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in April 1997 in Stockport greater
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Manchester a 17-year-old girl was
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abducted at knife Point by a stranger
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she was held hostage for over 11 hours I
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started to beg him I didn't show any
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emotion before and I was pleading with
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him not to hurt me unbeknown to his
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victim hours before her Abdu ction The
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Stranger had brutally murdered another
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innocent woman in a gruesome act of
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violence I've never ever experienced
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something as
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horrific as the circumstances
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surrounding that case the mysterious
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killer was 27-year-old Nicholas Burton
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who did everything he could to prevent
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being brought to Justice you still got
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no sense of any motive no reason why
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this happened psychiatrist agreed that
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Burton was one of the most unstable
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people they'd ever assessed this is
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something that is part of who this man
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is and he's going to continue to be a
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danger Nicholas Burton had been exposed
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as one of the world's most evil killers
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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in the early hours of April the 27th
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1997 armed police gathered together
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ready to storm a hotel room in North
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Wales they were trying to locate a
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dangerous predator who'd abducted a 17
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year old girl at knife point when North
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Wales police went to arrest Burton it
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was for the Abduction of Debbie it was
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only when they got there and found his
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room that they realized they were
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actually arresting a murderer as
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officers searched the hotel room they
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discovered evidence that linked their
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suspect to the coldblooded and Savage
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murder of 27-year-old assistant bank
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manager Rachel mcgr the previous day in
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the hotel room they found Burton's
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clothing which was stained in my
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sister's blood a black leather jacket
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trousers shoes and actually the murder
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weapon hunting knife which is about 23
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24 cm
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long this killer Story begins on the
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edge of the Peak District in the
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northwest of England Nicholas Burton was
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born on the 5th of February
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1970 it was born and bred in darash New
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Mills that sort of area a little tiny
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part of it called New Town his parents
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were lovely he was described by his
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mother at the time as happy gol
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lucky Nicholas Burton appeared to have
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quite a normal childhood and in his
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early adulthood he was a full-time
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worker in a factory where his father had
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been for 30
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years he'd been educated well he'd got a
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stud job and everything was all going
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well as an adult Burton began a
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relationship with a woman who was a
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singer she claimed he was a fairly
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normal guy when they were together it
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was okay Mr Joe public average sort of
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person really the relationship fell
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apart when his girlfriend got a singing
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job in another part of the country and
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moved away he seemed to take that really
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badly that he couldn't deal with that
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rejection and he seemed at that point
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then to spiral and things changed quite
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dramatic ically Nicholas Burton started
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experimenting with alcohol and drugs it
