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[DRAMATIC TUNE] NARRATOR: On the 7th of February 1996, 15-year-old Katie Hoskins arrived
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home from school to discover her mother had vanished. Later that night, Katie checked the converted loft
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of their house in Portsmouth, on the South Coast of England, where she made a horrifying discovery.
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HELEN WHEELER: I was told, away from the children, how Glenda had died. How they'd found her.
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But the fact that it was Katie that was involved in that, I can't even say how awful it must have been for those two
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children that day. And for everybody else involved, it was all a shock. NARRATOR: Her killer was Victor Farrant,
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a 46-year-old convicted rapist, who'd attacked another woman six weeks earlier.
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DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: There are fractures. There are knife wounds. There's blunt trauma.
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This woman really did go through a horrendous experience with Farrant. NARRATOR: Before the police could catch up with him,
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Farrant had fled the country. Stealing Glenda's car, and boarding a ferry to Belgium, where he disappeared without a trace.
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RICHARD JONES: This was the biggest murder hunt in the history of Hampshire police.
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And the biggest manhunt since the hunt for Ronnie Biggs, back in the 1970s. It was vital for Hampshire police to capture him,
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because they knew just how dangerous he was. NARRATOR: The police faced a race against time
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to capture Victor Farrant, one of the world's most evil killers. [MUSIC PLAYS]
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On the 31st of January 1997, convicted rapist, Victor Farrant, was extradited back to the UK,
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after a six month international manhunt discovered him hiding out in Nice, France.
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TV reporter, Richard Jones, followed the case from the very beginning. At the time, I was a news reporter with ITV
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in the South of England, and this case happened on our patch. In fact, it happened just a few miles from where I worked
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and from where I lived. So I covered the initial news angle on the story. NARRATOR: During his trial in 1998,
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Farrant remained remorseless, claiming no responsibility for the lives he blighted.
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Jeremy Gibbon's QC, was responsible for building the case against Farrant. The brutality this killer was capable
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of shocked the seasoned prosecutor. JEREMY GIBBONS: I've been barristing for 25 years or so.
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And you think you've seen most things, but I think this was a cut above just about any other crime
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scene I've seen. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: The attack on Anne was an incredibly brutal one.
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He attacked her using an iron, he smashed the oven door into her head. There's misogyny all over this attack.
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I think this is very much an outlet for those feelings. NARRATOR: This killer's story begins in Londonderry,
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Northern Ireland. Victor Farrant was born on the 18th of November 1949. He and his four sisters had a transient life growing up.
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DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Farrant came from a military family. His father was a Major in the army,
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so they traveled around a lot. And that had a couple of impacts. Firstly, he has this model of masculinity,
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which is idealized for him. So that is somebody who is tough, and stoic, and has a capacity for violence.
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And also, the constant moving around, this is an individual who is constantly having to reinvent himself and introduce
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himself to new groups of peers. So he doesn't have that stability of peer support
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that a lot of us do have. It's all rather a conventional childhood, with the exception of the conceit, which is
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built into him very early on. Together with a fascination with pretending to be someone he isn't.
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I think Farrant always wanted to be bigger, better, bolder than he really was. NARRATOR: In 1969, the family moved back to England,
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and settled in Cambridge. Despite his seemingly normal childhood, it was here Farrant first came to the attention of the law.
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ANDY BAKER: He's someone that has been on the continuum of criminality. So when you look at his early life,
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he started off as a thief. He was convicted of shoplifting, petty crimes. Indecent assault of a teenager, when he was 20.
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NARRATOR: This violent behavior rapidly spurred a major deterioration of his family ties.
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GEOFFREY WANSELL: By the age of 22, he's completely fallen out with his father.
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They have a row, which is never mended. He goes to Brussels, he goes to Madeira, and works,
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and he travels. But the great advantage of being able to travel is, of course, you can reinvent yourself every time
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you go to a new place. A new nightclub, a new persona. A new city, a new persona.
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A new job, a new persona. And there you have the essence of Victor Farrant. This man loves to reinvent himself.
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NARRATOR: In 1983, the now 33-year-old Farrant, returned to the UK, and settled in Brighton on the South Coast.
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It was here that a dangerous pattern of behavior surfaced in this nomadic fantasist.
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RICHARD JONES: He was described as somebody who was charming, who was a smooth talker, a bit of a ladies' man.
