00:00:07
NARRATOR: Police are called
to a quiet cul-de-sac in the sleepy Suffolk
town of Stowmarket.
00:00:12
It's 10 o'clock,
Saturday, December 30. 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): Can I just get
00:00:16
you to go and answer the door. I believe we should
have officers there. Are you able to just
go speak to them?
00:00:25
NARRATOR: A retired
couple in their 60s live in the four-bedroom family
home, Anne and Stephen Searle.
00:00:31
999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): OK, is it just the two of you in the house? Is there any other
sort of issues
00:00:36
that the officers need
to be aware of when they come into the house? NARRATOR: Anne and
Stephen have three sons
00:00:41
and a number of grandchildren. It's a loving family, but one
that's not without its issues.
00:00:48
He embarked on a relationship
with his son's partner. Obviously that hit
my mom pretty hard.
00:00:56
NARRATOR: After
45 years together, problems in the relationship
eventually come to a head.
00:01:01
COLIN SUTTON: It
was a big argument and an argument which
progressed to physical violence.
00:01:06
STEPHEN SEARLE JR: We
watched these documentaries in the past. And oh, you'd never believe.
00:01:10
And the next thing you
know, it's actually happening to you in real life. NARRATOR: How had Anne
and Stephen Searle's
00:01:16
marriage ended in murder? [music playing] Anne and Stephen Searle
were in their teens
00:01:40
when they got together. In 1972, Stephen Searle met
and married a Scottish girl called Jessica Anne.
00:01:48
She later just used
her second name and was always known
as Anne Searle. My mom originally
lived in Arbroath
00:01:55
and moved to Glasgow with
her parents and her brothers. And my dad was joining the Royal
Marines, so he basically-- they
00:02:01
met in Glasgow. They met one night, and
the rest is history. He was in the Royal
Marines for 30 years,
00:02:11
from 1963 to 1993. NARRATOR: As military
families often do, the couple and their children
would move around a lot.
00:02:22
Stephen Searle and
Ann had three boys. And they were called Gary,
Stephen, and Christopher.
00:02:28
NARRATOR: In the early 1990s,
Stephen left the military, and the family
relocated to Suffolk.
00:02:33
COLIN SUTTON: They
took on the Stag Tavern and became publicans
And everything appeared well, that it
was a happy relationship.
00:02:42
The pub was thriving. Business was good, and
Stephen had apparently made the successful transition
from being a Royal Marine
00:02:51
into Civvy Street running a pub. NARRATOR: Later,
they'd move to a house, but at first, the
pub in Stowmarket
00:02:57
seemed like the ideal
place to raise a family. So Stowmarket is
a small market town
00:03:05
that is very rural in nature. It's surrounded by fields, has
a relatively small population,
00:03:11
reasonably affluent,
because it's within Suffolk which is not a poor county. It's the sort of town where
everybody knows everybody.
00:03:20
And many people are known
through relations and family networks. NARRATOR: Stephen Searle
Jr. recalls a childhood that
00:03:28
was for the most part happy. His mother Anne, who worked
in food manufacturing, was the glue that held
the family together.
00:03:35
She lived for her children
and grandchildren. STEPHEN SEARLE JR:
I was lucky enough
00:03:38
to grow up with both parents. And we was a tight unit. She was a lovely lady. She did care for me.
00:03:45
She did care for my children. She cared for my wife. She looked at my wife as
basically a second daughter,
00:03:53
which is cool, which is lovely. But then, obviously,
yeah, your mom and dad-- your mom, she's the
backbone of the family.
00:04:04
NARRATOR: Stephen Jr. also
looked up to his father, remembering him as a man who
was there for his loved ones.
00:04:11
He was a really
good guy, to be fair. I looked up to him as an
idol, so he was my idol.
00:04:16
He was a good granddad
to my children. NARRATOR: The happy
family's facade was one which revolved
around Stephen Searle
00:04:23
and his political ambitions. Steve had had a
number of different jobs but was well known
locally as a publican
00:04:31
of a number of different pubs. He was also a UKIP Councilor
and had been in the years
00:04:37
leading up to this event. I think anecdotally,
people had a lot of respect for Stephen Searle.
00:04:46
It doesn't matter about
your political opinions. He was a local representative. And people were generally
quite complimentary about him.
00:04:56
The leader of the local UKIP
group was a good friend of his. He'd met Nigel Farage.
00:05:01
So he was fairly high profile,
certainly in Stowmarket. He had a national footprint.
00:05:08
He was pictured with
some of the leaders of the UK Independence Party. He was active in his
membership, campaigning.