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started off with the usual cannabis and
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built up very quickly to
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LSD acid when the substance abuse was
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gathering Pace he just seemed to go to a
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downward spiral he was worse and worse
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the harder substances were having an
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effect on Burton and the change in his
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behavior was apparent to those around
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him and at one point his mom in
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particular was worried that he
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overstepped The Mark with his mental
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health and she became concerned one day
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she came back from
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work and she discovered in the bathroom
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was a lot of towels that were covered in
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blood and he' locked himself away in the
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bedroom she thought it was very strange
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and she suspected and even though this
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has never been confirmed that it
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castrated
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himself that kind of Mutilation suggests
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some kind of self-hatred
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directed very very specifically at a
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certain part of the self which might
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include his sexuality and
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masculinity what amazes me is that he's
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gone from a very low level you know just
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the average Joe public and escalates it
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very very quickly into a monster and the
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way he was in
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1997 27-year-old Burton was still living
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in New Mills darbishire 14 mil away in
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Greater Manchester 17-year-old Debbie
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had just recently passed her driving
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test 25 years on Debbie now wishes to
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remain anonymous her words have been
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voiced by an actor I was living with my
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parents and my two sisters in gatle and
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Stockport
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it was quite a nice Community it was
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nice pubs you know we knew the neighbors
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we all knew each other it's quite normal
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and
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safe on Saturday the 26th of April
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1997 Debb's day had started in the usual
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way she was on route that particular
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morning on the Saturday morning to go to
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a part-time
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job Debbie stopped at her local
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convenience store on her way to work to
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get some crisps and a drink she pared
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parked her car directly outside the shop
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was literally around the corner from my
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house on the way to the shop I noticed a
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man walking the opposite way but I
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didn't think anything of it when Debbie
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came back out of the shop she noticed
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the same man had double back and was
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lingering nearby I remember thinking
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I've just seen you walk past why are you
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here what do you want and as she went
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back to her
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vehicle he jumped out on her and
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threatened her with with a knife and he
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just approached me with a knife and he
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said can you get in your car and give me
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all your money
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please I was trapped there's nowhere to
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run if I could run it'd run after me and
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I felt I wanted to
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scream I did as I was told and got in
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the driver's seat and he climbed at the
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back of me and climbed into the
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passenger
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seat so he's sitting next to me with a
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knife to my thigh while I was
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driving well the poor woman girl is
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obviously terrified out of her wits he's
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still threatening her with a knife and