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But then it also came across that he was a con man, a fraud, a liar, with a very unhealthy attitude in the ends
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to women. ANDY BAKER: So he was very much this kind of person who built himself up and believed in this persona,
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and then acted out the persona. This charmer, this womanizer, this man that women loved.
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NARRATOR: In 1984, Farrant even received a local award for bravery, after tackled a mugger outside the sandwich
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shop where he worked. His story appeared in the local paper. So this was evidence of him being charming,
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and chivalrous, and a nice person. And I think he would have really enjoyed this kind of attention,
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because that self that he's trying to project, it's there in black and white.
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NARRATOR: The seemingly charming 35-year-old used this pretense of gallantry to mask his dark desires.
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RICHARD JONES: The way Victor Farrant operated, was that he met women in nightclubs.
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And this is where his sort of double personality comes in, because he would quite often use a different name.
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He'd quite often pretend that he was an airline pilot, for example. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He had a lot of superficial charm.
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And he would use aliases, he would use different names, he would put on different accents.
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And I think this was a coping mechanism that he'd used as a child. But in this instance, it's the way to appear
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exotic and exciting to women. NARRATOR: In October 1987, Victor Farrant met a 32-year-old woman in the Midnight Blues Nightclub
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in Brighton. The young mother was captivated by this handsome stranger. GEOFFREY WANSELL: And he says to her, perhaps we
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could go out for a meal. Well then begins something of a charade, which she doesn't quite cotton on to.
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He says, oh, well I've got to go back to my flat. To collect his credit card, or his wallet, or whatever it
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would be. NARRATOR: Once back at his flat, the Jekyll and Hyde like Farrant, revealed his sinister side.
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GEOFFREY WANSELL: He becomes brutal. He handcuffs her and dumps her on the bed. And she gets out of one of the handcuffs,
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and hits him over the head with it. It doesn't, unfortunately, render him unconscious.
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And that action makes him lose his temper in the most brutal way. And this time, he knocks her unconscious.
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And when she wakes up, he is indeed raping her. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: During the time that she is being held
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by Farrant, he asks her to take hold of a wine bottle, essentially to put her fingerprints on it.
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So he's trying to create a narrative around this attack, that he can explain away.
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He's trying to blame the victim here. He's trying to create the impression that she came back
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willingly, she was drinking. All of these things that tarnish her image as an innocent victim.
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NARRATOR: That morning, Farrant became charming once more, and let the young woman go.
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Wrongly convinced that he could escape justice. GEOFFREY WANSELL: It's a horrifying ordeal.
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The man she thought was perfectly respectable and upright, turns out to be anything but.
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NARRATOR: She immediately went to the police. And despite his best efforts to cover his crimes,
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in 1988, 39-year-old Farrant received an 11 year sentence for rape, false imprisonment, and GBH.
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He also received an additional one year sentence for a further attack on another woman, with a bread knife,
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during the same period. But Farrant spent his time behind bars convincing the authorities that he was a reformed man.
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DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He really does portray himself as the suave, sophisticated, charming man.
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But at the time he's in prison, he's also learning during this process, what
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a parole board need to hear. He's learning the kind of behavior that he needs to display to eventually get released.
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NARRATOR: In 1993, Farrant's seemingly good behavior was rewarded. He was released from prison that week ends, in an attempt
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to integrate him back into society. It was during one of these unsupervised home visits,
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that Farrant met another unsuspecting woman. RICHARD JONES: Glenda Hoskins was separated
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from her husband, Tony. She was living a quite independent, happy life. She would go to nightclubs in Southsea with her friends.
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And actually, at one of these nightclubs, is where she met Victor Farrant. NARRATOR: 43-year-old mother of three,
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Glenda, was initially enamored by this tall, charismatic stranger, who set about working
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his way into her life. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He's very charming, he's very attentive.
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He tells her that he has a job working away. He's actually on release from prison at this point in time.
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He sends her love letters, he sends her gifts. So he appears to be a knight in shining armor.
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ANDY BAKER: We know from Glenda's children and other people, just how generous, giving,
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caring person Glenda is. The children talk about she would always have dinner for them.
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She would always be there. She would drop them off, she'll pick them up. And she demonstrate this, actually, with Farrant.
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They were friends, they had a relationship, but he was so possessive and so controlling of her,
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she tried to end it. She tried to call it. And in fact told him so. NARRATOR: In November 1995, Farrant was permanently
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released from prison, having served eight years of his 12 year sentence. RICHARD JONES: What we discovered
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was, that although Farrant had been prosecuted, sentenced, and sent to jail for attacking one woman
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and for raping another, he was released early from his sentence. And he wasn't subject to any supervision.