00:05:18
Became quite prominent
locally, as you rightly say, because actually,
the party as a whole
00:05:23
became prominent at that time. NARRATOR: In his
political campaigning, Searle made much of his
30-year career as a commander.
00:05:30
EAMON BRIDGER: From
those around them, we know that he was
almost obsessive about military matters.
00:05:36
He wanted to talk about the army
and the Royal Marines almost constantly. COLIN SUTTON: He was taught
unarmed combat, taught
00:05:48
to keep himself
fit, enjoyed keeping in shape as a bodybuilder. So we had a powerful man trained
in unarmed combat who has spent
00:05:59
the best part of his working
life keeping fit and keeping trim and ready to fight.
00:06:05
Searle had grown up in an
incredibly macho environment. He was a member of the Marines.
00:06:09
They are renowned as
being really tough. They like to see themselves as
the toughest of the services.
00:06:16
He was obsessed
with bodybuilding. He was obsessed with
his own appearance. He'd grown up in this
very macho environment.
00:06:23
And when he left,
there's every reason to believe that he continued to
want to be the man in charge.
00:06:32
Yes, narcissistic,
very much self-centered. That came out in all
of the work that we did
00:06:38
to understand his lifestyle. It was all centered around him. NARRATOR: Indeed, Searle was a
man who likes to be in control
00:06:45
and that included in his
relationship with Anne. On one occasion,
believing that Anne
00:06:50
was not showing
him enough respect, he fired a shotgun
over her head. [gunshot] EAMON BRIDGER: There have
been previous incidents
00:07:00
between the pair that
had been violent, that hadn't been reported. But there had also been one
significant incident that
00:07:06
had been reported way back in
1997 where Steve it actually discharged a firearm in
their home, which was a pub
00:07:14
in Stowmarket at the time. COLIN SUTTON: Police were
called to this incident where--
00:07:20
obviously shots were
fired, so somebody called the police to it. But nothing came of that.
00:07:25
They decided that no
offenses had been disclosed and nothing really had
to be done about it.
00:07:31
NARRATOR: Searle
would later taunt his wife about the incident. EAMON BRIDGER: And had gone
on to then draw a smiley face
00:07:37
with the gunshot pellet holes
in the wall at a later stage, which again, acted as a
reminder for Anne for many years
00:07:48
around the potential
of what could happen. The fact that he would
make light of it,
00:07:54
of what is a really
serious matter, must have been an absolutely
terrifying incident.
00:08:01
Anyone who's been around
gun shots and discharges of firearms, if you're not
used to those types of things,
00:08:08
they are very shocking. If that's done in an
emotional circumstance during an argument, then clearly
it would be easy for people
00:08:16
to interpret and believe
that it was going to lead to them being shot or killed.
00:08:21
So the incident
itself was horrific. The fact that he reveled in
that was, again, another example
00:08:28
of him reminding people
of how much in control he was, the fact that
he could use violence.
00:08:34
NARRATOR: Was this
an isolated incident, something out of character
for Stephen Searle?
00:08:39
Detective Chief Superintendent
Eamon Bridger doesn't think so. We saw clear patterns
of coercion and control,
00:08:47
unreported instances of abuse
that Anne had talked to others about, but not the authorities.
00:08:54
And it was obvious,
as we went through it, that Mr. Searle
himself, Stephen Searle
00:08:58
was a highly
manipulative character. She had displayed to
colleagues and friends
00:09:03
a number of bruises that were
as a result of rough handling, gripping, grabbing, striking.
00:09:10
NARRATOR: On one
occasion in 2017, police had been called
to the couple's home after Anne accused
Steven of trying
00:09:16
to push her down the stairs. Incidents like this tally
with Stephen Searle Junior's
00:09:21
recollection of childhood. STEPHEN SEARLE JR:
I mean, I remember quite a few bad instances as
a child, but it is what it is.
00:09:29
Things weren't too shabby,
but weren't the greatest. NARRATOR: For Stevie, whatever
problems his parents had
00:09:36
were exacerbated
by alcohol abuse. His mom Anne, in
particular, struggled to control her drink problem.
00:09:43
STEPHEN SEARLE JR: Well, my
mom had a problem in the past. And she'd also went to
rehab, rehabilitated.
00:09:49
But obviously, over time,
you start to drink again. SARAH JARAVIS: It's
well-known that Anne
00:09:53
had a problem with alcohol. But I think there's
absolutely no doubt in my mind that Anne was a
battered wife, was
00:10:03
a victim of domestic violence. Now, that may have
been physical violence. It was undoubtedly
emotional abuse.
