00:00:04
NARRATOR: Two young children
are expected home from school, but their parents are
nowhere to be seen.
00:00:11
And there's an ominous note
at the bottom of the stairs. NEIL LANCASTER:
No more suffering.
00:00:15
I got pushed too far this time. Daddy loves you. NARRATOR: What greeted police
as they enter the house
00:00:21
will shock friends and family. EMMA KENNY: For Kelly's
family, this attack came completely out of the blue.
00:00:26
Worgan went from being the
picture perfect son-in-law, to their daughter's murderer.
00:00:30
PAUL HOLDER: She
thought that she was going to marry Mr Perfect. NARRATOR: How had Kelly and
George Worgan's marriage
00:00:37
become a murder story? JANE MONCKTON SMITH: He
knew the dream was over. He just couldn't deal with the
rejection and the humiliation.
00:00:47
[music playing] NARRATOR: When Kelly Holder
married George Worgan, she took her vows whilst
nursing a secret that made
00:01:23
the big day even more special. PAUL HOLDER: I also had an
inkling that when I walked her
00:01:27
down the aisle,
when I held her hand that there might be two going
down the aisle and not one.
00:01:36
HANNAH HOLDER: My sister's
wedding dress kept changing. She had one size
and then she tried
00:01:40
it on I think a week
or so before and found, oh, it didn't fit. So she had to get another size.
00:01:46
PAUL HOLDER: Weeks later I
find out that she was pregnant. NARRATOR: It was
just another surprise
00:01:51
in a whirlwind
love story that had begun less than a year earlier. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH:
Kelly met George Worgan
00:01:58
for the first time
on May Day, 2011. HANNAH HOLDER: Kelly and
George both met on the buses
00:02:08
because George was a bus driver. I think he was
like, a new driver and didn't know the route
as well he should have done.
00:02:15
So she went off and
showed him the route. And I think that's where
it sort of started.
00:02:21
NARRATOR: Kelly
was living at home in rural South
Gloucestershire, England with her mom, dad, and youngest
sister, Hannah, at the time.
00:02:29
They had no idea
that she had met the man she was soon to marry. HANNAH HOLDER: With the
whole dating process,
00:02:35
it was very secretive
to my sister. PAUL HOLDER: Well, Kelly kept
it secret, the relationship.
00:02:40
But we knew because
Kelly would be up late at night
on the phone and we could hear what she was saying.
00:02:48
HANNAH HOLDER: At the time, she
was babysitting for a friend. And on a night time, we--
00:02:53
she started to be
on her phone a lot, And we started to realize she
wasn't really babysitting.
00:02:58
She was actually meeting George. PAUL HOLDER: And one
day mom said to Kelly, you know, it's about time you
brought him back to the house
00:03:06
for us to meet. HANNAH HOLDER: And he
was a very quiet person. Very shy. PAUL HOLDER: People
like his co-workers
00:03:15
said that he was the nicest
person you could ever meet. And we felt that he
was a nice person.
00:03:22
HANNAH HOLDER: He
was like a nice guy. You could easily
get on with him. PAUL HOLDER: We had
no problems with him.
00:03:28
We treated him like a son. NARRATOR: To Kelly's
family, George seemed like a decent enough young man.
00:03:36
There were no obvious character
flaws to concern them. And it was easy to see why
George would fall for Kelly.
00:03:43
PAUL HOLDER: Kelly
was a wonderful girl. She was very friendly. She would help any
body strangers.
00:03:49
And she was a very
nice girl to meet. And very loving. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Kelly
was a bubbly, happy person.
00:03:58
She was described as a bright
light who could brighten up even the darkest days.
00:04:04
HANNAH HOLDER: And she
would help anybody. Even if you're a stranger
she would just help.
00:04:08
She's that type of person
who would always help others. PAUL HOLDER: And she
has a lot of friends.
00:04:13
She helped people in the
village that where we live. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Well,
Kelly and George met on the bus
00:04:20
that he was driving. So he obviously
started talking to her. They'd struck up a friendship
that turned into a relationship
00:04:29
very quickly. They probably both wanted
to be in this relationship. But why did it
have to be so fast?
00:04:36
NARRATOR: Dr. Jane
Monckton Smith is a forensic criminologist
specializing in homicide,
00:04:42
stalking, and coercive control. She has painstakingly
researched domestic violence
00:04:48
and has pointed to eight
steps in a relationship which can lead to murder. What we do know is that
George and Kelly started
00:04:57
their relationship
very quickly, and it moved on at quite a speed. At such a speed,
people commented on it.
00:05:07
Now this is one of the
first red flags for somebody who might be a problem in
a relationship with us.
00:05:16
They are usually people who
want to be in a relationship. It's how they find
their stability.
00:05:23
HANNAH HOLDER: The relationship
was a little bit quick of-- of when they met,
how they got engaged,
00:05:30
and to the wedding. I don't know if she
really properly knew him. Like, with about
moving in together.
