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in April 1997 in Stockport greater Manchester a 17-year-old girl was abducted at knife Point by a stranger
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she was held hostage for over 11 hours I started to beg him I didn't show any
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emotion before and I was pleading with him not to hurt me unbeknown to his victim hours before her Abdu ction The
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Stranger had brutally murdered another innocent woman in a gruesome act of violence I've never ever experienced
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something as horrific as the circumstances surrounding that case the mysterious killer was 27-year-old Nicholas Burton
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who did everything he could to prevent being brought to Justice you still got no sense of any motive no reason why
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this happened psychiatrist agreed that Burton was one of the most unstable people they'd ever assessed this is
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something that is part of who this man is and he's going to continue to be a
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danger Nicholas Burton had been exposed as one of the world's most evil killers
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[Music] [Music] [Music] in the early hours of April the 27th 1997 armed police gathered together
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ready to storm a hotel room in North Wales they were trying to locate a dangerous predator who'd abducted a 17
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year old girl at knife point when North Wales police went to arrest Burton it was for the Abduction of Debbie it was
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only when they got there and found his room that they realized they were actually arresting a murderer as
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officers searched the hotel room they discovered evidence that linked their suspect to the coldblooded and Savage
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murder of 27-year-old assistant bank manager Rachel mcgr the previous day in the hotel room they found Burton's
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clothing which was stained in my sister's blood a black leather jacket trousers shoes and actually the murder
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weapon hunting knife which is about 23 24 cm long this killer Story begins on the
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edge of the Peak District in the northwest of England Nicholas Burton was born on the 5th of February
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1970 it was born and bred in darash New Mills that sort of area a little tiny part of it called New Town his parents
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were lovely he was described by his mother at the time as happy gol lucky Nicholas Burton appeared to have
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quite a normal childhood and in his early adulthood he was a full-time worker in a factory where his father had
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been for 30 years he'd been educated well he'd got a stud job and everything was all going
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well as an adult Burton began a relationship with a woman who was a singer she claimed he was a fairly
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normal guy when they were together it was okay Mr Joe public average sort of person really the relationship fell
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apart when his girlfriend got a singing job in another part of the country and moved away he seemed to take that really
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badly that he couldn't deal with that rejection and he seemed at that point then to spiral and things changed quite
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dramatic ically Nicholas Burton started experimenting with alcohol and drugs it started off with the usual cannabis and
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built up very quickly to LSD acid when the substance abuse was gathering Pace he just seemed to go to a
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downward spiral he was worse and worse the harder substances were having an effect on Burton and the change in his
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behavior was apparent to those around him and at one point his mom in particular was worried that he
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overstepped The Mark with his mental health and she became concerned one day she came back from
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work and she discovered in the bathroom was a lot of towels that were covered in
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blood and he' locked himself away in the bedroom she thought it was very strange
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and she suspected and even though this has never been confirmed that it castrated
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himself that kind of Mutilation suggests some kind of self-hatred directed very very specifically at a
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certain part of the self which might include his sexuality and masculinity what amazes me is that he's
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gone from a very low level you know just the average Joe public and escalates it
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very very quickly into a monster and the way he was in 1997 27-year-old Burton was still living
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in New Mills darbishire 14 mil away in Greater Manchester 17-year-old Debbie had just recently passed her driving
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test 25 years on Debbie now wishes to remain anonymous her words have been voiced by an actor I was living with my
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parents and my two sisters in gatle and Stockport it was quite a nice Community it was
