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on a warm Summer's evening in
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1993 police in East London made a tragic
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Discovery at the home of two elderly
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siblings they found Annie slumped in an
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armchair in the living room and Billy
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lying on the floor pretty much in front
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of her a beloved grandmother and a World
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War II veteran killed in a V ENT attack
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there's no obvious suspect Annie and
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Billy haven't got any obvious enemies
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with no Killer caught for years the
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victim's family search for
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answers that was my life just constantly
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trying to find out what had happened
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finally a forensic breakthrough LED
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police to Danville Neil a sexually
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deviant career criminal with a taste for
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brutality he was actually what you call
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a vient prolific burglar that kind of
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criminal is not that common after almost
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30 years Danville Neil was finally
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unmasked as one of the world's most evil
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killers
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[Music]
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[Music]
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in
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1993 the East London community of Bethel
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green was no stranger to Crime there was
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violence there was a lot of burglaries
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drugs heroin Wars at the top of its game
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but the brutal attack on pensioners
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Annie castle and her brother Billy Brian
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was a far cry from everyday criminal
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activity
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not only does it cause moral revulsion
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it also causes panic in the community
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people don't want to think that they're
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not safe in their own home the police
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would have been under a huge amount of
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pressure to to solve this only when
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Danville Neil was convicted could this
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community feel Justice had been done for
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Annie and
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Billy this killer Story begins in the
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London bur of
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lewisham Danville nil was born in
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September 1957 he was actually what you
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would describe as a South London boy we
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don't know a great deal about Danville
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Neil's background we can guess or at
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least speculate that he must have had a
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difficult childhood Because by the age
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of 16 in 1973 he gets his first
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conviction for
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burglary Neil started offending at quite
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a young age and acquisitive crime like
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theft and that's not actually abnormal
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for that age of young men but you know
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it's something that they pass through
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and you know forget about as they get
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older this was not the case with
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Danville Neil as he entered adult hood
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his path in life seemed very much set
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Danel Neil was a career criminal he was
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a petty Thief um and a burglar and he
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used to fence stolen items around the
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South London area where he mainly
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operated also by his own admissions was
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involved in um Distributing
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cannabis much of what is known about
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Danville Neil's early adult life comes
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from his lengthy rap sheet he had a
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number of conviction I think was
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something like 15 convictions for
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burglary between
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1973 and
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1998 but Neil was not simply interested
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in stealing people's property Danville
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Neil was a man with proclivity to
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violence uh sexual violence
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psychological violence he had not only
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broken into people's houses but he
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specifically targeted people um who he
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thought had stashes of cash or valuables
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in their homes and he would threaten
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them tie them up and beat them and
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during the course of some of these
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burglaries in 1984 he and an accomplice
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committed two violent burglaries which
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were to set a pattern for his later
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crimes One Night in June 1984
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26-year-old Danville Neil and a fellow
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Ker criminal William norrris traveled
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the five miles from lewisham to the
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middle class suburb of
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pen and the first occasion he broke into
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a home where the family were at home
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Neil wakes up the sleeping couple mom
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and dad and tells them that they've
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already killed one of the children your
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girl's dead Neil and his accomplice beat
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both mom and dad with an iron bar and
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tried and smother the father and rape
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the