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orders her to drive not round the block
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but a long way the knife wielding car
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Jacker ordered Debbie to drive him to
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Wales claiming he'd never been there
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before and wanted to go Debbie had only
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recently passed her driving test and was
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fairly new to the roads I'm trying to
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concentrate not to crash the car I've
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never been on a Motorway there's nothing
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I could
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do people are driving past me and I'm
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trying to get their
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attention how can you get their
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attention they're too fast he's going to
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you'll see my reaction you know I'm
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trapped there's nothing I can do I can't
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do
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anything Debbie was terrified the
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17-year-old was being held hostage in
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her own vehicle by a complete stranger
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with no way of Escape as they headed
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into the remote Countryside of Wales the
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Petrified teenager had no idea what the
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deadly stranger had planned for her but
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one thing was for sure Debbie's life was
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in grave
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Danger on the way to Wales I was doing
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about 60 on the inside Lane and I was
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running out of petrol so I said we need
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we need to get petrol
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he said turn off here there's a church a
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dirt track he ordered me to reverse near
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the
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graves when I reversed in near the
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church and then he told me to get
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out she will know that things are
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getting more and more isolated she knows
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there's this guy in the car with a knife
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I can't
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imagine what she was thinking where this
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was going to
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end the abductor ordered Debbie to get
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into the boot of her own car so that
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she'd be hidden away when he went to
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refuel it he opened the boot he told me
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to lie on my front put my legs up put my
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hands behind my
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back she was forced into going into the
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boot of the car and it was clearly angry
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you know and he was taken out on Debbie
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she was petrified as you can
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imagine I started to beg
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him I didn't show any emotion
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before I was pleading with him to not
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hurt me he cut the seat weapon the seat
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belt weapon hi her up and gagged
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her he tied my arms and my legs together
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with seat
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belts he put one around my
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mouth and then shut the boots
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with Debbie in the boot her abductor
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drove her car to a nearby petrol station
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filling it up with £10 that Debbie had
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given him earlier he then drove around
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for another 45 minutes or so with Debbie
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still in the
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boot I was
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helpless just thinking of my friends and
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my
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family they're going to be worried where
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I
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am I can't die like this I won't I can't
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this can't be it I can't even begin to
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think how utterly horrified
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terrified she must have
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been eventually the man stopped the car
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and released Debbie from the boot he got
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me out of the boot and we parked in like
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in the mountains on the side of the
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road stayed there for hours there was no
