental health was so poor
00:03:34
and his drug use had been so prolific
00:03:36
for so long that he wasn't in touch with
00:03:39
reality anymore and he had no idea what
00:03:40
he was
00:03:42
doing didn't think that anything like
00:03:44
that would ever happen within my
00:03:46
family it's a bizarre situation to be
00:03:57
in Dean low was born in 19 1985 and grew
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up in the county of chesher just 45
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minutes outside of
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Manchester my name is Raa Tilford and
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I'm Dean Lo's
00:04:11
cousin he's my older cousin by 3
00:04:16
years Dean and I grew up about an hour
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and a half away from each other but we
00:04:20
were together quite
00:04:23
regularly I'd go and stay with my nana
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during school holidays and he'd come and
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stay with our Nana as well
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my biggest memories of Dean is in being
00:04:33
a big character protective loud he
00:04:38
always into Mischief he wasn't the best
00:04:41
behaved but he had a good heart down
00:04:47
below we were quite a close-nit family
00:04:50
we always made the effort to uh all get
00:04:52
together these photos are from one of my
00:04:56
Fondest Memories that I've actually got
00:04:57
with Dean and the called old man used to
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come and deliver call for the fires so
00:05:03
Dean being The Cheeky little lad he was
00:05:05
was like come on should we get in there
00:05:07
managed to break into the cold Scuttle
00:05:09
and uh we were just absolutely covered
00:05:11
in cold dust and Manana was looking
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after us at the time so she wasn't very
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happy with the cleaning that needed
00:05:17
doing
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[Music]
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afterwards Dean had quite a troubled
00:05:22
start in life and he was taken into
00:05:24
foster care when he was just a few
00:05:26
months old as a child Dean was actually
00:05:28
quite funny outgoing the class
00:05:33
clown as a child he was the naughty
00:05:38
one I can remember he took me swimming
00:05:40
once and he was like hold your breath
00:05:41
under the water for as long as you can
00:05:43
so I held my breath under the water for
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as long as I can and then when I started
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to come back up he pushed me back under
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the water and like held me
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there it's one of the memories that I'll
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always have growing up that just didn't
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sit right really but
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[Music]
00:06:07
another person close to Dean was Kirby
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noden she actually knew Dean from when
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she was very young their parents were
00:06:17
friends so they grew up in the same sort
00:06:19
of crowds went to the same sort of
00:06:22
schools when they were 14 that's when
00:06:24
they started dating for the first
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time they did spend the of the time
00:06:30
together on the park that we used to
00:06:32
hang around on she she absolutely
00:06:35
idolized him she really did he was a
00:06:37
world like even back then when we were
00:06:39
young she just yeah she just loved
00:06:42
him you could tell that straight
00:06:47
away it's that first real serious
00:06:50
relationship as teenagers where Kirby's
00:06:52
really
00:06:54
infatuated there's this real first flush
00:06:56
of first love that means so much to both
00:06:59
of them at this point Kirby was a lovely
00:07:03
young girl you could go to Kirby and
00:07:05
tell her anything and she wouldn't judge
00:07:07
her she wouldn't tell anybody I was
00:07:10
close friends with her yeah I thought
00:07:11
the world of her she's been described as
00:07:14
funny quite quiet artistic and fun to be
00:07:18