00:05:36
It just felt so soon. So quick. NARRATOR: Kelly met
George in May 2011, and they soon began planning for
a wedding the following spring.
00:05:46
HANNAH HOLDER: The wedding
happened on March 16, 2012. NARRATOR: Kelly's
sister, Hannah,
00:05:53
found out much later
that Kelly very nearly didn't go through with it. HANNAH HOLDER: There was
mentions that my sister
00:06:00
met with other people. I think with friends
more so than family. But especially
before the wedding,
00:06:05
she was thinking of putting it
off or not going through it. But everything was
pretty much booked.
00:06:11
So I think that's one
of the reasons she's like, she went ahead with it. And she didn't want to let
us down because as a family
00:06:17
we put quite a bit of
money into her wedding. And I guess she didn't
want us to waste it.
00:06:23
NARRATOR: Whatever
instinct was telling Kelly to walk away from George
Worgan, she pushed it
00:06:28
to the back of her mind. And for a while, she
may have felt that she'd made the right decision.
00:06:33
PAUL HOLDER: It was
the most wonderful day in my life walking my own
daughter down the aisle.
00:06:39
It was a beautiful service. She was excited. She flew down the aisle. She didn't walk.
00:06:45
She-- she couldn't
wait to be married. HANNAH HOLDER: She
did look like, a bit like a princess a little bit.
00:06:52
She did have-- I think she had a little
tiara on her head. PAUL HOLDER: At the
end of the service
00:06:58
I got up and shook George's
hand and congratulated him on marrying my daughter. We went back in to the party
and she was dancing with him
00:07:08
and it was a very special moment
to see your daughter happy. As a father, that's
all you want to see,
00:07:14
is your daughter to be happy. HANNAH HOLDER: It
was a lovely day and you would think
there was nothing wrong.
00:07:20
PAUL HOLDER: But it was
that energy I remember. Her excitement. And it was her special day.
00:07:25
That's-- that's what I
will always take with me. The energy of the day. How excited she was
that she found Mr Right
00:07:33
and that she was going to
marry the perfect man that's going to take care of her.
00:07:37
He promised mom that he would
look after her and protect her. NARRATOR: By summer
of 2018, the couple
00:07:49
were living in the
small port of Avonmouth on the Severn estuary. It's a part of the world
popular with starters
00:07:56
setting out on married life. Homes are relatively
inexpensive to rent or buy. Schools are good, and
the couple would have
00:08:04
been thinking about school. A few months after
their marriage, the happy secret that Kelly had
been nursing on her wedding day
00:08:11
arrived. A baby girl. A year later, a
little boy followed. EMMA KENNY: They have
children together.
00:08:18
And really people
document the fact that they're incredibly happy. They're constantly
having fun together.
00:08:25
They're very family orientated. They post a great
deal on social media. And they genuinely look like
the picture-perfect couple
00:08:31
with the picture-perfect family. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH:
They had two children. And they regularly shared
their exploits on Facebook
00:08:38
with friends and family. NARRATOR: It was all
Kelly had ever wanted. JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
She was a devoted mom.
00:08:46
And probably, family was
very, very important to her. HANNAH HOLDER: Yeah. She's very loving.
00:08:54
She's always thinking
about her children. NARRATOR: Although the images
suggest an idyllic start
00:08:59
to family life,
Jane Monckton Smith has investigated spousal
murders for over a decade,
00:09:04
and believes appearances
can be deceptive. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Here
we have two people for whom
00:09:09
family is very important. And this is quite often
in-- in the history where there's a lot of trouble.
00:09:18
So you have a woman
usually, who's very devoted to her children. Family means a lot to her.
00:09:24
So that-- that actually
feeds the very traditional nature of the other partner. Somebody like George.
00:09:33
He was very traditional. He wanted a family. He was the head of that family. He was the provider
for that family.
00:09:40
So you've got two
people together who are joined by a,
you know, a joint belief in how life should be.
00:09:48
NARRATOR: Monckton
Smith believes this picture of family life
isn't always a realistic goal.
00:09:54
JANE MONCKTON SMITH: I think
that probably a lot of people for whom family is
absolutely everything,
00:10:00
it's an ideal that they
have in their head. Almost a dream that this
life can be perfect.
00:10:08
It very rarely is. And anything that comes along
to puncture that bubble, the perfect family
perhaps doesn't exist,
00:10:18
can cause quite
a lot of tension. NARRATOR: The bubble of
Kelly and George Worgan's
00:10:24
happy marriage would soon burst. The consequences
of the simple fact that the pictures posted
did not tell the full story
00:10:32
would be catastrophic. PAUL HOLDER: And
on social media she was putting pictures of her
children and the wonderful life
00:10:39
that we all thought she
was living at the time. HANNAH HOLDER: My sister she
had a few little mishaps.
00:10:44
A little accident she had. And when she ended up in
hospital a few times-- [music playing]
00:10:59
NARRATOR: Having enjoyed
a whirlwind romance and a big white wedding,
Kelly and George Worgan still
00:11:05
enjoying the honeymoon
phase of their marriage, had become popular members
of the local community.
