00:00:09
[Applause]
00:00:11
[Music]
00:00:13
depression
00:00:16
we've got three little boys and she's
00:00:17
just
00:00:18
wound up too much
00:00:20
how long she been missing for
00:00:22
andrew griggs reports that his pregnant
00:00:24
wife debbie has vanished into the night
00:00:27
there's something else
00:00:32
20 years later mr griggs was arrested on
00:00:34
suspicion of his wife's murder
00:00:37
[Music]
00:00:39
she talks about the fact that he's
00:00:41
threatening her she talks about the fact
00:00:43
that she's scared i
00:00:45
asked my mum
00:00:47
what has he done to her what secrets has
00:00:50
he been hiding where is debbie griggs
00:00:52
does andrew griggs know more about his
00:00:54
wife's disappearance than he's letting
00:00:56
on
00:00:57
and why has it taken 20 years
00:01:00
for police to make their case the best
00:01:02
lie is
00:01:03
you know a 90 truth and he was pretty
00:01:05
good at doing that
00:01:09
[Music]
00:01:26
[Music]
00:01:38
the third of six children and the eldest
00:01:40
girl deborah elizabeth cameron big
00:01:42
sister
00:01:44
big bundle of fun
00:01:46
big trouble she got me into a lot of
00:01:47
trouble
00:01:49
she was there when i needed her
00:01:52
she'd bully me she'd pick on me she
00:01:54
would fight we'd argue
00:01:56
but if anyone else picked on me
00:02:00
she'd be there
00:02:01
protecting me debbie's younger sister
00:02:04
wendy remembers an idyllic childhood in
00:02:06
the seaside resort of deal in kent
00:02:08
england where the cameron family had
00:02:10
lived for generations it was fun
00:02:13
a bunch of friends all over the place
00:02:15
and forever cycling everywhere
00:02:18
i remember debbie scooping me up when i
00:02:22
sliced my leg open
00:02:26
i remember her picking me up
00:02:28
when i cut my head open
00:02:31
carrying me
00:02:34
home kissing me better
00:02:37
debbie would tell her siblings that hers
00:02:39
was the kind of childhood she imagined
00:02:40
for her children when she became a mum
00:02:43
and when in her mid-twenties she met
00:02:45
andrew griggs she took her first steps
00:02:48
to making that a reality debbie and
00:02:50
andrew met through mutual friends um
00:02:53
they uh
00:02:54
andrew had a boat uh in uh which is a
00:02:56
trawler that used to fish from
00:02:58
that was at ramsgate and it was his
00:03:00
birthday party and debbie
00:03:03
came to the party and they hit it off
00:03:06
and their relationship started like
00:03:08
debbie andrew griggs was from a family
00:03:11
that really made up the fabric of the
00:03:13
community in dill they both came from
00:03:16
these these staunch long-term
00:03:19
generation after generation after
00:03:21
generation deal families
00:03:23
his particular family were fishermen
00:03:26
theirs was the happy union of two
00:03:28
well-known local families but debbie
00:03:30
soon discovered life hadn't always been
00:03:32
plain sailing for her future husband
00:03:35
it wasn't until debbie was engaged to
00:03:38
andrew that there was a conversation
00:03:39
between her parents and andrew's parents
00:03:42
and they disclosed that andrew had
00:03:44
previously had a business um in favisham
00:03:48
and which failed
00:03:49
and also a relationship that failed as
00:03:51
well this had caused him an awful lot of
00:03:53
stress and anxiety to the extent they'd
00:03:55
had to seek treatment for it if debbie
00:03:57
minded that her fiance hadn't been
00:03:59
immediately upfront about his past
00:04:01
struggles it didn't seem to change her
00:04:03
feelings for him in 1990 debbie and
00:04:06
andrew were living together in walmar
00:04:08
road in deal
00:04:09
later on in september they got married
00:04:13
i think to to start off with it was they
00:04:15
were happy in 1992 their first son is
00:04:18
born followed three years later by their
00:04:21
second son parenthood came naturally to
00:04:24
mrs griggs adored those boys did
00:04:26
everything anything with them for them
00:04:29
took them everywhere just
00:04:31
she was so proud of them
00:04:33
things were not all plain sailing though
00:04:37
after her first child she did suffer
00:04:39
from postnatal depression and was
00:04:41
treated for five months after that but
00:04:43
she managed through
00:04:44
and it was quite clear
00:04:46
that she was a
00:04:48
loving mum but needed a bit of support
00:04:50
from family and also from the doctors as
00:04:52
well with the second child she got it
00:04:56
again but it wasn't so severe
00:04:58
detective paul fatheringham would soon
00:05:00
develop an intimate knowledge of the
00:05:02
greg's marriage i would use the term
00:05:05
quite an old-fashioned relationship in
00:05:06
terms of andrew's expectations about
00:05:08
working hard and his wife being at home
00:05:11
looking after the children as uh making
00:05:14
sure that a meal was on the table for
00:05:15
him he was often at sea whether that was
00:05:18
sailing as a hobby or whether that was
00:05:20
for work for the fisheries business
00:05:23
and he was very very focused on building
00:05:25
the business
00:05:27
he would come home
00:05:29
for
00:05:29
an hour and a half maximum have dinner
00:05:31
prepared for him ready on the table but
00:05:33
never eat as a family together or very
00:05:35
rarely
00:05:37
and then he would go out and he would go
00:05:38
to his um boat club
00:05:41
he'd play squash he'd go swimming he
00:05:43
would do social activities little pub
00:05:45
