00:00:05
JANE PERRY: A fatal
fall from 80 feet off a bridge
into an ice cold river in the middle of the night.
00:00:12
[music playing] - We could see scuff
marks on the pipe, as if someone had been trying
to cling on for their life
00:00:19
before falling to their death. JANE PERRY: A young
student's life cut short.
00:00:25
RUTH CHIPP: You never
expect a child to go early. It's like torture. JANE PERRY: Was it simply
a bizarre accident--
00:00:35
- What he witnessed
was John almost doing a backflip over
the railings and disappearing into the water.
00:00:42
[music intensifies] [water rushing] JANE PERRY: --or murder? - Unless he was punched
with the force of someone
00:00:50
like Popeye, then he could
not go over accidentally. [music crescendos] [calm music]
00:01:12
[seagulls calling] RUTH CHIPP: Our son, John Chipp,
was born on the 11th of March,
00:01:21
1986, in Castletown, which
is an area in Sunderland. [light music] He was a lovely baby.
00:01:29
He was bright. He walked early at 10 months. He was always fun. - He was very
thoughtful, very loving,
00:01:38
very friendly with everybody. And he just loved life. MARK CHIPP - Mine and John's
relationship was really good
one.
00:01:46
We were very close. Our John was the older one. He was two years older than me. He was always there for us.
00:01:53
He would always
stick up for us. He would always
fight my corner, and we had some
great times together.
00:01:58
[upbeat music] JANE PERRY: Like many
young people in Sunderland, John loved soccer.
00:02:04
RUTH CHIPP: Even before
he could walk properly, he was kicking the ball around. GEORGE CHIPP: He
loved to follow
00:02:09
Sunderland Football Club. He was a season ticket holder. - We used to go out
and play football together,
00:02:16
and he was great at football. So he just used to take
the ball past me all the time.
00:02:23
JANE PERRY: John also
shared his father's love of racing pigeons. - He used to love coming
down, sitting with the birds,
00:02:30
helping his dad basket
the birds and train the birds. RUTH CHIPP: It's
the delightful John Chipp.
00:02:39
He's been in the sea. We enjoyed our family
holidays, and we went to the Dominican
Republic as a family.
00:02:46
MARK CHIPP:
The holiday was great. We had a right laugh. I was 15 at the time. He would have been 17.
00:02:51
And we just bonded. It was great. I'd class him
as a perfect brother. I-- I don't think I could
have asked much more from him.
00:03:01
- He was very loving,
very thoughtful. Always tell you he loved you
and put his arms around you.
00:03:07
We couldn't have asked
for anything better. [music playing] JANE PERRY: Situated
in the Northeast of England,
00:03:12
John's home city of Sunderland
is famous for more than its Football Club. - We've got
a fabulous coastline,
00:03:20
lots of historic things,
good shopping centers. It's a really, really
nice area to live.
00:03:27
JANE PERRY: It's a city that
former Detective Superintendent Ian Sharp policed for a decade
during his 30 years of service.
00:03:36
- The city of Sunderland is a
typical busy city center built around the River Wear,
the deep gorge river,
00:03:45
ideal for shipbuilding,
and one of the oldest bridges crossing the river is
the Queen Alexandra Bridge.
00:03:52
It's 330 feet long
and 85 feet high. [light music] JANE PERRY: By 2004, John
Chipp had finished school
00:04:02
and was preparing for his
next stage in life. - John was enrolled
in college to do
00:04:07
a BTEC in public services. - I think he
wanted to be either a fireman or a police officer.
00:04:14
JANE PERRY: John turned
18 on March 11, 2004. And a week later,
on Thursday, March 18,
00:04:21
another friend was
celebrating their big day. - When John finished
work, he called in to see
00:04:29
his dad at the pigeon loft. - And he just says, dad,
do you mind if I go out? I said to them,
don't get too much
00:04:37
to drink, make sure
you stick together, and make sure you
come home together. - Went out with a big
smile on his face
00:04:47
as he used excited to go and
have a drink with his friends. - I didn't get home until
after John had gone out.
00:04:55
We had our evening meal,
settled down for the evening, went to bed,
and John wasn't in.
00:05:02
It wasn't until
the following morning that we both realized
he hadn't come home,
00:05:09
and that's when alarm
bells start to ring. It was not like him at all. He hadn't even phoned
or left a message
00:05:19
to say he was all right. I had to get to work
that Friday morning. But I think during
the whole day, both of us
00:05:28
tried his mobile
phone numerous times. He didn't answer. - The day have
passed, and we just
00:05:35
thought he might have been
partying at a friend's house or whatever. - When I came back from
work on Friday evening,
00:05:44
that's when we reported
him missing to the police. [light music] They wanted
a photograph of him.
