00:00:06
in the summer of
00:00:07
1991 the town of Bathgate in Scotland
00:00:10
welcomes some new arrivals Carol Jarvis
00:00:14
and her three children settled into the
00:00:16
community almost immediately but the
00:00:19
father 41-year-old Harry Jarvis was not
00:00:23
the loving family man that he tried to
00:00:26
portray from the minute he met Carol he
00:00:29
was determined that she was going to be
00:00:31
a possession he didn't treat her well he
00:00:34
treated her dreadfully in a Twisted plot
00:00:38
to end the marriage Jarvis began
00:00:40
drugging Carol and moved a new lover
00:00:43
into the family's garden shed but the
00:00:45
shed was basically just that a very
00:00:48
small very basic shed dirty damp apart
00:00:54
from a cover or a duv that and I think
00:00:57
there maybe a couple of pillows there
00:00:59
was no nothing else when his children
00:01:02
began to suspect something was wrong
00:01:04
Jarvis claimed their mother had traveled
00:01:06
over 60 M away to Dundee but in reality
00:01:11
Jarvis had murdered Carol and hidden her
00:01:13
body under the floorboards when the
00:01:16
police looked in that place very sadly
00:01:20
they discovered the partially decomposed
00:01:24
remains of what appeared to be female
00:01:27
person Harry Jarvis had proved himself
00:01:30
to be one of the world's most evil
00:01:38
[Music]
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[Music]
00:01:54
killers on the 14th of September 2009
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Graham Jarvis went to visit his sick Mom
00:02:01
Carol when Graham arrived his mother
00:02:03
wasn't there and his father Harry Jarvis
00:02:07
refused to let him into the house it
00:02:09
would be unusual for Mom not to be there
00:02:13
and and do a disappear act you know Dad
00:02:16
you would understand but Mom just never
00:02:18
done that at all so I was like H
00:02:21
something's all right here less than 24
00:02:23
hours later Graham's dad Harry Jarvis
00:02:27
went on the run with his lover who'd
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been Secret living in a shed in the
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garden the truth about what really
00:02:34
happened in that house in bargate begins
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to emerge to the surface and everyone
00:02:38
realizes that Jarvis is an absolute
00:02:41
monster there can be no doubt about it
00:02:43
Jarvis really does deserve a place in a
00:02:45
rogue's gallery of evil
00:02:49
Killers this killer Story begins 300 mil
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south of bargate in Lincolnshire on the
00:02:55
east coast of
00:02:57
England Jarvis was born in in Grimsby
00:03:02
1950s he was a
00:03:04
chancer always
00:03:06
looking for the best deal for himself he
00:03:10
was quite you know he was one of those
00:03:12
people who is self-focused self-
00:03:15
obsessed was never looking out for the
00:03:18
good of other
00:03:19
people little is known of Jarvis's
00:03:22
childhood but as an adult he'd moved
00:03:25
down to South London where he tried his
00:03:27
hand at a few different careers is so
00:03:31
dad's um employment is is varied if you
00:03:35
like Dad used to switch between being an
00:03:38
engineer and a bus
00:03:40
driver and then went from bus driving to
00:03:44
coach
00:03:45
driving but he never really sort of
00:03:48
stood on a on a job for long you know he
00:03:52
used to sort of change a boat by the
00:03:55
late 1970s Jarvis was still living and
00:03:58
working in South London
00:04:00
the 29-year-old had begun dating a
00:04:02
younger woman named Carol mayard I think
00:04:06
one was in a late late teens at the time
00:04:09
and yeah I think Dad was obviously I
00:04:12
think it was a 12 year age gap between
00:04:15
the two mom was actually working in a
00:04:17
shop at the time and dad had just sort
00:04:20
of went into the shop and um just asked
00:04:24
if they could go out on a date and it it
00:04:27
went from there if you like the Rel
00:04:29
relationship blossomed despite Carol's
00:04:32
family being against the
00:04:34
partnership the family would have looked
00:04:36
at him looked at the age difference and
00:04:39
and probably thought no no no this isn't
00:04:41
good for Carol who's still relatively
00:04:44
inexperienced in life and probably
00:04:47
relatively
00:04:49
naive in 1982 Carol married Jarvis and
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they went on to have four children
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together the couple decided to move over
00:04:58
400 miles away from London something
00:05:00
their eldest son Graham remembers
00:05:04
well about
00:05:06
91 we moved up to to Scotland it was a
00:05:10
long way and you know obviously as kids
00:05:12
we weren't really sure what was going on
00:05:15
or the reasoning behind it apparently
00:05:19
that was because he had lots of
00:05:21
arguments with his family and things
00:05:23
started falling apart down in London and
00:05:25
he wanted to get
00:05:27
away from everything and they went just