around Dean on the other hand was more
00:07:21
of a wild child child he had more of a
00:07:23
outgoing personality and this is
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something that I think Kirby was
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attracted to
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[Music]
00:07:30
Kirby was nothing like Dean Kirby was
00:07:32
just so innocent and kind and
00:07:38
lovely around the age of 14 Dean started
00:07:41
to experiment with drugs smoking
00:07:45
cannabis he was making cangs so he like
00:07:48
got a can and poked holes in it and he
00:07:50
was doing that under a bridge and I'm
00:07:52
thinking wow like what the
00:07:54
hell Dean's Behavior also started to
00:07:57
become more aggressive to others
00:08:00
my uncle gave me a call and said look is
00:08:02
there any chance Dean can come and stay
00:08:03
with you for a couple of weeks I need
00:08:05
him to get out of the way he's had a
00:08:07
fight with somebody and he's bit
00:08:08
somebody's nose
00:08:11
off I was absolutely shocked and
00:08:14
mortified yes cuz that's not the kind of
00:08:16
behavior that I'd used to be
00:08:20
around there's a component of real
00:08:23
aggression and violence and a way of of
00:08:28
of expelling that level of energy onto
00:08:32
something or someone in order for
00:08:35
him to feel to feel better to feel a
00:08:39
sense of
00:08:41
relief Dean and Kirby from about 14 to
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20 this was a very onag again off again
00:08:47
relationship sometimes they were
00:08:49
together and things were great sometimes
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they were apart and not in contact as
00:08:52
much they did spit up for a while and
00:08:54
then Kirby got with somebody else
00:08:58
[Music]
00:09:00
with Kirby out of his life Dean felt
00:09:04
lost and at the age of 25 he committed
00:09:07
another violent act this time much
00:09:11
closer to
00:09:12
home there was an incident with a close
00:09:15
female family member getting cheated on
00:09:17
by her partner and she expressed
00:09:20
feelings of hurt to Dean and Dean in his
00:09:23
eyes whether he thought he was
00:09:24
protecting this family member or not he
00:09:26
he went to the extreme of going round to
00:09:28
this guy's house and he stabbed him with
00:09:30
a screwdriver and then when this guy was
00:09:32
passed out on the floor from the
00:09:34
screwdriver Dean put a Telly on his head
00:09:36
and walked out of the
00:09:40
situation he seems to show little to no
00:09:44
remorse empathy he finds a way to
00:09:47
justify his very aggressive very violent
00:09:51
Behavior I think in Dean's man he
00:09:53
thought he was using violence to protect
00:09:55
people yes very very extreme violence
00:09:58
for the scenario but I think in his mind
00:10:01
he he thought he was doing the right
00:10:05
[Music]
00:10:07
thing Kirby had had a child with another
00:10:10
partner while away from Dean but things
00:10:13
had not worked out in 2010 Dean and
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Kirby got back
00:10:20
together they referred to one another as
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their
00:10:23
soulmates this was a couple who were
00:10:25
incredibly invested in each other she
00:10:27
knew he had his troubles but they really
00:10:29
really were in it together and they felt
00:10:32
as though it was them against the
00:10:34
world although they had a chaotic
00:10:37
relationship I always believed that they
00:10:39
loved each other and that they were made
00:10:40
for each
00:10:41
other they were happy they had a child
00:10:45
together after that child was born there
00:10:47
was a few issues and the baby got taken
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away by Social
00:10:55
Services by this time Dean's drug taking
00:10:58
had sped
00:10:59
out of
00:11:01
control it was something he started
00:11:03
doubling in when he was a teenager and
00:11:05
then it escalated as he reached his
00:11:07
20s Kirby was concerned with the level
00:11:10
of heroin use on Dean's
00:11:13
part it wasn't long before Kirby was
00:11:16
also taking hard
00:11:19
drugs I know Dean would experiment with
00:11:21
anything I think Kirby was more led by
00:11:25
Dean in that respect though
00:11:29
[Music]
00:11:31
Dean and Kirby were leading a nomadic
00:11:33
lifestyle they were already involved in
00:11:35
drugs heroin they enjoyed it and no
00:11:39
matter where they went the people around
00:11:41