griggs is out all the time
00:05:47
she's working hard at home with the kids
00:05:50
andrew's absences became a source of
00:05:52
conflict between him and debbie but he
00:05:54
did not change his routine or
00:05:56
expectations
00:05:58
in 1997 their third son was born and for
00:06:01
the first seven or eight years of their
00:06:03
marriage debbie appeared happy
00:06:06
she
00:06:08
was always seen with the boys she'd take
00:06:10
the eldest to school she'd take the two
00:06:12
younger ones to their play group she'd
00:06:14
collect them she'd come up at least once
00:06:17
a week the children would play um she
00:06:20
was the party girl if there was ever
00:06:22
there was a family party it was around
00:06:24
at debbie's house debbie's time was
00:06:26
spoken for with family and work where
00:06:28
she helped andrew andrew's time was much
00:06:31
more of his own he worked hard
00:06:34
played hard and he saw who he liked
00:06:37
in the summer of 1998 his wife began to
00:06:40
question who he was keeping company with
00:06:43
debbie started becoming concerned about
00:06:45
an infatuation that he seemed to have
00:06:47
with a with a 14 year old child that was
00:06:49
known to the family debbie
00:06:52
had suspicions that something was going
00:06:54
on and she had suspicions that he was
00:06:57
having some kind of
00:07:00
relationship with this
00:07:02
young girl andrew seemed quite focused
00:07:05
on the child wanting to spend time with
00:07:08
her to teach her to swim to teach her to
00:07:12
sail and also when the child was at the
00:07:14
house some of the activity and messing
00:07:17
around with their own children
00:07:20
seemed to be over familiar
00:07:22
is how debbie described it and he was
00:07:25
really quite blatant about it he began
00:07:28
to flirt with again a child
00:07:32
under his wife's nose
00:07:34
in front of debbie
00:07:35
debbie kept a notebook jotting down her
00:07:38
fears about andrew's behavior
00:07:40
it describes the relationship the
00:07:42
one-sided relationship
00:07:44
it describes how
00:07:46
he works comes home for an hour and a
00:07:48
half and then goes off never has meals
00:07:50
with the children he spends more time
00:07:53
with her than with us she wrote
00:07:55
she had suspicions but she had no proof
00:07:58
of wrongdoing
00:07:59
was mrs griggs reading all of this wrong
00:08:02
and if she was not reading it wrong
00:08:04
what sort of a man
00:08:06
had she married
00:08:08
good evening
00:08:11
[Applause]
00:08:20
[Music]
00:08:24
eight years into their marriage debbie
00:08:26
griggs suspected her 37 year old husband
00:08:29
andrew of being a pedophile
00:08:32
as it turned out
00:08:33
she was not imagining things
00:08:36
griggs met a young 14 year old girl
00:08:40
he groomed
00:08:42
that young girl
00:08:44
into having a sexual
00:08:46
relationship with him and at one point
00:08:50
she actually did confront them both
00:08:52
accused them of having a relationship
00:08:55
but they they both denied it andrew
00:08:58
griggs controls this vulnerable child by
00:09:00
lying to her he basically says that when
00:09:03
she's questioned by his wife and asked
00:09:06
whether she's having a sexual
00:09:07
relationship with him to lie but the
00:09:09
reason that he says she has to lie is
00:09:11
because if people find out people will
00:09:13
hate her this girl was told in no
00:09:16
uncertain terms if anyone finds out
00:09:19
about our relationship well your life
00:09:21
will effectively be over so it wasn't a
00:09:23
threat of death it wasn't a violent
00:09:24
threat but it was everyone will hate you
00:09:27
that's what predators do they convince
00:09:29
the victim that it's their fault that
00:09:31
they're the one responsible and at 14
00:09:34
you haven't the mental capacity and you
00:09:36
haven't the understanding of how wrong
00:09:39
this is and how innocent you are you
00:09:41
feel like you're to blame we can start
00:09:43
to get a window into grigg's head this
00:09:47
isn't a nice
00:09:49
man
00:09:50
the relationship
00:09:53
with the young girl
00:09:55
carries on
00:09:56
over a number of years and he apparently
00:09:59
became obsessed with her he was spending
00:10:03
all his time with us you know like five
00:10:05
days a week that was the reality but
00:10:08
debbie had no proof and they had both
00:10:10
denied that they were having sex
00:10:12
debbie desperately wanted to believe her
00:10:15
husband
00:10:16
debbie just about accepted it she wanted
00:10:19
the marriage to work
00:10:21
debbie didn't confide in anyone
00:10:24
about
00:10:25
anything
00:10:26
that was going on in the marriage as far
00:10:28
as the family was concerned
00:10:31
everything was perfect and you know
00:10:33
smelling her roses loyal to andrew
00:10:35
debbie persevered with the marriage and
00:10:38
early in 1999 she got some news that
00:10:40
gave her hope that they could start
00:10:42
afresh
00:10:43
in the middle of january 1999
00:10:47
she was pregnant with her
00:10:49
fourth child she told andrew
00:10:52
and she was quite happy to give him the
00:10:54
good news she wanted to complete the
00:10:56
family with a girl she was very excited
00:10:58
about being pregnant again
00:11:00
andrew's response was not what she
00:11:02
expected he was really quite dismissive
00:11:05
back to say it's not mine i don't want
00:11:07
to get rid of it
00:11:11
he told her that
00:11:13
the youngest boy
00:11:15
wasn't his