00:05:55
John always played five a side
football at Nissan Car Factory Sports Club on a Friday.
00:06:01
We went there,
and he wasn't there. - You get that feeling,
you know there's something
00:06:07
wrong, desperately wrong. Just a gut feeling
that you know it's going to turn out bad.
00:06:18
It was just like he
disappeared off the Earth. JANE PERRY:
Meanwhile, police were
00:06:23
rapidly escalating
their inquiries into John's disappearance. - He was reported
missing Friday,
00:06:29
the 19th of March
to my colleague, Detective Sergeant Chris Sobenga. We get many reports
of missing from homes.
00:06:38
This one was more unusual. The family were
distraught and frantic. Chris Sobenga contacted
the family immediately to seek
00:06:48
clues and help from them. We began inquiries
around the mobile phone to see if there was
any response from that.
00:06:56
And then began to review CCTV
footage from the town center to see if they could
pick up John Chipp.
00:07:04
[moderate music] CCTV, in its early stages, was
very grainy and bad quality. But they were able to pick
up John Chipp in the town
00:07:15
center at around 11:30. He'd been out drinking,
and was very drunk, and had been spoken
to by police officers
00:07:25
in the town center, who
told him to behave and get himself on his way home. Further CCTV footage
was reviewed,
00:07:35
and it was able to pick
up John running home quite fast from the city
center along towards
00:07:43
the Queen Alexandra Bridge. Another male was seen
about two minutes ahead of him going onto
the bridge before John ran
00:07:52
onto the bridge. The last movements of John
entering the bridge from the south side was
just after midnight at about
00:08:01
quarter past midnight. That takes us
into the early hours of Friday the 19th of March.
00:08:06
[dramatic music] So we know that he went onto
the Queen Alexandra Bridge from the south side trying
to get home on the north side.
00:08:16
But he never came over
the other side of the bridge. He wasn't seen again. The worst case
scenario was that
00:08:24
he'd fallen from the bridge
somehow, an 80-foot drop. [water rushing] A fall from the bridge
of 80 foot onto the water
00:08:34
would certainly knock you
out unconscious immediately. It's similar
to hitting concrete.
00:08:40
The weather
at the time was rough and a cold water temperature
from the north sea.
00:08:46
The chances of survival from
an 80-foot drop onto the river are very slim indeed.
00:08:52
[ominous music] [moderate music] JANE PERRY: In the days after
John Chipp went missing on
00:09:03
March 18, 2004,
possibly having suffered a fatal fall from the Queen
Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland,
00:09:12
police and family
grew increasingly concerned for his safety. RUTH CHIPP: You felt powerless.
00:09:18
You didn't know where
to start looking. You don't know what to do. It's awful, absolutely awful.
00:09:25
[somber music] JANE PERRY: While
police pieced together John's last known
movements, John's father,
00:09:31
George, continued
to do everything he could to find his son. - I just couldn't sit back
and just sit-in the house.
00:09:39
I just had to be
out there, looking. I'd went down to the river,
because we used to walk
00:09:45
the dog down the river. I searched the allotments
where I've got the pigeons.
00:09:52
I never give up. I went out looking every day. - I always had it in my head
that he was going to show up.
00:09:59
He's somewhere. He's-- he's just
being an idiot. Just come home, John.
00:10:04
JANE PERRY: Investigators,
led at this point by Detective Sergeant
Chris Sobenga
00:10:08
were desperate
for more information. Chris Sobenga was in close
contact with the family,
00:10:15
and he urged the family
to make a press appeal for further
witnesses to come forward.
00:10:21
[light music] RUTH CHIPP: Sunderland
Football Club, they were very happy to put an
appeal out at their home game
00:10:28
that weekend. I was asked if I would do
a local radio interview. Probably one of the most
traumatic ones
00:10:37
was doing the press
conference where people's cameras are clicking
as you walk in a room.
00:10:43
[moderate music] HONOR DORO TOWNSHEND:
There are a number of reasons why the police
might choose to hold
00:10:49
a missing person appeal. The first one might be
that they are looking out for people who
might be witnesses,
00:10:54
without even realizing that
they witnessed anything. There is the added
benefit in a way
00:11:00
that doing this appeal
is really highlighting to the victim's
family that they
00:11:04
are doing as much as they can. A missing person's appeal
can have the added bonus
00:11:11
of putting pressure on people
who either know information or is aware of someone
else being involved,
00:11:16
because it can start
to feel like those walls are closing in. So it can encourage people who
know something to come forward.