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woman he tried to rip rings off her
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fingers and I think at one point she
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said to him what you going to do with
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these rings they're not even worth 30
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Bob there's also a suggestion that there
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was some kind of sexual humiliation of
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the husband as well as a rape of the
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wife it was a terrifying ordeal for the
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couple Neil had played on their worst
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fears but he was bluffing
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thankfully their three children were
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asleep upstairs and they weren't woken
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but um the couple at the time didn't
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know what was going on they didn't know
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that the children were okay he starts
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with theft which is pretty normal way to
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to start a criminal career if you like
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but then he moves to burglary and he
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moves to burglaries that are violent now
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that is one hell of a development this
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is the kind of offender we need to be
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really worried about in August 1984 Neil
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had his familiar accompanist William
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Norris attack another house this time in
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Norwood also in southeast London where a
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woman is alone asleep it's another home
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invasion a really really frightening
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experience for this woman who's woken up
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in the middle of the night by this guy
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in a bedroom again threatening again use
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of
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violence they threatened her they
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smothered her in actual fact and they
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raped her and in that instance he only
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made off with I think £15 and a music
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system so really very very low low value
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items but uh the level of violence used
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was extreme and gratuitous and designed
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to cause you know maximum fear and alarm
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of his victim we might think that the
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motivation is only to take things that
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they can sell or or or take money but
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these crimes are not all about what they
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can acquire during that burglary the
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sexual violence has absolutely nothing
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to do with the acquisitive part of this
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burglary in my opinion the overriding
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motivation here is that Joy of Domina
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and the power and the
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humiliation of the people in the home
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and that is incredibly
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dangerous these two burglaries just a
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couple of months apart in the summer of
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1984 were violent and sadistic but
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Danville Neil and his accomplice did not
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Escape Justice for
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long he didn't wear a balac clava he
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didn't wear a ski mask well it's
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perfectly obvious by this point that
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Danville Neil is a person of interest to
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the police and it doesn't take them very
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long and track him down and the two men
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are brought to trial and indeed
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convicted of these aggravated
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burglaries with burgary with sexual
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violence and other
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violence in June 1985 Danville Neil and
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his accomplice were found guilty at
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London's Old Bailey and sentenced to 12
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years in jail but just just 7 years
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later Neil was a free man once
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again Danville Neil is released in
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August
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1992 and he effectively goes back to his
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old ways pretty much straight away he
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really doesn't know any other life than
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the criminal life so you know he goes
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back to his old stomping ground in syum
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getting a real job was the last thing on
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Danville Neil's mind in
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1992 now almost 35 years old he simply
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picked up where he left off resuming the
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life of crime he' pursued since he was
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in his
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teens 7 miles away in bethl green
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pensioners 74-year-old Annie castle and
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71-year-old Billy Brian were enjoying
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their well-earned retirement and looking
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back on a life well-
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lived Annie castle and her brother had
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lived in the East End of London all
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their lives Bal green is really you know
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very much in the center of the East End
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quite a sort of workingclass community
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very close-knit so the neighbors all
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knew each
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other in
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1993 Annie and Billy were living in a
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flat on the manura estate somewhere
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they'd called home for almost 50 years
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Annie had moved in with her husband
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shortly after the end of the war when