them they always knew where to get drugs
00:11:43
from so their lifestyle suited
00:11:45
them they were living together but they
00:11:49
were living on the
00:11:52
streets this is someone who she really
00:11:54
trusted she really believed that he'd
00:11:56
look after her she was willing to sort
00:11:59
of leave everything behind to follow
00:12:01
this man because she loved and cared
00:12:04
about him so
00:12:08
deeply in 2011 Dean low and Kirby noden
00:12:12
were homeless and addicted to
00:12:17
drugs they decided to leave their home
00:12:19
county of chesher and move 250 M away to
00:12:25
Devon I have absolutely no idea why they
00:12:27
picked Devon I mean it's not somewhere
00:12:29
that he ever went a lot as a child um
00:12:33
nor Kirby as far as I'm aware I just
00:12:35
think it was probably the furthest place
00:12:37
they could go to to get away from
00:12:39
everything Dean's Foster mother had died
00:12:42
Dean's dad had died and an Anna had died
00:12:45
at that point as well so there was
00:12:47
nobody else for Dean in
00:12:54
cheser though they were hundreds of
00:12:56
miles apart Rebecca stayed in touch with
00:12:59
her cousin and close friend
00:13:01
Kirby often chatting with her
00:13:04
online it was the most consistent way of
00:13:06
being able to keep in contact with them
00:13:08
they didn't have the mobile phones for
00:13:09
very long they never really had a fixed
00:13:12
address it was just sofas and doorways
00:13:15
and wherever they were I do believe that
00:13:17
Kirby could have gone home whenever she
00:13:19
wanted but Kirby didn't want to leave
00:13:22
Dean they seem quite happy with their
00:13:24
little life that they had going on there
00:13:27
there were these brief glimmers of hope
00:13:30
maybe what their life could be like if
00:13:31
they were to get clean and be happy
00:13:34
together and that can keep you with the
00:13:36
wrong person for a very long
00:13:42
time their drug addiction became their
00:13:44
daily
00:13:48
fixation there were three people in that
00:13:50
relationship because it was Dean Kirby
00:13:53
and the drugs that the drugs were always
00:13:54
were ever present in their relationship
00:13:57
and it's what sort of kept them together
00:13:59
as well that struggle the sort of the
00:14:01
highs and the
00:14:06
lows Kirby had messaged me quite a few
00:14:08
times saying that she tried to get clean
00:14:10
of the heroine but that she was
00:14:12
struggling because Dean was still so far
00:14:14
into
00:14:15
it I was worried about them and the way
00:14:18
that they were living but I knew there's
00:14:20
nothing that I could have done to to
00:14:22
have changed that so just just tried to
00:14:25
check in on them as much as I could
00:14:31
in 2012 the couple got help from a drug
00:14:34
addiction charity and managed to wean
00:14:37
themselves off heroin for a while before
00:14:40
relapsing and starting on other
00:14:43
drugs synthetic drugs cause your mind to
00:14:48
lose
00:14:49
reality
00:14:51
and you can't separate the reality from
00:14:55
what is happening in your mind your
00:14:58
hallucinations
00:14:59
are as real as if it was
00:15:03
happening they had a very erratic
00:15:05
chaotic way of living so one day they
00:15:08
could be out walking the dogs the next
00:15:10
day they could be high on drugs and and
00:15:12
causing
00:15:17
trouble in
00:15:19
2013 Dean and Kirby made their way to
00:15:21
the neighboring County of Cornwall where
00:15:24
they moved around different towns
00:15:26
sometimes living off the streets or in a
00:15:28
shelter
00:15:32
my name is Ellie Jared Hart and I was an
00:15:35
old neighbor of Kirby and Dean in
00:15:38
Lone Ellie aged 19 moved into the
00:15:42
apartment beneath them and remembers
00:15:44
meeting
00:15:47
Kirby she was very bubbly very Northern
00:15:50
big
00:15:52
smile kindhearted I thought I didn't
00:15:55
understand why she was with
00:15:57
Dean he didn't see seemed like he was
00:15:59
all there at all the whole time I lived
00:16:02
there I hardly spoke to
00:16:04
him Ellie soon became friends with Kirby
00:16:08
who now seemed to want a more normal
00:16:10
life but Dean had other
00:16:13
ideas Kirby wanted her daughter back um
00:16:18
and she wanted to go to work and earn
00:16:20
some money and she get off the drugs
00:16:24
essentially within 3 weeks of me sort of
00:16:28
moving in in I would hear him beating
00:16:31
her at
00:16:33
night Kirby would be
00:16:35
screaming
00:16:37
crying and one thing that Dean used to
00:16:40
say quite a lot was I end you I will end