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nice pubs you know we knew the neighbors we all knew each other it's quite normal
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and safe on Saturday the 26th of April 1997 Debb's day had started in the usual
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way she was on route that particular morning on the Saturday morning to go to a part-time
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job Debbie stopped at her local convenience store on her way to work to get some crisps and a drink she pared
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parked her car directly outside the shop was literally around the corner from my
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house on the way to the shop I noticed a man walking the opposite way but I didn't think anything of it when Debbie
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came back out of the shop she noticed the same man had double back and was lingering nearby I remember thinking
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I've just seen you walk past why are you here what do you want and as she went
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back to her vehicle he jumped out on her and threatened her with with a knife and he
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just approached me with a knife and he said can you get in your car and give me all your money
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please I was trapped there's nowhere to run if I could run it'd run after me and
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I felt I wanted to scream I did as I was told and got in the driver's seat and he climbed at the
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back of me and climbed into the passenger seat so he's sitting next to me with a
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knife to my thigh while I was driving well the poor woman girl is obviously terrified out of her wits he's
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still threatening her with a knife and orders her to drive not round the block but a long way the knife wielding car
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Jacker ordered Debbie to drive him to Wales claiming he'd never been there before and wanted to go Debbie had only
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recently passed her driving test and was fairly new to the roads I'm trying to
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concentrate not to crash the car I've never been on a Motorway there's nothing
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I could do people are driving past me and I'm trying to get their attention how can you get their
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attention they're too fast he's going to you'll see my reaction you know I'm
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trapped there's nothing I can do I can't do anything Debbie was terrified the
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17-year-old was being held hostage in her own vehicle by a complete stranger with no way of Escape as they headed
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into the remote Countryside of Wales the Petrified teenager had no idea what the
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deadly stranger had planned for her but one thing was for sure Debbie's life was
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in grave Danger on the way to Wales I was doing about 60 on the inside Lane and I was
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running out of petrol so I said we need we need to get petrol he said turn off here there's a church a
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dirt track he ordered me to reverse near the graves when I reversed in near the church and then he told me to get
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out she will know that things are getting more and more isolated she knows there's this guy in the car with a knife
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I can't imagine what she was thinking where this was going to end the abductor ordered Debbie to get
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into the boot of her own car so that she'd be hidden away when he went to refuel it he opened the boot he told me
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to lie on my front put my legs up put my hands behind my back she was forced into going into the
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boot of the car and it was clearly angry you know and he was taken out on Debbie
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she was petrified as you can imagine I started to beg him I didn't show any emotion
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before I was pleading with him to not hurt me he cut the seat weapon the seat belt weapon hi her up and gagged
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her he tied my arms and my legs together with seat belts he put one around my mouth and then shut the boots
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with Debbie in the boot her abductor drove her car to a nearby petrol station filling it up with £10 that Debbie had
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given him earlier he then drove around for another 45 minutes or so with Debbie still in the
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boot I was helpless just thinking of my friends and my family they're going to be worried where
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I am I can't die like this I won't I can't this can't be it I can't even begin to
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think how utterly horrified terrified she must have been eventually the man stopped the car
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and released Debbie from the boot he got me out of the boot and we parked in like
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in the mountains on the side of the road stayed there for hours there was no one
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around he talking abs absolute rubbish about drugs about the Happy Mondays what the songs mean to him he's smoking