00:05:31
as far as they could possibly go by by
00:05:33
going to
00:05:35
Scotland the Jarvis family settled in a
00:05:38
small town called Bathgate in West loan
00:05:41
about 20 mi west of
00:05:45
Edinburgh the town was an
00:05:48
ordinary westloan Town working people
00:05:52
not a a particularly wealthy environment
00:05:56
but not abject poverty
00:06:00
Carol seemed to flourish in her new area
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becoming a brownie and Girl Guide leader
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I always remember like she was really
00:06:07
good at sewing and you know sewing on
00:06:09
the badges and on the the uniform or the
00:06:12
the Sash and yeah I think she was
00:06:15
generally happy and and love doing
00:06:18
it mom was quite partial to dancing she
00:06:22
was always again like at parties of the
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life and soul and sort of doing the
00:06:27
twist or just really embarrassing M
00:06:29
Danes to be fair but other than that I
00:06:32
think generally her Hobbies were sort of
00:06:35
limited just because they they for kids
00:06:38
and you know growing up and balancing
00:06:41
that
00:06:43
out Jarvis continued his work as a coach
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driver doing longdistance Journeys and
00:06:50
spending days at a time away from his
00:06:53
family there was always some sort of
00:06:56
Scandal involved in in terms of dad and
00:06:59
and jobs you know and I always remember
00:07:02
him you know getting a a job with a fish
00:07:05
delivering company and you know all of a
00:07:08
sudden we've got like tons and tons of
00:07:10
fish in the freezer and it's like Dad
00:07:12
what's going
00:07:13
on and obviously it's time he's not
00:07:16
delivered them you know and for all
00:07:19
intens and purposes Jarvis was a
00:07:22
perfectly
00:07:23
ordinary comparatively hardworking bus
00:07:26
driver but beneath the surface
00:07:30
there were other more complicated things
00:07:32
going on Jarvis had amassed a number of
00:07:35
criminal convictions over the years for
00:07:38
dishonesty
00:07:39
offenses Jarvis was a petty Thief Li
00:07:42
bezler a
00:07:44
frauder and in that period of their
00:07:46
marriage and their Carol's giving birth
00:07:48
to the children and looking after
00:07:51
them he goes to prison on a number of
00:07:56
occasions he was always getting into
00:07:58
scrap in criminality he didn't seem to
00:08:02
be particularly grounded he was you know
00:08:06
moving around and changing jobs he he
00:08:09
wasn't a particularly stable person
00:08:12
while transient Jarvis engaged in
00:08:14
questionable Behavior Carol was holding
00:08:17
the family together if anybody was to
00:08:19
sort of put a label on M it would be you
00:08:22
know loyal and definitely family
00:08:25
driven she would put the family before
00:08:28
herself and you know especially the four
00:08:30
kids Harry Jarvis and Carol's
00:08:33
relationship was tumultuous by the time
00:08:36
they were living in Scotland but Carol
00:08:38
did her best to Shield her children from
00:08:41
the reality of the situation Carol was
00:08:44
borted with him she would gloss over his
00:08:48
faults and she would hide quite a lot
00:08:50
from their children but the kids were
00:08:53
aware that something wasn't right with
00:08:55
their dad's Behavior they never knew
00:08:57
what to expect from Jarvis as his moods
00:09:00
were
00:09:02
unpredictable growing up seeing Dad it
00:09:05
was almost a bit of a an enigma you
00:09:09
wouldn't sure what you would get with
00:09:10
that and one day you would be you know
00:09:13
fantastic and you know he used to do
00:09:18
everything for
00:09:19
you there was the times where by
00:09:22
obviously was tired and you know when
00:09:24
Dad was tired you would stay out of his
00:09:27
way
00:09:30
and then there would be other times
00:09:31
where by you would be like where D and
00:09:35
um nobody would know where he was and he
00:09:37
would be away for a few weeks Harry
00:09:40
Jarvis would often disappear for long
00:09:43
periods of time with a family unsure
00:09:45
about where he'd gone or when he'd be
00:09:48
back I guess one of the most important
00:09:51
times you know whereby I look back now
00:09:54
was my birthday I think it was like I
00:09:57
was 12 or 13 at a time
00:10:00
and Dad wasn't there and we didn't know
00:10:02
where he
00:10:07
was again it just sort of resonates in
00:10:11
terms of you know what sometimes it was
00:10:13
there sometimes it was fantastic and
00:10:16
other times you just didn't know what
00:10:17
you were going to get it was you know
00:10:19
jao and
00:10:23
I by the mid 1990s 45-year-old Harry
00:10:27
Jarvis was living in b gate Scotland
00:10:30
with his wife Carol and their four
00:10:32
children he was living a double life but
00:10:35
what was he hiding from his
00:10:41
family sometimes it would be for a few
00:10:44
days sometimes it would be for a couple
00:10:45
of weeks sometimes it would be for
00:10:47
longer and he would just
00:10:49