00:16:45
you I struggled with that quite a lot
00:16:48
and I did go up there and confront him a
00:16:50
couple of
00:16:52
times things now with Kirby and Dean
00:16:55
seem to have taken a very dark turn
00:16:57
fueled by by the increasing amounts of
00:17:01
drugs and alcohol that they are both
00:17:04
taking when someone's got that level of
00:17:06
control over you scared of what they're
00:17:08
going to do the
00:17:09
repercussions what if you you do leave
00:17:12
you know what if you try to leave and
00:17:14
something
00:17:15
happens in one instance Dean's violent
00:17:18
Behavior was brought into Ellie's
00:17:21
home I hair the door upstairs and I hear
00:17:25
them screaming and Kirby come down the
00:17:28
stairs
00:17:29
and it just sounded like a rumble down
00:17:32
the stairs I came out and she had picked
00:17:35
herself up off the floor and I just said
00:17:37
come in here for a
00:17:39
minute and then I hear Dean come down
00:17:42
the stairs and then he's bringing on the
00:17:45
door and I went to the door and I held
00:17:48
it open a little bit and I said what do
00:17:50
you want and he was like can you get
00:17:51
Kirby please and I was like no I'm
00:17:53
calling the police I've had enough and
00:17:55
then I tried to close the door and
00:17:56
that's when he put his foot in the door
00:17:58
and tried to shove the door
00:18:00
open and then she went back
00:18:03
[Music]
00:18:07
upstairs taking drugs heroin creates
00:18:10
imbalances within the people tempers
00:18:13
become
00:18:14
short and any small point of friction
00:18:18
can suddenly become a main focus and
00:18:21
huge arguments develop and even
00:18:25
sometimes steps over into violence
00:18:29
[Music]
00:18:31
knowing that she'd reported Dean to the
00:18:33
police Kirby stopped speaking to her
00:18:37
friend I do think Kirby would have
00:18:39
spoken to me if she felt safe enough I
00:18:41
think he told Kirby not to come down to
00:18:43
mine anymore no abuser wants people
00:18:46
talking to who they're
00:18:49
abusing things came to a head when Ellie
00:18:52
noticed water dripping down her
00:18:55
walls for like 2 days it just kept going
00:18:59
and going it's starting to smell there's
00:19:02
mold like what do I do and that's when I
00:19:05
said to the letting agent you need to
00:19:07
get me out of here I think he just left
00:19:09
the Taps running I think Dean was I'm
00:19:12
going to get rid of her and the best
00:19:13
thing I can do is flut
00:19:17
out Ellie never saw or heard from Kirby
00:19:20
or Dean
00:19:25
again their behavior started to become
00:19:27
more erratic
00:19:29
and the couple began to distance
00:19:31
themselves from
00:19:32
Rebecca sometimes they'd go months and
00:19:34
months without speaking to people
00:19:36
sometimes the images that they posted
00:19:38
onto their Pages were quite alarming
00:19:40
showing drug use or showing grainy dark
00:19:43
images where it was unclear what exactly
00:19:45
was in the
00:19:46
picture kby was unhappy she felt like
00:19:49
Dean was leaving her alone a lot more
00:19:51
and cheating on her Kirby becomes
00:19:54
increasingly cut off from her other
00:19:57
family members and is now isolated from
00:20:01
them and is fully with
00:20:09
Dean in
00:20:11
2015 Dean and Kirby moved again this
00:20:14
time they settled in an apartment in the
00:20:17
small coastal town of Mary
00:20:19
Zion Mar Zion is a really lovely little
00:20:22
community in Corall it's actually a bit
00:20:25
of a tourist hotspot loads of art
00:20:27
galleries famous for its paintings and
00:20:29
pottery so a lovely place to visit by
00:20:31
the
00:20:32
Sea maybe this would be a symbol for a
00:20:35
new start for the both of
00:20:36
[Music]
00:20:39
them soon after they moved in Rebecca
00:20:42
started receiving troubling messages
00:20:44
from
00:20:46
Dean he said that he'd got a video of
00:20:49
somebody coming in in the middle of the
00:20:51
night and attacking them and then he
00:20:53
sent me a photo of his face and it was
00:20:55
all swollen and he said that he believed
00:20:57
that Kirby had done it but that she'd
00:20:59
been mind controlled into doing it just
00:21:02
very bizarre
00:21:04
messages I did kind of take it with a
00:21:06
pincha I believe it was probably the
00:21:08
drugs talking
00:21:12
yeah in November
00:21:14
2016 Kirby stopped replying to Rebecca's
00:21:17
Facebook messages she hadn't been active
00:21:20
for a while and that was really out of
00:21:21
character for Kirby I thought maybe they
00:21:24
had lost their accommodation so I wasn't