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cigars and all the time she's trying to involve him in conversation in a desperate attempt to save her
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life I remember telling him that I was 18 in 4 weeks cuz I wanted him to like me surely
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if you like me he not going to hurt me she had the presence of mind or maybe that survival Instinct where she tried
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to build some kind of rapport with him that's an incredibly difficult thing to do and
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took great presence of mind and bravery from her a rare glimmer of hope emerged as
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another car went by but he was watching my reactions the whole time I just couldn't do it
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I couldn't scream for help again because he he'll use the knife ours went by and eventually Debb's
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abductor decided it was time to move on they were low on fuel again and this time out of cash I said I've got my bank
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card I've got I can get cash I can get more cash he said okay we'll go and get
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cash and I need more petrol the knife wielding man and Debbie drove down to the Welsh coastal town of
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canavan he then Unleashed Debbie and she went with him to the cash point to put the the number in and he
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then tried to get some money there were loads of people around he's got his arm around me with a knife
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to my stomach there's people laughing walking past me couldn't do it couldn't do it again I
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couldn't help I wanted to say help just couldn't do it she must have been
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terrified what an ordeal for to take place Debbie had missed her opportunity to escape and was still at her abductor
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Mercy he got Debbie back into the car but this time let her sit in the passenger
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seat so you must have trusted me a little bit to not put me back in the boot to get more
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petrol and we got to the pump and I'm in the passenger seat he gets out fills up
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he's watching me through the window staring at me with the kidnapper keeping a watchful
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eye on his captive Debbie would struggle yet again to make her Escape so I just slowly I saw there was a man the next
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pump on my left there was a man a taxi driver at the next pump and I thought I can do this I can I can do this slowly
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undid my seat belt without looking at him she saw the opportunity to escape whilst he was filling the car up with
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petrol he was using her money and she ran screaming and shouted I just ran for it to the taxi
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driver sat on his knee just opened his door and sat on his knee Debbie's abductor did not pursue her it
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just calmly and casually got back into the car and just drove off as though nothing had happened that does actually
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tell us quite a lot about what's going on with him so he seems to be quite emotionally divorced from from what is
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going on his language and his behavior it's very much that he's in control of
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this situation but he doesn't seem to have any real fear of being CAU it does
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kind of suggest that this isn't some really bad psychotic episode it's too controlled
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and he's too calm and going about his business as as normal almost Debbie had finally escaped her
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abductor after a horrific 11-hour ordeal but it could have been even more terrifying If Debby had known what had
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happened less than 24 hours earlier just 5 miles away from where she was taken Michael mcra and his sister Rachel
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grew up in wilmslow in chesher after the mcgr family moved there in 1970 Michael
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was three and Rachel was 5 months old bright Lively bubbly beautiful incredibly stubborn at
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times but as my baby sister my baby sister she was an amazing pianist it was lovely so music was a life really she
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she loved it really loved it Rachel MGR was well educated she was working for a building society as an assistant manager
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she was 27 got a good career ahead of her she was a girl who led life to the full she was very much loved by a family
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Rachel had recently moved in with her boyfriend and they were settling down together he was very good for her and
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they were great as a couple so it was great to see how happy she was on the evening of the 25th of April
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1997 Rachel's boyfriend went out for a few drinks with friends to a pub in nearby bramel
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it was the same Pub that 27-year-old Nicholas Burton had made his way to that evening Nicholas Burton he was a bit of