disappear and he would just return to
00:10:51
the to the family home as if it hadn't
00:10:55
happened at all when he did come back it
00:10:58
would almost be like a a heat discussion
00:11:01
as to you know what's happened but
00:11:04
despite the arguments and uncertainty of
00:11:06
where he'd been Jarvis always want Carol
00:11:10
back around he disappeared for months
00:11:12
and months and months at a time and
00:11:15
would come back and you know Weedle his
00:11:17
way back in with her again profess his
00:11:19
undying love for
00:11:21
her he would make excuses that you know
00:11:24
it was the alcohol that caused him to
00:11:27
disappear um when the reality was that
00:11:30
he would meet people and sponge of them
00:11:32
until their money ran out and then go
00:11:34
back to Carol and she always took him
00:11:36
back
00:11:40
always while Jarvis was away from his
00:11:43
wife he was spending time with other
00:11:46
women Harry Jarvis was somebody who was
00:11:49
capable of going off and doing whatever
00:11:50
he wanted to do at any given time and it
00:11:54
was clear that he had embarked in other
00:11:57
relationships he was was clearly
00:11:59
somebody who was capable of cheating on
00:12:02
his
00:12:03
wife as well as infidelity Harry Jarvis
00:12:07
also had a problem with alcohol which
00:12:10
had a further detrimental effect on his
00:12:13
family life it did like a drink and you
00:12:17
kind of knew and you would stay out his
00:12:20
Road quite a lot of the fam's resources
00:12:24
ended up being spent across the counter
00:12:26
of the off sales or the public house
00:12:32
Carol was you know forced to give him
00:12:35
lots of money quite often and you know
00:12:37
she would have to give him her money
00:12:40
just you know to make him stay keep him
00:12:42
happy she herself firmly believed that
00:12:46
marriage was for life and that women
00:12:48
would forgive their husbands for
00:12:50
anything and Harry took advantage of
00:12:52
that and took advantage of her her kind
00:12:54
nature her loving
00:12:56
nature these incidents surrounding money
00:12:59
and alcohol left lasting memories for
00:13:02
their
00:13:03
children a lot of the the argument
00:13:05
stemmed through money and when we were
00:13:08
growing up in terms of you know Dad
00:13:10
maybe spending it on alcohol and and
00:13:14
cigarettes rather than food and
00:13:18
stuff yeah it was
00:13:20
difficult with Jarvis unable to hold
00:13:23
down a job for long and going missing
00:13:26
for months at a time it was Carol who
00:13:28
made sure that children were looked
00:13:31
after mom always made sure that we had
00:13:33
food on the table always had
00:13:37
clothes I think you know definitely a
00:13:40
heart of gold rather than a pot of gold
00:13:42
in in our purse if you
00:13:44
like yeah we never went
00:13:47
without it came as a blow to the family
00:13:50
when Carol's Health suddenly started to
00:13:53
decline and doctors tried to establish
00:13:56
what was wrong with her mom started to
00:13:59
get ill around about
00:14:00
96 so and what was she 34 35 um at the
00:14:06
time I just remember her being really
00:14:09
learic and sore muscles all the time and
00:14:12
he couldn't really figure it out for a
00:14:14
good number of years the major problem
00:14:20
was what was described as
00:14:23
fibromyalgia she seems to have been
00:14:26
rendered very weak and as a consequence
00:14:29
of her weakness she took to
00:14:34
bed we used to see her sort of lying
00:14:37
down more maybe not being able to do as
00:14:40
much physically mentally it was it was
00:14:43
tough on her and you know um I guess
00:14:47
that didn't really help obviously with
00:14:49
the whole dad situation and disappearing
00:14:52
and yeah difficult with Carol's health
00:14:56
condition having such an effect on her
00:14:58
ability to look after after herself
00:15:00
Harry Jarvis was forced to give up work
00:15:02
permanently and become a full-time carer
00:15:06
for his wife so I think Dad I don't I
00:15:10
don't know if it was by choice that he
00:15:12
gave it up Mark to look after Mom Mom
00:15:16
did get quite upset about you know not
00:15:19
being able to do stuff uh for herself
00:15:22
because of her conditions Carol was
00:15:25
entitled to receive financial
00:15:27
support he of saw this as an opportunity
00:15:30
to control her even further
00:15:33
and you know it was money for him as
00:15:36
well you know they were claiming
00:15:37
disability benefits and it was a way for
00:15:40
him to basically just live off Carol
00:15:44
because of her illness and she of course
00:15:47
relied 100% on him he would have been
00:15:50
interested in looking at that situation
00:15:52
and saying how can I benefit from this
00:15:55
situation is there any way that this can
00:15:57
benefit me by 2009 Carol had been living
00:16:01
with her debilitating illness for over a
00:16:04
decade with all the children having
00:16:06
flown The Nest to either start their own
00:16:09
families or study at University Carol
00:16:11
and Harry Jarvis were now living alone
00:16:14
in their Bathgate