00:11:23
[suspenseful music] IAN SHARP: Police
investigations at this point are centered around
searching the riverbanks.
00:11:29
The Marine section
of Northumbria police were involved,
underwater search unit divers were involved.
00:11:37
But it is difficult
because of the fast flowing tide and the deep silt. JANE PERRY: But almost two
weeks since his disappearance,
00:11:45
there was still
no sign of John. IAN SHARP: The police
are struggling to find any clues or evidence.
00:11:52
The bridge has been
searched and analyzed. There are no signs of any
struggle or assault or
00:11:57
any blood, so there is
no typical crime scene to start a murder inquiry. [light music]
00:12:04
JANE PERRY: Meanwhile,
the local community rallied to support John's family.
00:12:09
- I had people
knocking on our door with flowers, some people
I didn't even know.
00:12:16
I started to feel like we
lived in a flower shop. But you almost feel like
your life's not your own
00:12:24
at that time, because you
just go through motions other than your grief and your
frustration of not having any--
00:12:33
anything to do or any news. You function, and that's all. [suspenseful music]
00:12:38
JANE PERRY: In late
March 2004, two weeks after John went missing
from the Queen Alexandra
00:12:44
Bridge, police received
a call, which was quickly brought to the attention
of Detective Superintendent
00:12:50
Ian sharp. - The phone call
comes in from a member of the public, who happens
to be a family friend of a man
00:12:59
named Christopher Weldon. The witness told
us that he'd been out drinking with Christopher
Weldon and the wives.
00:13:08
There'd been a lot
of alcohol consumed. Weldon's wife took
the car keys from Weldon
00:13:14
and told him he was
not capable of driving. Weldon objected to that. There was an argument,
and he stormed off in a huff,
00:13:23
stating he was going to go
to the Queen Alexandra Bridge and throw himself off. [dramatic music]
00:13:32
The witness told us
that he'd been talking to Christopher Weldon,
and-- and he said,
00:13:38
you'd never guess
what's happened. I went to the Queen
Alexandra Bridge,
00:13:42
and as I was standing there, a
young lad came running across, and he's gone over
the side of the bridge.
00:13:48
[ominous music] The witness urged Weldon
to go to the police, but Weldon refused.
00:13:57
So that witness
came to the police and gave us that information. And at that point,
myself and Steve Barron
00:14:06
became involved
in a homicide inquiry. [music crescendos] - The witness had
quite a tale to tell,
00:14:15
and I think we were all very
surprised when he came forward. Weldon had said, this young
lad come running towards us,
00:14:26
and he started
to fight with us. And during that fight,
that young lad has somehow gone over the bridge.
00:14:34
Weldon hadn't done anything. He hadn't left
the bridge and contacted the emergency services.
00:14:39
In actual fact, he'd left
the bridge, phoned a friend, and got a lift home. The witness was willing
to give that evidence in court.
00:14:48
So now we have what we
would refer to as a key and significant witness. And now we are very much
leaning towards the fact
00:14:56
that what's happened
on the bridge is John has come across
Christopher Weldon.
00:15:02
There's been some
form of altercation. And as a result of that,
John's ended up in the river.
00:15:08
[ominous music] JANE PERRY: Investigators
were grateful that the witness had found the
strength to come forward and
00:15:17
report one of his own friends. STEVE BARRON: He knows that if
this turns out to be a murder
00:15:24
and his friends found guilty
of it, that he's going to go to jail for a long time.
00:15:31
I'm sure he thought
long and hard about it, but I'm also sure
that he was hugely
00:15:36
influenced by those appeals
from John's parents. JANE PERRY: Armed with
this new information,
00:15:43
Detective Superintendent
Ian Sharp moved quickly to detain his suspect. - Christopher Weldon
was arrested and
00:15:51
placed in the cells overnight. He was originally arrested
for an assault case because he'd already
confessed to being
00:16:01
in a fight on the bridge
with a younger man. So the arrest for assault
was appropriate because we
00:16:10
did not have a dead body. [radio chatter] JANE PERRY: With Christopher
Weldon in detention
00:16:16
awaiting interview
at Sunderland police station, astonishing new information
about their suspect
00:16:21
quickly came to light
regarding an incident that happened just 10 days
before John Chipp disappeared.
00:16:29
- We found out that
Christopher Weldon had been a passenger on a ferry. That ferry traveled from
Amsterdam to North Shields.