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a loner he'd left the house and he'd walked 10 miles to the pub in bramall where he'd been seen by numerous
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members of the pub and he was prone to smoking cigars and drinking Guinness and he was also going around the PB begging
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for money so that he could buy the uh the items Burton attempted to interact with
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a number of different customers that were there that evening numerous points he tried to engage in
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conversation with a group next to him uh that was rebuffed he made a rather lwd comment about what he was doing there
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and and he said oh I'm waiting to meet a beautiful woman he clearly wasn't he
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clearly alone on his own he seemed to be quite focused on a beautiful girl and I I just feel that
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maybe there were some strange thought processes going on there where he was definitely in the stages of planning
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some form of activity or action that was going to come later on but he was obsessed with it whatever it was when he
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was just chatting in the pub one point he begged money to go buy some cigars from the shop down Road and
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came back in while Rachel's boyfriend was also drinking in the same Pub as Burton
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Rachel had gone to visit her parents and her brother Michael joined her there she
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was really buzzing that day because she'd been interviewed by The Daily Mail
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about her team at work and there was a really lovely article where I left at about
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seven and she turned around to me and said don't forget daily ma pays 39 it's
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ironic because only a few hours later she was all over the front page of pretty much all the
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Nationals Rachel returned to the par but closing time to collect her boyfriend and take him
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home Nicholas Burton had also been drinking in the same Pub that evening the 27-year-old loner had spent the
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night begging for money and pestering other drinkers we was probably in the pup from for about 4 hours penniless no
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money he had enough money on him to buy a single pint of Guinness which apparently he
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set and may last that length of time it was closing time at the pup and it was around 5: to
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11: when he went outside for a smoke 27-year-old Rachel mcg's boyfriend had also been drinking in the same Pub
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that evening and after spending time with her parents and brother Rachel drove to the pub to pick him up so she's
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waiting to collect him pre-arranged meeting for by the rear door of the P unbeknown to Rachel she wasn't alone in
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the car park she was being watched he saw rich in the car and he took the opportunity when he saw her there parked
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up doors unlocked in the passenger side and he jumps in she probably thought that was her boyfriend getting it what
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we think happened is that he got into the passenger door held a knife to her and was trying to abduct her instead
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of driving away as the man had wanted her to Rachel decided to get out of the car and try to escape instead she's no
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more than 30 feet I would say from the rear door of the PB goes out to the driver's door and
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trying to rush around to the pub entrance of the rear and it's pretty clear that he goes
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around the other way and catches her at the rear of the car he's chased her and caught her
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virtually against the wall and she's had no chance unfortunately at that time the
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pub was packed but outside everybody's having last orders so we had no witnesses to what took place in The Next
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Period of time as Rachel tried to escape the man chasing her pulled out a hunting
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knife that he'd beat concealing and used it to stop her getting away then he
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grabs her from behind to incapacitate her brings his knife up through the back of her right
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leg so it comes out of the front a second major incapacitation wound through her rib cage on the right
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hand side that punctures her right lung the knifeman had bought defenseless Rachel to the ground with injuries that
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would have been agonizing for her to stop Rachel from drawing attention to the attack from people nearby the man
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then used the same knife he'd already horrifically wounded her with to stop her screaming with a Saar action hacks
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through her throat severing her vocal cords and a cotted artery on the right hand side and actually nicking the back
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of her spine with a knife that we know is about 23 cm long doesn't get any worse than