00:16:15
home they'd all moved out and were
00:16:18
pursuing their own lives so it was
00:16:21
mostly just Harry Jarvis and Carol
00:16:23
Jarvis in the house and Harry would
00:16:26
attend to Carol he would assist her to
00:16:29
use the toilet and would bring her food
00:16:33
and perhaps most significantly he would
00:16:36
attend to her
00:16:37
medication and much of the uh medical
00:16:42
attention that was given to her was in
00:16:45
relation to her pain relief Carol relied
00:16:48
on her seemingly caring husband for
00:16:51
Round the Clock care but in reality
00:16:54
Jarvis was still up to his old tricks
00:16:57
how Jarvis would from time to time just
00:17:00
drop out of the picture all together and
00:17:02
would go off on missions of his
00:17:05
own and when that
00:17:08
happened the children would have to give
00:17:12
up whatever they were doing themselves
00:17:14
and go and look after their mom we used
00:17:17
to sort of you know speak to each other
00:17:19
as siblings and say like you know what
00:17:21
like you know Dad's disappeared again
00:17:25
the Jarvis children soon noticed
00:17:27
something wasn't quite right when their
00:17:29
dad was home and giving their mom her
00:17:31
medication Carol would be in bed
00:17:34
sleeping most of the day but it was a
00:17:37
different story when they were in charge
00:17:39
of giving her her
00:17:42
tablets she immediately sort of got
00:17:44
better or she was up and about and
00:17:47
looking for Dad whereas if Dad was there
00:17:50
she'd probably be sleeping if that makes
00:17:55
sense it was almost like a an
00:17:58
improvement that you could physically
00:18:00
see when you were when you were there
00:18:02
caring for them and it was a a question
00:18:07
which the children had as to why she
00:18:09
always seemed to be worse whilst in his
00:18:11
care than in theirs the siblings knew
00:18:14
there was something not right but they
00:18:16
were too scared of their dad to question
00:18:19
him about
00:18:20
it I think at the time although we
00:18:23
suspected that and we used to
00:18:26
talk I don't think anybody would was
00:18:29
kind of brave enough to to challenge him
00:18:31
and we just accepted it for for what it
00:18:35
was in 2009 Harry Jarvis did another
00:18:39
disappearing act none of his family knew
00:18:42
where he'd been but this time he didn't
00:18:44
return alone he went on one of his
00:18:48
walkabouts and returned to
00:18:52
Bathgate with Rita now Rita is an
00:18:55
interesting character she was adopted
00:18:59
by a really quite
00:19:01
wealthy uh
00:19:03
businessman who had had a company which
00:19:06
made
00:19:07
pastry Rita had come into a significant
00:19:10
inheritance from her adopted parent to
00:19:12
the sum of2 and2
00:19:14
million she had had since her
00:19:17
inheritance a series of what appeared to
00:19:21
be unsuccessful relationships with men
00:19:25
and somehow or other the money just
00:19:29
evaporated by the time that she met
00:19:32
Harry Jarvis and they became involved
00:19:35
with one another to a very substantial
00:19:37
extent the money had
00:19:40
gone and then she met Harry she fell in
00:19:43
love with him instantly and he promised
00:19:47
her that they would be together forever
00:19:50
and she saw him as some sort of comfort
00:19:53
blanket because you you she'd gone
00:19:56
through all that money she had nowhere
00:19:58
to live she was homeless and Harry with
00:20:01
her night and shining
00:20:03
armor I think that possibly Javis saw
00:20:06
her and thought haha this is somebody
00:20:09
who either may have some money
00:20:11
squirreled away or may be up for another
00:20:14
inheritance with this family that she
00:20:16
was involved in so he locked on to
00:20:23
her knowing that 54-year-old Rita hter
00:20:27
might already have spent her inheritance
00:20:30
didn't stop Jarvis from
00:20:34
fantasizing he was obsessed with riches
00:20:37
and you know having lots of wealth and R
00:20:40
was perfect for him because you know he
00:20:44
deliberately blanked out that she had
00:20:46
squandered her money he had pound signs
00:20:48
you know in his eyes and that as far as
00:20:50
he was concerned R would have more money
00:20:54
Millions more than he could ever dream
00:20:56
of so he thinks well
00:20:59
this really is a meal ticket into a new
00:21:03
world and at one point he even brags to
00:21:07
the bid in his local pub that he's going
00:21:10
to bleed arita dry Jarvis had brought
00:21:15
Rita into his life but he couldn't bring
00:21:17
her into his home as his chronically ill
00:21:20
wife Carol was still there and it ended
00:21:23
up in this absolutely ludicrous
00:21:26
situation where Rita was living in
00:21:29
Jarvis's shed at the bottom of the
00:21:31
garden literally all that was in there
00:21:34
was some kind of awful filthy mattress
00:21:37
she was sleeping on the shed was
00:21:40
basically just that a very small very
00:21:44
basic shed dirty
00:21:47
damp there was a plastic bucket in the
00:21:50
corner presumably for her Comfort during
00:21:53
the night but apart from a cover or a