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these Flats had recently been
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constructed Annie was a
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lovely pillar of the
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community and she had five children and
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I think 13 grandchildren and went on to
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have 15 great
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grandchildren when her brother Billy was
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invalided out of the army at the end of
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the second world war he got tuberculosis
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so he was sort of released from from the
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Army and and was really taken in by
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Annie and her husband and the rest of
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the family and he lived with them from
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then on Annie's husband Jim died in
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1987 but she and brother Billy continued
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to live together an his grandson Mark
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remembers the bethl green flat as a
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Lively hub for the entire family we
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would
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be around nanni's every Saturday you'd
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get there and Nanny would be up making a
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f of Y and then another member of the
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family turn up with their kids and then
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we'd all go down and play football and
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then someone else would turn up and then
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one of the moms would go oh there's a
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jumo cell over to church couple other
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moms would go all the dads would be
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sitting there the moms would be walking
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around Nanny would be making teas toast
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Billy was cooking it was just great
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fun Annie and Billy's warmth extended
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beyond their family to their neighbors
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and acquaintances in the local area the
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neighbors all knew each other and would
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socialize together so for example Annie
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would go to the local Social Club every
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week with a friend uh I think it was
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Winfred Nanny was an and a bat type of
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person uh bingo going to all people's
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little get together
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and she looked a million dollars when
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she W she was looking walking down the
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street and I actually see her once and
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she looked a million dollar with nice
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long coat on allir done makeup and was
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also described as being very generous so
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she would help people in her community
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she' often give money to people to
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support them if she could help them out
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bil
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would because of his illness was you
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know day sort of quite place to the
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house but he was very interested in the
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local community he had a pair of
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binoculars but he used to use them to
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spy on the local fruit and veg stall
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down the road so he could check what
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they had in on that day to see if he
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wanted
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anything as well as being a close-knit
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community the layout of the estate meant
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residents were often aware of one
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another's comings and goings there were
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number of blocks of flats but it was on
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quite a open sort of green area and he
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lived on the first floor but it wasn't a
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highrise floor it was just a few steps
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up onto um her Landing where there were
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several other flats along that
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particular Landing the Flat's front
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doors were accessed from shared walkways
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along the fronts of the buildings while
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at the back some of the flats had
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enclosed concrete balconies the blocks
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face one another across communal Lawns
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as neighbor Anne Ambrose remembers
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I lived opposite them so you could have
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a chat across the grass cuz we got great
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big grass expanse so you could actually
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chat if you needed
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to when the Peace of this settled
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Community was brutally shattered One
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Night in August
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1993 it would be the neighbors who
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noticed something was a
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miss the 22nd of August
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1993 Billy and Annie are at home in
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their flat in the mid after afternoon
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about 5:30 I think Annie goes out to her
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um weekly trip to the Social Club on a
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Sunday with a friend Winfred they did
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this regularly every Sunday so they met
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at around about 5:30 and then they
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returned at about
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8:30 now according to Winfred Billy
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would very often be standing in the
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communal balcony waiting for Annie to
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return home from in the social club and
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he would usually prepare a hot drink
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like a coffee and a and a sandwich for
00:15:05
her for when she returned and that does
00:15:07
seem to be what had happened in that
00:15:09
particular day although when Annie