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one
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around he talking abs absolute rubbish
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about drugs about the Happy Mondays what
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the songs mean to him he's smoking
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cigars and all the time she's trying to
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involve him in conversation in a
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desperate attempt to save her
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life I remember telling him that I was
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18 in 4
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weeks cuz I wanted him to like me surely
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if you like me he not going to hurt
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me she had the presence of mind or maybe
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that survival Instinct where she tried
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to build some kind of rapport with him
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that's an
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incredibly difficult thing to do and
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took great presence of mind and bravery
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from
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her a rare glimmer of hope emerged as
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another car went
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by but he was watching my reactions the
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whole time I just couldn't do it
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I couldn't scream for help again because
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he he'll use the
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knife ours went by and eventually Debb's
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abductor decided it was time to move on
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they were low on fuel again and this
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time out of cash I said I've got my bank
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card I've got I can get cash I can get
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more cash he said okay we'll go and get
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cash and I need more
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petrol the knife wielding man and Debbie
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drove down to the Welsh coastal town of
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canavan he then Unleashed
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Debbie and she went with him to the cash
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point to put the the number in and he
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then tried to get some
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money there were loads of people around
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he's got his arm around me with a knife
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to my
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stomach there's people laughing walking
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past me
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couldn't do it couldn't do it again I
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couldn't help I wanted to say help just
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couldn't do it she must have been
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terrified what an ordeal for to take
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place Debbie had missed her opportunity
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to escape and was still at her abductor
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Mercy he got Debbie back into the car
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but this time let her sit in the
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passenger
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seat so you must have trusted me a
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little bit to not put me back in the
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boot to get more
00:14:03
petrol and we got to the pump and I'm in
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the passenger seat he gets out fills up
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he's watching me through the window
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staring at
00:14:14
me with the kidnapper keeping a watchful
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eye on his captive Debbie would struggle
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yet again to make her
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Escape so I just
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slowly I saw there was a man the next
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pump on my left there was a man a taxi
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driver at the next pump and I thought I
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can do this I can I can do this slowly
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undid my seat belt without looking at
00:14:42
him she saw the opportunity to escape
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whilst he was filling the car up with
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petrol he was using her money and she
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ran screaming and
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shouted I just ran for it to the taxi
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driver sat on his knee
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just opened his door and sat on his knee
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Debbie's abductor did not pursue her it
00:15:06
just calmly and casually got back into
00:15:10
the car and just drove off as though
00:15:12
nothing had happened that does actually
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tell us quite a lot about what's going
00:15:18
on with him so he seems to be quite
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emotionally divorced from from what is
00:15:25
going on his language and his behavior
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it's very much that he's in control of
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this situation but he doesn't seem to