00:21:56
duv that and I think there maybe a
00:21:59
couple of pillows that were in the shed
00:22:01
there was nothing
00:22:04
else so Rita was basically kept in the
00:22:07
shed while har Jarvis was living in the
00:22:10
house with his ailen
00:22:15
wife but there was the promise that if
00:22:20
we go through this shter amount of pain
00:22:24
once Carol's out of the picture we've
00:22:25
got the house we've got everything this
00:22:28
is what they were both working towards
00:22:31
in an attempt to speed up proceedings
00:22:34
Harry Jarvis had begun sedating his wife
00:22:38
so Carol was seemingly oblivious to the
00:22:40
fact that another woman was living at
00:22:43
the end of the garden he had started to
00:22:45
overdose Carol with some of the
00:22:47
medication that she had and that was
00:22:50
certainly having an impact if she was
00:22:54
aware that there was a woman living in
00:22:56
the shed just right outside her bedroom
00:22:58
with
00:22:59
she never said and never gave any
00:23:01
indication to anybody that she was aware
00:23:03
of that Carol may not have known but the
00:23:07
neighbors had started talking about the
00:23:09
unusual living arrangements on their
00:23:12
street TI t a local gossip told us that
00:23:16
you know neighbors knew there was a
00:23:19
woman living in the garden it seemed a
00:23:22
bit of a tall tale at the start you know
00:23:24
it's it's not something that you know
00:23:26
you would expect to hear
00:23:28
but Jarvis and Rita didn't seem to mind
00:23:31
the locals knowing about them he would
00:23:34
walk around time with her and you know
00:23:37
openly affecting it Rita was said to
00:23:39
have giggled like a school girl around
00:23:41
Jaris and the two of them you know quite
00:23:44
openly flaunted their
00:23:46
relationship Harry Jarvis was living a
00:23:48
double life a carer to his sick wife and
00:23:52
a lover to a woman who was living in his
00:23:54
garden shed Jarvis knew he needed to ENT
00:23:58
end it with either Carol or Rita but who
00:24:01
would he choose and how would he get out
00:24:04
of the L
00:24:05
triangle
00:24:08
forever kimbery moved up to UNI I had
00:24:12
already moved out Kev had moved out soon
00:24:14
and moved out so there was the
00:24:17
opportunity for Dad to do that whereas I
00:24:20
think if one of us was still at home
00:24:23
then that wouldn't have been a an option
00:24:25
for him but the children still visited
00:24:28
their mom on a regular basis and were
00:24:30
often around Bathgate on the 11th of
00:24:33
September 2009 Graham Jarvis bumped into
00:24:37
his dad I had seen dad and he was a bit
00:24:41
dazed you know and I always remember
00:24:44
thinking I wonder what what was up with
00:24:46
him and he done as usual you know do you
00:24:49
have a couple of pound and I was like no
00:24:52
I don't have changed cuz I knew again
00:24:54
they would just spend it on drinks and
00:24:56
cigarette you know from m point of view
00:24:58
I thought you know what I'm not doing it
00:25:01
anymore on that occasion Harry Jarvis
00:25:04
wasn't in town alone at the time Graham
00:25:07
didn't know who Rita was or her
00:25:10
involvement with his
00:25:12
father I remember physically seeing reer
00:25:15
a couple of steps behind him and she had
00:25:17
a
00:25:18
suitcase and I never really said
00:25:20
anything about it I sort of asked you
00:25:23
know where's mom and he said oh she in
00:25:24
the house sleeping I was like all right
00:25:27
the weekend passed and grahe Jarvis had
00:25:30
planned to visit his mom on the Monday
00:25:32
evening like he did every week but
00:25:35
earlier in the day Graham called his
00:25:38
brother Kevin he's like I went around to
00:25:41
the house earlier um and Mom wasn't
00:25:44
there and I says what do you mean he
00:25:47
says I spoke to Dad and she said he said
00:25:50
like he was she was our way out
00:25:51
somewhere I was like doesn't make
00:25:53
sense he
00:25:56
explained what that happened and he had
00:25:59
went into to the house there was no sign
00:26:00
of mom and dad was acting
00:26:02
dodgy and I just remember thinking like
00:26:06
you look do you on Friday you know
00:26:08
there's something not quite right after
00:26:10
sharing their concerns the brothers
00:26:13
decided to go to the family home
00:26:16
together we went to to Bath and sort of
00:26:19
knocked on the the door at first and Dad
00:26:22
came outside and even let us into the
00:26:26
house and we said like Dad was going on
00:26:28
like there's mom he was like oh we plan
00:26:31
on moving up to dund while she's up in
00:26:33
Dand looking for the house and she'll be
00:26:35
back
00:26:37
tomorrow now the son found that very odd
00:26:40
because normally she required assistance
00:26:42
to do that and there was no word of who
00:26:44
was assisting and father was there
00:26:47
didn't really hang together very well in
00:26:49
the course of their investigations of
00:26:52
the mother's
00:26:53
whereabouts uh with the father he
00:26:56
provided additional and what seemed to
00:26:58
be contradictory accounts Harry Jarvis
00:27:02