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returned home the front door was shut
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there was no sign of
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Billy much of what happened after Annie
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Castle entered her flat that evening is
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unknown other residents would later help
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police piece the story
00:15:30
together neighbors recall hearing
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screams that
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evening but no one paid much
00:15:40
attention at around 1:30 a.m. Anne
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Ambrose was getting ready for bed in the
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flat opposite Annie and Billy's I just
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looked over and I noticed the lights
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were on but you don't think you don't
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think that's any problem at all you know
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you think well naturally they're just
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not going to bed yet and the lights were
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still on when she got up to go to the L
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at about 4:00 in the morning and then I
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noticed that the back door was open
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slightly cuz so we've got back back
00:16:08
balconies but even then I don't I don't
00:16:10
think anything suspicious went through
00:16:12
my
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mind and then she got up in the morning
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and she left at Monday morning um to go
00:16:17
to work she said she noted again that
00:16:20
the lights were on and then it was when
00:16:22
I got back home that I noticed that
00:16:25
nothing had changed across the way and I
00:16:27
thought that cannot be right she got
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back about 10:30 that night and when she
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saw that uh the lights were still on and
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the back door was still open she decided
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that she would U make a phone call to
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Annie and uh she didn't get any reply to
00:16:44
her call so she goes around and knocks
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on Annie Billy's door no answer she
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looks through the letter
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box can't see anything so at that point
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she decided that she was going to call
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the police
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when a police officer responded to an's
00:17:02
call that night he recognized
00:17:05
immediately that this was an emergency
00:17:08
the elderly siblings were nowhere to be
00:17:10
seen and their normally pristine flat
00:17:13
was in disarray he looked through the
00:17:16
window and what he could see were the
00:17:17
lights were still on the fridge door was
00:17:19
open there were cupboards and doors open
00:17:23
you could see that there's been
00:17:24
something that's been rans sa went round
00:17:27
to the back of the uh the FL looked up
00:17:29
at the balcony area and they saw that
00:17:31
the door was open at about 10 midnight
00:17:34
the fire brigade arrive and a ladder is
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erected and the police enter the flat
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through the back and unfortunately what
00:17:44
he saw there was quite um an awful
00:17:52
sight what the police officer found when
00:17:55
he entered Annie castle and Billy
00:17:57
Bryan's flat on the the night of the
00:17:59
23rd of August
00:18:01
1993 shocked the local community and
00:18:05
devastated Annie and Billy's close and
00:18:08
loving
00:18:11
family I was working with my father in
00:18:13
the thr Market night
00:18:15
workers and um got we got home went to
00:18:20
bed phone was ringing downstairs and
00:18:22
ringing and ringing and ringing and
00:18:24
ringing and ringing they go off didn't
00:18:26
ring again and straight away I know
00:18:28
something went right so I went down it
00:18:30
was my father he said Nanny and bil been
00:18:32
found dead in the flat and I was like oh
00:18:35
my
00:18:36
God the police officer who entered Annie
00:18:40
and Billy's home just before midnight on
00:18:42
August the 23rd had found the two
00:18:45
pensioners in the living room Annie was
00:18:48
slumped in a chair um with her head down
00:18:52
and uh Billy was laying on his side
00:18:55
directly in front of
00:18:57
um he had his hands tied together and uh
00:19:01
with a cord and he had some s of cloth
00:19:05
tied around his
00:19:07
feet it was neighbor Anne Ambrose who'd
00:19:11
raised the alarm that evening about
00:19:13
unusual activity at the older couple's
00:19:16
flat it wasn't too
00:19:18
long before the police came back
00:19:21
out and I said to them how are they and
00:19:26
he said they're dead it was such a shock
00:19:29
the whole house was in in complete
00:19:32
disarray um in the lounge area cushions
00:19:35
had been upended a vase had been smashed
00:19:39
and there was glass all over the floor
00:19:41
cupboards open drawers open a
00:19:43
screwdriver is found in the lounge and a
00:19:47
hammer is found outside the flat one of
00:19:51
their pairs of glasses was just sort of
00:19:54
chucked on the floor or fallen on the
00:19:56
floor somehow and Annie
00:19:59
handbag was lying on the floor with the
00:20:01
content strewn all over the
00:20:04
place shabnam chry was one of the
00:20:07
detectives assigned to investigate the
00:20:10
Unexplained deaths and to piece together
00:20:13
exactly what had befallen Annie and
00:20:15
Billy and why once a detective has
00:20:18
attended what you call a senior
00:20:20
investigating officer that now becomes
00:20:23
an official murder investigation and a
00:20:26
crime scene for evidence to be gathered
00:20:29
when they looked at the scene they could
00:20:31
see that Annie's fingers had areas of
00:20:34
sort of white where she would normally
00:20:37
have worn her her rings so she was
00:20:42
wearing um two gold wedding rings and
00:20:46
she also had two diamond rings that she
00:20:49
would habitually wear so it was clear
00:20:51
that they had been ripped off her
00:20:53
fingers um either when she was alive or
00:20:56
or after she died it's it's not a very
00:21:00
thorough burglary given the fact that a
00:21:03
lot of things are missed for example
00:21:07
more than £4,000 in cash hidden in socks
00:21:11
in the flat you don't know what has
00:21:13
actually happened you don't know for
00:21:14
sure whether it is actually a burglar
00:21:16
you don't know for sure whether
00:21:17
somebody's known to those individuals
00:21:20
there were no signs of a Breaking of
00:21:22
that particular uh flat you got to keep
00:21:25
an open mind one of the first tasks for
00:21:28
the investigation team was to work out
00:21:31
exactly when Annie and Billy had been
00:21:33
attacked no one had seen them since
00:21:36
Annie had arrived home from the social
00:21:38
club at around 8:30 on the Sunday
00:21:42
evening there was a half drunk cup of
00:21:45
coffee and the remnants of a meat
00:21:48
sandwich So within about half an hour
00:21:52
something has happened to interrupt
00:21:56
their usual routine
00:21:59
and we did have plenty of witnesses that
00:22:00
came forward but nobody that would
00:22:02
actually saw anything that happened so
00:22:05
everybody gave a picture which we were
00:22:07
able to draw up a timeline of events
00:22:10
that likely took place one neighbor had
00:22:13
heard a scream at around 9:30 p.m. while
00:22:16
Anne Ambrose had seen lights and
00:22:18
movement at around 1:30 a.m. there was a
00:22:21
6-year-old boy living nearby who was
00:22:24
woken up in the night and heard someone
00:22:26
saying repeatedly get out out of here
00:22:29
get out of here he was awoken during the
00:22:32
early hours of the morning and he became
00:22:34
very scared he went into his mother and
00:22:37
he told her what he'd heard um and then
00:22:39
she puts him back to bed so when you
00:22:42
combine all of that information and all
00:22:44
of that evidence together what you can
00:22:47
work out is that there would have been a
00:22:48
timeline of between around 9:30 p.m.