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that the only thing that he didn't do was rap her but he made a real mess with her the
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real mess of it doesn't get any worse it would have been a slow death for over a few minutes she was screaming
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but there was nobody about to actually hear those screams the Cowardly knif man then fled the scene leaving Rachel dying
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alone on the cold ground outside inside the pub and that's horrible you know
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nobody excuse me nobody deserves that and it showed showed you what a monster he
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was as revelers left the pub at closing time Rachel's body was discovered by
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then it was too late to save her police quickly arrived at the crime scene the night detective it was was a
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DC he absolutely did a fantastic job in sealing the pub off so that nobody left and we managed to get a brief chat
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before they were released from the PO detective Sergeant Paul Moos from greater Manchester police remembers
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arriving at the chilling scene it's probably one of the worst sets of injuries that I've ever witnessed in the
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whole of my career as a detective I was on the the major insd team which covered
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all murders in Manchester for the last seven years of his service this was incredibly brutal this was a young woman
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on her own in what should have been a relatively safe area and a completely random but
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targeted attack I can see why that is shocking and deeply upsetting the victim had been waiting to collect her
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boyfriend to take him home and this attack seemed to be entirely unprovoked we didn't have a clue as
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regards what the motive was and what the potential was of the particular offender
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we didn't still didn't know anything about him nobody had seen the attack and there
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was no CCTV to provide vital Clues as to who had done this identifying the mystery killer wouldn't be a quick
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task any forensic avence at the scene wouldn't have been found until later we
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all agreed that we'd got nothing at that stage no evidence and we needed a break
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through while detective Sergeant Moos took charge of the crime scene other police officers had to break the
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devastating news about Rachel to her family we were awoken I remember looking at the clock next to the bed at was 2:45
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a.m. we got a knock on the door and immediately thinking hang on a second that's not good news I open the door and
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my parents were there with two policemen so my mother was um in tears clearly and
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my father was ashen-faced and the police basically said um Michael we need you to come with us now
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please so I got dressed and got to my parents house about 3 and then they sat us down and said your sister's been
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killed the family were unaware at that point of just how horrific the circumstances surrounding Rachel's death
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were my brain's going into overtime you don't really know how to take that in
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you're still trying to digest all that my mother at that time was really struggling she uh was not reacting very
00:26:40
well to what had happened we had to call the doctor to her to give us some stives
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by the morning news of the murder had sent shock waves through the local community and attracted national press
00:26:53
so we got got back to the house in W and then there's just a media scrum developing
00:26:58
we had say reporters outside the house that morning wanting to speak to my parents I was Keen to protect them I
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managed to stop the newspapers arriving because the early pictures of the in the
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newspapers had photographs of a tent where Rachel had been killed Rachel had been murdered around
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11:00 p.m. the night before the mystery killer had fled the scene and left her dying Rachel's family had been informed
00:27:26
but the police had no further updates for them so the police sat down with us later that morning and said we are
00:27:35
starting from scratch with this and at that stage it's a murder we don't understand if there what
00:27:41
the motive is we don't understand if there any suspects they're working way
00:27:45
through the investigation and it's clearly a manhand it's clearly a manhand but they've got
00:27:50
nothing to go on when the police had arrived at the scene and interviewed customers still in the pub a few of them
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mentioned mentioned that there' been a new face in there that evening a man drinking Guinness and smoking cigars and
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we managed to get the names and addresses of every single one of those people the identity of the customer was
00:28:12
unknown but even then there was nothing to suggest this mysterious man had anything to do with the murder a Sunday