00:11:18
he told her
00:11:20
the baby she was carrying
00:11:22
wasn't his
00:11:24
she was devastated absolutely devastated
00:11:27
his reaction
00:11:28
and and she admits that she slapped him
00:11:30
around the face
00:11:32
and
00:11:33
burst into tears and ran out of the
00:11:34
house
00:11:36
and got in a car drove 50 yards around
00:11:38
the corner sat in a car and sobbed
00:11:40
having another child with debbie was not
00:11:42
in andrew griggs's plan but this
00:11:45
incident gave him his first opportunity
00:11:47
to do something that was in his plan to
00:11:49
convince everybody who knew her that his
00:11:52
wife was unstable
00:11:54
on the 1st of march 1999 the
00:11:56
relationship is coming to a breaking
00:11:57
point
00:11:58
debbie wants him out
00:12:00
the whole business with the fourth child
00:12:02
him rejecting it and him accusing her of
00:12:04
having an affair is the straw that broke
00:12:06
the camel's back she wants him out of
00:12:08
the family home she goes to the place of
00:12:10
work his shop and demands the keys to
00:12:13
the house
00:12:15
she grabs the keys and there is an
00:12:17
incident that occurs andrew recounts it
00:12:19
as being how she violently attacked him
00:12:23
and he ended up having a bite to his
00:12:25
finger that he needed medical treatment
00:12:26
for
00:12:27
later debbie describes in in a in a
00:12:30
legal document that she did try and get
00:12:33
the keys but actually she was grabbed
00:12:35
she was needing the stomach considering
00:12:37
she was pregnant
00:12:38
by andrew and that she did bite him and
00:12:40
to to make sure that she could be
00:12:43
released and leave the premises debbie
00:12:46
was playing into her husband's hands he
00:12:48
began spreading tales around town that
00:12:51
were patently untrue andrew seems to be
00:12:54
pretty consistent in his um
00:12:56
debbie's depressed
00:12:58
also that she's a poor mum i think he
00:13:00
was
00:13:02
trying to set her up as somebody with
00:13:05
serious mental illness i think you know
00:13:07
she she had suffered with with
00:13:09
depression so all you know the
00:13:10
groundwork has already done for him
00:13:13
he told a number of her very close
00:13:16
friends
00:13:17
that she was um a bad mother
00:13:20
difficult to live with
00:13:22
not devoted to the children not caring
00:13:24
of the children on the 25th of february
00:13:27
andrew speaks to his solicitor to
00:13:29
instigate divorce proceedings
00:13:31
over the preceding weeks the couple had
00:13:33
argued about who would get what if they
00:13:35
were to separate
00:13:37
griggs
00:13:38
wanted
00:13:40
to maintain absolutely everything he had
00:13:43
but get rid of debbie he didn't want any
00:13:46
of his entitlements being taken away he
00:13:49
didn't want his life being messed up in
00:13:52
any way debbie's got no money um he's
00:13:54
not giving her any housekeeping to pay
00:13:56
the kids and she goes in and grabs
00:13:59
the checkbooks and then there is an
00:14:01
incident where he is
00:14:04
seems to be speaking to her and then she
00:14:06
gets very agitated
00:14:08
witnesses to this row would later report
00:14:10
that griggs had goaded debbie by
00:14:12
accusing her of turning their sons
00:14:14
against him now actually that happens in
00:14:16
front of a cctv camera
00:14:18
so so
00:14:19
i believe and actually the judge
00:14:21
believed the court that he'd set that up
00:14:23
because an incident occurs where he she
00:14:27
bites him
00:14:28
and after she leaves he actually lifts
00:14:30
his arm up to the
00:14:32
camera to show it off andrew griggs was
00:14:34
gathering the ammunition that he needed
00:14:36
for his next step
00:14:38
it's noticeable after that incident
00:14:41
then
00:14:42
andrew gets his solicitors to apply for
00:14:45
a non-molestation order where somebody's
00:14:47
of fear of violence within a marriage
00:14:49
there's insufficient evidence for police
00:14:51
to prosecute a member of a family can
00:14:54
actually go to a court through a
00:14:55
solicitor and ask the court to put an
00:14:57
order on the other person that they have
00:14:59
to undertake that they're not allowed to
00:15:01
commit assault against somebody the
00:15:04
order enshrined in court on police
00:15:06
records the idea that debbie was either
00:15:08
mad or bad so andrew was putting this in
00:15:11
place
00:15:12
my view is not to protect himself my
00:15:15
view is he did the non-molestation order
00:15:17
to try and evidence
00:15:19
his divorce proceedings thinking about
00:15:21
what's going to happen in the future if
00:15:24
so he was also placing debbie's
00:15:26
perspective on the court records
00:15:34
[Music]
00:15:40
andrew griggs was making his wife's life
00:15:42
a living hell he withheld money she
00:15:45
couldn't afford to buy a pair of shoes
00:15:46
for a boy
00:15:47
[Music]
00:15:50
he followed her if she went to a
00:15:52
friend's house he followed her and he'd
00:15:54
sit outside to make sure she didn't go
00:15:56
anywhere else
00:15:58
he told her she was a bad mother
00:15:59
[Music]
00:16:02
that she was just
00:16:04
useless and mad debbie's diary kept on
00:16:07
the advice of her solicitor provides
00:16:08
another insight into what happened
00:16:10
within the four walls of the griggs home
00:16:12
she describes him as bombastic and
00:16:14
bullying and that she genuinely fears he
00:16:18
will seek to do her harm it seems that