00:10:11
This was a woman
who over the years had shrunk and shrunk
and shrunk until she was
00:10:16
a shadow of her former self. She'd resorted to alcohol. NARRATOR: There was
more heartache to come
00:10:23
for Anne Searle. Her husband's actions
would threaten to tear the entire family apart.
00:10:28
Anne has suspicions. She thinks it's possible that
Stephen's having an affair. And she tries to have a
look at his mobile phone.
00:10:36
SARAH JARAVIS:
This was a man who had absolutely no thought
for anybody, least of all
00:10:43
the wife that he had abused. NARRATOR: In 2005,
Stephen Searle, whilst working at a bowling
alley in Stowmarket,
00:10:57
had set his sights on
a younger colleague, Anastasia Pomiateeva. Stephen takes a shine to her.
00:11:06
And I think at first
there's no outward sign, she's probably unaware
that he is developing
00:11:13
quite an infatuation with her. But while Searle Senior may
have had his eye on Anastasia,
00:11:20
she was more interested
in his eldest son Gary. Gary also worked at
the bowling alley.
00:11:26
He and Anastasia started
dating, fell in love, eventually moved in together. They had three children.
00:11:32
They were regulars at
extended family events like the wedding of
Stephen Jr. Incredibly,
00:11:37
as the years passed,
Stephen Searle Sr. did not give up his designs
on Anastasia, even when
00:11:43
she became his son's partner. In fact, he became even
more determined to have her.
00:11:49
While Anastasia is getting
on with her job at the bowling alley and presumably just see
Stephen as an older man who
00:11:57
works there, this
infatuation almost becomes an obsession for him. And he does some
quite bizarre things.
00:12:05
Chiefly, he grafted her
head-- photographs of her onto pornographic pictures. This was a man who had
absolutely no thought
00:12:18
for anybody, least of all
the wife that he had abused, a man who thought
it was absolutely
00:12:25
acceptable to pressure his son's
girlfriend into having sex, regardless of the consequences.
00:12:34
He comes to a point in his
life where he still thinks of himself in that way
and thinks he's capable
00:12:41
of anything, and looks at
his wife-- and you know, passage of time hits us all--
and suddenly there's this
00:12:50
possibility of exchanging
her for a 26-year-old woman who he meets at work. And it kind of feeds into
that sort of self-belief
00:13:02
that he had that that was
an appropriate way to act and an appropriate direction
in which to take his life.
00:13:09
NARRATOR: Finding Anastasia
resistant to his charms, Searle pulled out all the
stops to talk her into bed.
00:13:15
There was no tactic
he wouldn't try. He invited her to the
council offices for a coffee,
00:13:20
told her he was lonely, that
his and Anne's relationship wasn't what it used to be.
00:13:24
COLIN SUTTON: And he just
says, well, you know, I've got feelings for you. And I've not had sex
for a very long time.
00:13:33
And it would be very good if
you could oblige me in that way and help me out really.
00:13:37
And of course, she's-- rebuffs him. And says Stephen, no,
this is ridiculous. You're my partner's father.
00:13:45
But he was clearly
quite persistent. NARRATOR: Next, Searle
tried to impress the younger woman with photos
of himself in his prime.
00:13:54
He kind of changed his tact. He goes away from
the pity and sympathy and tries to woo her with
photographs of his bodybuilding
00:14:04
days when he was a much
younger man and showing her that he's
serious and that she
00:14:10
could really do things for him. NARRATOR: Anastasia
Pomiateeva would later tell the press that she
was shocked and surprised
00:14:17
by his approaches. He was bombarding her
with sexualized images. She found him
intimidating, powerful,
00:14:25
controlling, manipulative. She described
herself as vulnerable because her grandmother was ill.
00:14:31
Eventually, in April 2017,
she gave in to his advances. It wasn't very long
before, indeed, they
00:14:40
did start a relationship,
a sexual relationship. I knew from the start
basically that there
00:14:48
was something going on. Explicit texts, photographs,
and explicit comments going back and forth.
00:14:54
STEPHEN SEARLE JR: That's
my oldest brother's partner. During this time that
the affair is going on
00:15:02
and while they're exchanging
the text messages, Stephen refers to Anastasia as
SBG, which stood for Steve's
00:15:10
beautiful girlfriend. NARRATOR: For months,
the two met in secret. Anastasia had a son from
a previous relationship
00:15:17
who was a cadet in the
troop that's Searle ran. He arranged regular
illicit meetings
00:15:22
with Anastasia under the
pretense of discussing the boy's progress. Searle thought that
he was being clever.
00:15:28
But it didn't take long for
his long-suffering wife Anne to realize he was
behaving oddly.