00:22:52
when the first scream Was Heard to
00:22:54
around about 4:30 early hours of the
00:22:57
following morning on the 23rd when both
00:23:00
Annie and Billy were subjected to that
00:23:03
violent uh attack uh being tied up and
00:23:06
actually been murdered in their own
00:23:09
homes the postmortem examinations
00:23:12
confirm suspicions that Annie and Billy
00:23:15
had indeed died during a prolonged
00:23:18
violent
00:23:20
incident Annie Castle's postmortem was
00:23:24
interesting because Annie actually had a
00:23:26
history of um heart disease and and
00:23:28
angina the fact that she was placed in
00:23:31
such a stressful situation would have
00:23:34
caused her to have a heart attack
00:23:37
physical examination of her body found
00:23:39
that there were bruises to her arms
00:23:43
which were consistent with her being
00:23:46
restrained physically with hands so we
00:23:49
straight away realized that Nanny was
00:23:53
beaten and so B been beaten up as well
00:23:57
Billy's post BM War was more complex in
00:23:59
actual fact because he too also did have
00:24:02
a history of heart disease um and of
00:24:05
heart problems but he was subjected to
00:24:09
more violence subjected to severe
00:24:12
violence the evidence showed that he'd
00:24:15
been not just restrained but he'd been
00:24:18
beaten and beaten by somebody probably
00:24:21
wearing a ring that did cause not just
00:24:23
bruising but sort of some cuts from you
00:24:27
know small puncture wounds from being
00:24:30
hit by someone wearing a prominent ring
00:24:33
he had injuries inflicted to one of his
00:24:36
eye sockets um he had injuries under his
00:24:39
chin some abrasions under his chin he'd
00:24:42
also been assaulted on both of his arms
00:24:44
on his body and also within on his
00:24:48
thighs despite the horrific number of
00:24:51
injuries Billy had suffered it was not
00:24:53
the beating that had killed the
00:24:55
71-year-old
00:24:56
veteran he had been suffocated
00:25:00
affixiated and that was the cause of
00:25:03
death it caused him to have a heart
00:25:05
attack as well but the the cause of
00:25:08
death itself was
00:25:10
asphixiation hearing that his beloved
00:25:13
grandmother and great uncle had endured
00:25:15
such a violent death was devastating for
00:25:18
Mark castle and for their extended
00:25:21
family I just was like numb numb
00:25:25
shock shock who done it older people
00:25:30
statistically are actually highly
00:25:32
unlikely to suffer this kind of
00:25:35
crime especially you know if they they
00:25:38
don't go out very often and they they
00:25:41
live in Secure homes and we
00:25:45
can't conceive of the type of person
00:25:50
that would Target the vulnerable in that
00:25:54
way immediately the first place your
00:25:58
head it's going to go to is that there's
00:26:00
an evil predator on the loose these
00:26:04
people don't share your values they
00:26:06
don't share your moral code that can be
00:26:11
terrifying for a community you do get
00:26:14
scared because you think well who in
00:26:16
that is there anyone in our community
00:26:18
would do that to these people and uh
00:26:20
obviously we were just living hope that
00:26:22
um they'd catch whoever this person was
00:26:25
the investigation team followed every
00:26:28
line of inquiry at their disposal this
00:26:31
is not an entrylevel offense so they
00:26:34
would have started looking through who
00:26:38
their local criminals were and who was
00:26:41
most likely to have committed this type
00:26:44
of offense we would Target individuals
00:26:47
who we might think might have been
00:26:49
responsible for this particularly in the
00:26:52
bethnal green area because we did have a
00:26:54
number of prolific burglars in that area
00:26:57
none of The Usual Suspects were linked
00:27:00
with the crime and no fingerprints were
00:27:02
found at the scene that could be match
00:27:05
with known criminals on the National
00:27:07
Database there was nothing that came
00:27:10
from that particular investigation in
00:27:11
those very early stages in
00:27:14
1993 that could actually put anybody at
00:27:17
that scene of that murder at that time
00:27:21
by 1999 6 years later no one has been
00:27:26
charged for these heus crimes in spite
00:27:29
of the fact that a reward of £5,000 has
00:27:32
been
00:27:33
offered nothing absolutely
00:27:38
nothing in
00:27:40
1999 police investigating the murders of
00:27:43
Annie castle and Billy Brian achieved a
00:27:46
small but frustrating step
00:27:50