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The sort of supervision that would happen now, when people would end up on the sex offenders
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register. NARRATOR: Once free, the obstinate Farrant continued to pursue Glenda obsessively.
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Taking pity on him, Glenda invited Farrant over at Christmas. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: So he goes after her again.
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And he's very attentive, he's very charming, he's very loving. And he wheedles his way back into her life.
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He came over to her home during the Christmas holidays, and her children noticed quite a few really important things
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about him. See, he was quite childish. He was very determined when he was convinced he was in the right.
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GEOFFREY WANSELL: They thought he was a bit false. I think one of the memorably called him cringey.
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RICHARD JONES: They described playing board games. And he's playing with children, but he always had to win.
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He couldn't be proved to be wrong, or to get anything wrong. NARRATOR: Despite Glenda trying to distance herself
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from Farrant, the 46-year-old remained possessive and envious. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: There was stalking behavior.
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He hung around her house, he made several phone calls to her. He felt that he had a right to do this.
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He felt entitled to engage in these behaviors, because she was his property. NARRATOR: Then on the 7th of February 1996,
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Glenda's 15-year-old daughter, Katie, arrived home from school to discover the house locked up, and her mother
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nowhere to be found. This uncharacteristic behavior immediately set alarm bells ringing for her family.
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RICHARD JONES: Concern for Glenda's safety arose, because Katie arrived home from school
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and couldn't get into the house, the door was locked. Nobody knew where Glenda was.
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And if you remember, this is the time before mobile phones were very common. So it wasn't a question of ringing mum
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and finding out, where are you. ANDY BAKER: Glenda's daughter was waiting outside.
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While she was waiting, a man turned up who had an appointment with Glenda to sign some papers.
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He saw that, obviously, Glenda's daughter couldn't get in, so he let her sit in the car and warm up.
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He then drove her to a phone box, and she phoned her father. NARRATOR: After calling friends, neighbors,
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and the local hospital, Katie, her father, and her younger brother, David, went to the local police station.
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PC Helen Wheeler was on duty at the time. HELEN WHEELER: Katie's first reaction to most of this
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was, something's wrong. And she was adamant with that the whole time. Even when they came into the police station,
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something's not right. My mum would have rung, my mum would have left me a message,
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my mum would have left a note on the door. Or something similar to those sort of questions,
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where this just isn't right. NARRATOR: Shortly after midnight, police forced entry
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into the family's home through the downstairs window of David's bedroom.
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ANDY BAKER: And as I go in, I do a search, and find nothing apart from Glenda's clothes
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on the floor in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Quite disheveled, like in a pile.
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DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Glenda's somebody who was very neat and very meticulous,
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so that is completely out of character. So it's a mystery. And it's a very worrying one, because here is their family
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home, but where is their mum? NARRATOR: As the police and family continue to search the three story townhouse,
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their feelings of foreboding increased. ANDY BAKER: They'd looked in the loft.
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And it had been a converted loft. It was a fairly cursory look, because they used a torch,
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they couldn't find a light switch. But because Glenda's daughter knew where
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the light switch was, she-- bearing in mind, she's 15 years of age-- she decides to go up there.
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Having turned on the light switch for the loft room in the office, she saw the rolled
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up carpet and Glenda's legs. She said they looked like mannequins legs. And she let out a piercing scream.
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NARRATOR: The horrifying discovery spurred the police into immediate action. HELEN WHEELER: The next minute I know,
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I'm looking after two children, who've had their clothes taken from them,
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and they put them in white suits. And they were just sat back, to have a little bit more
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of a calming, let's look after you. It was very traumatic. NARRATOR: Despite her inexperience,
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young PC, Helen Wheeler, was given the role of family liaison officer for the first time.
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Honestly, I was a bit scared, myself. Am I going to say the right thing? Are they going to talk to me?
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Am I going to give the right information back to the investigation? I think it's scary the first time you do it.
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NARRATOR: In the small hours of the morning, Helen and the police started to piece together
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information from the family. HELEN WHEELER: We have a golden hour, where we have to find as much information
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as we can to give us the leads. It's very much how people work now. We have to find as much as we can, as quick as we can.
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This is day one, hour one, hour two. With this young lady, Katie, she was together,
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she didn't scream and shout. She didn't want things there and then. She was happy to ask questions.