00:15:34
Anne has suspicions. She thinks it's possible
Stephen's having an affair. She tries to have a look at
his mobile phone, which is
00:15:42
got a password protecting it. But she's able to
guess the password because he's used
a combination which
00:15:47
was relevant to his
old Marine unit. And she thought that that
might be the password he used.
00:15:53
And she sees a series
of explicit texts, photographs, and explicit
comments going back and forth.
00:16:00
And she confronts
Stephen with this. NARRATOR: Devastated,
Anne Searle needed someone to talk to.
00:16:08
Her husband was sleeping
with somebody listed only as SBG in his phone. At this point, she had no idea
that SBG was one of the family.
00:16:19
My mom called me whilst
I was at work saying that either he was
having an affair
00:16:25
with a man, which was weird. Yeah, Well this was the lies
that was prior to the truth,
00:16:31
yeah. So he basically
turned around and said he was having an affair with
a man, la la la la and this,
00:16:38
which wasn't true. It actually turned
out he was having an affair with another woman
called Debbie from Newmarket.
00:16:47
NARRATOR: But it was all a lie. There was no one called Debbie
in Stephen Searle's life.
00:16:51
He was playing games with
everybody around him. The father and grandfather was
sleeping with his son's partner
00:16:58
and telling lie after
lie to cover it up. Kind of like
didn't sound right. And then I kind of gathered
from what he said to me
00:17:06
on that phone that
day that he was having an affair with Anastasia. COLIN SUTTON: And he comes
clean and explains, yes, I've
00:17:13
been having an affair
with our son's partner, the mother of our grandchild. Factually we
know that there was
00:17:20
a relationship that happened. Obviously that's
a very sensitive area for the family to
still come to terms with now
00:17:26
and deal with. It was, I think, a
further extension of Steve thinking everything was his.
00:17:33
So the world was here
to provide him what he wanted when he wanted it. And it didn't matter
that somebody was
00:17:40
in a relationship with his son. It didn't matter that his
wife had her own human rights
00:17:47
and her own life to lead. Because at those moments when
he wanted what he wanted,
00:17:53
he just took it. NARRATOR: Stephen Jr.
confronted his father who offered a very one-sided story.
00:17:58
He told me that day
that it actually happened between them two that day. She'd put it on him.
00:18:04
And he basically said
no, but he sort of gave in to being seduced, I suppose. NARRATOR: The son
struggled to believe
00:18:13
the father's version of events. STEPHEN SEARLE JR: I believe
it takes two to tango.
00:18:19
So yeah, there is probably some
sort of banter or something between them. And then obviously, something
happened in the long run.
00:18:28
But this is only my side
of the picture at the end of the day, which is heavy. But it is what it is.
00:18:35
It happened. So this is the worst
thing you can think of, something like that to happen.
00:18:41
And obviously,
it's a heavy thing to go through to find out
that that sort of thing
00:18:46
has happened in your family. Like me and my wife
have said before, we've watch these
documentaries in the past
00:18:51
and, oh, you'd never believe. And the next thing you know,
it's actually happening
00:18:55
to you in real life, which
is pretty shady, it's pretty heavy, dark. NARRATOR: It was a bombshell
that rocked the family.
00:19:03
Nobody more
devastated than Anne. Obviously that hit my
mom very hard, which is--
00:19:10
you know, that's very heavy to
be told something like that. It's horrible. I wouldn't want that
to happen to me.
00:19:16
And I'm sure my mom didn't
want that to happen to her. And obviously when
it all happened,
00:19:20
it just, well, it's like opening
up a can of worms, isn't it? Carnage. Searle was not a good man.
00:19:30
Here we have a classic picture
of a man who is completely obsessed with himself.
00:19:35
Nobody else's opinion,
nobody else's well-being matters to him in any
way, shape, or form.
00:19:41
And I think that was really
summed up by the fact that he embarked
on a relationship
00:19:47
with his son's partner,
and not just any partner, but a partner with whom
his son had had a child.
00:19:53
So we know that if this came
to light, as Searle must have known it would, that this
was not just going to wreck
00:20:00
the life of Searle's
wife, it was going to wreck the life of his
son, of his son's partner,
00:20:06
and of Searle's own grandchild. And yet, as far as
Searle was concerned, none of that mattered, only
his own personal gratification
00:20:15
mattered. NARRATOR: The family
was shattered. But they did want some
close-knit families
00:20:20
do, picked up the pieces,
tried to move forward. Anastasia and Stephen Sr.
ended their relationship.
00:20:28
Gary forgave his partner,
saying the whole affair had brought them closer. But his father wasn't quite
ready to let his lover go.