00:21:27
too worried at first because it's not
00:21:29
completely out of the norm for them to
00:21:32
not be in contact for a few
00:21:36
[Music]
00:21:37
weeks 3 months later after no contact
00:21:41
Dean suddenly messaged
00:21:46
Rebecca in the January of
00:21:49
2017 I got an unexpected message of Dean
00:21:52
saying I'm here cuz if you want to vent
00:21:55
at me call me on this number
00:21:58
but I was at work at the
00:22:00
time by the time I got to call the
00:22:02
number the line was
00:22:04
dead didn't even
00:22:08
ring I wasn't overly concerned but I did
00:22:10
find it really strange it was really out
00:22:13
of the blue and it wasn't in keeping
00:22:16
like with the normal messages that Dean
00:22:18
would send I didn't say anything to
00:22:20
anybody at that point just thought maybe
00:22:23
he was just off his
00:22:25
head months went by without Rebecca
00:22:29
hearing from either Dean or
00:22:31
Kirby I kept checking Kirby's Facebook
00:22:34
to see whether she'd been active there
00:22:36
was absolutely nothing I messaged Kirby
00:22:39
where are you what's going on please can
00:22:43
you get in
00:22:45
touch absolutely
00:22:51
nothing in May Rebecca was sitting at
00:22:54
home one evening when her phone
00:22:57
pinged so on the 17th of May in 2017 I
00:23:02
received a message off DEA about 10:00
00:23:04
at night I had a blackout hazy argument
00:23:07
woke up with a body on the floor put
00:23:09
body in the bin down the road I remember
00:23:12
cutting it up and putting it in the bin
00:23:13
for defo I heard the bin men find all
00:23:16
the meat they didn't know what it was
00:23:18
the carpet had to be lifted in the
00:23:19
bedroom because of all the body matter
00:23:21
it was in my flap for a
00:23:23
week either way Kirby's gone I hope for
00:23:26
her sake the body I chopped up was fake
00:23:29
and a setup must have been hated for
00:23:31
someone to go to so much and all that
00:23:33
blood splatter up the wall ain't a joke
00:23:36
something going
00:23:37
[Music]
00:23:39
on he then sent me two photos of the
00:23:42
room there was blood splatter
00:23:47
everywhere I was shocked
00:23:51
sad it's bizarre it's it's not something
00:23:54
you you'd ever expect to to happen ever
00:24:02
[Music]
00:24:09
Rebecca had received a shocking message
00:24:12
from her cousin Dean low apparently
00:24:15
confessing to the murder of his lover
00:24:19
Kirby I think when she first received
00:24:21
these messages she wondered whether this
00:24:23
was some sort of mental health episode I
00:24:26
don't think her mind immediately went to
00:24:29
Kirby's died it was the fact that no one
00:24:32
had heard from Kirby since
00:24:35
November was this him in a delusional
00:24:38
State doesn't know what's real what's
00:24:40
not real because of all the drug taking
00:24:43
what on Earth is going
00:24:47
[Applause]
00:24:48
on my name is Brian hook I'm a former
00:24:51
homicide detective I spent 30 years in
00:24:54
the metropolitan
00:24:56
police my impression was the person
00:24:59
writing this is actually not in touch
00:25:01
with reality here when a person like
00:25:03
Dean has a heavy addiction the line
00:25:06
between reality is so blurred that in
00:25:10
himself he probably didn't know how to
00:25:13
separate what was reality and what was
00:25:16
happening in his
00:25:18
head it's almost as if they're telling
00:25:20
us about a
00:25:22
nightmare about something they think has
00:25:24
happened but is not sure although I'd
00:25:27
seen the the scene in that room I still
00:25:30
didn't believe at that point that Kirby
00:25:32
was dead and or that he' killed her I
00:25:35
found my mom and and I asked my mom what
00:25:37
we should do one of the family members
00:25:39
found the
00:25:44
police a police officer was sent to Dean
00:25:47
in Kirby's
00:25:48
apartment Dean answered the door he had
00:25:51
no top on he had a necklace on and on
00:25:53
this necklace was some teeth and he
00:25:55
claimed that they were Kirby's teeth
00:25:59
he was met with what Canan be described
00:26:02
as absolutely horrific scenes he is very
00:26:06
aware of the scene that greets him which
00:26:10
is blood spattering blood
00:26:14
staining and a smell of
00:26:18
decomposition they discovered a smashed
00:26:21
up Rock and like a big rock that had
00:26:23
broken into pieces that they believed to
00:26:25
be from force of hitting something they
00:26:28
found a metal bar they found a Blood
00:26:31
Stained mattress that had been flipped
00:26:33
over and slept in and then obviously the