00:11:10
PAUL HOLDER: When she moved
into Avonmouth she accumulated a lot of friends who she
looked after and helped them
00:11:16
and supported them and looked
after her own children. Also got part time
jobs, as well,
00:11:22
to help with the income
of the family down there. NEIL LANCASTER: It
seemed from the outside
00:11:27
that they had a good, happy
and stable, loving family life. EMMA KENNY: Whilst the
stuff that was posted online
00:11:34
often had lots of
loving sentiments, it really did appear
that it was genuine. So it wasn't contrived.
00:11:39
It translated to that
actual relationship. And they seemed to
be the real deal. NARRATOR: Even later on when
Kelly and George's marriage
00:11:49
hit a rocky patch,
the couple continued to post photo after
photo of holidays, day trips, family outings.
00:11:56
All accompanied by
loving captions. "My family is everything to me." "Love my family."
00:12:02
"Love always and forever." Was Kelly hiding their struggles
from friends and family,
00:12:09
offering an unreal snapshot
of their relationship? PAUL HOLDER: And
on social media she
00:12:14
was putting pictures of her
children and the wonderful life that we all thought she
was living at the time.
00:12:19
HANNAH HOLDER: Over the
Facebook photos, yeah. It just seems like,
everything was happy.
00:12:24
Everything was normal. I think she was trying
to hide it, I guess. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: And
to the outside world,
00:12:33
this was a very happy, loving,
traditional fairy tale family. I think the reality
of what was actually
00:12:42
going on in that relationship
was probably very different. NARRATOR: In fact,
the couple were facing
00:12:48
mounting pressures
that would soon turn their blissful marriage sour. Kelly found herself at
home alone, and a lot.
00:12:57
HANNAH HOLDER: She became
like, a single parent. Where she was doing everything.
00:13:01
She-- she was really struggling. And I started to get down there
a bit more just to help out.
00:13:07
PAUL HOLDER: She-- she wouldn't
talk about the relationship. Not with me. People have falling
outs or whatever it is,
00:13:15
and everything would be fine. And if it was any more-- more than that then
Kelly would probably
00:13:20
tell me or tell somebody because
Kelly could talk to anybody. We don't have
secrets in our house.
00:13:28
HANNAH HOLDER: I
didn't want to go down that because the
atmosphere was horrible.
00:13:31
It didn't feel comfortable. And now I kind of,
wish I spent more time down there to be able
to help her because she
00:13:38
was crying for help. NARRATOR: Kelly's younger
sister Hannah began to have serious
concerns about George,
00:13:44
and about what kind of father he
was to his two young children. HANNAH HOLDER: But when he comes
home he-- he wasn't like a dad
00:13:51
where he wouldn't interact
with the children very much. He didn't want to do anything.
00:13:55
He just sat in a chair
like, oh, you just go and play somewhere else. I don't want you.
00:14:00
NARRATOR: Kelly's close family
could see that things weren't right, but they struggled to
put their finger on what exactly
00:14:07
was going wrong within the four
walls of the terraced house on Napier Road. PAUL HOLDER: I wish
Kelly had spoken to us
00:14:15
and explained what was going on. And that we were always there
to help her and her children.
00:14:21
And we were there through
their marriage supporting them. Emotionally,
financially, babysitter.
00:14:28
Anything that they wanted
they only had to come and ask. NARRATOR: Only
much later in court
00:14:34
would it emerge quite how hard
Kelly and George Worgan were finding it to make ends meet.
00:14:39
NEIL LANCASTER: Seven years
into this relationship on the surface and to the
outside world, everything
00:14:44
is going well. Kelly is posting Facebook
messages portraying them as a normal happy family.
00:14:51
However, underneath
this they are in severe financial difficulty. They are in significant debt.
00:14:57
EMMA KENNY: And we know
that financial difficulties are one of the biggest
stresses in a relationship.
00:15:02
It's a cause for
massive discourse. And also, it tends
to be a stressor on a personal psychological level.
00:15:08
So it can affect your mental
health very, very badly. NEIL LANCASTER: There is
the threat potentially
00:15:13
of losing houses, losing cars. To a working-class man who
wants to look after his family,
00:15:19
is this a step too far? NARRATOR: George
Worgan was a man who told family and friends
that he wanted the perfect life.
00:15:29
He appeared to portray
himself, his wife, and children as a contented,
successful stable unit.
00:15:35
When it became clear that
this facade was slipping, George Worgan seemed to
withdraw from the family.
00:15:41
To blame Kelly for what he
perceived as his failure. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: It could
be that the overspending
00:15:49
is an attempt to
create this dream life. This dream family that
they both clearly want.
00:15:56
Kelly, devoted mom. She-- this is the
life she wants. She wants family and children.
00:16:02
He wants, as well,
this family unit. He doesn't actually
trust himself that he can maintain it.