00:28:20
evening came around with no further leads detective Paul Moos received a phone call when 17-year-old Debbie had
00:28:28
escaped in Wales the police from where she went missing in Greater Manchester were informed and we put two and two
00:28:35
together and we didn't know at that stage that it was definitively linked and I was briefed that I was going to go
00:28:42
to North Wales to canavan where Debbie had managed to escape and progress the inquiry from
00:28:52
there the police came and I remember seeing Paul and thinking I'm safe I've
00:28:57
got away I've escaped I was just in complete shock and relief that I got away we wanted to see whether there was
00:29:06
a link to the murder and the clearly was because I remember this vividly as it was yesterday Debbie said to me um that
00:29:17
he talked about smoking cigars and that he drank Guinness and when that clicked into place and with the inquiries that
00:29:23
had been done with the occupants of the pub the previous night as the details started to fit together
00:29:31
police in the next town of Banger had located Debbie's stolen car North Wales
00:29:37
police found Debbie's car abandoned having been involved in a bit of a collision with a wall so that activated
00:29:45
even more inquiries the police immediately contacted all of the nearby hotels trying to find the wanted man and a
00:29:54
staff member at one of the hotels soon gave Detective Ive Sergeant Moors the news he'd been waiting to hear he was
00:30:03
there and soon as it was mentioned by him about the cigars and the Guinness I knew it was him you know my
00:30:15
gut feeling had become an adrenaline pumping situation and I asked for a Firearms
00:30:22
team to go and make the arrest armed police gathered in bangal Wales ready to storm the hotel room
00:30:30
expecting to find Debbie's abductor on the other side of the door detective Sergeant Paul Moos
00:30:39
briefed them that this may also be the man responsible for killing 27-year-old Rachel mcra in bramel chesher just over
00:30:48
24 hours [Music] earlier and I emphasized the series I Ness and the horrendous nature of the
00:31:00
attack and I made sure that they knew full well that the room was to be sealed off completely and we got him and that's
00:31:10
when it all started to kick into place the man apprehended at the hotel was 27-year-old Nicholas Burton the drug
00:31:20
abuser who'd been drinking in the pub the night Rachel was killed items found
00:31:25
in his hotel room gave the police even more to potentially link him to the murder they'd found blood stains on the
00:31:34
knife they'd found blood stains in the sink there was some trainers that were
00:31:41
drying that might be blood and there was also a jacket in the wardrobe that had a
00:31:47
stain on it which could have been the blood stain and turned out it was there are some similarities between his
00:31:56
appearance and and an individual who they believe was in the pub prior to my sister's murder Nicholas Burton had been
00:32:06
caught with incriminating evidence but if officers thought it would be an easy conviction they were wrong he wouldn't
00:32:14
speak to the police he didn't speak when he was interviewed no admissions he wouldn't
00:32:23
have any blood samples taken from him he was not cooperating the results of the DNA analysis linked
00:32:31
the knife found in Burton's hotel room to Rachel mcgr once that came back statistically it was a one in 300
00:32:39
million chance of it not being Rachel's blood so at that point you know it's him
00:32:43
Burton was still not cooperating with the police and they were unable to find a motive that linked him to the crimes
00:32:50
despite Burton's silence detectives were confident the evidence against him was
00:32:55
strong on the 30th of a April 1997 they charged him with the Abduction of Debbie
00:33:02
2 days later they charged him with Rachel's murder to secure a conviction for murder the police would have to
00:33:09
prove that Burton had fully intended to kill but you've still gotten no sense of
00:33:14
any motive no reason and as rational H any rational human being you're turning these things
00:33:21
over your mind and going why why what's why has this happened another element
00:33:26
police would have to prove is that Burton was of sound mind at the time he committed the crimes just prior to the
00:33:34
trial Burton started to make some previously unmentioned claims he said he thought he was God and that he the
00:33:43
voices were telling him to do these things you know again it shows a lot of premeditation there was no supporting
00:33:53
evidence from the past from his medical records that he' suffered from any kind
00:33:57
of mental illness I think that was just Burton cottoning on to an idea in an attempt to save his skin he never
00:34:05
claimed this before so the timing does become quite important the trial started at Liverpool Crown Court on the 23rd of
00:34:16
March 1998 and Burton carried on using the same excuses as to why he acted the way
00:34:22
he did he tried to plead not guilty on the grounds of dimin responsibility and when that failed
00:34:31
completely he went down the lines of it was unfit through Insanity Burton's attempts to argue he wasn't in the right
00:34:38
frame of mind when he killed Rachel and abducted Debbie were quickly quashed by the professionals the prosecution called
00:34:45
two psychiatrists who say there's absolutely no question of him being diminished
00:34:51
responsibility he knew exactly what he was doing we had the reports coming in from the psychiatrist say
00:34:58
he's the most dangerous man I've ever had to interview in my whole career
00:35:02
professional career that's quite a chilling assessment to come from two separate professionals who both saw that
00:35:12
level of danger in him so I think what they were saying in that is this was not an isolated incident this is something
00:35:22
that is part of who this man is and that maybe he's going to continue to be a
00:35:32
danger in my service I've never heard a psychiatrist gave such strong evidence
00:35:39
that showed that he was actually same but he was a dangerous dangerous man and still is in my opinion there was still
00:35:49