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have any real fear of being CAU it does
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kind of suggest that this isn't some
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really bad
00:15:45
psychotic episode it's too controlled
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and he's too calm and going about his
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business as as normal
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almost Debbie had finally escaped her
00:16:00
abductor after a horrific 11-hour ordeal
00:16:03
but it could have been even more
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terrifying If Debby had known what had
00:16:08
happened less than 24 hours earlier just
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5 miles away from where she was
00:16:15
taken Michael mcra and his sister Rachel
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grew up in wilmslow in chesher after the
00:16:21
mcgr family moved there in 1970 Michael
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was three and Rachel was 5 months old
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bright Lively bubbly beautiful
00:16:32
incredibly stubborn at
00:16:34
times but as my baby sister my baby
00:16:39
sister she was an amazing pianist it was
00:16:42
lovely so music was a life really she
00:16:44
she loved it really loved it Rachel MGR
00:16:48
was well educated she was working for a
00:16:51
building society as an assistant manager
00:16:54
she was 27 got a good career ahead of
00:16:57
her she was a
00:16:59
girl who led life to the
00:17:04
full she was very much loved by a family
00:17:09
Rachel had recently moved in with her
00:17:11
boyfriend and they were settling down
00:17:14
together he was very good for her and
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they were great as a couple so it was
00:17:17
great to see how happy she was on the
00:17:19
evening of the 25th of April
00:17:22
1997 Rachel's boyfriend went out for a
00:17:25
few drinks with friends to a pub in
00:17:27
nearby bramel
00:17:30
it was the same Pub that 27-year-old
00:17:32
Nicholas Burton had made his way to that
00:17:36
evening Nicholas Burton he was a bit of
00:17:39
a loner he'd left the house and he'd
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walked 10
00:17:43
miles to the pub in
00:17:46
bramall where he'd been seen by numerous
00:17:50
members of the pub and he was prone to
00:17:53
smoking cigars and drinking Guinness and
00:17:57
he was also going around the PB begging
00:18:00
for money so that he could buy the uh
00:18:02
the
00:18:03
items Burton attempted to interact with
00:18:07
a number of different customers that
00:18:09
were there that evening numerous points
00:18:12
he tried to engage in
00:18:14
conversation with a group next to him uh
00:18:18
that was rebuffed he made a rather lwd
00:18:21
comment about what he was doing there
00:18:22
and and he said oh I'm waiting to meet a
00:18:24
beautiful woman he clearly wasn't he
00:18:27
clearly alone on his own
00:18:29
he seemed to be quite focused on a
00:18:33
beautiful girl and I I just feel that
00:18:37
maybe there were some strange thought
00:18:40
processes going on there where he was
00:18:43
definitely in the stages of planning
00:18:46
some form of activity or action that was
00:18:51
going to come later on but he was
00:18:53
obsessed with it whatever it was when he
00:18:55
was just chatting in the
00:18:57
pub one point he begged money to go buy
00:19:01
some cigars from the shop down Road and
00:19:03
came back
00:19:05
in while Rachel's boyfriend was also
00:19:08
drinking in the same Pub as Burton
00:19:11
Rachel had gone to visit her parents and
00:19:13
her brother Michael joined her there she
00:19:16
was really buzzing that day because
00:19:18
she'd been interviewed by The Daily Mail
00:19:20
about her team at work and there was a
00:19:23
really lovely article where I left at
00:19:25
about
00:19:26
seven and she turned around to me and
00:19:28
said don't forget daily ma pays 39 it's
00:19:31
ironic because only a few hours later
00:19:33
she was all over the front page of
00:19:34
pretty much all the
00:19:36
Nationals Rachel returned to the par but
00:19:39
closing time to collect her boyfriend
00:19:42
and take him
00:19:43
home Nicholas Burton had also been
00:19:46
drinking in the same Pub that evening
00:19:48
the 27-year-old loner had spent the
00:19:51
night begging for money and pestering
00:19:54
other drinkers we was probably in the
00:19:56
pup from for about 4 hours penniless no
00:20:00
money he had enough money on him to buy
00:20:02
a single pint of Guinness which
00:20:03
apparently he
00:20:04
set and may last that length of time it
00:20:08
was closing time at the pup and it was
00:20:11
around 5: to
00:20:13
11: when he went outside for a
00:20:16
smoke 27-year-old Rachel mcg's boyfriend
00:20:20
had also been drinking in the same Pub
00:20:22
that evening and after spending time
00:20:25
with her parents and brother Rachel
00:20:27
drove to the pub to pick him up so she's
00:20:30
waiting to collect him pre-arranged
00:20:32
meeting for by the rear door of the P
00:20:34
unbeknown to Rachel she wasn't alone in
00:20:37
the car park she was being watched he
00:20:41
saw rich in the car and he took the
00:20:44
opportunity when he saw her there parked
00:20:46
up doors unlocked in the passenger side
00:20:48
and he jumps in she probably thought
00:20:51
that was her boyfriend getting it what
00:20:53
we think happened is that he got into
00:20:55
the passenger door
00:20:58
held a knife to
00:21:00
her and was trying to abduct her instead
00:21:04
of driving away as the man had wanted
00:21:06
her to Rachel decided to get out of the
00:21:09
car and try to escape instead she's no
00:21:13
more than 30 feet I would say from the
00:21:16
rear door of the
00:21:18
PB goes out to the driver's door and
00:21:21
trying to rush around to the pub
00:21:23
entrance of the
00:21:26
rear and it's pretty clear that he goes
00:21:29
around the other way and catches her at
00:21:32
the rear of the
00:21:33
car he's chased her and caught her
00:21:36
virtually against the wall and she's had
00:21:39
no chance unfortunately at that time the
00:21:41
pub was packed but outside everybody's
00:21:45
having last orders so we had no
00:21:48
witnesses to what took place in The Next
00:21:51
Period of time as Rachel tried to escape
00:21:55
the man chasing her pulled out a hunting
00:21:57
knife that he'd beat concealing and used
00:22:00
it to stop her getting away then he
00:22:03
grabs her from
00:22:06
behind to incapacitate her brings his
00:22:09
knife up through the back of her right
00:22:11
leg so it comes out of the
00:22:13
front a second major incapacitation
00:22:16
wound through her rib cage on the right
00:22:18