forward Billy was tied with a black cord
00:27:54
that later transpired to be um the cord
00:27:57
from a or binoculars that came from the
00:27:59
same property in 1996 new Advanced
00:28:03
Scientific Technology was introduced and
00:28:07
then in 1999 what actually happened was
00:28:09
that Scientific Technology was allowed
00:28:11
to be used in casework the black cord
00:28:14
was submitted to the scientific lab uh
00:28:18
an actual fact it had been preserved all
00:28:19
that time within the same packaging
00:28:22
never been
00:28:23
removed there was DNA extracted and they
00:28:27
put it through the uh DNA database and
00:28:31
they got more than 300
00:28:35
posses in the early '90s we didn't have
00:28:38
a DNA database we do now but we did not
00:28:42
then and what's what has happened o over
00:28:45
the years is that since the introduction
00:28:49
of DNA identification it has developed
00:28:54
really quite quickly
00:28:58
the list of suspects had been narrowed
00:29:00
down and one of them had a long record
00:29:03
for violent offenses unfortunately it
00:29:06
was 308 names within that list came
00:29:09
Danville
00:29:11
Neil Danville Neil had been convicted of
00:29:14
yet another burglary in
00:29:16
1998 and in 1999 was believed to have
00:29:20
been serving time for this
00:29:22
offense as he's kept on offending over
00:29:25
the years and DNA has been developing a
00:29:28
alongside him his DNA profile has been
00:29:31
taken and it is now on the database so
00:29:35
that any crimes that he committed before
00:29:39
and after are now going to leave him
00:29:42
open to being arrested the problem was
00:29:45
he was number 136 on that list and
00:29:48
therefore it wasn't enough for them to
00:29:51
profile him as being responsible police
00:29:55
didn't have enough evidence at the time
00:29:58
to single Danville Neil out from the 308
00:30:01
potential culprits for Annie and Billy's
00:30:04
devastated loved ones the news brought
00:30:07
hope but no
00:30:09
resolution we had regular meetings with
00:30:11
these detectives where they were telling
00:30:13
us what had gone on and that they had a
00:30:17
little bit of DNA but it wasn't Advanced
00:30:20
as it is now so it was really really
00:30:23
tough to get a suspect and again it went
00:30:27
Qui after that for a number of
00:30:30
years it was a devastating time for the
00:30:33
families of Annie castle and Billy Brian
00:30:36
and as the years went by and the years
00:30:39
became decades the case remained
00:30:42
unsolved but as forensic science
00:30:44
continued to advance Danville Neil's
00:30:47
name wouldn't remain hidden on a list
00:30:49
for long and Justice would soon be done
00:30:57
[Music]
00:30:59
in
00:31:00
2017 there have been some new techniques
00:31:03
uh in DNA
00:31:05
identification by 2020 the techniques
00:31:08
had been approved for police to apply to
00:31:11
unsolved crimes as before the focus of
00:31:14
the investigation was Billy's binocular
00:31:16
strap which had been used to bind the
00:31:19
71y old's hands before his murder the
00:31:23
strap was actually knotted where the
00:31:24
perpetrator had tied the knots in order
00:31:27
to secure Billy's hands and tie them up
00:31:30
and for the first time ever those knots
00:31:34
were undone and therefore they used the
00:31:38
um DNA from those knots and the
00:31:42
DNA comes back as identifiable to one
00:31:46
Danville Neil Danville Neil was already
00:31:50
very very well known to the police as a
00:31:53
prolific burglar and he had a history of
00:31:57
violence as well so not only is he a
00:32:00
onein a billion match to the DNA he also
00:32:05
absolutely fits the profile of the kind
00:32:07
of person who would have done this it
00:32:10
was an unbelievable breakthrough almost
00:32:13
three decades after the crime eager to
00:32:16
build a case officers obtained a warrant
00:32:19
to search Danville Neil's home now it
00:32:22
might seem unusual that they're going to
00:32:23
search his premises because 30 years
00:32:26
have passed but the fact remain s that
00:32:29
there was jewelry outstanding from that
00:32:31
burglary and whilst they were searching
00:32:33
the premises Danville nil came back home
00:32:37
the officers arrested Danville for the
00:32:39
double murder of Annie castle and Billy
00:32:43
Ryan Neil by now 63 years old denied any
00:32:48
knowledge of the victims or the crime he
00:32:51
clearly stated he'd never ever been to
00:32:53
that uh flat he'd never been to Bethal
00:32:56
