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