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She was happy to give information. I was able to talk to them about things that people had told me that were things that
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may have been in the house. Was that correct, was it not correct. And what's interesting is, both the children noticed
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that the CDs had been taken, TVs had been taken, another item had being taken, also her car had gone as well.
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NARRATOR: Both children suspected that one of their mother's friends, known to them as Vic,
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might be involved in her death. The man had spent Christmas with the family, and his behavior had concerned them.
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The police found the mysterious Vic's phone number in Glenda's address book.
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And soon discovered that he was a 46-year-old man named Victor Farrant. ANDY BAKER: They had loads of lines of inquiries
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around the property, they had a car number to circulate, and they had Farrant's name.
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And once they started digging deeper, they would have seen Farrant's past as well.
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And within hours of Glenda's body being found, they named him as being involved.
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NARRATOR: A team were dispatched to his home address. And by 5:20 AM, they were staking out Farrant's property.
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20 minutes later, police forced entry into his bedsit. There was no sign of Farrant, but they
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did make another remarkable discovery on a notepad. He didn't know about ESDA tracing,
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because he'd written a note-- that clearly he had handed to her-- and the police were able to reconstruct
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what was on the note. And it was pretty chilling stuff. NARRATOR: Traced from the notepad,
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were two letters Farrant had written to Glenda. ANDY BAKER: One he immediately showed
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to her, which said to her, look don't, make a noise. I want you to undress. I want you to stand a certain way.
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I want you to say to me-- Look me in the eyes and say to me, use my body as you want.
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Also another letter that said, kiss me as you know I like to be kissed, you know how I like it.
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NARRATOR: A disturbing picture surrounding the events that led to Glenda's murder was starting to emerge.
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At 8:00 AM, Havant police opened an incident room to track Victor Farrant's movements.
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We now know that Farrant traveled in Glenda's car along the South Coast selling CDs, TV
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to a person in Brighton, who readily came forward and said that a guy called Charles Kelly, who is in fact Farrant,
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sold them to him. RICHARD JONES: He carried on driving, and he'd got to Ashford.
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Where again, he'd arranged to get rid of his car, which was taken to London.
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Without his car, he got a train to Ramsgate. So you've got a pretty clear indication now
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of who the prime suspect is. Inspector Farrant. NARRATOR: Shortly after 6:00 AM, the police
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contacted all local ports to try and stop Farrant from leaving the country, but they were too late.
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It turned out actually that Farrant had planned the murder of Glenda Hoskins very carefully.
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We found out that he'd studied ferry timetables, so he knew how, and when, and where he was going
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to get out of the country. NARRATOR: As Farrant slipped through the police's net,
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crime scene investigators undertook a thorough search of Glenda's home. JEREMY GIBBONS: They dusted absolutely
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everything for fingerprints. And one of the things you realize as the amount of care
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they take, is they've got little stands that they put on the floor, very low, so that they don't disturb anything
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on the carpets or the floors. They were certainly in Glenda Hoskins house for days,
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absolutely taking the whole thing apart and looking at absolutely everything. ANDY BAKER: We now know that Farrant had
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planned to go to Glenda's home. He knew what property was in the home and he had planned to steal that.
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He took with him items-- we believe-- to control Glenda. And he went to the house.
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There's no sign of forced entry. But we now know that she was forced, or she was stripped naked at the foot of the stairs.
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GEOFFREY WANSELL: It's very difficult not to feel a terrible sense of foreboding.
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That sense that she must have been in utter fear for her life. And that makes the crime even more horrifying,
00:21:35
because it involves an element of torture. NARRATOR: The post-mortem examination
00:21:42
revealed Glenda had been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated. Water was also found in her lungs.
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ANDY BAKER: And then we can only speculate on this bit. He then decided he was going to clean forensically,
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and make her take a bath. JEREMY GIBBONS: It appears, from the marks on the body,
00:22:01
that she got bruises to her ankles. So clearly they'd been hoisted up in the air.
00:22:06
And she had bruises either side of her nose, on her cheekbones, where she had clearly
00:22:11
been held under the water and she drowned. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He is a parasite.
00:22:16
He has taken everything from this woman. He has used every last inch of her. And now he's done with her, and he's moving on.
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NARRATOR: Farrant's details were circulated throughout constabularies along the South Coast.