00:16:11
But he is using
finances, probably, to create this dream, for
him as much as anybody else.
00:16:19
NEIL LANCASTER: Worgan was a
normal guy with a normal job. He was a bus driver. He drove a BMW.
00:16:26
So I think we can take from
that that perhaps to some degree image was important to him.
00:16:33
JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Financial
difficulties, you know, have tentacles that
go out through--
00:16:37
through the whole
of a relationship. And for somebody who is
dependent on that relationship
00:16:44
for their identity
and who they are and their ego and their
status and everything.
00:16:48
And maybe they've
used money to maintain this facade that they're
the head of the family.
00:16:54
Once that starts to get pricked,
the whole house of cards start to fall down. NEIL LANCASTER: Debt does
strange things to people.
00:17:04
Debt changes people. The pressure from not
knowing whether you're going to be able to
keep paying your bills
00:17:10
and keep a roof over
your family's head can be all encompassing. It can change people.
00:17:17
It can make normal people
do things they wouldn't do. NARRATOR: As George and Kelly
found themselves struggling
00:17:23
financially, George
became increasingly difficult to live with. NEIL LANCASTER: I wonder if
he felt those difficulties.
00:17:30
I wonder if he felt
that sense of shame. That the threat and the
pressure that they were
00:17:35
under financially made
him feel ashamed that he was not fulfilling his role
as a provider for his family.
00:17:41
JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
This was a man who was getting out of his depth. He was trying to maintain
a status for himself
00:17:50
that he couldn't maintain. It was starting to
get away from him. Kelly was not happy
in that marriage.
00:17:59
And I do not think that
it was just about money. People like George are
generally quite controlling.
00:18:07
They need to know that they
have control of the family unit. They're not going
to let it get away.
00:18:15
NARRATOR: Throughout
2017 and 2018, George would insist on the
family doing things his way,
00:18:21
keeping control over others. It's a key red
flag for analysts. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: We are not
ready to accept, it would seem,
00:18:28
in society that controlling
your partner is abuse. We don't see any danger in it.
00:18:38
But the thing is, it's
always controlling people who are
the most dangerous when their control is taken away
00:18:47
PAUL HOLDER: I think that that
didn't happen because he wanted to keep it all quiet
and carry on keeping
00:18:54
control of everything. He tried getting Kelly
to move away from us and go and live somewhere
else nearer to his family.
00:19:04
But Kelly would--
didn't want that. Kelly wanted to come
back to where we lived and in our area
with her friends.
00:19:13
NARRATOR: In hindsight,
perhaps there were signs that George's
controlling behavior
00:19:18
had taken an aggressive turn. HANNAH HOLDER: Well, my sister,
she had a few little mishaps.
00:19:22
A little accident she had. And when she ended up
in hospital a few times. And now we're thinking,
was it because of him?
00:19:28
Of how physical he
got with my sister? PAUL HOLDER: And maybe she
thought that he would change.
00:19:35
And maybe he made some
promises that he didn't keep. You know, that he wouldn't
do it again or something.
00:19:41
NARRATOR: While Kelly's
closeness to her family might have been a source
of irritation for George,
00:19:46
her relationship with
his family was toxic. EMMA KENNY: Another big
problem in the relationship
00:19:51
was that Kelly didn't
have a good relationship with Worgan's family. Now this is problematic.
00:19:57
Because when you are
in a relationship, you ideally want to be able to
navigate those with the support
00:20:02
of your families. And of course,
it's very difficult if your partner has a family
that you don't connect with.
00:20:08
HANNAH HOLDER: She
might say she might have an issue with the
in-laws So I try to get
00:20:12
her to talk to me about it. Try to see if I can help. But she just fobbed
it off and said,
00:20:17
you know what, everything's OK. But now-- now I can say it. Yeah. That something
wasn't quite right.
00:20:25
NARRATOR: For a couple
already under pressure this could only have driven
a greater wedge between them.
00:20:30
EMMA KENNY: Worgan would
undoubtedly have felt like he was in a difficult position.
00:20:33
You know, you don't
want to hurt your wife. You want to make sure that
she feels fully supported.
00:20:37
But it's actually
really difficult not connecting with your family. You know, it's part
of your heritage.
00:20:41
It's who you relate to. Often, you've got close bonds. So knowing how to navigate
love for your family
00:20:47
along with love for your
wife can be very problematic. NARRATOR: Money worries. Difficult relationships
with the in-laws.
00:20:55
A husband who was
increasingly incapable of dealing with
financial worries. A husband controlling by nature.
00:21:02
The Worgans' marriage
was far from strong but they did try
to make it work. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH:
Yet despite all this,
00:21:09
the couple tried
valiantly to work through their difficulties. They wanted to stay together.
00:21:15
NEIL LANCASTER: There
are clearly issues within their relationship. But they do seem to be
trying to work through it.