00:16:20
she really felt that her life was at
00:16:23
risk she talks about the fact that he's
00:16:25
threatening her he talks about the fact
00:16:27
that she's scared so we know this is an
00:16:30
abusive and hostile environment
00:16:32
andrew griggs was bullying aggressive
00:16:36
threatening he was cutting off his wife
00:16:38
from her assets andrew had already
00:16:40
started rearranging at the end of
00:16:42
february rearranging the finances and
00:16:45
wrote his bank to say i want a soul
00:16:47
account because the arrangement they'd
00:16:48
had is that no money could go in and out
00:16:50
of the business without debbie being a
00:16:52
signatory to it
00:16:53
so he applied to the bank to have a sole
00:16:56
account and the bank later agreed to
00:16:58
that as long as his parents were
00:17:00
guarantors to me this feels like he's
00:17:03
seeking to protect his financial assets
00:17:05
against any future divorce settlements
00:17:07
she has an absolute entitlement to have
00:17:10
access to that business but it shows the
00:17:12
control level this is about money she's
00:17:14
a problem she's an expensive problem but
00:17:17
out of the blue on the 18th of march
00:17:19
1999 andrew had a change of heart andrew
00:17:22
phones his solicitors to say
00:17:24
hold the divorce
00:17:26
do not go ahead with the divorce we know
00:17:29
there was a phone call between andrew
00:17:30
and debbie
00:17:32
almost immediately afterwards we don't
00:17:34
know what that conversation is but the
00:17:36
following day one of debbie's friends
00:17:39
visits knowing that debbie is divorcing
00:17:42
andrew and is really surprised to see
00:17:44
that andrews
00:17:46
back in the house debbie's family were
00:17:48
equally surprised at this u-turn in the
00:17:50
couple's relationship
00:17:52
all these divorce papers were sort of
00:17:54
ready to go
00:17:56
and
00:17:57
he kept going around there to take the
00:18:00
boys out
00:18:01
and taken her flowers and started
00:18:04
getting romantic with her and begged for
00:18:07
another chance i can only assume that
00:18:09
andrew has persuaded debbie that he can
00:18:12
move back in and then within a week or
00:18:13
so he's formally moved back into the
00:18:15
house i'm guessing because debbie was
00:18:17
pregnant
00:18:18
thought this was
00:18:20
you know well why not he's promised
00:18:23
not to have another affair
00:18:25
it's going to work so we will
00:18:29
if that's what you want to do
00:18:31
if you can trust him then go for it
00:18:33
because
00:18:34
you know three boys
00:18:36
she loved him
00:18:38
you you gotta try
00:18:40
so yeah
00:18:42
we understood
00:18:44
debbie was relieved to have her husband
00:18:46
back to put her mind at ease he promised
00:18:49
to see less of his teenage friend
00:18:51
was the greg's marriage back on track
00:18:54
if so
00:18:55
why did debbie suddenly disappear
00:18:58
i
00:18:58
asked my mum
00:19:01
what has he done to her yeah
00:19:04
it counter makes it quite clear to them
00:19:08
that um debbie's targets are half of
00:19:10
everything
00:19:11
she's
00:19:13
suffering from depression
00:19:15
um personal depression
00:19:17
we've got three little boys and she's
00:19:18
just
00:19:20
wound up too much
00:19:36
debbie griggs said reconciled with
00:19:37
husband andrew she told her family that
00:19:39
despite it all she still loved him she
00:19:42
thought his motivations were the same
00:19:44
in fact something else had prompted his
00:19:46
change of heart debbie's title to half
00:19:48
of everything so there's going to be a
00:19:49
significant financial impact on andrew
00:19:53
at this point andrew of course had to
00:19:55
find an alternative
00:19:56
he didn't want debbie in his life
00:19:58
anymore he wanted her gone however he
00:20:01
didn't want to pay for her to be gone he
00:20:03
didn't want to court order that would
00:20:05
say she would have half of his assets
00:20:07
how was he going to create a life with
00:20:10
this other girl if this was all
00:20:13
going on and what if she was going to
00:20:15
make it difficult with his children so
00:20:18
he
00:20:18
he didn't want any of his entitlements
00:20:22
being taken away he didn't want his life
00:20:25
being messed up in any way having
00:20:27
decided divorce was not an option andrew
00:20:29
griggs had moved back in with his wife
00:20:31
whilst in secret he formulated another
00:20:34
plan
00:20:35
andrew continued to make arrangements
00:20:37
over the coming weeks to
00:20:40
to financially cut debbie off from the
00:20:43
the business even though he was now back
00:20:45
living with her
00:20:47
in mid-april griggs began dropping hints
00:20:49
to friends as to what this alternative
00:20:51
solution might be griggs told a business
00:20:54
contact that his wife now wanted half of
00:20:56
the business he was very rude in terms
00:20:58
of what he described her as
00:21:01
and actually said i want her dead
00:21:03
three weeks later andrew griggs betrayed
00:21:05
his wife once again unto be known to
00:21:08
debbie on the 2nd of may um andrew went
00:21:12
to look at a a boat that he was
00:21:14
considering buying took his children out
00:21:16
which is quite unusual for him to do and
00:21:18
debbie was clearly not happy with the
00:21:19
fact that she then found that later that
00:21:21
the
00:21:22
the other child also attended as well
00:21:25
the other child was the now 15 year old
00:21:27