00:22:33
It was then the detectives in Eastleigh, investigating the brutal attempted murder of a local woman called Anne Fidler, which had taken
00:22:41
place in December 1995, made a vital breakthrough in their investigation. ANDY BAKER: The inquiry team looking
00:22:49
into Anne's attempted murder, checked Farrant against their database. They got his palm prints from Cambridgeshire
00:22:55
from the early offenses he had committed. And they checked that palm print against a palm print
00:23:01
on the iron from Anne's attack, and they were the same. They therefore joined the two inquiries together,
00:23:08
and we now have a manhunt. NARRATOR: The horrifying realization that in the first three months after Farrant was released
00:23:16
from prison, he'd attempted to murder one woman, and succeeded in murdering another,
00:23:22
revealed just how unrepentant this dangerous criminal was. Victor Farrant had escaped the country,
00:23:29
and was now on the run from the police. ANDY BAKER: Looking at Farrant against other criminals,
00:23:35
or murderers, or perpetrators. Farrant looks to me as if he's someone that is infatuated.
00:23:42
Doesn't like being spurned, and will take that personally. And then that spurn turns into hate within him.
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And then he will plan an evil act against people. NARRATOR: The attack on Eastleigh resident, Anne,
00:24:00
was one of the most violent local detectives had ever seen. RICHARD JONES: Anne Fidler was actually
00:24:06
a former civil servant, but strangely she was working as a prostitute. She advertised her services in local newspapers,
00:24:15
and she had a string of clients. And they turned out to actually include Victor Farrant.
00:24:22
NARRATOR: Savvy 43-year-old Anne, met clients at her home. Not before ingeniously vetting their credentials.
00:24:32
ANDY BAKER: She would go to a phone box near where she lived. And she could see them in the phone box.
00:24:36
See if they looked presentable, businesslike. And then let them come to the house.
00:24:41
The husband would always ring the home on his way back from the gymnasium to see if he
00:24:46
could come into the house, because he didn't want that confrontation. Even though he didn't understand it, he knew what she was doing.
00:24:55
NARRATOR: On the 27th of December 1995, Anne Fidler met Victor Farrant. GEOFFREY WANSELL: Exactly how Farrant
00:25:04
worked his magic on Fidler, remains a matter of conjecture. But nevertheless, on that day, Fidler
00:25:11
finds herself in the hands of a man who truly is a beast. NARRATOR: Anne was subjected to a violent and prolonged attack
00:25:19
at the hands of Farrant, who then escaped the scene of the crime, leaving her for dead.
00:25:25
The attack took place in the kitchen. And clearly he'd used considerable force on her,
00:25:30
because the outer glass oven door was shattered and lying in pieces all over the floor.
00:25:34
And sort of safety glass. And there was a large pool of vomit. She was cut and bruised very badly.
00:25:41
And so her husband lets himself in and discovers Anne, literally a pulp, on the floor in the kitchen.
00:25:50
ANDY BAKER: She had been bound with duct tape. There was blood everywhere. Glass everywhere.
00:25:56
And she was in the middle of it. And he couldn't recognize his wife's face.
00:26:01
GEOFFREY WANSELL: It's impossible to imagine the horror that he must have felt at that instant.
00:26:07
And she's almost not breathing, she's barely alive. NARRATOR: Anne remained in a coma for over a fortnight.
00:26:20
ANDY BAKER: You also have to remember that Anne was in an awful state from her injuries,
00:26:24
and was unable to say who had committed the crime. In fact, when she was able to talk,
00:26:30
she was blank up until Christmas. She couldn't remember beyond Christmas day.
00:26:35
So she couldn't remember how she was attacked, who attacked her, where, when, et cetera.
00:26:42
NARRATOR: Crime scene investigators sealed off the house, and began to gather evidence,
00:26:48
in the hope of identifying the person responsible for this vicious attempted murder.
00:26:53
JEREMY GIBBONS: By the time the police photographer got there, she'd gone to hospital.
00:26:56
But there was the scene left in the kitchen, which of course they were very careful not to disturb.
00:27:01
DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Farrant is an offender who learns with every attack that he carries out.
00:27:05
And when you look at Anne's place, there were no fingerprints anywhere. So he's always trying to stay one step ahead.
00:27:14
And in this regard, he's a very organized offender. It seems clear that Farrant was, to some extent,
00:27:21
forensically aware. He certainly tries to dispose of evidence, to clean up after himself, to limit forensic opportunities.
00:27:32
But at the same time, he is foolish enough to drop an article of clothing as he escapes.
00:27:39
People realize as they're running away-- They kind of realize, oh, I shouldn't have that on me.