hand side that punctures her right lung
00:22:21
the knifeman had bought defenseless
00:22:23
Rachel to the ground with injuries that
00:22:25
would have been agonizing for her to
00:22:28
stop Rachel from drawing attention to
00:22:31
the attack from people nearby the man
00:22:33
then used the same knife he'd already
00:22:36
horrifically wounded her with to stop
00:22:39
her screaming with a Saar action hacks
00:22:41
through her throat severing her vocal
00:22:43
cords and a cotted artery on the right
00:22:45
hand side and actually nicking the back
00:22:47
of her
00:22:49
spine with a knife that we know is about
00:22:51
23 cm
00:22:53
long doesn't get any worse than
00:22:55
that the only thing
00:23:01
that he didn't do was rap
00:23:04
her but he made a real mess with her the
00:23:07
real mess of it doesn't get any
00:23:11
worse it would have been a slow death
00:23:15
for over a few minutes she was screaming
00:23:18
but there was nobody about to actually
00:23:19
hear those screams the Cowardly knif man
00:23:22
then fled the scene leaving Rachel dying
00:23:25
alone on the cold ground outside inside
00:23:28
the
00:23:30
pub and that's horrible you know
00:23:34
nobody excuse me nobody deserves
00:23:38
that and it showed showed you what a
00:23:40
monster he
00:23:42
was as revelers left the pub at closing
00:23:45
time Rachel's body was discovered by
00:23:49
then it was too late to save her police
00:23:52
quickly arrived at the crime
00:23:55
scene the night detective it was was a
00:23:59
DC he absolutely did a fantastic job in
00:24:03
sealing the pub off so that nobody left
00:24:06
and we managed to get a brief chat
00:24:09
before they were released from the PO
00:24:11
detective Sergeant Paul Moos from
00:24:13
greater Manchester police remembers
00:24:16
arriving at the chilling scene it's
00:24:18
probably one of the worst sets of
00:24:22
injuries that I've ever witnessed in the
00:24:24
whole of my career as a detective I was
00:24:27
on the the major insd team which covered
00:24:29
all murders in Manchester for the last
00:24:31
seven years of his service this was
00:24:34
incredibly brutal this was a young woman
00:24:37
on her own in what should have been a
00:24:39
relatively safe area and a completely
00:24:43
random but
00:24:45
targeted attack I can see why that is
00:24:49
shocking and deeply upsetting the victim
00:24:52
had been waiting to collect her
00:24:54
boyfriend to take him home and this
00:24:57
attack seemed to be entirely
00:24:59
unprovoked we didn't have a clue as
00:25:02
regards what the motive was and what the
00:25:05
potential was of the particular offender
00:25:09
we didn't still didn't know anything
00:25:10
about
00:25:12
him nobody had seen the attack and there
00:25:15
was no CCTV to provide vital Clues as to
00:25:19
who had done this identifying the
00:25:22
mystery killer wouldn't be a quick
00:25:25
task any forensic avence at the scene
00:25:29
wouldn't have been found until later we
00:25:32
all agreed that we'd got nothing at that
00:25:34
stage no evidence and we needed a break
00:25:36
through while detective Sergeant Moos
00:25:39
took charge of the crime scene other
00:25:42
police officers had to break the
00:25:43
devastating news about Rachel to her
00:25:46
family we were awoken I remember looking
00:25:49
at the clock next to the bed at was 2:45
00:25:52
a.m. we got a knock on the door and
00:25:55
immediately thinking hang on a second
00:25:57
that's not good news I open the door and
00:25:59
my parents were there with two policemen
00:26:02
so my mother was um in tears clearly and
00:26:06
my father was ashen-faced and the police
00:26:09
basically said um
00:26:11
Michael we need you to come with us now
00:26:14
please so I got dressed and got to my
00:26:16
parents house about 3 and then they sat
00:26:18
us down and said your sister's been
00:26:21
killed the family were unaware at that
00:26:24
point of just how horrific the
00:26:26
circumstances surrounding Rachel's death
00:26:29
were my brain's going into overtime you
00:26:32
don't really know how to take that in
00:26:33
you're still trying to digest all that
00:26:35
my mother at that time was really
00:26:37
struggling she uh was not reacting very
00:26:40
well to what had happened we had to call
00:26:42
the doctor to her to give us some stives
00:26:45
by the morning news of the murder had
00:26:48
sent shock waves through the local
00:26:50
community and attracted national press
00:26:53
so we got got back to the house in W and
00:26:55
then there's just a media scrum
00:26:57
developing
00:26:58
we had say reporters outside the house
00:27:01
that morning wanting to speak to my
00:27:02
parents I was Keen to protect them I
00:27:05
managed to stop the newspapers arriving
00:27:08
because the early pictures of the in the
00:27:10
newspapers had photographs of a tent
00:27:13
where Rachel had been
00:27:15
killed Rachel had been murdered around
00:27:17
11:00 p.m. the night before the mystery
00:27:20
killer had fled the scene and left her
00:27:23
dying Rachel's family had been informed
00:27:26
but the police had no further updates
00:27:29
for them so the police sat down with us
00:27:32
later that morning and said we are
00:27:35
starting from scratch with this and at
00:27:37
that stage it's a
00:27:39
murder we don't understand if there what
00:27:41
the motive is we don't understand if
00:27:43
there any suspects they're working way
00:27:45
through the
00:27:46
investigation and it's clearly a manhand
00:27:48
it's clearly a manhand but they've got
00:27:50
nothing to go on when the police had
00:27:52
arrived at the scene and interviewed
00:27:55
customers still in the pub a few of them
00:27:57
mentioned mentioned that there' been a
00:27:59
new face in there that evening a man
00:28:02
drinking Guinness and smoking cigars and
00:28:06
we managed to get the names and
00:28:07
addresses of every single one of those
00:28:09
people the identity of the customer was
00:28:12
unknown but even then there was nothing
00:28:15
to suggest this mysterious man had
00:28:17
anything to do with the murder a Sunday
00:28:20
evening came around with no further
00:28:22
leads detective Paul Moos received a
00:28:25
phone call when 17-year-old Debbie had
00:28:28
escaped in Wales the police from where
00:28:30
she went missing in Greater Manchester
00:28:33
were informed and we put two and two
00:28:35
together and we didn't know at that
00:28:37
stage that it was definitively linked
00:28:40
and I was briefed that I was going to go
00:28:42
to North Wales to canavan where Debbie
00:28:46
had managed to escape and progress the
00:28:49
inquiry from
00:28:52
there the police came and I remember
00:28:54
seeing Paul and thinking I'm safe I've
00:28:57
got away I've escaped I was just in
00:29:00
complete shock and relief that I got
00:29:03