00:16:39
And what we knew was that
Weldon was on that boat with a number of friends. We also knew that there was
a 35-year-old German man called
00:16:48
Frank Conrad on the ferry. - We know on that
ferry trip, there had been an argument between
Weldon and Frank Conrad.
00:16:57
- And when the ferry
docked in North shields, Mr. Conrad was not on board. [suspenseful music]
00:17:04
Mr. Conrad, at some point
during that journey, had gone overboard
and into the North Sea.
00:17:11
- We know that Weldon
was interviewed by police about a week before
John Chipp went missing.
00:17:18
- So when Weldon was
arrested in relation to John's disappearance,
he's already
00:17:25
a part of an investigation
in relation to Frank Conrad's missing
episode from the ferry.
00:17:30
JANE PERRY: Frank Conrad's
body was never found. And although Weldon
was never charged,
00:17:35
police were struck by the
similarities between the cases. - We have two reports
of men going into water
00:17:47
under circumstances
that are not understood and not explained. And both investigations now
involve Christopher Weldon.
00:17:58
[light music] - It's important
to note that Weldon never had any criminal
charge associated
00:18:04
with the ferry incident. However, that
incident will have meant that Weldon was aware
that someone went overboard,
00:18:12
was missing, and no criminal
charges were brought. And that does then
pose the question
00:18:17
that, did that give
Weldon a kind of sense of self-assurance,
a confidence that he then
00:18:23
felt he didn't need
to go to the police when he knew that John
had gone over the bridge?
00:18:28
Because he knew that
no information had been found in relation
to the ferry incident,
00:18:33
so why would this
be any Different [suspenseful music] JANE PERRY: For Detective
Superintendent Ian Sharp,
00:18:38
this was a unique
and challenging case. - As a Detective
Superintendent and senior investigating officer, I
had investigated many murders,
00:18:49
which normally begin with
a crime scene, a dead body, forensic scientists,
pathologists,
00:18:56
blood splash patterns,
and lots of clues to help you get started. This was a unique case
because we had none of that.
00:19:04
And we were pinning our hopes
on an interview strategy to see what clues we could pick
up from Christopher Weldon.
00:19:12
So it was important
to talk to him and find out exactly what
happened on the bridge.
00:19:17
[music crescendos] [light music] JANE PERRY: With 18-year-old
John Chipp still missing after
00:19:27
an altercation on Queen
Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland, police needed to establish
whether he had
00:19:33
accidentally fallen
into the river below or if he had been pushed. While their number
one suspect was
00:19:41
in the cells
awaiting interview, police informed
John Chipp's family of Christopher Weldon's arrest.
00:19:47
[calm music] - We had a visit from the CID. - But the information,
what we got, we didn't really want to hear,
because it was all bad.
00:20:00
- It was pure shock. We still didn't have John. We still didn't know the true
facts behind what had gone on.
00:20:08
You just want to know
where he is and why. [suspenseful music] JANE PERRY: As well
as prompting
00:20:14
Christopher Weldon's
arrest, the call made by his friend also led
Detective Superintendent Ian
00:20:21
Sharp to re-examine the scene
of John Chipp's suspected fatal fall. - When we got information that
an altercation had taken place
00:20:31
between Weldon and John
Chipp on the bridge, we examined closely
a pipe that ran
00:20:36
alongside the barrier
of the bridge, and we could see scuff
marks on the pipe, like finger marks
being dragged down
00:20:44
the pipe as if someone
was trying to hold on before falling. [dramatic beat] It was gut wrenching.
00:20:51
It was terrible
to think that someone had been trying to cling
on for their life
00:20:55
before falling to their death. [dramatic beat] Seeing those finger
marks on that pipe
00:21:00
certainly tied in with Weldon's
first confession to his friend, that an altercation
that took place,
00:21:08
and a boy had gone over
the side of the bridge. [suspenseful music] What we now had
to try and understand
00:21:14
was, was that an accident
or was he deliberately thrown over the bridge? JANE PERRY: Ian
and his team knew
00:21:22
that interviewing
Christopher Weldon would be key
to understanding what really happened on the bridge.
00:21:29
- Weldon's version
of events is that he is there because he
is contemplating
00:21:34
taking his own life. He says that he sees a young
man running towards him, and that that young man
begins to assault him.
00:21:46
Weldon describes that
he somehow stumbles and his arms flail upwards. And in doing so, he
catches John somehow,
00:21:58
and John is propelled
backwards over the railings and into the water. Video interviews now
are very commonplace.