00:27:43
Or that's blood stained, or something like that. The police would start a perimeter search.
00:27:48
And in this case, where Anne was attacked, they searched and they found panties just discarded on the road.
00:27:54
NARRATOR: Realizing the killer may have discarded even more items of evidence, the police
00:28:00
quickly contacted the local counsel, and had all bin collections stopped. ANDY BAKER: They searched an industrial bin at Eastleigh
00:28:08
College, and they found part of the iron that was used as one of the weapons to attack Anne.
00:28:13
They also found a bottle in a bin. Along that broken part of an iron was Anne's blood and his palm print.
00:28:24
NARRATOR: Along with the palm print, they also found blood belonging to someone other than Anne
00:28:30
on her kitchen tap. The police now had solid forensic evidence. But without the advantages of modern technology,
00:28:39
identifying the attacker was going to prove difficult. There's no national database for a great many things,
00:28:46
including the palm print on the iron remnant that they found. ANDY BAKER: So they made an appeal for local men,
00:28:54
and the people who have been Anne's clients, to come forward to eliminate them from the blood and the palm print,
00:29:00
which many, many men willingly did. Nothing was identified. So they were very much in the dark for a number of weeks,
00:29:11
as to who the perpetrator of this attempted murder was. NARRATOR: It would be six weeks before the team at Eastleigh
00:29:19
would receive a breakthrough in the case. Farrant's details were sent to them by the team investigating
00:29:25
the murder of Glenda Hoskins. Farrant's details were sent over to the inquiry team
00:29:31
to be checked against any database that they had on the attempted murder of her.
00:29:36
They identified him as a person that had been arrested in Cambridgeshire. NARRATOR: Investigators then compared the palm prints
00:29:44
on the iron to the ones held on Victor Farrant's file in Cambridge. They found a match.
00:29:51
With the two crimes conclusively linked to the same perpetrator, the police knew they needed to find Farrant fast.
00:30:03
RICHARD JONES: It was really quite dramatic, the day after the murder when they'd
00:30:07
obviously found the link. We were called to something which I'd never been to before,
00:30:12
a late night press conference at Havant police station. Where they announced what Victor Farrant
00:30:17
was suspected of having done, and they described just how dangerous he was. NARRATOR: CCTV tracked Victor Farrant from Ashford
00:30:27
International Station to Ramsgate, where he boarded a ferry to Belgium. Once on the continent, Farrant disappeared.
00:30:36
RICHARD JONES: We understood that the likeliest place for Farrant to have gone once he had arrived in Belgium,
00:30:42
was to go to Brussels. We understood that he'd worked there in the 1970s as a barman.
00:30:51
So it was a place he knew well. He knew it was somewhere he could hide. NARRATOR: An extensive manhunt was launched,
00:30:59
but the master of disguise remained elusive. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Here's somebody
00:31:03
who's used to moving around. He's used to taking on new identities. He's used to blending in in a new environment.
00:31:10
So I think the police have really got their work cut out. RICHARD JONES: I think just before the Belgium police were
00:31:16
going to pounce and capture him, he left Brussels and then continued on to other parts of Europe.
00:31:26
NARRATOR: As Farrant continue to play cat and mouse with the police and the press through Europe,
00:31:32
concern mounted that this deadly charmer would strike again. ANDY BAKER: And there was a major concern
00:31:38
he was going to then go on a spree of crimes to satisfy his lust and his sexual desire
00:31:46
before he was caught. RICHARD JONES: We set out to track Farrant, as best we could, across Europe, as sightings came in.
00:31:55
The police were also well aware then of his interest in prostitutes. And we interviewed a couple of prostitutes
00:32:03
in Belgium, who'd been warned about Farrant by the police. They'd been circulating photos of him,
00:32:10
so concerned were they about his mental state and the threats he might pose to women in Brussels.
00:32:21
NARRATOR: Farrant made his way South through France. RICHARD JONES: Farrant had clearly
00:32:26
been living the high life. I expect he knew this was going to be his last taste of freedom.
00:32:32
We heard stories that he'd hold parties on the beach with young backpackers, many of them
00:32:37
women. And that he'd encourage women to go skinny dipping with him. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: It was quite
00:32:44
obvious that during this time, Farrant was up to his old tricks. He was the charmer again.
00:32:50
And I think this was a ticking time bomb. RICHARD JONES: After he left Brussels,
00:32:54
there were sightings of him in various parts of Europe. We heard that he might have been in Spain.