changed his story a number of times
00:27:04
while trying to explain where his wife
00:27:07
was I think the next excuse was that she
00:27:10
was in rest bite care to give him a
00:27:12
break and I think you know he then said
00:27:15
that she was thinking about not coming
00:27:17
back and was going to stay up north and
00:27:20
she wanted to stay in a home all of the
00:27:24
explanations that he gave for Carol's
00:27:28
disappearance were implausible or
00:27:30
absolutely crazy they were not thought
00:27:34
through with the story about Carol not
00:27:37
adding up and Harry Jarvis refusing to
00:27:39
let his children into the house gram
00:27:42
made the difficult decision to call the
00:27:46
police it looked suspicious it sounded
00:27:49
suspicious so we phed the the police and
00:27:52
the police came out and and dad was
00:27:55
quite calm in the garden and he was you
00:27:58
know chatting away and sort of saying
00:28:00
listen mom D it's fine and then the
00:28:03
police said can we go in the house and
00:28:05
he was like yeah you can you
00:28:08
can't the two officers you know enter
00:28:11
the house say where where's uh Carol and
00:28:15
they search it and they find Rita hiding
00:28:19
under the
00:28:22
bed it almost defies belief but it gets
00:28:26
even funnier
00:28:28
Jarvis then says to the officers oh
00:28:31
that's my wife
00:28:35
Carol however another officer who had
00:28:38
dealt with Jarvis several times and had
00:28:41
met Carol because of a domestic call
00:28:43
that she had been called out to at the
00:28:45
house knew instantly that the woman
00:28:49
under the bed wasn't Carol
00:28:51
Jarvis the Jarvis children were only now
00:28:55
becoming aware of their father's
00:28:56
involvement with re
00:28:58
they were now even Sher that something
00:29:00
was wrong with their
00:29:02
mom what ultimately is frustrating is it
00:29:06
Bo the police basically said us listen
00:29:09
because your mom's an adult we have to
00:29:12
wait 24 hours and there's not much we
00:29:15
can do sort of go home and we're all
00:29:18
like that's rubbish we weren't sure what
00:29:22
was going on you know she just presume
00:29:24
that she's missing and you need to get
00:29:27
to the bottom of it
00:29:29
after an agonizing night of concern for
00:29:32
her children the following day the
00:29:35
police officially recorded Carol Jarvis
00:29:38
as a missing
00:29:41
person I went down to police station at
00:29:43
report missing and one of the police
00:29:46
officers said like we'll go around to
00:29:48
the house and we'll try and look for
00:29:50
belongings or presume any clues right
00:29:53
Graham went to the house with the
00:29:55
officer and started to look for any
00:29:57
clues as to to where Carol may have gone
00:29:59
one of the first things they saw at the
00:30:01
property was Carol's purse mom doesn't
00:30:05
go anywhere about a p so you know
00:30:07
there's something definitely wrong now
00:30:10
the discovery of Carol's purse meant the
00:30:12
search for the missing 47y old was
00:30:15
immediately stepped up it had been just
00:30:17
over one week since Graham Jarvis had
00:30:20
last seen his
00:30:22
mom so they sent forensics and scenes of
00:30:27
crimes officers and specialist search
00:30:29
officers to look at the property and the
00:30:33
garden to see if it would give any clue
00:30:35
as the cattle's whereabouts the police
00:30:38
did carry out a search and that included
00:30:41
a search of a
00:30:43
Cellar The Cellar below the living room
00:30:46
in the house which was accessed from a
00:30:49
hatch in the living room when the police
00:30:52
looked in that place very sadly they
00:30:56
discovered the partially
00:30:59
decomposed
00:31:01
remains of what appeared to be female
00:31:05
person the space under the floorboards
00:31:08
was known to the Jarvis children and it
00:31:11
was almost like a cupboard door you
00:31:12
opened it you would go down and
00:31:14
certainly as kids we used to go down
00:31:17
there used to play like hide and seek
00:31:19
down there and stuff of that um and yeah
00:31:22
it was quite a a big space the police
00:31:25
had to let the Jaris children know that
00:31:28
a body had been found at their parents'
00:31:30
home the police basically said listen we
00:31:33
found a a body we will do some you know
00:31:36
checks you know to to formally identify
00:31:40
it but it didn't take a genius to work
00:31:42
out that you know what it was mom you
00:31:44
know I just
00:31:47
felt felt sick i' just been sick you're
00:31:50
in shock and almost like what's going on
00:31:54
like what's happened Carol's body had
00:31:57
been wrapped in a duvet and bound with
00:32:00
packing tape so it was clear to police
00:32:03
that she'd been placed there by somebody
00:32:05
attention turned to Harry Jarvis but
00:32:08
nobody knew where he was Jarvis and Rita
00:32:11
had disappeared detectives needed to act
00:32:14
fast to find the man so used to
00:32:20
disappearing following the discovery of
00:32:23
Carol Jarvis's body under the
00:32:25
floorboards of her house police wanted
00:32:27