the issue of proving that Burton had a motive thereby showing for certain that it was a premeditated attack and that it
00:35:57
was in fact murder rather than manslaughter we had a witness who was in prison and he had been in the hospital
00:36:07
wing with Burton and a conversation had been taking place where Burton had suggested that he'd been reading a book
00:36:18
which was based around SAS tactics and that was the motive behind bringing down Rachel from a standing
00:36:28
position after he hacked a throat he was bragging about what he'd done to make
00:36:35
himself look the big man in prison no doubt provided a motive as to why he killed in that way
00:36:44
and it also showed that he premeditated the murder he knew what he was doing he was calculated and manipulative with the
00:36:53
way that he attacked her detective Sergeant Paul Ms and the mcgr family were at the trial every day and Debbie
00:37:01
was able to come face to face with her abductor to watch him account for what he'd done to her he looked like a rat
00:37:09
all stooped and he looked pathetic he had the had glance at us and just looked he just didn't have any
00:37:17
emotion yeah just little pathetic just didn't have any remorse nothing Nicholas Burton took to the
00:37:26
stand himself to give his account of what happened on those fateful days in April
00:37:32
1997 as his own barister asked him questions the courtroom watched on in disbelief I remember I was
00:37:41
shaking my legs were shaking when he came out with this answer when he could have dropped a pin
00:37:48
in the courtroom it was that silent he was asked the question what were you going to do to
00:37:55
Debbie he said he said he wanted to rape me and kill me I knew that was his intention but to actually hear the words
00:38:09
was too much to hear and in front of all those people it's just more real hearing
00:38:15
the words matter of fact no emotion whatsoever it was just evil it was a dramatic moment in the tri
00:38:30
but it was it was it was really chilling really chilling and something I'll never
00:38:35
forget it was deadly silent for a few seconds and then poor Debbie she realized what he said and the impacts it
00:38:46
had on her and she ran out of court in tears three men three at least members of the jury burst into tears one of my
00:38:56
offices he burst into tears so I have to physically take him away and say look we've got to be
00:39:04
professional here Burton shocked the court further by saying he would then have looked for a third victim after a
00:39:11
two week trial the jury went out to deliberate whether Nicholas Burton was guilty or whether he didn't have the
00:39:18
mental capacity to commit murder there were four counts the first was Rachel's
00:39:22
murder the second was the Abduction of Debbie the the third one was the false imprisonment of Debbie the fourth one
00:39:30
was threats to kill her it was guilty on all four counts and it was unanimous so
00:39:37
all 12 members of that jury all believed he was guilty based on the evidence Nicholas Burton received three
00:39:45
life sentences for the murder of Rachel the Abduction of Debbie and the false imprisonment of Debby the judge also
00:39:53
handed Burton an additional 10 years for threats to kill Debbie they ended by saying I shall recommend to the Home
00:40:01
Secretary that you never released the judge had reassured the court that Burton would never walk the
00:40:09
streets again 25 years later and due to changes in the law that removed that power from the Home Secretary and passed
00:40:18
it to parole boards a shocking twist came about so we received a phone call from our victim officer on the 3rd of
00:40:27
March March 2021 they said to us that Burton was eligible for parole potentially as soon as May that
00:40:35
year we heard the trial Church make it very clear that the recommendation to the
00:40:42
Home Secretary was that Burton should never be released there's got to be some
00:40:45
mistake here there's got to be some error Debbie now in her 40s also received a phone call to tell her that
00:40:53
Burton was up for parole we left the court that day knowing he's never coming
00:40:57
out thinking that's it for life so it's just complete shock and someone something has gone
00:41:06
wrong if he gets parole and he's back out on the streets no doubt in my mind
00:41:13
is a good chance that he could commit further offenses and upset a lot of lives as a result
00:41:24
again Rachel's family and Debbie are campaigning to prevent Burton's parole
00:41:30
to ensure that he stays Behind Bars forever we just don't want people like this walk in the streets
00:41:38
again he needs to be locked up for the rest of his life the risk is too much it's too high for him to be
00:41:46
released I don't think he's ever going to change I think this is part of his
00:41:52
personality rather than it being a temporary and contain psychotic episode for example the nature
00:42:00
of Rachel's brutal murder impacted even season police officers during the case
00:42:07
in all my service 32 years I've never ever experienced something as horrific as the circumstances
00:42:17
surrounding that case there's not a day goes by where I don't think about this
00:42:22
case it's the worst one I've ever been involved in and Nicholas Burton's
00:42:28
actions on the 25th and 26th of April 1997 have had lifelong effects for Rachel's family my father's a Broken Man
00:42:38
my mother's never recovered I don't know any mother who would so he destroyed my
00:42:42
parents he destroy parents and for Debbie she'll forever live with the trauma of what happened to
00:42:50
her I never really processed it properly I just found it too painful to talk about
00:42:58
thinking that I spent 11 hours with this monster and what he could have done to me and what he did to
00:43:05
Rachel it's like something out of a horror film who does those things it's just evil just a
00:43:15
monster just inhumane Nicholas Burton was a loner and a drug addict who went out with the
00:43:24
intention to rape and murder innocent Strang ERS psychiatrists agreed he was the most dangerous man they'd met and
00:43:32
the sentencing judge advised that he should never be allowed to walk the streets again Nicholas Burton will
00:43:39
forever be known as one of the world's most evil killers [Music]