away we wanted to see whether there was
00:29:06
a link to the murder and the clearly was
00:29:09
because I remember this vividly as it
00:29:12
was yesterday Debbie said to me um that
00:29:17
he talked about smoking cigars and that
00:29:19
he drank Guinness and when that clicked
00:29:21
into place and with the inquiries that
00:29:23
had been done with the occupants of the
00:29:26
pub the previous night
00:29:29
as the details started to fit together
00:29:31
police in the next town of Banger had
00:29:34
located Debbie's stolen car North Wales
00:29:37
police found Debbie's car abandoned
00:29:40
having been involved in a bit of a
00:29:42
collision with a wall so that activated
00:29:45
even more
00:29:46
inquiries the police immediately
00:29:48
contacted all of the nearby hotels
00:29:51
trying to find the wanted man and a
00:29:54
staff member at one of the hotels soon
00:29:57
gave Detective Ive Sergeant Moors the
00:29:59
news he'd been waiting to hear he was
00:30:03
there and soon as it was mentioned by
00:30:08
him about the cigars and the
00:30:11
Guinness I knew it was him you know my
00:30:15
gut feeling had become an adrenaline
00:30:18
pumping
00:30:19
situation and I asked for a Firearms
00:30:22
team to go and make the
00:30:24
arrest armed police gathered in bangal
00:30:27
Wales ready to storm the hotel room
00:30:30
expecting to find Debbie's abductor on
00:30:32
the other side of the
00:30:36
door detective Sergeant Paul Moos
00:30:39
briefed them that this may also be the
00:30:41
man responsible for killing 27-year-old
00:30:45
Rachel mcra in bramel chesher just over
00:30:48
24 hours
00:30:50
[Music]
00:30:53
earlier and I emphasized the series I
00:30:58
Ness and the horrendous nature of the
00:31:00
attack and I made sure that they knew
00:31:04
full well that the room was to be sealed
00:31:07
off completely and we got him and that's
00:31:10
when it all started to kick into
00:31:13
place the man apprehended at the hotel
00:31:16
was 27-year-old Nicholas Burton the drug
00:31:20
abuser who'd been drinking in the pub
00:31:22
the night Rachel was killed items found
00:31:25
in his hotel room gave the police even
00:31:28
more to potentially link him to the
00:31:30
murder they'd found blood stains on the
00:31:34
knife they'd found blood stains in the
00:31:38
sink there was some trainers that were
00:31:41
drying that might be blood and there was
00:31:44
also a jacket in the wardrobe that had a
00:31:47
stain on it which could have been the
00:31:50
blood stain and turned out it was there
00:31:53
are some similarities between his
00:31:56
appearance and and an individual who
00:32:00
they believe was in the pub prior to my
00:32:03
sister's murder Nicholas Burton had been
00:32:06
caught with incriminating evidence but
00:32:09
if officers thought it would be an easy
00:32:11
conviction they were wrong he wouldn't
00:32:14
speak to the police he didn't speak when
00:32:18
he was
00:32:20
interviewed no admissions he wouldn't
00:32:23
have any blood samples taken from him he
00:32:26
was not cooperating
00:32:28
the results of the DNA analysis linked
00:32:31
the knife found in Burton's hotel room
00:32:33
to Rachel mcgr once that came back
00:32:37
statistically it was a one in 300
00:32:39
million chance of it not being Rachel's
00:32:41
blood so at that point you know it's him
00:32:43
Burton was still not cooperating with
00:32:45
the police and they were unable to find
00:32:48
a motive that linked him to the crimes
00:32:50
despite Burton's silence detectives were
00:32:53
confident the evidence against him was
00:32:55
strong on the 30th of a April 1997 they
00:32:59
charged him with the Abduction of Debbie
00:33:02
2 days later they charged him with
00:33:04
Rachel's murder to secure a conviction
00:33:07
for murder the police would have to
00:33:09
prove that Burton had fully intended to
00:33:11
kill but you've still gotten no sense of
00:33:14
any motive no
00:33:16
reason and as rational H any rational
00:33:19
human being you're turning these things
00:33:21
over your mind and going why why what's
00:33:24
why has this happened another element
00:33:26
police would have to prove is that
00:33:28
Burton was of sound mind at the time he
00:33:31
committed the crimes just prior to the
00:33:34
trial Burton started to make some
00:33:36
previously unmentioned claims he said he
00:33:40
thought he was God and that he the
00:33:43
voices were telling him to do these
00:33:46
things you know again it shows a lot of
00:33:50
premeditation there was no supporting
00:33:53
evidence from the past from his medical
00:33:55
records that he' suffered from any kind
00:33:57
of mental illness I think that was just
00:34:00
Burton cottoning on to an idea in an
00:34:03
attempt to save his skin he never
00:34:05
claimed this before so the timing does
00:34:08
become quite important the trial started
00:34:13
at Liverpool Crown Court on the 23rd of
00:34:16
March
00:34:16
1998 and Burton carried on using the
00:34:19
same excuses as to why he acted the way
00:34:22
he did he tried to plead not guilty on
00:34:26
the grounds of dimin
00:34:28
responsibility and when that failed
00:34:31
completely he went down the lines of it
00:34:33
was unfit through Insanity Burton's
00:34:35
attempts to argue he wasn't in the right
00:34:38
frame of mind when he killed Rachel and
00:34:40
abducted Debbie were quickly quashed by
00:34:42
the professionals the prosecution called
00:34:45
two
00:34:46
psychiatrists who say there's absolutely
00:34:48
no question of him being diminished
00:34:51
responsibility he knew exactly what he
00:34:53
was doing we had the reports coming in
00:34:55
from the psychiatrist say
00:34:58
he's the most dangerous man I've ever
00:35:00
had to interview in my whole career
00:35:02
professional career that's quite a
00:35:05
chilling assessment to come from two
00:35:08
separate professionals who both saw that
00:35:12
level of danger in him so I think what
00:35:15
they were saying in that is this was not
00:35:18
an isolated incident this is something
00:35:22
that is part of who this man is and that
00:35:26
maybe he's going to continue to be a
00:35:32
danger in my service I've never heard a
00:35:36
psychiatrist gave such strong evidence
00:35:39
that showed that he was actually same
00:35:43
but he was a dangerous dangerous man and
00:35:46
still is in my opinion there was still
00:35:49
the issue of proving that Burton had a
00:35:51
motive thereby showing for certain that
00:35:54
it was a premeditated attack and that it
00:35:57
was in fact murder rather than
00:36:00
manslaughter we had a witness who was in
00:36:03
prison and he had been in the hospital
00:36:07
wing with Burton and a conversation had
00:36:11
been taking place where Burton had
00:36:15
suggested that he'd been reading a book
00:36:18
which was based around SAS
00:36:21