green and he didn't know anything about
00:32:59
that particular
00:33:00
burglary though the search of Neil's
00:33:03
home hadn't turned up any of Annie or
00:33:06
Billy's belongings it had given police
00:33:09
another piece of evidence in their case
00:33:12
against the suspected
00:33:16
killer they discovered that Danville
00:33:19
Neil owned a pair of white Hightech
00:33:23
training shoes they brought Danville
00:33:26
Neil in for for an interview and they
00:33:29
asked him about his shoes and they said
00:33:31
oh what about your trainers so these the
00:33:34
kind of trainers that you wear all the
00:33:35
time and he spoke about those trainers
00:33:38
quite candidly that uh back in the '90s
00:33:41
and still to this date of his age at 63
00:33:45
he always wore the same type of trainers
00:33:47
which were high-tech squash type
00:33:48
trainers they were a very particular
00:33:51
kind of Trainer sneaker they very
00:33:54
particular pattern on the souls unb
00:33:57
announced to Neil in
00:33:59
1993 scene of crime officers had
00:34:02
recovered Footprints from the home of
00:34:04
Annie castle and Billy Brian the
00:34:07
exhibits officer and the the crime scene
00:34:10
manager uh would have lifted all forms
00:34:12
of different types of um evidence and
00:34:15
within that came some footprints on
00:34:17
newspaper articles that were found on
00:34:19
the floor these were in the shape of um
00:34:22
high-tech
00:34:24
trainers it was another important piece
00:34:27
of evidence to link Neil with the Fatal
00:34:29
attack in
00:34:31
1993
00:34:32
finally on the 6th of July 2021 the
00:34:36
police not only arrest Danville Neil but
00:34:39
they charge him with the murders of
00:34:42
Annie and
00:34:45
Billy in the summer of 2021 the team now
00:34:49
investigating the murders were able to
00:34:51
share with Mark castle and his family
00:34:54
the news they had waited 28 years for
00:34:58
we got a phone call to attend um a
00:35:01
meeting with some detectives and said
00:35:04
Delight to tell you we've got a viable
00:35:07
suspect no names were
00:35:09
mentioned no
00:35:12
area nothing about him whatsoever I
00:35:15
remember leaving there in a bit of a
00:35:18
trance really and I
00:35:21
sobed hope was on the horizon in the
00:35:24
family's Quest For Justice Danville Neil
00:35:27
was Ed in custody 16 months after he was
00:35:31
charged he stood trial for the double
00:35:33
murder and the trial was heard at the
00:35:36
Old Bailey in November
00:35:40
2022 journalist Emily Penning attended
00:35:44
the trial at London's most famous
00:35:46
Criminal Court people have been
00:35:48
waiting for years to see someone in the
00:35:53
dock for Annie and Billy's death um so
00:35:56
you know you really feel the weight of
00:35:58
that the weight of the crime the level
00:36:01
the brutality the callousness um that
00:36:04
they were treated
00:36:07
with he pleads not guilty I had nothing
00:36:10
to do with it I don't know anything
00:36:12
Danville Neil is now 65 years old he's
00:36:15
escaped
00:36:16
Justice for many many years more than a
00:36:20
quarter of a
00:36:21
century when I first saw him he was on
00:36:23
screen from where I could see he looked
00:36:28
smart tired shirt on then when we went
00:36:32
to
00:36:34
trial it was a fragile all men gray ha
00:36:38
could hardly
00:36:40
walk lasses unshaven gray which was as I
00:36:45
know is an
00:36:47
actor playing a sympathy card my initial
00:36:51
impressions of Danville Neil though was
00:36:54
he looked exactly what he is a career
00:36:59
criminal someone
00:37:02
who doesn't care
00:37:05
about the hurt that he causes to other
00:37:08
people he didn't exude a feeling of
00:37:13
someone who is innocent everything he
00:37:16
said I think just seemed like a lie to
00:37:19
my mind he seemed cold and callous which
00:37:22
is exactly what he was
00:37:30
the prosecutions case centered on the
00:37:33
DNA found on the court that had bound
00:37:35
Billy's hands this proved that they
00:37:38
claimed that Danville Neil could be the
00:37:40
only person responsible for attacking
00:37:43
and killing Annie and Billy in their
00:37:45
home that night in August
00:37:48
1993 the most crucial part of that
00:37:52
evidence was linking him solely him
00:37:56
directly to that murder scene and that
00:37:59
uh was in the form of the DNA on the
00:38:01
strap he never really gave an
00:38:03
explanation as to how his DNA his bodily
00:38:07
fluids were placed on that knot Danville
00:38:11
Neil insists that the only reason