00:21:21
This is a case of relationships
having their ups and downs. This seems to be a down with
the financial difficulties
00:21:28
and the other things
from family pressures. Messages between them
seem to suggest that they
00:21:33
are still very much a couple. There is no great break down. There's no suggestion
they were ever going to be
00:21:39
separating or getting divorced. This just seemed to be a
low point in their marriage.
00:21:44
NARRATOR: But as
the couple struggle to keep their heads above
water, they rowed more and more.
00:21:49
Kelly wondered if their marriage
could survive while George began to consider
taking the ultimate step
00:21:55
to stop his wife leaving him. NEIL LANCASTER: All we
know is that at the time at that property there clearly
had been a large confrontation.
00:22:02
PAUL HOLDER: We're still
looking for answers on why all this happened. NARRATOR: As they argued
over money worries and a rift
00:22:15
between Kelly and
her husband's family, George upped the level
of his need to control.
00:22:20
JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
Now it's not necessarily just the financial
difficulties that would
00:22:25
have really upset George. It would be the threat that
those financial difficulties
00:22:32
had to the relationship
and what he perceived those
financial difficulties would do to the relationship.
00:22:39
He knew that the relationship
was getting away from him. He was losing his grip of it.
00:22:44
NARRATOR: A major red flag
as relationship issues escalate is when a
partner threatens
00:22:49
the other in one particular way,
and Kelly did precisely that. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Kelly
was going to leave him.
00:22:57
NEIL LANCASTER: There is a
suggestion from the family that there were arguments
behind closed doors.
00:23:03
PAUL HOLDER: The
eldest would take the youngest in the bedroom when
they had their arguments and--
00:23:10
and throwing toys, whatever. EMMA KENNY: It's obvious that
Kelly started to question
00:23:16
the legitimacy of her
relationship at some point because she starts to
wonder whether they're
00:23:20
actually in a full-on
relationship still together. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Kelly
has told her friends that she
00:23:26
wants to end the marriage. She's very, very unhappy. They've probably been
arguing about this.
00:23:31
She will have told him as
well, that she's not happy, and he probably can
see at this point
00:23:39
that things are irretrievable. The finances are out of control. And his wife wants to leave him.
00:23:45
NARRATOR: Kelly told
a couple of friends that she feared her
marriage was over. But to her family and to
most of the people they knew,
00:23:52
the Worgans still kept up
the facade that they were living a blissful family life.
00:23:57
HANNAH HOLDER: Yeah. I just wish now
she asked for help. Where even if she was
always smiling but deep down
00:24:06
there was something going on
that you wouldn't even know it was happening. And that-- that's what's hard.
00:24:12
That she had this
smile but underneath she was actually
probably hurting. That you couldn't see it.
00:24:20
NEIL LANCASTER: Often in
domestic cases such as this it is really, really
common that couples
00:24:26
don't want the outside
world seeing their problems. Nobody likes to have their dirty
washing laundered in public.
00:24:33
NARRATOR: This wall
of silence made the events of the
28th of November, 2018, all the more shocking
for Kelly's loved ones.
00:24:41
The tragedy unfolded as
a knock came at the door. HANNAH HOLDER: They said
they were the police.
00:24:46
And then they said, I'm sorry
but your sister passed away. And when they said that I
was like, you're joking.
00:24:53
NARRATOR: The day had
begun unremarkably. There was nothing to suggest
that a terrible crime
00:24:59
was about to be committed. NEIL LANCASTER: So the morning
of the 28th of November
00:25:03
was a normal day. They took their
children to school. HANNAH HOLDER: My sister told
my mom that she went to a school
00:25:09
assembly for her son,
because he had a speech or something he-- he was doing. And yeah, it was like, a
lovely morning apparently.
00:25:20
She was all happy. Like, nothing was wrong. EMMA KENNY: They'd
also been shopping
00:25:24
and then they'd
come home together. So there was this very
united family fun experience.
00:25:30
HANNAH HOLDER: They went
to Costco's in Avonmouth. And that's when they
were sort of like,
00:25:36
last seen together in public. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: And when they
returned to the family home,
00:25:42
it's believed that
they had an argument. We have no way of knowing
what that argument was about.
00:25:49
NEIL LANCASTER: We know
that they went home. We don't know what happened
when they got home.
00:25:55
We don't know what happened that
made Worgan murder his wife. NARRATOR: The first
Kelly Worgan's family
00:26:03
knew that anything
was wrong was later that evening when her
mother, Glynnis, tried
00:26:07
to get in touch with Kelly. HANNAH HOLDER: My sister
always talked to my mom, like, throughout the day.
00:26:12
She's always messaging my mom. So she got a bit concerned. Like, she hasn't heard from her.
00:26:17
Goes all like, radio silent. NARRATOR: For the
following morning, Hannah holder and her parents
had their answer about what
00:26:24
had happened to Kelly. Tattering the landlord to
come down to open the door. NEIL LANCASTER: At Around
7:00 PM that same day,
00:26:33
police get called out of
concern for her welfare. Police attend the scene and
they find her body there.