to talked to her husband Harry Jarvis
00:32:30
the 59-year-old had gone on the run with
00:32:33
his lover Rita and the police needed to
00:32:36
find them
00:32:38
fast Jarvis and Rita hter
00:32:43
run they take off from bargate and they
00:32:46
go to Perth where they stay in a BNB
00:32:49
even more bizarrely they leave the BNB
00:32:53
without
00:32:54
paying which infuriates the owners of
00:32:57
the bed and breakfast they were staying
00:33:00
in who report them to the police and
00:33:02
they described them and of course their
00:33:04
descriptions exactly
00:33:06
match Harry Jarvis and Rita Hiser the
00:33:10
police were able to trace Jarvis and
00:33:12
Rita using
00:33:14
CCTV when the pair arrived in Edinburgh
00:33:17
they were arrested and taken in for
00:33:20
questioning the police were sure that
00:33:22
Harry Jarvis had murdered his wife but
00:33:25
their investigation hit a stumbling
00:33:27
block when they tried to ascertain how
00:33:30
Carol had
00:33:31
died the state of decomposition was such
00:33:34
that the pathologist who carried out the
00:33:36
postmortem examination could
00:33:39
not uh um
00:33:41
identify what the mechanism of death had
00:33:45
been what was the cause was it something
00:33:48
organic was it some trauma what whatever
00:33:51
it was it could not be ascertained what
00:33:54
it was two postmortem failed to
00:33:56
establish a cause of death and police
00:33:59
were really struggling to put a case
00:34:02
against Harry together when Harry was
00:34:05
interviewed about his wife's death he
00:34:07
gave an unusual explanation when police
00:34:11
asked what had happened to Carol Harry
00:34:14
said that she had had a fit during a sex
00:34:17
game gone
00:34:20
wrong actually said that she couldn't
00:34:24
get out the fit and then she she passed
00:34:26
away and I think that was his only
00:34:29
explanation ever Jarvis told the police
00:34:33
that he was so grief stucken by Carol's
00:34:36
death that he couldn't bear to part with
00:34:38
her so he put her under the floorboards
00:34:40
to stay close to
00:34:42
her and able to establish a cause of
00:34:45
death it was hard for the police to
00:34:48
prove that Harry Jarvis was lying about
00:34:51
what had happened to
00:34:52
Carol but the search of his house had
00:34:55
uncovered some love letters written by
00:34:58
Jarvis and
00:35:00
R it was quite an odd relationship in
00:35:03
that they would write love letters to
00:35:05
each other even though she was living 10
00:35:08
ft away in the garden shed the notes
00:35:12
that Harry and Rita shared with each
00:35:13
other basically there was a usual um you
00:35:17
know I love you I miss you we'll be
00:35:19
together forever thing as investigating
00:35:23
officers read through the letters one
00:35:25
note in particular caught their
00:35:27
attention
00:35:28
he writes to her drugs doing their
00:35:31
job the
00:35:33
overmedication of Carol it's just taking
00:35:36
longer than I
00:35:38
thought we'll be together soon in
00:35:43
Paradise Harry was making it clear that
00:35:46
he wanted to be away from his wife he
00:35:49
would somehow dispose of her and he
00:35:51
would go with r and those were the
00:35:54
messages he was giving Rita and at the
00:35:56
same time he was acting in a manner
00:36:00
towards his wife which was not in his
00:36:04
wife's interest and detrimental to her
00:36:10
health the Jaris children had noticed
00:36:13
previously that their mom's condition
00:36:15
improved when they were looking after
00:36:17
her and these letters were proof that
00:36:20
Harry Jarvis had been drugging his wife
00:36:24
the police were able to use this in the
00:36:26
case against him and take him to court
00:36:28
for the murder of Carol
00:36:31
Jarvis Harry Jarvis and Rita hter were
00:36:35
charged by the police together with the
00:36:37
murder of Carl Jarvis and Associated
00:36:40
charges also R's lawyers applied for
00:36:43
Rita to be tried separately to Jarvis
00:36:46
and this application was granted by the
00:36:48
court in early
00:36:51
2011 Harry's trial commenced at
00:36:53
Edinburgh High Court the prosecution
00:36:56
team knew it would be difficult to
00:36:58
persuade the jury as all of the evidence
00:37:01
in the case was merely
00:37:04
circumstantial we have prepared by the
00:37:06
police at the time to say that listen
00:37:09
there's there's a possibility that it
00:37:12
might not go our way we would advise L
00:37:17
and you know we don't really feel 100%
00:37:22
confident in this Harry jvis maintained
00:37:25
his story that Carol had died from a fit
00:37:27
during sex and that he was not guilty of
00:37:30
the murder but the Love Letters proved
00:37:32
to be his downfall the notes were a
00:37:35
significant piece of evidence because it
00:37:38
did indicate that Harry had malicious
00:37:43
intent towards his
00:37:46
wife I remember the jury's eyes widening
00:37:50
when when that evidence was led it
00:37:53
seemed to me it plainly had an impact on
00:37:56
them har Jarvis was seen by the jury for
00:37:59
the callous killer that he was and on
00:38:02
the 30th of March