girl he had groomed and was abusing the
00:21:30
next day he chatted with her on the
00:21:32
phone after school before taking her
00:21:34
swimming
00:21:35
he was able to
00:21:37
break the law without turning her hair
00:21:41
groom a child to be in a sexual
00:21:43
relationship with him going against
00:21:46
everything he absolutely knows is wrong
00:21:48
in his community in his society he's
00:21:52
also got no regard whatsoever for debbie
00:21:55
and he was determined to make sure that
00:21:57
she couldn't get her hands on what he
00:21:59
saw as his cash
00:22:01
on the 4th of may
00:22:03
we know that andrew went to the bank
00:22:05
with his
00:22:06
parents and they were guarantors for the
00:22:08
accounts and that's effectively when
00:22:10
debbie was
00:22:11
cut off but during that day she actually
00:22:14
bumped into a friend and was
00:22:16
in a really positive mood i was talking
00:22:18
about the fact that she's working
00:22:19
through things with with andrew and then
00:22:22
talked about arrangements for the
00:22:25
evening of the sixth
00:22:26
where this friend was having a body shop
00:22:28
evening
00:22:29
and debbie committed to go debbie never
00:22:32
made it to her friend's gathering at
00:22:34
around nine o'clock on the evening of
00:22:36
the sixth andrew griggs dialed
00:22:38
999
00:22:40
good evening
00:22:42
to help yeah i'd like to report this in
00:22:43
person
00:22:45
and how old is the missing person yeah
00:22:47
54 34 yeah my wife right has she been
00:22:51
missing before yeah
00:22:59
[Applause]
00:23:02
we've got three little boys and she's
00:23:03
just
00:23:04
wound up too much
00:23:06
all right greeks had spent the day
00:23:09
spreading the same story debbie was
00:23:11
mentally unravelling and she'd run off
00:23:13
into the night on the morning of the 6th
00:23:15
of may griggs takes his children to
00:23:17
school whilst there he speaks to some of
00:23:20
the other parents and tells them that
00:23:22
debbie has gone and that she's left him
00:23:25
how long has she been missing for since
00:23:28
late last night late last night
00:23:30
yeah she's always
00:23:32
gone
00:23:34
yeah four five six hours griggs claimed
00:23:36
that his wife had walked out late the
00:23:38
previous evening after a brief argument
00:23:40
a claim he would repeat again and again
00:23:44
when you fall asleep she's in the
00:23:45
kitchen
00:23:46
what is the next thing you recall
00:23:48
uh debbie's shouting and screaming
00:23:52
and saying what
00:23:54
um it's right for you to come home and
00:23:56
fall asleep
00:23:57
um let's see how you keep doing 24 hours
00:23:59
ago seven days a week
00:24:01
i'm here all day with them
00:24:12
andrew reports that at um and the story
00:24:14
changes and the time changes to be
00:24:16
honest but certainly after nine o'clock
00:24:19
that they have a row and debbie um
00:24:22
storms out
00:24:24
says something like
00:24:26
see how you like looking after the
00:24:28
children 24 7.
00:24:31
and uh and i'll i'll be back in a week
00:24:34
has she taken any money with her yes
00:24:37
she's got
00:24:38
must be about 250 pounds
00:24:40
again griggs pressed home the message
00:24:42
that his wife was unstable
00:24:44
unpredictable you're going to be asked
00:24:46
when we get a patrol round there has
00:24:48
there been any domestic problems yes
00:24:52
the story griggs had been telling
00:24:53
friends and family for months had all
00:24:55
been leading up to this moment his wife
00:24:58
angry depressed a terrible mother had
00:25:01
left of her own accord
00:25:03
but after a bit of a row about how she
00:25:06
felt put upon
00:25:08
with looking after those three boys
00:25:11
constantly without much help from him
00:25:13
she just simply said
00:25:16
well you have the children now you see
00:25:17
what it's like
00:25:19
i will leave so she just simply left in
00:25:22
the middle of the night
00:25:24
so
00:25:25
your main concern is a depression i take
00:25:27
here she is pregnant as well
00:25:29
she's been under the doctor for
00:25:30
depression
00:25:31
um for a while
00:25:33
and i think you've contacted all family
00:25:34
members yeah family members all friends
00:25:38
in fact riggs had only been in touch
00:25:40
with his wife's family and friends late
00:25:42
on the afternoon of the sixth almost 24
00:25:44
hours after he claimed to have last seen
00:25:47
her
00:25:48
nobody had heard from debbie i
00:25:51
asked my mum
00:25:53
what has he done to her
00:25:55
he's got to have done something to her
00:25:57
because debbie just would not
00:25:59
have left
00:26:01
those children kent police launched a
00:26:03
search
00:26:04
at the same time they were building a
00:26:06
timeline of the previous evening
00:26:08
on the fifth of may we know that andrew
00:26:10
came home from work we know that between
00:26:12
seven and eight in the evening debbie
00:26:14
had a conversation with her a close
00:26:16
friend
00:26:17
and organised for the following morning
00:26:19
that debbie would collect her trans
00:26:21
children to take them to nursery that's
00:26:23
the last contact that we know that we
00:26:26
have with anyone other than than what
00:26:28
andrew tells us that's happened andrew
00:26:31
told police that debbie had driven off
00:26:33
in her white peugeot at around 10 30 p.m
00:26:36
on the 5th debbie's car
00:26:38
was missing when the police turned up
00:26:40
and they didn't find it so it fitted