00:26:41
HANNAH HOLDER: The next
thing I know, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. When I opened it I saw my mom
and my dad with two unknown men
00:26:50
and they asked
come into my room. They said they were the police. And then they said, I'm sorry
but your sister passed away.
00:26:59
And when they said that I
was like, you're joking. My dad said, I'm sorry. That's when I knew that
this wasn't a joke.
00:27:09
NARRATOR: Heartbroken,
Kelly's family began to piece together
what had happened.
00:27:14
HANNAH HOLDER: When
they brought us home they actually told us
that George killed her.
00:27:21
NEIL LANCASTER: All we
know is that at the time at that property there clearly
had been a large confrontation.
00:27:28
Now this resulted in George
using a ligature of some type, to strangle his wife.
00:27:35
Now she fought back. There's evidence
that she fought back. But he was just
too strong for her.
00:27:40
NARRATOR: To experts, the
method that George Worgan used to kill his wife is one
of the most shocking
00:27:46
elements of the tragic case. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: Kelly
was murdered by strangulation
00:27:52
through ligature. Now, this is a quite
slow way to kill someone. If you've just lost your
temper and you're just
00:28:00
thrashing out with
the nearest weapon, that's not what you would do. You wouldn't pick up a ligature
and start to strangle somebody.
00:28:10
It takes some time. The person will fight. You will be able to see the
life coming out of them.
00:28:18
This is something you
have to be committed to once you've started If
somebody is going to die.
00:28:25
It probably takes a
couple of minutes to do. NEIL LANCASTER: The second he
laid hands on that ligature
00:28:31
he was going to kill her. He intended to kill her. EMMA KENNY: It takes
time, which means you
00:28:37
have time to stop the action. So he doesn't just
start to strangle her, he goes through with
that main objective.
00:28:45
He intends to kill her. JANE MONCKTON
SMITH: He would have had many, many opportunities
to stop strangling Kelly.
00:28:56
She would have
been fighting him. She would have been
making a noise. She would have been suffering.
00:29:02
He would have been
in no doubt at all for at least a couple of
minutes of what he was doing.
00:29:09
He would have had time to
rethink what he was doing. Perhaps the reason
he didn't stop
00:29:16
was because he had
always intended that she would die, then. NARRATOR: It was a
brutal act of violence.
00:29:24
One that Kelly's loved ones
still struggle to understand. You know we're still
looking for answers
00:29:30
on why all this happened. JANE MONCKTON
SMITH: This is the-- the kind of case
that people look
00:29:37
at and say, damn, the red
mist must have come down. He must have just lost it. There's no explanation for this.
00:29:44
He was a wonderful man. He's just pushed
beyond his limits. When we actually
know that that's--
00:29:50
that's not the case at all. There would have been a
lot of things going on in this relationship
but because we don't
00:29:57
recognize them as
dangerous, Kelly wouldn't have said anything about it. She probably wouldn't have
recognized it herself.
00:30:04
But in these cases
there's always a reason. PAUL HOLDER: Why did he do it? Why did he destroy a life
and his children's lives?
00:30:15
My life, my family was
torn apart from it. So we just want to know why? Why would you do something
so awful when you could just
00:30:24
walk away and get a divorce? NARRATOR: It seems divorce
was not an option that George
00:30:29
Worgan was willing to consider. More often than not in
these cases, the killer has control issues.
00:30:37
They need to keep very tight
control over their family. And when that control
starts to ebb,
00:30:44
they can become very dangerous. One question always arises
to me in a case like this.
00:30:50
Something like this just
out of character, but so out of character, to strangle his
wife almost in cold blood.
00:30:58
I have to ask myself, did
George always have the capacity to do this within him?
00:31:04
NARRATOR: When police found
Kelly Worgan's lifeless body in the living room
of the family home
00:31:09
they knew immediately that they
were investigating a murder. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: It's
important for police
00:31:14
to keep an open mind whenever
they attend a crime scene. But in this case,
they would have
00:31:19
found a woman who
had clearly been strangled with ligature
marks around her neck.
00:31:24
With no sign of forced
entry, suspicion would have quickly fallen on her husband.
00:31:30
NARRATOR: But George
was not in the house. In fact, he hadn't been
heard from in hours.
00:31:35
At the bottom of
the stairs police found a hastily scrawled note. He left her in
the living room.
00:31:41
And he wrote a note which
he left on the stairs. NEIL LANCASTER: He says in
this note, "No more suffering.
00:31:47
I got pushed too far this time." EMMA KENNY: But he also
writes in that note that she's pushed him too far.
00:31:54
So that suggests that
something happened during that experience. That he feels legitimized
murdering her.
00:32:02
JANE MONCKTON
SMITH: This was him justifying what he'd just done. He is the one who has suffered.
00:32:10
He is the one who
was pushed too far. He is saying this
is Kelly's fault. She pushed me to do this.