00:33:00
We also heard that he might have been in France. There were reports of him being in the French town of Sete.
00:33:08
NARRATOR: Hampshire police were determined to bring Victor Farrant to justice. An international manhunt was underway,
00:33:15
but with the whole of Europe to hide out in, the search for this accomplished liar
00:33:20
was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. RICHARD JONES: One of the key aspects of this case
00:33:27
is that actually, this was a crime committed in the analog age. So the police very much relied on traditional, normal methods.
00:33:36
So posters, and appeals on TV and radio, and trying to get his picture out as far across Europe
00:33:46
as possible. Because what they really needed was somebody who'd seen him, somebody who knew where he was, to get in contact.
00:33:54
And after five months, that finally happened. NARRATOR: A Canadian backpacker arrived in the UK in July 1996,
00:34:04
and alerted the authorities that the man they were looking for was working in a hostel in Nice.
00:34:10
As a consequence of that, we contacted our French counterparts, who visited the premises.
00:34:16
Confirmed the fact that it was Mr Farrant, and effected the arrest. GEOFFREY WANSELL: He has been living below the radar.
00:34:21
But on the 5th of July, an international arrest warrant is executed and Farrant is taken into custody.
00:34:28
Still of course, protesting his innocence. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He is an offender
00:34:31
who is so sure of himself, that he thought he could just front it out. So he was very calm, he was very relaxed.
00:34:38
He thought, I've got this, I can talk my way out of this. Such was his belief in himself.
00:34:44
NARRATOR: On the 31st of January 1997, Victor Farrant finally arrived back in the UK
00:34:51
to face justice for his crimes. [DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS] Nearly a year later, on the 17th of January 1998,
00:35:03
his trial finally began at Winchester Crown Court. Jeremy Gibbons was the lead prosecutor.
00:35:10
JEREMY GIBBONS: And I remember saying, if I lose this case, I'll probably never work again.
00:35:14
I remember when I went into court with my papers, to set them out, ready to open the case to the jury.
00:35:21
The-- I remember the courtroom was absolutely huge, and it was full. It's certainly a bit nerve wracking.
00:35:27
But it's like so many other things. Once you get going, your butterflies disappear.
00:35:32
NARRATOR: Farrant pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Anne Fidler, and claimed the death of Glenda Hoskins
00:35:39
was an accident. JEREMY GIBBONS: It's a matter of explaining to the jury what the facts are.
00:35:43
I always used to say in cases-- if they were complicated-- that my opening isn't evidence.
00:35:47
It's like the picture on the box of the jigsaw, it's how we see where the pieces fit as we work
00:35:52
our way through the evidence. GEOFFREY WANSELL: Gradually, the prosecution reveal the case.
00:35:57
He sold the stuff that's stolen from Glenda. He's prepared the notes, the cards, in advance
00:36:04
about what she's got to do. He has a history with Glenda. It's very difficult for the defense
00:36:11
to argue that she's mysteriously been killed by some unknown person, while he's
00:36:16
been flogging her belongings. NARRATOR: In court, Farrant tried to deny he had anything
00:36:26
to do with the attack on Anne. JEREMY GIBBONS: His account in the witness box was that he'd been in Anne Fidler's house,
00:36:33
it wasn't him that attacked her. He saw somebody else coming, and left the house.
00:36:38
Because he's seen this out of the front window, next to the front door. But I was able to show a photograph that showed
00:36:45
that the internal shutters were firmly closed, so you couldn't see out of the window.
00:36:49
And that foxed him a bit. NARRATOR: Glenda's three children and her former husband
00:36:59
attended the entire trial. Their family liaison officer, PC Helen Wheeler, accompanied them.
00:37:07
HELEN WHEELER: I just remember having a phone call to say that the children would like me to go to court with them,
00:37:11
once it had got to that point. so I ended up in court for quite a lot of days. And it was all very genuine.
00:37:21
Genuine feelings. If they want to cry, they'd cry. But it's not massive sobbing that everybody could hear.
00:37:27
It was a gentle squeeze on the hand, and you can see they're getting upset about something.
00:37:31
But it's really hard. And it's hard for the whole team, because you've got to relive all of this all over again.
00:37:37
NARRATOR: Farrant's protestations continued throughout the trial. JEREMY GIBBONS: Glenda Hoskins drowned in the bath.