00:26:36
the scenes of the the blood there was
00:26:38
blood
00:26:42
everywhere one of the things the officer
00:26:44
would have done almost immediately would
00:26:47
be to arrest de on suspicion of
00:26:50
murdering
00:26:56
Kirby a forensic examin mination of the
00:26:58
flat found life-ending amounts of blood
00:27:02
it was quickly determined it was Kirby's
00:27:05
blood Dean had been taken to the police
00:27:08
station for questioning but despite the
00:27:11
blood there was no sign of
00:27:13
Kirby knowing Kirby as long as I have
00:27:16
and knowing Dean as long as I
00:27:18
have it's hard for me to accept that
00:27:21
that she is definitely gone because all
00:27:22
of the messages from Dean say I think
00:27:25
I've killed Kirby and they've got no
00:27:27
body
00:27:32
once Dean was in custody the
00:27:34
investigation to determine what exactly
00:27:37
had happened in the apartment could
00:27:40
begin homicides are difficult enough to
00:27:42
investigate when you actually don't have
00:27:45
a body that's just another layer of
00:27:48
complexity in this case when the
00:27:51
forensic examination of the flat is
00:27:54
completed the blood spatter tells a
00:27:56
story the other remain that are there
00:27:58
because the bodily fluids get onto all
00:28:01
sorts of other
00:28:03
things and to try and dispose of all
00:28:06
that is virtually impossible so when you
00:28:09
go through all the successive
00:28:11
examination of that crime scene you
00:28:13
build up a
00:28:14
picture posters went up around the
00:28:17
Cornish Coastal Community to ask the
00:28:19
locals for help in the
00:28:21
investigation when I heard that Kirby
00:28:24
was missing my skin just cwed I got
00:28:27
goose bumps I had this horrible horrible
00:28:32
feeling I knew that she wasn't alive
00:28:34
when I saw that she was missing I knew
00:28:38
then I didn't know what happened but I
00:28:40
knew then that she wasn't here
00:28:45
anymore from the evidence in the
00:28:47
apartment the police built up a picture
00:28:49
of what Dean had done to
00:28:52
Kirby in January 2017 at some point
00:28:56
police believe in the middle of the
00:28:57
month
00:28:58
Dean murdered Kirby with a metal pole
00:29:01
and a
00:29:03
rock he then dismembered her body
00:29:05
flushed some parts down the toilet and
00:29:07
stuffed others into wheelie bins he then
00:29:10
continued to live in the flat with blood
00:29:13
soaked carpets and blood soaked walls
00:29:16
for
00:29:20
months until around May when he reached
00:29:23
out to family members and told them what
00:29:24
he'd done
00:29:26
[Music]
00:29:33
homicides that involve dis Amendment are
00:29:35
very very unusual I've been involved in
00:29:38
four in the 18 years that I was a
00:29:41
homicide
00:29:43
detective if you think of the time when
00:29:46
this happened in the
00:29:48
January it's fair to say that the
00:29:51
heating will probably have been on
00:29:53
decomposition starts and you are going
00:29:56
to get an odor
00:29:59
the ability to stay in the same house
00:30:02
that at this point must absolutely be
00:30:06
smelling of a dead body that most human
00:30:09
beings would find absolutely horrifying
00:30:13
there's something about his thought
00:30:14
process which is very
00:30:16
dehumanizing objectifying of this thing
00:30:19
that was in the way that he's got rid
00:30:22
of the police have seen the messages
00:30:24
that Dean sent to me and within the
00:30:26
messages he tells me that he's chopped
00:30:28
her up he's watched the bin men taking
00:30:30
away her
00:30:33
body nobody has ever ever been found
00:30:39
now there's no going back from it is
00:30:41
there from what you've seen and what
00:30:42
you've been
00:30:46
told the motive for the murder remained
00:30:50
unclear I
00:30:53
cried I
00:30:56
sobbed what person can beat somebody
00:30:59
like that you know and still walk about
00:31:01
and think it's
00:31:03
fine I think the more drugs they took
00:31:06
and the harder their situation
00:31:09
became Dean probably took it out on her
00:31:13
I I imagine it was probably a beating
00:31:14
that went too
00:31:16
[Music]
00:31:24
far I don't think there was a world in
00:31:26
which he thought he would get away with
00:31:28
this murder there was so much blood at
00:31:31
this crime scene there was no
00:31:33
chance Rebecca was the closest person to
00:31:36
him and he must have known that by
00:31:38
contacting her and sharing this
00:31:39
information she was going to go to the
00:31:41
police it was game over for him at that