00:26:42
with andrew's story but reports from
00:26:44
other residents of crossroad deal cast
00:26:47
doubt on his version of events one of
00:26:49
the neighbors reported seeing at about 2
00:26:52
a.m her white peugeot reversing off the
00:26:54
drive and being driven away there's
00:26:56
another witness that comes much later
00:26:59
but still says that actually they saw
00:27:01
the car drive off the drive at four
00:27:03
o'clock in the morning debbie's family
00:27:05
found the idea of her walking out hard
00:27:07
to believe
00:27:09
with what we knew of debbie
00:27:12
there's no way did she do that
00:27:14
i myself as a mother
00:27:17
think i could do with a break but
00:27:21
to just walk out
00:27:24
debbie would never
00:27:26
she'd made arrangements
00:27:28
to go to parties to go and see her
00:27:31
mother it was her mother's birthday
00:27:34
within a week of her disappearance
00:27:37
this wasn't a woman who would simply
00:27:39
just up and go where was debbie griggs
00:27:42
was she the mentally unstable woman
00:27:44
depicted by her husband andrew who had
00:27:47
simply run off
00:27:48
or was she as andrew had said privately
00:27:51
that he would like to see her dead
00:27:54
i know that the police
00:27:56
searched
00:27:57
debbie's house garage they even dug up
00:28:00
the gardens
00:28:10
detectives were putting pressure on
00:28:12
andrew griggs but despite discrepancies
00:28:15
he stuck to his story when she woke me
00:28:17
up saying that oh you've fallen asleep
00:28:20
[Music]
00:28:23
you know and
00:28:25
then started moaning about having the
00:28:27
boys 24 hours a day seven days a week
00:28:29
on may the 12th a discovery that
00:28:31
threatened to blow the husband's story
00:28:33
apart
00:28:34
the police found debbie's car a week
00:28:37
after her disappearance parked in a
00:28:40
residential area
00:28:42
of deal which is about a mile walk from
00:28:45
the home address there was no trace of
00:28:48
debbie but a search of the car yielded
00:28:50
something sinister there was a smear of
00:28:52
blood which later turns out to be
00:28:55
we could prove it's debbie's blood diane
00:28:57
ginova solicitor for the crown
00:28:59
prosecution service says that this was
00:29:02
the moment the case changed for police
00:29:05
at first it was a missing person's
00:29:06
investigation but it then quickly
00:29:10
developed into a murder investigation
00:29:13
debbie griggs four months pregnant with
00:29:16
three little boys at home was feared
00:29:18
dead
00:29:19
and the number one suspect
00:29:21
the man who had been feeding detectives
00:29:23
his version of events
00:29:25
from the start
00:29:26
the police
00:29:28
were very concerned that andrew griggs
00:29:31
had almost set up his defense at the
00:29:34
outset
00:29:35
he told a number of people that debbie
00:29:37
was a bad mother
00:29:39
we had found absolutely no evidence of
00:29:41
that quite the country
00:29:43
he told the police that she had mental
00:29:46
health problems that she was depressed
00:29:49
almost suggesting that she was suicidal
00:29:52
again
00:29:53
the police found absolutely no evidence
00:29:56
of her being depressed at that
00:29:59
particular time
00:30:01
and the police realized very quickly
00:30:04
that he was
00:30:05
telling lies he was being inconsistent
00:30:09
griggs stuck to his story and denied any
00:30:11
involvement with the child that he was
00:30:13
abusing because of uh debbie's concerns
00:30:15
about his uh inappropriate relationship
00:30:18
with uh with a child
00:30:20
um that was part of the investigation
00:30:23
but there was no evidence to corroborate
00:30:25
it um and and the young lady in question
00:30:28
didn't
00:30:29
provide any information that was that
00:30:30
was able to support that despite andrew
00:30:33
griggs's denials detectives were
00:30:35
convinced he was their man but actual
00:30:38
proof was thin on the ground i know that
00:30:40
the police
00:30:42
searched
00:30:43
debbie's house garage they even dug up
00:30:46
the gardens they searched the fields
00:30:49
around it
00:30:51
and obviously were searching the streets
00:30:54
none of those excavations revealed
00:30:56
anybody one of the core aspects of the
00:30:58
murder investigation to take it forward
00:31:00
is to have
00:31:01
a body and we didn't have a body um so
00:31:04
so actually we had a circumstantial case
00:31:08
and even what andrew had told us had
00:31:10
some truth in what he's saying the best
00:31:12
lie is
00:31:13
you know a 90 truth and he was pretty
00:31:15
good at doing that she wrote me up you
00:31:18
know and
00:31:20
then started moaning about having the
00:31:22
boys 24 hours a day seven days a week
00:31:24
the police carried out a very intensive
00:31:27
investigation at the time of the murder
00:31:30
but at that time
00:31:32
back in 1999
00:31:34
it was decided that there just wasn't
00:31:36
sufficient evidence to prosecute
00:31:41
it was a frustrating time for kent
00:31:42
police and a heartbreaking one for
00:31:44
debbie's loved ones we didn't believe
00:31:47
he was walking away from it or walking
00:31:50
getting away with it
00:31:52
we couldn't understand why
00:31:55
the police couldn't
00:31:57
put everything together and break him
00:32:00
down so that he would
00:32:02
crack and tell us what had gone on
00:32:06
months passed with no breakthroughs
00:32:09
then months turned to years
00:32:12
but in 2002 almost three years after