00:37:44
And he said, basically, it was an accident. And that was where the marks on the cheeks and the ankles
00:37:48
came in important. And he said, this is all consensual up to that. And then they had a bit of a tiff and she fell in the bath,
00:37:54
and he panicked and put her upstairs. NARRATOR: The jury were not convinced. And on the 29th of January 1998, Victor Farrant
00:38:04
was found guilty of murder. HELEN WHEELER: It was almost like a big (SIGHS) When he was found guilty.
00:38:11
And I just remember Katie turning to me, and we had a massive great cuddle. David cuddled his dad.
00:38:17
And it was just the nearest person I think we all just grabbed. Doesn't make it any easier, though.
00:38:25
In the long term, it doesn't make it any easier for the children. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: In terms of whether
00:38:29
justice has been served. I think in a formal sense, yes. But informally, this man has taken
00:38:36
away the life of somebody who had many, many years to live. And that decision has affected the lives of her children,
00:38:45
of her wider family, of her colleagues. So I think that this isn't justice, as such,
00:38:51
it's the closing of a chapter. NARRATOR: Farrant was also found guilty of the attempted
00:38:57
murder of Anne Fidler. He was sentenced to 18 years for this brutal crime. He also received a life sentence for the murder
00:39:09
of Glenda Hoskins. ANDY BAKER: This man is a danger to women. This man should not be allowed out.
00:39:17
He's a controlling, dangerous individual, that shouldn't be allowed near women.
00:39:22
It's as simple as that. He deserves every day of that life sentence that he's going to serve.
00:39:28
DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: When the verdict was handed down, he kicked the witness box.
00:39:32
In almost a way that a child not getting what they want, kind of lashes out. This is very revealing about him,
00:39:40
in terms of his level of emotional immaturity. And that frustration that actually, the justice system
00:39:47
has got the better of him. NARRATOR: The Judge, Mr. Justice Butterfield, stated during sentencing, that these crimes were so terrible,
00:39:56
and Victor Farrant was such a dangerous man, that in this case, life should mean life
00:40:02
and he should never be released. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Murder casts an incredibly long shadow.
00:40:07
And for the families of the victims who have been killed, this is something that they have to live with for the rest
00:40:13
of their lives. But I think, if I'm honest, the people who have survived this kind of violence, this kind of abuse,
00:40:20
they are actually some of the toughest and the strongest people I know. And some of the things that they go on to do, very often
00:40:26
helping other victims, very often campaigning for change, really does leave a very big mark on society.
00:40:32
A much bigger mark than any killer ever leaves. HELEN WHEELER: She was this loving mum
00:40:38
that was fun to be with, that listened to them, that cared for them, that loved them.
00:40:43
All three of them. And I think that's how they want to remember her, is just being a mom.
00:40:50
NARRATOR: Despite the trauma Victor Farrant inflicted on the Hoskins family, they
00:40:55
remain steadfast in their loyalty to each other throughout. HELEN WHEELER: They knew something had to be done,
00:41:06
and they knew they had to help. And, yes, we had tears. And, yes, we had cuddles.
00:41:09
And, yes, we had shouting matches. But at the end of the day, I think they were just three very loyal children to both
00:41:16
their mum and their dad. NARRATOR: Victor Farrant's conviction meant he could no longer worm his way
00:41:22
into another unsuspecting woman's life. RICHARD JONES: From the day that Glenda Hoskins was murdered,
00:41:28
to the day that Victor Farrant was jailed, was two years. In that two years, I'm sure I did do other stories,
00:41:38
but I really can't remember any of them. This dominated what I did for those whole two years.
00:41:45
GEOFFREY WANSELL: The one thing that's important to remember about Victor Farrant,
00:41:48
is his capacity to charm. Every person who came across him, called him a charmer.
00:41:54
You'd leave your grandmother with him to look after. That was the one side of Victor Farrant's character.
00:42:01
The other, was the one seen by Anne Fidler and Glenda Hoskins. JEREMY GIBBONS: Evil is such a strong word,
00:42:08
I'm always reluctant to use it. And the number of people I've met over 40 years in the law,
00:42:14
who that might be an appropriate term to use, I could count on the fingers of one hand, and he's one of.
00:42:23
NARRATOR: Controlling and manipulative, Farrant appeared charming and loving to the women he met.
00:42:29
But below the surface of this Jekyll and Hyde like man, lurked a violent sadist who attacked
00:42:36
multiple women, murdered one, and attempted to murder another. Victor Farrant's selfish desires and ability
00:42:44
to hide in plain sight, makes him one of the world's most evil killers. [MUSIC PLAYS]