00:31:43
point I
00:31:46
think it's a question I ask myself all
00:31:49
the
00:31:49
time what do you think it was that
00:31:52
finally made him tell
00:31:54
everybody I think he did trust me the
00:31:57
most yeah
00:31:58
[Music]
00:32:09
32-year-old Kirby noden was missing but
00:32:13
all the evidence strongly indicated that
00:32:15
she had been murdered by her long-term
00:32:17
boyfriend Dean low the reaction of the
00:32:21
family was obviously worry working out
00:32:24
whether it was true because it was so
00:32:27
chaotic and wasn't completely out of
00:32:29
character for Dean to say ridiculous
00:32:33
stuff didn't realize the gravity of the
00:32:36
situation back then I realize it now and
00:32:39
I say you know hindsight's 2020 I wish I
00:32:42
um had called the police more you know I
00:32:46
I wish just wish I could have done more
00:32:49
for
00:32:50
her I I
00:32:53
couldn't Dean Lo's trial began at Truro
00:32:57
Crown Court almost a year later on April
00:33:00
23rd
00:33:01
2018 he was now aged
00:33:04
33 because Dean had confessed both to
00:33:07
his cousin and also verbally to the
00:33:09
police officer who attended the address
00:33:11
they had a confession they had the crime
00:33:13
scene and they had the murderer I
00:33:15
remember at the time when I was covering
00:33:17
the case this seemed very open and shut
00:33:20
but it
00:33:21
wasn't he pleaded not guilty it's not
00:33:25
unheard of people homicide cases to make
00:33:28
at the time and then by the time it
00:33:30
comes to trial 9 10 12 months later to
00:33:33
have had a change of mind and plead not
00:33:36
guilty it's their right it's the legal
00:33:38
system his addiction would have been
00:33:40
addressed whilst he was in custody in
00:33:42
prison and therefore he will probably
00:33:44
have more touch on reality and perhaps
00:33:48
the impact of what he had actually done
00:33:52
had started to hit home to him
00:33:59
I didn't attend cor mall where the
00:34:02
majority of the Witnesses were I was
00:34:04
just at Preston Crown Court bya a video
00:34:06
link I just gave the
00:34:08
[Music]
00:34:10
evidence I know it sounds silly but you
00:34:13
kind of feel like you're betraying them
00:34:14
a little bit don't
00:34:15
[Music]
00:34:23
you when Dean stood on the witness box
00:34:26
and took the o both what he said
00:34:29
surprised everyone in court Dean's story
00:34:33
was that he had been attacked in his
00:34:34
flat raped by two men and that Kirby had
00:34:38
fled to South
00:34:40
Africa he said the whole thing was set
00:34:43
up by Kirby and the two men if they were
00:34:45
all involved in it together and it was
00:34:47
all just a ploy to get Kirby out of the
00:34:50
relationship and to South Africa where
00:34:52
she could start a new
00:34:54
life he also said that Kirby in the flat
00:34:58
had taken off her colostomy bag and
00:35:01
started spreading blood spatters around
00:35:05
the
00:35:07
flat to implicate him in the murder to
00:35:10
frame him if you
00:35:13
like Dean even went as far as to claim
00:35:16
that while he was incarcerated in hmp
00:35:18
exor that he received a phone call from
00:35:21
Kirby from South Africa in which he said
00:35:24
you're now you're stuck inside and I'm
00:35:26
enjoying my new life
00:35:28
he said that she was in South Africa and
00:35:31
I just thought she's not she's
00:35:33
absolutely not she's got a daughter drug
00:35:35
addiction no money probably no passport
00:35:39
so farfetched that she would be
00:35:41
somewhere so far away from
00:35:44
Cornwall it gave a lot of false hope to
00:35:47
Kirby's family members it's very very
00:35:49
damaging to tell people who are in the
00:35:51
process of grief oh no she's still alive
00:35:54
but it's completely false he murdered
00:35:56
her In Cold Blood in the home they
00:35:58
shared
00:36:02
together the trial lasted for over 2
00:36:06
weeks the whole time he sat there with a
00:36:10
completely straight face he showed no
00:36:16
remorse the jury then went away to
00:36:18
deliberate for 9 and 1/2 hours
00:36:28
the verdict was
00:36:30
guilty the judge decided that Dean must
00:36:34
spend a minimum 28 years in
00:36:38
prison the judge said the defense was
00:36:40
utterly cruel lies and that Kirby had
00:36:43
suffered a pitiless attack and Kirby had
00:36:45
done nothing but love him
00:36:48
devotedly some of the jurors were so
00:36:50
upset visibly upset crying that a court
00:36:53
Usher had to hand them tissues so it was
00:36:55
a very emotional time
00:36:57
[Music]
00:37:00