00:32:17
He's taking no
responsibility whatsoever for what he's just
done, despite the manner
00:32:23
in which he's just killed her. NARRATOR: To criminologists,
George Worgan was trying
00:32:29
to control the narrative. He wanted investigators,
his children, his family, to see
him as a victim, not
00:32:37
the cold blooded killer. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: "Daddy
loves you," written on the note
00:32:44
is more about wanting
their sympathy than not wanting them to suffer. If he didn't want
them to suffer he
00:32:53
wouldn't let them walk in the
house and even find that note. This was about him.
00:32:59
This was about his ego. This is calling himself daddy. I'm a daddy. I'm not a bad person.
00:33:06
I love you I'm not a bad person. Daddy loves you it's not
even heartfelt, is it?
00:33:14
NARRATORS: For investigators,
the nose on the stairs was as good as a smoking gun.
00:33:19
They were in little
doubt about who had murdered the mother of two. But their main
suspect was long gone.
00:33:25
There was a killer on the
loose, and detectives had no idea where to begin looking.
00:33:30
This would have prompted an
immediate and urgent manhunt that would have been
managed at the highest
00:33:35
levels of the police force. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: A
high-speed pursuit, especially with a potentially dangerous
suspect at the wheel,
00:33:43
is incredibly dangerous. NARRATOR: Mother of
two, Kelly Worgan, had been strangled to
death in the living
00:33:55
room of her Avonmouth home. Her husband George, the prime
suspect, had gone on the run.
00:34:01
CLAIRE MACKINTOSH:
Following the attack, Worgan packed a large
knife, some clothes,
00:34:06
Kelly's bank cards, and
phone, and headed off in the family BMW. NEIL LANCASTER: Now the
motorways in Great Britain
00:34:13
are heavily surveilled. They're covered with a
multitude of CCTV cameras and crucially, ANPR, Automatic
Number Plate Recognition.
00:34:23
Now, that means that the
computer will capture the plates and they'll
be able to give
00:34:28
live real-time information
back to the investigators that this is where
this car is right now.
00:34:34
CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Worgan
had headed north in the BMW. Police caught up with
him almost 300 miles
00:34:40
away near Carlisle in Cumbria. NEIL LANCASTER: So eventually,
police catch up with him.
00:34:45
They get behind him. And this is now a police chase. He's refusing to stop and
he's in a powerful motorcar.
00:34:52
He's not stopping. He's got nothing to lose. He's got a knife in the car. He's just killed his wife.
00:34:57
He's not going to
stop for anybody. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH:
He failed to pull over when asked to do so by the
police and a pursuit ensued.
00:35:05
NEIL LANCASTER: There's going
to be a number of police cars involved in this chase.
00:35:09
It's going to be controlled by
a trained controller sitting at various control rooms.
00:35:14
Now you're in the
police car behind. You've got it. You are trying to give
a good commentary,
00:35:18
which is good evidence that's
being recorded in real-time. So everything he's doing,
every move he's making,
00:35:24
every junction he's passing,
every dangerous bit of driving, is being described and
recorded for evidence
00:35:31
later down the line. There'll be a number of police
cars all with highly trained
00:35:36
advance drivers pursuing this
guy with blue lights and sirens on trying to bring this
to a safe resolution.
00:35:44
The first priority
of the police as in all types of
Investigation is public safety.
00:35:51
A high-speed pursuit, especially
with a potentially dangerous suspect at the wheel
of the target vehicle,
00:35:58
is incredibly dangerous. NEIL LANCASTER: Now police
chases are dangerous things because you can't control
what the person you're chasing
00:36:07
is going to do. They could crash into
anybody at any time. One thing is, it's
on a motorway.
00:36:11
There's no pedestrians around. So that limits some
of the risk factors. So there is always a balancing
act by the controller
00:36:19
as to is this chase
too dangerous? CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: In
this case, the police were able to get ahead of George
Worgan and deploy a stinger.
00:36:28
Now a stinger is a
concertinaed piece of metal that can be very, very quickly
extended across the road
00:36:33
into the path of a vehicle
that you want to stop. Now it has hollow spikes
mounted on this metal.
00:36:41
Each of which will
then puncture the tires and then allowing
those tires to safely
00:36:45
deflate at a reasonable rate. He would slide it out
in front of the car. The BMW passes over it.
00:36:51
And then just as
quickly he retracts it. The car's tires
are now disabled. They safely deflate.
00:36:57
And the car will come to
a halt. And at that point the arrest can be affected. NARRATOR: When officers pull
George Worgan from his car,
00:37:05
they were horrified
at his condition. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: Worgan
was in no fit state to drive.
00:37:10
He'd taken a vast quantity
of anti-depressants and paracetamols and his
eyes were hardly open.
00:37:16
NARRATOR: Even as the
effects of the drug wore off, Worgan refused to answer
detectives questions.