00:38:04
2011 they found him guilty of the murder
00:38:07
of Carol Jarvis Jarvis was sentenced to
00:38:11
life imprisonment after a fairly lengthy
00:38:14
child in view of the gravity of the
00:38:17
crime that he'd been convicted of he
00:38:19
must serve that minimum term of 15 years
00:38:22
in her own trial Rita hter was acquitted
00:38:25
of Carol's murder as there was in
00:38:27
sufficient evidence of her having any
00:38:29
involvement in the killing however her
00:38:32
DNA had been found on the packing tape
00:38:35
that Carol's body was wrapped in
00:38:37
suggesting that she had helped Jarvis
00:38:39
hide the body under the floorboards on
00:38:42
the evidence put to the jury Rita was
00:38:45
found instead guilty of attempting to
00:38:47
defeat the ends of justice and was
00:38:49
sentenced to 4 and a half years in
00:38:52
prison Harry
00:38:54
Jarvis was the main perpetrator Ator in
00:38:58
fact the sole perpetrator of the murder
00:39:01
but that R had become embroiled with him
00:39:05
and that Jarvis's manipulation had got
00:39:08
her into that situation he was the one
00:39:12
person who really was in charge of what
00:39:15
was going
00:39:16
on Harry Jarvis was sent to addwell
00:39:20
prison just 5 and a half miles from the
00:39:23
home he shared with Carol and their
00:39:24
children
00:39:26
[Music]
00:39:28
for their kids the verdict was
00:39:32
bittersweet they gave the guilty verdict
00:39:34
so we were kind of delighted and I guess
00:39:38
you know
00:39:39
the
00:39:41
the after that you you then start to
00:39:45
sort
00:39:46
of have the the sort of feeling of do
00:39:49
know what you still dad I feel like you
00:39:51
know and again it's that mixed emotions
00:39:54
I feel like whereby you're on a high but
00:39:58
then you're thinking to yourself you
00:39:59
know what like he's so Dad so it's
00:40:04
difficult on the 20th of April
00:40:07
2017 6 years into his life sentence
00:40:10
Harry Jarvis reported pains in his chest
00:40:13
to prison staff he collapsed in his cell
00:40:17
and attempts to resuscitate him proved
00:40:19
to be fruitless it was like half 12 I
00:40:23
went and got the kids from school as I
00:40:26
came around the corner
00:40:28
I clocked the police car sitting there
00:40:30
and just something inside me was like I
00:40:34
know why they're there they go out the
00:40:36
car I just said please please tell me
00:40:39
he's dead and
00:40:40
then that was
00:40:42
it the children of that marriage between
00:40:46
Harry and Carol Jarvis were in the most
00:40:49
awful situation they had such a dilemma
00:40:52
of trust they had a dilemma of loyalty
00:40:56
because the her mom had gone and their
00:40:58
dad had possibly been responsible for
00:41:01
that but he was still their dad for gra
00:41:05
the pain of his mother's murder still
00:41:07
affects him yeah I can remember it like
00:41:10
it was yesterday like down to the second
00:41:13
I always you know drive past the house
00:41:16
and have a we look or I'll sit there for
00:41:18
5 minutes I always think to myself
00:41:20
somebody's going to one day come out and
00:41:22
go who are you cuz you keep appearing in
00:41:24
your car and sitting there
00:41:27
think it doesn't get any y by lying
00:41:30
about the murder Harry Jarvis left his
00:41:33
children with questions that will never
00:41:35
be answered I think the frustrating
00:41:37
thing is we'll never know as well you
00:41:39
know what happened the Hari Jarvis was
00:41:43
somebody who acted for the sole benefit
00:41:46
really of Harry Jarvis he was a person
00:41:50
clearly who thought only of himself he
00:41:53
has achieved
00:41:55
nothing except killing an innocent
00:41:59
vulnerable wife who'd born in four
00:42:02
children and loyally stood by him
00:42:06
despite the womanizing despite the
00:42:07
drinking despite him disappearing
00:42:09
despite him stealing the disability
00:42:11
allowance and the carers allowance if
00:42:13
there is a word for Jarvis Beyond
00:42:17
monster I would say it was Despicable
00:42:20
his motivation for everything throughout
00:42:22
his life was money from his you know
00:42:24
fraudulent crimes deception everything
00:42:27
Harry Jarvis did was motivated by
00:42:31
money on the face of it you know Dad
00:42:34
didn't read over plan and to sort of
00:42:37
live together and rather than Dad just
00:42:39
doing easy thing and splitting up with
00:42:41
Mom he's obviously for you know what the
00:42:44
best way out of it is to take M out the
00:42:46
equation by hook or by Kook I know they
00:42:49
say breaking up up hard to do and stuff
00:42:52
but surely there's an easier way out
00:42:55
then sort of um killing
00:43:00
somebody Jarvis was a callous killer
00:43:03
with no empathy for his wife or children
00:43:07
after drugging and murdering Carol he
00:43:09
hid her body under the floorboards and
00:43:12
went on the run with his lover before
00:43:14
spinning lies about what had happened a
00:43:18
selfish and narcissistic manipulator
00:43:21
Harry Jarvis will be remembered as one
00:43:23
of the world's most evil killers
00:43:29
[Music]