when he got put in prison I thought to
00:37:01
myself good I'm glad that he can't hurt
00:37:04
anyone else you know especially not
00:37:07
another
00:37:10
woman it was confusing because there was
00:37:13
no body they didn't know for definite
00:37:16
that he'd done what he said he
00:37:18
did but he's got his sentence that's
00:37:20
what they think is right that's what
00:37:23
Kirby's Mom feels is right
00:37:29
I know that she's
00:37:31
died and that Dean's done it I do know
00:37:34
that but I think it's just I don't want
00:37:37
to accept
00:37:39
[Music]
00:37:43
it I think he killed her because he took
00:37:46
too many drugs his head was messed
00:37:49
[Music]
00:37:52
[Applause]
00:37:54
up the dean I knew growing up
00:37:58
would never have done that to kby or
00:38:04
anybody they must be a part of Rebecca
00:38:06
that still loves him that's her cousin
00:38:09
and she hates who he's become but that's
00:38:11
not who he always
00:38:13
was she remembers him as this really fun
00:38:17
little kid playing with her in their
00:38:18
Nan's Back Garden to know that you have
00:38:21
to turn on him and give a statement in
00:38:24
court which she did must have been
00:38:26
incredibly hard
00:38:27
[Music]
00:38:31
it's a photo from my Nana's house so it
00:38:34
just brings back nice childhood memories
00:38:37
Dean at that age he was still quite a
00:38:39
young innocent child cheeky little
00:38:45
face coming to terms with Dean's crime
00:38:48
has been difficult for Rebecca and her
00:38:51
family I wonder all the time what he
00:38:53
thinks about it
00:38:55
all what he thinks about me me and
00:38:57
whether he blames me for the police and
00:39:00
for him being in
00:39:01
[Music]
00:39:04
prison but I guess now in prison you
00:39:07
know he's being fed he can't access all
00:39:10
these hard drugs he can't do any harm to
00:39:12
himself or to anyone else so I kind of
00:39:14
don't need to worry about him as much as
00:39:15
I used
00:39:17
to not only did she lose Kirby who was a
00:39:20
really good friend of hers but she also
00:39:22
lost her cousin she's lost that
00:39:24
closeness she's lost that family member
00:39:27
those memories are tainted forever
00:39:29
because of what he's done this is a
00:39:31
double tragedy and the impact that it's
00:39:33
had on the wider family members is
00:39:38
massive if she fully accepts that this
00:39:41
is what Dean has done then at some level
00:39:45
she will have to rewrite the history
00:39:49
that she had with him and revisit that
00:39:51
and recalibrate that person she knew but
00:39:54
at the same time she knows what he's
00:39:56
done
00:40:03
what makes a monster you know what makes
00:40:05
somebody do this atrocious act it's not
00:40:09
just one thing it's not just one flick
00:40:11
of the switch it's years in the making
00:40:14
years of drug use a difficult childhood
00:40:17
all of those things matter and make a
00:40:19
massive impact on a person and their
00:40:23
actions if he'd remained outside
00:40:27
he would have
00:40:29
been and continued to be a danger to the
00:40:33
public so he's in the best place for him
00:40:36
and he's in the best place for
00:40:39
us Dean needed help much much earlier
00:40:43
and had help been provided and accepted
00:40:45
because there is a level of
00:40:46
responsibility on his end things could
00:40:48
have turned out very
00:40:51
differently the memory of Kirby stays
00:40:54
with the ones whose lives she touched
00:40:58
she was just
00:41:02
brilliant so welcome him you you you
00:41:05
could just not know her and you just
00:41:07
feel like You' known her forever she's
00:41:09
just one of them people she was really
00:41:11
lovely she had um a really big heart she
00:41:15
cared a
00:41:16
lot I do think that she tried to protect
00:41:19
me and that spoke
00:41:23
volumes I wish you were still here I
00:41:26
wish you were a to have your
00:41:29
daughter and
00:41:33
[Music]
00:41:43
have it's unfair about Kobe's family
00:41:46
it's hard for our family as
00:41:48
well Kobe's family we're friends of the
00:41:51
family and it's hard there's a lot of
00:41:54
guilt for us as well to know what
00:41:56
they're going through
00:41:58
obviously I love him as a cousin and
00:42:01
I'll always care about him but I don't
00:42:04
think that I'd ever be able to be in a
00:42:06
room with him or even have a
00:42:08
conversation with him
00:42:10
again it is hard to get what he's
00:42:14
possibly done out of my mind
00:42:17
[Music]
00:42:22
[Music]
00:42:27
now
00:42:28
[Music]
00:42:40
[Music]
00:42:44
[Applause]