00:32:16
debbie had vanished a possible in
00:32:19
andrew's armor we know andrew is looking
00:32:20
to move away and move away from the area
00:32:24
down to dorset so the business goes up
00:32:27
for sale
00:32:28
and when the new owner comes in there's
00:32:30
actually some documentation that they
00:32:32
find and within the documentation
00:32:35
is what some would describe as a love
00:32:36
letter
00:32:38
from
00:32:39
what turns out to be
00:32:41
the 14 year old
00:32:42
child saying how much
00:32:44
um she loved him
00:32:46
and actually there clearly was a
00:32:47
relationship so that's the first bit of
00:32:50
solid evidence even though you know it
00:32:52
was it was
00:32:53
in a letter that we would need to
00:32:54
cooperate that andrew actually had been
00:32:57
in a relationship not only proof of
00:32:59
griggs's abusive relationship with a
00:33:01
child but also a potential motive for
00:33:04
murder all of a sudden
00:33:06
the reason for wanting debbie dead is
00:33:08
strengthened because of um not just the
00:33:11
financial aspect for debbie but also the
00:33:13
fact that we may have evidence that he
00:33:16
was a pedophile
00:33:18
that he had raped a child andrew's
00:33:20
rearrested
00:33:22
for the sexual offenses and and we do
00:33:25
get a disclosure at that stage uh from
00:33:27
the uh from the young lady about what
00:33:29
happened but hopes for a prosecution
00:33:31
were dashed once again
00:33:33
the file was looked at by the cps
00:33:36
and again it was decided that there
00:33:38
wasn't sufficient evidence devastating
00:33:41
for the team devastating for the family
00:33:43
at that point
00:33:44
um and uh and no obvious lines of
00:33:47
inquiry at that time to to continue to
00:33:49
pursue
00:33:51
andrew and his sons moved to dorset to
00:33:53
begin a new life he remarried cutting
00:33:56
off all contact with debbie's family
00:33:59
not only did we lose
00:34:02
debbie
00:34:04
the baby we lost those boys as well
00:34:09
years passed with no news her family
00:34:11
never stopped looking for her though in
00:34:13
their hearts they knew there was little
00:34:15
point mum went
00:34:18
she searched the streets for hours upon
00:34:20
end just looking for debbie she phoned
00:34:22
all of her contacts
00:34:24
again no joy whatsoever
00:34:27
she rang all the newspapers to try and
00:34:29
get the newspapers to write something
00:34:31
just to bring debbie to the light so
00:34:33
that somebody somewhere
00:34:36
may have heard or seen something
00:34:38
everything goes on around you
00:34:40
children are born
00:34:42
you laugh
00:34:43
you joke
00:34:44
you see a thing
00:34:46
and suddenly deb is there she's in your
00:34:49
head
00:34:50
and everything breaks again
00:34:53
it leaves you empty leaves you
00:34:54
devastated it leaves you
00:34:57
wandering hoping wishing
00:34:59
in 2018 paul fatheringham was heading up
00:35:02
kent police's cold cases team when a
00:35:04
colleague approached with a case he was
00:35:06
keen to look at with fresh eyes the
00:35:08
disappearance of debbie griggs we
00:35:11
started the cold case team working with
00:35:13
him as well to start pulling out the old
00:35:15
files reviewing whether there's anything
00:35:17
that we might have missed we also
00:35:19
carried out a number of inquiries
00:35:21
we call them proof of life inquiries
00:35:22
proof of life is something
00:35:24
which can be use of bank accounts use of
00:35:27
her mobile phone
00:35:29
use of the nhs registration of the birth
00:35:31
of the baby that she was carrying at the
00:35:33
time she disappeared
00:35:35
there was no evidence of debbie griggs's
00:35:37
existence since the day that she
00:35:39
vanished in may 1999.
00:35:41
for the third time the police took the
00:35:43
case back to the cps
00:35:46
the crucial factors which changed
00:35:47
between 2002 and 2018
00:35:50
was simply that there was no proof of
00:35:52
life for debbie that really strengthened
00:35:54
the case the fact that 20 years had gone
00:35:57
past
00:35:58
and there was absolutely no evidence
00:36:01
whatsoever of this woman being alive
00:36:04
certain by now that 34 year old deborah
00:36:06
elizabeth griggs had died in may 1999
00:36:09
the cps agreed to bring charges against
00:36:11
her husband in march 2019 debbie's
00:36:14
sister wendy by then living in new
00:36:16
zealand received a call that she'd
00:36:17
almost given up hope of ever getting it
00:36:20
was from her younger brother wayne and i
00:36:23
did a lot of skype and facetime
00:36:27
and he was quite excited to be telling
00:36:29
me that
00:36:31
dad had the police round this morning at
00:36:33
6 30 and he said that the police had to
00:36:36
be with dad to tell him
00:36:38
that there were other police in dorset
00:36:40
arresting andy police body cam footage
00:36:43
shows andrew griggs impassive as he's
00:36:46
taken away in handcuffs almost 20 years
00:36:49
after his first wife's disappearance
00:36:51
had he always expected this day to come
00:36:54
or by now did he think he was home and
00:36:56
dry
00:36:57
we go to dorset
00:36:59
and we arrest him and produce him before
00:37:00
court and he gets formally charged with
00:37:03
the offensive murder before we knew it
00:37:06
there was just the flood of
00:37:09
everything going on at the same time
00:37:12
with him being arrested
00:37:13
charged
00:37:15
um he was released out on bail which we
00:37:18
were a bit disappointed with