00:38:15
there's DNA on the binocular
00:38:18
strap is that he happened to have sold a
00:38:21
pair of binoculars to Billy at a car
00:38:25
boot sale that would have made more
00:38:27
sense
00:38:28
had it been simply somewhere on the
00:38:31
binocular straps but the the DNA
00:38:34
evidence was found on the knot that was
00:38:36
used to subdue Billy it was an unlikely
00:38:42
story and one the police had been able
00:38:44
to disprove they spoke to Billy's nephew
00:38:48
and he said oh no Billy was very proud
00:38:51
of his gadgets he was really into them
00:38:54
and he would have bought them new and
00:38:56
actually when the police looked into it
00:38:59
even further they discovered that this
00:39:02
particular type of binocular would had
00:39:04
only started to be imported into Britain
00:39:09
in
00:39:10
19991 so they would have been pretty
00:39:13
much brand new when they were acquired
00:39:16
by
00:39:17
Billy the court was also told about the
00:39:20
shoe prints found in the flat so similar
00:39:23
to the trainers habitually worn by Neil
00:39:26
and about some of the similar crimes
00:39:28
he'd been convicted of in the past all
00:39:31
of that added together to a pretty
00:39:34
compelling case against danvil now when
00:39:37
the jury retired to consider their
00:39:39
verdict Annie and Billy's loved ones
00:39:41
faced a tense weight to he if after 29
00:39:45
years Justice would be served and I
00:39:48
thought he was going to walk the
00:39:50
day of the verdict there was 12 of us
00:39:54
upstairs went to go in the gallery and I
00:39:57
lost it sobbed and sobbed and
00:40:01
sobed I was so scared he was going to
00:40:04
walk because once he walks we got
00:40:07
nothing and then the jury went out came
00:40:11
back relatively quickly I think went in
00:40:15
and I'd never been so scared in my life
00:40:17
the first count was the murder of Billy
00:40:22
and that came back guilty of murder the
00:40:25
second count came came back not guilty
00:40:28
of murder so it's was a bit of a heart
00:40:30
stopping moment oh my goodness they're
00:40:33
going to quit on the second murder and
00:40:35
then they said how do you find the
00:40:37
defendant on the count two of
00:40:41
manslaughter and they said
00:40:44
guilty soon they come out with a guilty
00:40:48
it's
00:40:49
like gone everything had come out of me
00:40:53
steam Pine had gone and
00:40:58
everyone was grabbing me and pulling me
00:41:01
and kissing this one shaking that one
00:41:03
Mrs Justice CH M gr sentenced Danville
00:41:06
Neil to life in prison and she said that
00:41:10
he would have to stay in prison for at
00:41:14
least 32
00:41:16
years in passing
00:41:19
sentence the judge
00:41:21
says you dodged Justice for nearly 30
00:41:25
years now justice has caught up with you
00:41:29
she said it was an absolutely appalling
00:41:31
crime um not least because of the
00:41:35
Frailty of the victims but
00:41:38
because there were two victims involved
00:41:41
in his crime so not only had he
00:41:44
effectively tortured Billy in a failed
00:41:47
attempt to find the valuables his
00:41:49
actions had also led to the death of
00:41:52
Annie the judge's sentence means that
00:41:55
Danville Neil was will almost certainly
00:41:58
die in jail it would mean he'd be over
00:42:00
97 before he could even be eligible for
00:42:04
parole and that must be regarded as a
00:42:06
very distant possibility given Neil's
00:42:09
violent history the idea he'll never be
00:42:12
released will be a comfort to those who
00:42:14
suffered at his
00:42:16
hands I don't think he was solely
00:42:19
motivated by greed if that's the case he
00:42:22
was a very poor burglar he never seemed
00:42:24
to make real money out of burglary but I
00:42:27
think he was motivated by violence of
00:42:30
all kinds there was nothing else to
00:42:33
kneel except this need to be cruel
00:42:38
and
00:42:40
controlling and domineering and that
00:42:43
makes him really
00:42:45
evil the conviction of Danville Neil
00:42:49
brought a measure of closure not only to
00:42:51
the family of Annie castle and Billy
00:42:53
Brian but also to all of the victims who
00:42:56
survived his violent attacks throughout
00:42:59
his criminal career a career that had
00:43:02
begun when he was still in his teens
00:43:05
with Annie and Billy's deaths likely to
00:43:07
be the last entry on his lengthy rap
00:43:10
sheet Danville Neil has finally been
00:43:12
recognized as one of the world's most
00:43:15
evil killers
00:43:18
[Music]