00:22:08
But back then, they weren't. IAN SHARP: It was difficult
to picture in your mind
00:22:12
exactly what you were
seeing and to establish, was this an accident or not. I knew at that point the Crown
Prosecution Service would think
00:22:21
there was reasonable doubt. So I decided on a new tactic
to go to the gymnasium and set up a volleyball net at
the same height of the bridge
00:22:31
barrier, and to get Weldon
to reconstruct and tell us exactly what
had happened, only
00:22:39
this time video record it
to see if what he was saying was indeed possible. [camera shutter]
00:22:46
We said it
at the height of 4 feet 2 inches, which is
exactly the same height as the bridge barrier.
00:22:55
- And we essentially
said to Weldon, can you show us what
this looked like? And what he described was being
knocked back during this attack
00:23:06
and lost his balance. His arm flew in the air,
made contact with John. And what he witnessed
was John almost doing
00:23:17
a backflip over
the railings and disappearing into the water. - That's the version
he was sticking to.
00:23:24
He was defending himself. He was the victim,
and this young boy had somehow gone over headfirst
over the side of the bridge
00:23:33
and had fallen to his death. - I'm thinking to myself from
a common sense perspective,
00:23:40
I don't know
if that's possible. - The difficulty
now was convincing the CPS to charge a murder
charge given that we
00:23:49
did not have a dead body. [ominous music] JANE PERRY: To help convince
the Crown Prosecution Service
00:23:55
to charge Weldon
with murder, they decided to enlist the help
of pathologist Jim Sunter
00:24:01
and explained to him
the circumstances of the altercation. - We said, if this
young man has gone off
00:24:07
the bridge in these
circumstances, what's the likelihood
of him surviving an impact with the water?
00:24:15
And what that
person said was, I'm convinced that that
young man would not have survived that fall.
00:24:22
You simply haven't yet
recovered his body. [suspenseful music] The next thing we
asked him about
00:24:26
was, what did he think
about the account that Christopher
Weldon had provided? - He immediately said,
no, that's impossible,
00:24:34
because your center of gravity
is down where your hips are. The barrier rail is set
at 4 foot 2 shoulder
00:24:41
height for a safety reason. And unless he was punched
with the force of someone like Popeye, then he could
not go over accidentally.
00:24:55
We got a very early statement
from the pathologist at that point
to support the theory
00:25:01
that John Chipp had
been deliberately pushed over the bridge. And this was murder,
not an accident.
00:25:07
[ominous music] [light music] JANE PERRY: Even
without a body, the evidence gathered
by Ian and Steve
00:25:15
was enough to convince
the Crown Prosecution Service. On Thursday, April
1, 2004, they
00:25:23
authorized a charge of murder
against Christopher Weldon, and he was remanded
in custody to appear
00:25:29
at Houghton Le spring
Magistrates' Court the following morning. Meanwhile, Ian and Steve
visited John's family
00:25:36
to tell them that Weldon
was now being charged with their son's murder. - I don't recall exactly
what my reaction was,
00:25:46
because it's not happiness. You never expect
a child to go early. It's like torture.
00:25:56
We still didn't have John. All I wanted was
to know where my-- my son was so I could
lay him to rest.
00:26:06
[light music] - Often, we talk about the
significant impact on families when a loved one
is murdered, but
00:26:13
it can be worse when there
is no body to grieve over. Because there's this constant
back of the mind thought of,
00:26:20
what if they're just missing? What if they turn up? Because there's no
evidence physically
00:26:25
yet that that can't happen. [dramatic music] - The underlying priority
for the family and for us,
00:26:33
was to recover
John Chipp's body and give the family
some peace of mind. And we made a promise
that we would
00:26:41
do everything humanly possible
to recover John's body. JANE PERRY: While
police frogmen continued
00:26:47
to search the River
Wear, investigators made another
breakthrough in the case. - A witness came forward,
and she described
00:26:56
entering the bridge
from the North side, and she encountered
a big man, who we now
00:27:02
know as Christopher Weldon. She walked past the big man. And as she walked
towards the South side,
00:27:09
she saw what she
says is a young boy running under the bridge. It is important that
she places both of them
00:27:17
together on the bridge
at quarter past midnight. That was the last
sighting of John Chipp.
00:27:24
JANE PERRY:
As investigations continued, so did the search
for John Chipp's body.
00:27:29
[somber music] - It's important because that
body will tell us a story. For example, was John alive
when he hit the water,
00:27:38
or was he killed on the bridge
first and then thrown over? John could have
had a suicide note
00:27:44
on his body, which
would indicate that he had killed
himself rather than being thrown from the bridge.