00:37:21
but then we found the court case was
00:37:23
only in a few months time
00:37:25
so
00:37:26
it was okay we could cope with that
00:37:28
in october 2019 andrew griggs stood
00:37:30
trial at canterbury crown court
00:37:32
prosecutor diane ginova knew her task
00:37:35
would not be an easy one legally it was
00:37:37
a very difficult case circumstantial
00:37:40
evidence is evidence which
00:37:44
shows which suggests that the defendant
00:37:48
is guilty of a crime
00:37:51
in this case there are a number of
00:37:53
strands of circumstantial evidence
00:37:56
the body had not been found so there was
00:37:59
not direct evidence the prosecution
00:38:02
could never at any point say how debbie
00:38:05
was murdered
00:38:06
but the prosecution could say with
00:38:09
conviction
00:38:10
that she was murdered
00:38:12
because her body had never been found
00:38:15
the evidence in this case
00:38:17
was based on
00:38:20
statements from her family and friends
00:38:23
who knew that she just wouldn't simply
00:38:26
up and leave in the middle of the night
00:38:28
and of course the major discrepancy in
00:38:30
andrew greek's version of what happened
00:38:32
that night during the trial one of the
00:38:34
critical aspects was the movement of the
00:38:36
car at two o'clock in the morning at
00:38:38
four o'clock in the morning my view is
00:38:40
that andrew's murdered debbie
00:38:43
two o'clock in the morning he puts
00:38:44
debbie in the car takes her somewhere
00:38:48
comes back
00:38:50
and then four o'clock in the morning he
00:38:52
drives off to dump the car in his
00:38:54
defense andrew griggs stuck to the same
00:38:56
story that he'd been telling for 20
00:38:58
years
00:39:01
throughout all his lengthy interviews
00:39:03
which run to some 1500 pages
00:39:05
andrew griggs has always denied
00:39:07
murdering his wife
00:39:09
his defense has always been that she
00:39:11
left
00:39:12
she left in the middle of the night
00:39:14
never to be seen again
00:39:15
he had nothing to do with her
00:39:17
disappearance and he did not murder her
00:39:20
on a dry cold day at the end of october
00:39:22
2019 the jury retired to consider its
00:39:25
verdict debbie's family's 20-year wait
00:39:28
was almost over
00:39:29
would they finally see justice
00:39:32
we were all sat in a little room waiting
00:39:34
for the outcome
00:39:36
we were sat there
00:39:37
bickering
00:39:38
fighting
00:39:41
crying
00:39:42
i went outside and broke down for quite
00:39:45
a while this was never going to be an
00:39:47
easy case to prove
00:39:49
however
00:39:50
we were satisfied that we had enough
00:39:52
evidence
00:39:53
for the case to go before a jury and for
00:39:56
a jury to conclude beyond a reasonable
00:39:58
doubt
00:39:59
that andrew griggs was guilty of
00:40:01
murdering his wife debbie the jury filed
00:40:03
back it was the long-awaited moment of
00:40:05
truth a verdict was returned when i
00:40:08
heard the jury
00:40:10
unanimously say guilty
00:40:13
and i saw his face
00:40:15
his shock on it
00:40:18
it's just
00:40:20
the feeling was
00:40:21
everything
00:40:23
i didn't know what to cry with to laugh
00:40:25
to scream
00:40:27
to what
00:40:30
we were just so
00:40:32
elated
00:40:33
that we'd finally got him
00:40:36
after all that time
00:40:39
he was finally going down
00:40:41
it was a moment of relief for debbie's
00:40:43
loved ones after 20 years of anguish but
00:40:45
not all in the court felt the same
00:40:48
there are probably very mixed emotions
00:40:50
for the family on the one hand we have
00:40:53
three sons
00:40:54
who were brought up by their father
00:40:57
brought up having been led to believe
00:40:59
that their mother had just simply
00:41:01
abandoned them walked off in the middle
00:41:03
of the night
00:41:05
leaving them behind
00:41:07
they've been brought up by the murderer
00:41:09
of their mother
00:41:11
on the other hand we have her family her
00:41:14
mother who unfortunately died before the
00:41:17
decision to charge
00:41:18
had been made her sisters
00:41:21
her family
00:41:22
who have been deprived of seeing the
00:41:24
three boys
00:41:26
ultimately have justice
00:41:28
for debbie
00:41:29
on handing down griggs's sentence the
00:41:31
judge reflected the pain and confusion
00:41:33
that the killer's continued denials have
00:41:35
caused when the judge
00:41:38
sentenced mr griggs
00:41:40
he commented upon
00:41:43
the defendant having brought the
00:41:45
children up but
00:41:47
having deprived debbie their mother
00:41:50
of that opportunity to bring her own
00:41:53
children up
00:41:55
and also deprive the boys of knowing a
00:41:59
really loving devoted and caring mother
00:42:02
who thought the world of them
00:42:05
so
00:42:06
the boys had been brought up to live a
00:42:08
lie
00:42:09
and we all realized in the prosecution
00:42:12
team how difficult it would be for those
00:42:14
boys to come to terms with not only the
00:42:17
loss of their mother
00:42:19
but now the loss and long-term
00:42:21
imprisonment of their own father it's a
00:42:23
closure of sorts for her family but that
00:42:26
will never be complete until they can
00:42:28
bury her it remains to be seen whether
00:42:30
andrew griggs
00:42:31
will allow the family to have closure
00:42:35
and bury
00:42:36
debbie in the way that they would want
00:42:38
her to rest in peace
00:43:04
[Applause]
00:43:05
[Music]
00:43:10
um
00:43:18
[Music]
00:43:33
you