00:37:22
NEIL LANCASTER: So
Worgan is now in custody and he's taken to
a police station. He's interviewed at length
but answers, no comment,
00:37:28
to any questions asked of him. He completely disengages
from the process. HANNAH HOLDER: When
they caught George
00:37:35
it was on dangerous
drive in to begin with. And when they got
at Carlisle, there
00:37:42
was a report that of a
murder back in Avonmouth. First he got charged
with dangerous driving
00:37:48
then he stayed at
Carlisle for that night. And then they brought him back
down to Bristol the morning.
00:37:55
And then he got charged
with my sister's murder. So he got-- technically he
got charged twice, I think.
00:38:01
CLAIRE MACKINTOSH: On the
30th of November, 2018, Worgan was formally charged
with Kelly's murder, as well
00:38:08
as dangerous driving,
having put police officers and members of the public
at significant risk
00:38:14
by evading capture. He made no comment
during interview and shut down emotionally.
00:38:19
Later he claimed to remember
nothing about Kelly's death. NARRATOR: Was George Worgan
overwhelmed by remorse or guilt
00:38:29
or simply unwilling to accept
the horror of his own actions? JANE MONCKTON
SMITH: He would not
00:38:34
have wanted to
take responsibility for what he's just done. He would not have wanted
anyone to even look at him.
00:38:41
You know, he would not have
wanted to stand in court and say, yes, I killed my wife.
00:38:49
EMMA KENNY: The fact that
Worgan completely shuts down after he's murdered his wife
and when he's being interviewed
00:38:55
by the police, that would
suggest that he's in a state of shock to some degree. It's that slow
coming to your senses
00:39:03
that you have done something
that is indisputably permanent. That is completely damaging
both for your self,
00:39:10
your wife, and your children. And it's that recognition. And it's too overwhelming.
00:39:16
NARRATOR: For Kelly's
grieving family, George's silence has
added to their pain.
00:39:21
They worry that they'll
never fully understand what led up to her death or what
happened in the final moments
00:39:27
of her life. HANNAH HOLDER: And
I'm just thinking, what the hell happened? I just want to know
why did he do it.
00:39:32
PAUL HOLDER: Struggling to cope. Struggling to try
and get our heads around why this has happened.
00:39:38
And he's not spoken
to the police. He refuses to talk to anybody. He tries to get
manslaughter not
00:39:45
murder because of mental health
issues, but that didn't work. NARRATOR: As the
trial approached,
00:39:53
there was a
breakthrough of sorts. CLAIRE MACKINTOSH:
But he did eventually plead guilty to murder.
00:39:59
NARRATOR: Worgan's
admission of guilt brought mixed feelings
for Kelly's family.
00:40:04
HANNAH HOLDER: When he stood
up and said he was guilty, I was sort of,
relieved, I guess.
00:40:08
Like, he-- at least
he said the truth. That's like, probably the only
real truth he actually said,
00:40:14
I guess. It was a relief to
hear him say it. But then at the same
time I kind of, wanted
00:40:20
a trial because of finding
things that wasn't said to us through the whole process.
00:40:29
NEIL LANCASTER: On the 7th
May, 2019, Bristol Crown Court, Worgan was sentenced
to life imprisonment
00:40:36
with a recommendation
that he serve 12 and 1/2 years before
being considered for release.
00:40:43
HANNAH HOLDER: 12 and 1/2 years. It didn't really
seem long enough. He showed remorse
to the judge but he
00:40:48
didn't show remorse to my family
or not even to his children. NARRATOR: At the
sentencing hearing
00:40:55
there was some consolation
for Kelly's family who have agonized
over what they could
00:40:58
have done differently
to help prevent the tragedy of her murder. HANNAH HOLDER: The
judge did say it wasn't
00:41:05
our fault. Like, nothing
we could have done could have prevented it. I think it's
important to state
00:41:10
that nobody could have
foreseen this happening. No one could have said
on the evidence available
00:41:15
that this offense would happen. NARRATOR: For Jane Monckton
Smith who studied hundreds
00:41:20
of domestic murders, the
likes of George Worgan are sinister for the very
reason that they don't outwardly
00:41:26
look like violent men. JANE MONCKTON SMITH: When
we look at a case like this afterwards it seems that there's
no clues at all that it could
00:41:33
possibly have ended this way. Everyone will say,
well, what happened? He must have just lost it.
00:41:39
It's inexplicable. He was such a nice guy. But the truth is usually
very, very different.
00:41:46
More often than
not in these cases, the killer has control issues. They need to keep a very tight
control over their family.
00:41:55
And when that
control starts to ebb they can become very dangerous. We only recognize
violence as dangerous.
00:42:05
We really need to
recognize control as even more dangerous than violence. PAUL HOLDER: Why did he do it?
00:42:12
Why did he destroy a life? My life, my family was
torn apart from it. So we just want to know why?
00:42:20
Why would you do something
so awful when you could just walk away and get a divorce?
00:42:25
HANNAH HOLDER: It's
a surreal experience. Like, I'm still waiting
for her to come home.
00:42:30
And I don't know if
there will be a time where that feeling will go. I think it's like a nightmare
waiting to end, I guess.
00:42:37
But it's not-- not
never going to end. [music playing]