00:27:52
- The officers from
the Northumbria Police Marine Unit undertook hours
and hours of searching
00:27:58
in the-- the river. We are in the most
arduous of circumstances. - We had a friend that
had a small, small boat.
00:28:09
For a couple of days, we
went up and down the river, the same river as the police.
00:28:13
So they were on the south side. We were on the north
side, but we had no joy. It was nigh
on impossible, really.
00:28:22
[suspenseful music] JANE PERRY: On April
15, 2004, almost a month after John Chipp had fallen
from the Queen Alexandra
00:28:32
bridge, and two weeks after
Christopher Weldon had been charged with his murder,
the search for John's body
00:28:38
came to an end. - A dog Walker at Hilton,
a couple of miles up the river, saw a body floating in the
river and contacted the police.
00:28:51
[somber music] The Marine section recovered
the body from the river and brought it back to the dock
at Sunderland, where myself
00:29:01
and Steve Barron were waiting. - John's mobile phone, and as I
recall, his wallet were--
00:29:06
were still in his pockets. So that-- that indicated
that it was John, and you could see
that it was-- it
00:29:14
was John, albeit he
was formally identified through DNA enquiries. [light music]
00:29:22
JANE PERRY: John's
body was sent to pathologist Jim
Sunter for a post-mortem,
00:29:26
while Detective Superintendent
Ian Sharp passed on the news to John's family.
00:29:32
- They just gave
us that information and made sure we
were OK, but I think they knew that we
needed to be on our own,
00:29:40
and I think we just
hugged and cried. Part in sadness,
but also relief that at least we
knew where he was,
00:29:52
and we could finally
have some closure. - I was in school, actually. I was in a lesson,
and the two teachers come in
00:30:03
and took me out of the lesson. I thought I was in trouble. And they put us in the car,
but they didn't say a word.
00:30:11
It was just silence. And then they took us home. And that's when I got-- got told that the body
had been found.
00:30:21
And then when the teachers
had gone, I just burst-- burst into tears, and I
just jumped off the stairs
00:30:28
and just gave my mom
and dad a big cuddle. JANE PERRY: While John's family
were left to process the news,
00:30:36
a post-mortem
gave investigators more information about what
had happened to him the night
00:30:41
he fell from the bridge. - He had not been
stabbed before going over from the side of the bridge.
00:30:48
- John had water
in his lungs, which means that when John
entered the river, he was still breathing.
00:30:56
- Pathologists said he
would have been knocked unconscious immediately. And when he went
under the water,
00:31:03
he took a gulp of breath,
and water entered his lungs. The cause of death
was given as drowning.
00:31:11
The property was
still on the body, so he wasn't robbed
on the bridge, and nothing else
00:31:17
to give us any indication that
something else had happened on the bridge, other
than an altercation and
00:31:23
being bundled over
the side and into the river whilst he was alive. [suspenseful music]
00:31:30
Trying to put together
a motive for John's murder, I think it's clear that
Christopher Weldon's
00:31:36
standing on that bridge with
serious troubles on his mind. He'd just been interviewed
about a ferry death.
00:31:45
He'd had an argument
with his wife. He was drunk. He'd gone to the bridge,
and he told people
00:31:50
he was going to kill himself. He didn't kill himself and
killed someone else instead.
00:31:56
[light music] JANE PERRY: After
weeks of turmoil, John Chipp's parents were
finally able to begin
00:32:03
preparing for his funeral. And his father,
George, was determined that John finished the journey
he started the night he died.
00:32:12
- I was told that there
wouldn't be bringing them home, but I demanded he come home.
00:32:19
I says he was on his way home. He wanted to get home. I want you to bring him home.
00:32:25
They brought in that
house, and we-- we had John
in the house overnight, obviously, in his coffin.
00:32:35
That was such a relief. I felt much, much
better just having him there for that night.
00:32:45
That was probably the best
sleep I had had for weeks. [somber music] JANE PERRY: Finally,
on May 12, 2004,
00:32:52
John Chipp was laid to rest. MARK CHIPP: The funeral
was absolutely massive. Couldn't get everyone
in the church.
00:32:58
Outside the church,
the street was just packed. It was-- it's the biggest
funeral I've ever--
00:33:03
I've ever seen. It was unbelievable the amount
that turnout for him. - The street was lined by
hundreds of neighbors, friends.
00:33:13
It was very moving. - It was an amazing occasion,
but a-- but a very sad one. You can't believe that an--
00:33:24
an 18-year-old that still lived
at home could have an effect on so many people's lives.