tactics and that was the motive behind
00:36:25
bringing down Rachel from a standing
00:36:28
position after he hacked a throat he was
00:36:32
bragging about what he'd done to make
00:36:35
himself look the big man in prison no
00:36:38
doubt provided a
00:36:41
motive as to why he killed in that way
00:36:44
and it also showed that he premeditated
00:36:47
the murder he knew what he was doing he
00:36:50
was calculated and manipulative with the
00:36:53
way that he attacked her detective
00:36:55
Sergeant Paul Ms and the mcgr family
00:36:58
were at the trial every day and Debbie
00:37:01
was able to come face to face with her
00:37:03
abductor to watch him account for what
00:37:06
he'd done to her he looked like a rat
00:37:09
all stooped and he looked
00:37:12
pathetic he had the had glance at us and
00:37:14
just
00:37:15
looked he just didn't have any
00:37:17
emotion yeah just little
00:37:20
pathetic just didn't have any remorse
00:37:23
nothing Nicholas Burton took to the
00:37:26
stand himself to give his account of
00:37:28
what happened on those fateful days in
00:37:31
April
00:37:32
1997 as his own barister asked him
00:37:35
questions the courtroom watched on in
00:37:38
disbelief I remember I was
00:37:41
shaking my legs were
00:37:43
shaking when he came out with this
00:37:45
answer when he could have dropped a pin
00:37:48
in the courtroom it was that silent he
00:37:50
was asked the
00:37:52
question what were you going to do to
00:37:55
Debbie
00:37:59
he
00:38:00
said he said he wanted to rape me and
00:38:03
kill me I knew that was his
00:38:06
intention but to actually hear the words
00:38:09
was too much to hear and in front of all
00:38:12
those people it's just more real hearing
00:38:15
the words matter of fact no emotion
00:38:19
whatsoever it was just
00:38:24
evil it was a dramatic moment in the tri
00:38:30
but it was it was it was really chilling
00:38:32
really chilling and something I'll never
00:38:35
forget it was deadly silent for a few
00:38:39
seconds and then poor Debbie she
00:38:43
realized what he said and the impacts it
00:38:46
had on her and she ran out of court in
00:38:49
tears three men three at least members
00:38:53
of the jury burst into tears one of my
00:38:56
offices he burst into
00:38:59
tears so I have to physically take him
00:39:02
away and say look we've got to be
00:39:04
professional here Burton shocked the
00:39:07
court further by saying he would then
00:39:09
have looked for a third victim after a
00:39:11
two week trial the jury went out to
00:39:14
deliberate whether Nicholas Burton was
00:39:16
guilty or whether he didn't have the
00:39:18
mental capacity to commit murder there
00:39:21
were four counts the first was Rachel's
00:39:22
murder the second was the Abduction of
00:39:26
Debbie the the third one was the false
00:39:28
imprisonment of Debbie the fourth one
00:39:30
was threats to kill her it was guilty on
00:39:33
all four counts and it was unanimous so
00:39:37
all 12 members of that jury all believed
00:39:40
he was guilty based on the
00:39:42
evidence Nicholas Burton received three
00:39:45
life sentences for the murder of Rachel
00:39:48
the Abduction of Debbie and the false
00:39:50
imprisonment of Debby the judge also
00:39:53
handed Burton an additional 10 years for
00:39:56
threats to kill Debbie they ended by
00:39:59
saying I shall recommend to the Home
00:40:01
Secretary that you never
00:40:04
released the judge had reassured the
00:40:07
court that Burton would never walk the
00:40:09
streets again 25 years later and due to
00:40:13
changes in the law that removed that
00:40:15
power from the Home Secretary and passed
00:40:18
it to parole boards a shocking twist
00:40:21
came about so we received a phone call
00:40:23
from our victim officer on the 3rd of
00:40:27
March March 2021 they said to us that
00:40:30
Burton was eligible for
00:40:32
parole potentially as soon as May that
00:40:35
year we heard the trial Church make it
00:40:38
very
00:40:39
clear that the recommendation to the
00:40:42
Home Secretary was that Burton should
00:40:43
never be released there's got to be some
00:40:45
mistake here there's got to be some
00:40:47
error Debbie now in her 40s also
00:40:50
received a phone call to tell her that
00:40:53
Burton was up for parole we left the
00:40:55
court that day knowing he's never coming
00:40:57
out thinking that's it for life so it's
00:41:01
just complete shock and someone
00:41:04
something has gone
00:41:06
wrong if he gets parole and he's back
00:41:09
out on the streets no doubt in my mind
00:41:13
is a good chance that he could commit
00:41:16
further offenses and upset a lot of
00:41:19
lives as a result
00:41:24
again Rachel's family and Debbie are
00:41:27
campaigning to prevent Burton's parole
00:41:30
to ensure that he stays Behind Bars
00:41:32
forever we just don't want people like
00:41:35
this walk in the streets
00:41:38
again he needs to be locked up for the
00:41:40
rest of his life the risk is too much
00:41:42
it's too high for him to be
00:41:46
released I don't think he's ever going
00:41:48
to change I think this is part of his
00:41:52
personality rather than it being a
00:41:55
temporary and contain
00:41:58
psychotic episode for example the nature
00:42:00
of Rachel's brutal murder impacted even
00:42:04
season police officers during the case
00:42:07
in all my service 32 years I've never
00:42:11
ever experienced something as
00:42:15
horrific as the circumstances
00:42:17
surrounding that case there's not a day
00:42:19
goes by where I don't think about this
00:42:22
case it's the worst one I've ever been
00:42:26
involved in and Nicholas Burton's
00:42:28
actions on the 25th and 26th of April
00:42:32
1997 have had lifelong effects for
00:42:35
Rachel's family my father's a Broken Man
00:42:38
my mother's never recovered I don't know
00:42:40
any mother who would so he destroyed my
00:42:42
parents he destroy
00:42:45
parents and for Debbie she'll forever
00:42:48
live with the trauma of what happened to
00:42:50
her I never really processed it properly
00:42:54
I just found it too painful to talk
00:42:56
about
00:42:58
thinking that I spent 11 hours with this
00:43:00
monster and what he could have done to
00:43:02
me and what he did to
00:43:05
Rachel it's like something out of a
00:43:07
horror
00:43:08
film who does those
00:43:11
things it's just evil just a
00:43:15
monster just
00:43:18
inhumane Nicholas Burton was a loner and
00:43:22
a drug addict who went out with the
00:43:24
intention to rape and murder innocent
00:43:26
Strang ERS psychiatrists agreed he was
00:43:30
the most dangerous man they'd met and
00:43:32
the sentencing judge advised that he
00:43:35
should never be allowed to walk the
00:43:37
streets again Nicholas Burton will
00:43:39
forever be known as one of the world's
00:43:42
most evil killers
00:43:45
[Music]