00:33:34
[birds chirping] [somber music] JANE PERRY: On June 15,
2004, Christopher Weldon
00:33:46
appeared in court
at a plea hearing for pushing John
Chipp to his death from the Queen Alexandra
bridge in Sunderland.
00:33:53
It was the first
time John's parents came face to face with the man
accused of killing their son.
00:34:01
- I remember thinking,
bizarrely, he's not a monster. I-- I don't know whether
you think somebody is--
00:34:09
that does such a horrific
thing to another human being can look normal. - I just seen him as evil.
00:34:21
I couldn't see him
as anything else. [ominous music] JANE PERRY: After
pleading not guilty,
00:34:26
Christopher Weldon was
remanded until November 2004, when he went on trial
for the murder of John Chipp.
00:34:34
To disprove Weldon's
version of events, the prosecution wanted
to show the jury
00:34:39
a visual interpretation
of what must have happened on the bridge. - In the run up
to the trial, we
00:34:46
considered another
new tactic of doing a computer reconstruction. The defense didn't like it
because it was prejudicial
00:34:55
and because it wasn't
admitted in evidence. That caused
the judge to instruct
00:35:01
the jury to attend the bridge. - It is very rare that
a jury will physically go and
00:35:07
visit a crime scene location. The whole court
process is supposed to be very secular, very
kept within closed walls.
00:35:15
Now, it can be really
helpful for the jury to help contextualize the scene. Specifically,
in this case, they
00:35:22
need to understand
the physicality, the physical possibility
of Weldon's claim
00:35:27
that John has just
accidentally almost fallen over the side of this bridge. And so this visit
to the bridge is
00:35:34
going to have had to be
extremely well planned and mapped out to be
able to go ahead.
00:35:38
[light music] JANE PERRY: Over
20 years later, former Detective
Inspector Steve Barron
00:35:44
revisited the bridge
to retrace the jury's steps. - We wanted the jury
to see what this looked
00:35:51
like, a 4 foot 2 railing. And to get over here, you're
going to have to climb over,
00:35:57
or you're going to have to be
manhandled and thrown over. And we wanted the jury to
understand what an 85-foot drop
00:36:05
looks like, because that's
what we've got from here under the river. Coming here and seeing
this footpath
00:36:12
made the jury think about the
account that Weldon had given. And ultimately, that
just demonstrated
00:36:19
that Weldon's account
was totally fanciful. [dramatic music] JANE PERRY: The defense
claimed that John's death
00:36:26
was an accident, and that
he had attacked Weldon. - Defense was making John out
to be an unpleasant individual,
00:36:37
that John was
looking for a fight, and that's hard
to listen to as a mother whose son had been murdered.
00:36:47
[moderate music] JANE PERRY: In his
defense, Weldon also came up with an unexpected tactic.
00:36:53
- Incredibly, as part
of the defense strategy, they introduced evidence
about the ferry incident
00:37:03
the week before
John going missing. - Where Frank Conrad had
been reported missing,
00:37:09
presumed having gone overboard. And the jury heard that
Weldon had been on the ferry
00:37:17
when this had happened,
that he'd been interviewed by the police. - It seems extremely unusual
that Weldon's defense attorney
00:37:24
would decide to bring up a case
where Weldon's been questioned in relation
to a potential crime
00:37:30
in very similar
circumstances to the one that he's now on trial for. There are a couple of reasons
that they might have
00:37:35
decided to do this, though. This is a relatively
small local community. People are going to have heard
about Weldon being questioned
00:37:43
in relation to this
prior case, so they maybe thought it's better
to officially
00:37:48
introduce it to record
and control the narrative in relation to it. Additionally, they're trying
to use this to paint Weldon
00:37:56
as this victim who's
being falsely accused and has had these run ins
a couple of times now.
00:38:02
Ultimately, though,
I think it backfires. Because actually,
it just goes to show
00:38:07
that this is the type of person
who's at least been suspected of being able to show this
level of extreme violence
00:38:14
before and not
even very long ago. JANE PERRY: On Wednesday,
December 1, 2004, the jury returned
their verdict.
00:38:24
STEVE BARRON: The jury came
back with a majority of 10 to 2 that Weldon was guilty
of John's murder.
00:38:30
[somber music] - But you know
what, we don't win. We don't have our son
back and never will do.
00:38:39
So yes, there is some happiness
and elation on one part. But equally, that
sadness is still there.
00:38:48
[light music] JANE PERRY: Christopher
Weldon was given a life sentence with
a recommendation of 15
00:38:54
years in prison minus
the eight months he'd already spent on remand. [thud] - In my opinion,
it wasn't a fair--
00:39:03
it wasn't a fair sentence. - I pictured him
as coming out at 42. He's still got a lot
of years to enjoy life,
00:39:13
and I just didn't think
the sentence was long enough. - From a professional
perspective,
00:39:20
sentencing and guidelines
are there for judges to understand and implement. And on that basis, 15 years
was entirely appropriate.
00:39:35
But had John been my boy
and somebody had murdered him, I would want them to go to jail
for the rest of their life.
00:39:42
[light music] JANE PERRY: After
the jury's guilty verdict, the judge acknowledged
Ian, Steve, and
00:39:48
Detective Sergeant Chris
Sobenga's roles in what had been a tragic and unique case.
00:39:55
- The judge formally
commended Ian, and he commended Chris
and myself for our efforts
00:40:04
in supporting Ian leading
the investigation. - At the end of the trial,
Ruth gave me a thank you
00:40:12
card and a bottle of whisky. Getting a hug from
Ruth was more important than the commendation.
00:40:18
[light music] JANE PERRY: With Weldon serving
time in Northumberland Prison, John's family faced
the challenge of life
00:40:25
without their beloved
son and brother. RUTH CHIPP: You just
have to try and move on.
00:40:31
I don't think any of us
wanted to celebrate Christmas that year, did we? - We-- we actually
felt guilty--
00:40:38
RUTH CHIPP: Enjoying ourselves. - --for trying
to enjoy ourselves. MARK CHIPP: At the time,
I was very young
00:40:43
and I didn't realize how
much losing my brother had affected us. I think it changed my life
drastically for the worse,
00:40:51
really, because I grew
up without a brother, I'll never be able to be
an uncle, stuff like that.
00:40:57
JANE PERRY:
In the spring of 2019, over 14 years after
Christopher Weldon was sentenced for the murder
of John Chipp,
00:41:04
he became eligible for parole. - You are given
the choice whether you want to deliver an impact
statement at that
00:41:15
the parole hearing,
and we decided that's what we wanted to do. JANE PERRY: But Weldon
refused to attend the family's
00:41:22
statement reading. [light music] GEORGE CHIPP: I thought
it was just a coward. He took our son
away from us, and
00:41:29
he couldn't come and face us. He didn't have the guts. JANE PERRY: Despite not
being able to talk directly
00:41:35
to Weldon, Ruth read
the family's impact statement, in which Ruth described
how losing John
00:41:41
had affected the family. RUTH CHIPP: "John
was a much loved son, brother, grandson, nephew,
cousin, and friend.
00:41:52
The anguish that we all
feel at his pointless death is indescribable, and it is
very hard to put it into words.
00:42:01
Our son, Mark, was
only 15 years old when John was murdered. He often speaks of his
brother affectionately
00:42:10
and becomes upset and angry
that John is no longer with us. My husband George and I are
still haunted by John's death.
00:42:21
No parent should
have to experience the tragic death
of a child, especially in such awful circumstances."
00:42:32
JANE PERRY: John's parents
requested the parole board keep Weldon locked up,
but having served
00:42:37
his sentence, Weldon's
parole was granted, and he was released under
license in December 2019.
00:42:46
RUTH CHIPP: I wish he
was still behind bars. However, I won't
allow it to eat me
00:42:53
up and niggle away in my head. And I need to fill it
with much nicer things than thinking about him.
00:43:04
JANE PERRY: Over 20
years since John's death, his memory lives on through
his family and friends.
00:43:10
- We go out for his memory. We sometimes get
together with the lads, like all his close friends,
at the time or all my--
00:43:19
like, some of them are
my best friends now. - In memory of John, we decided
to raise money for the guide
00:43:27
dogs for the blind. We have managed to raise
over 22,000 pounds. We have named a dog after him.
00:43:36
We had a black
Labrador called Chippy. - My older son,
who was 13, he's actually called John Chipp.
00:43:42
I named him after
my brother in memory of him. RUTH CHIPP: John's old
comprehensive school,
00:43:48
we decided to set up a subject
award in art in his memory. We would like John
to be remembered
00:43:58
as a young, ginger-headed
young man who loved life, loved his sport. - Loved his animals.
00:44:10
- Mhm. - I'd like John to be
remembered as a fun, outgoing, very kind, polite,
lovely-- lovely person.
00:44:19
That's exactly who he was. - He was a much
loved child, and we want his memory to continue.
00:44:27
[light music] [theme music]