00:20:36
Stephen Searle doesn't
really alter his views. He still has the same
desire, the same feelings,
00:20:45
even after this is all
revealed and out in the open. And while Gary his son and
Anastasia have this sort
00:20:52
of boost to their
relationship, if you'd like, they're very much in love,
and he accepts her apologies,
00:20:58
and they change
their phone number, and they try to move
on with their lives, Stephen is still trying to
engineer ways to see her.
00:21:04
He's trying to be places
where she'll be, manages to obtain their new phone
number and bombards them,
00:21:10
and things like this. So as far as he's
concerned, nothing's changed from his point of view.
00:21:18
NARRATOR: For Anne,
everything had changed. But she had nowhere to go. She told colleagues that
after 45 years of marriage,
00:21:26
she was too old to start again. She told her
daughter-in-law Victoria that she was down, unhappy.
00:21:31
She and her husband
argued every night. She confided that he'd
threatened to kill her.
00:21:37
Obviously some of
those other incidents and unreported
assaults and violence obviously acted as even
more recent reminders to her
00:21:45
that he was in control and
he gave every presentation, and all the background
history we could build up,
00:21:53
just really showed that
he wanted to be in control of every situation,
particularly of his family
00:21:57
and particularly of Anne. This was a woman who was
a well-known alcohol abuser and, therefore, who physically
was likely to be in very poor
00:22:06
shape, had gone through decades
of emotional abuse at the hands of her husband and,
therefore, was likely to be
00:22:13
completely under his control. NARRATOR: Anne
Searle was trapped in a soul-destroying marriage,
living with a man who showed
00:22:21
her little respect, indeed,
one who openly showed her how little he respected her.
00:22:27
How far would the man
trained to kill go? They've reached a
tipping point here. NARRATOR: Christmas 2017, and
the affair between Stephen
00:22:41
Searle and the
partner of his son was over, the family
trying to move forward. Anne Searle's
workmates would later
00:22:48
testify that in between
Christmas and New Year, Anne had been more
optimistic about life.
00:22:53
She'd lost weight, given up
smoking, and was hoping to give her marriage another go.
00:22:58
But it was clear to all
that Anne's controlling and gun-obsessed husband
was doing nothing
00:23:02
to make up for past mistakes. Christmas Day 2017
in the Searle household was clearly not
a happy occasion.
00:23:12
One can only imagine the
tensions and pressure that were building up
over the previous six
00:23:17
or seven months in that house
since the news of the affair came out. And Christmas is always
that kind of pressure time
00:23:24
when families are forced
together in some ways and often see an uptick
in violence and people
00:23:31
falling out. Stephen hadn't helped
matters by buying Anne a rather insignificant
and cheap present from Asda.
00:23:40
He then decided
that the Christmas dinner wasn't worth eating
and threw it in the bin.
00:23:45
And an argument ensued. And it was a big argument. And that argument was the
release of all this tension
00:23:52
maybe after the previous
six or seven months had never really come out. He came out that day.
00:23:57
The argument turns
into physical violence. And that was in some
ways the tipping
00:24:04
point in this relationship. So there's no
question in my mind that this was a woman who was
absolutely under the thumb
00:24:13
of her deeply abusive husband. Unfortunately, towards the
end of that year, she actually
00:24:21
wrote a Facebook message
saying, basically, I don't know if I'll
be here next year.
00:24:27
Now, of course, we don't
know what she meant by that. She's not around to tell us.
00:24:33
But I don't think there's
any much doubt that she genuinely feared for her life.
00:24:38
And yet, despite that, this poor
woman felt unable to get out. NARRATOR: Was Anne right
to fear for her well-being?
00:24:47
She'd recently shown workmates
the bruises her husband had left on her arms. And there was the occasion many
years before when in a rage
00:24:54
he'd fired a weapon
repeatedly over her head. Did Anne Searle know
in December 2017
00:25:00
that she was in mortal danger? And although there had
been a sort of undercurrent
00:25:04
and suggestions of violence
between Stephen and Anne in the past, this is
the point of no return.
00:25:10
I think that was a
point of escalation. So clearly there's a massive
trust break at that stage.
00:25:21
The tremors were felt
through the whole family. It wasn't just about Stephen
and Anne at that point.
00:25:25
It was about how it affected
all the relationships, all the inter-dependencies
within the children
00:25:31
and their parents. NARRATOR: The 30th
of December 2017 saw the final act in the
long, tortured tragedy
00:25:38
that Anne and Stephen Searle's
relationship had become. A lot of alcohol had
been consumed that night,
00:25:46
nothing unusual in that
smart house in a quiet corner of Stowmarket. COLIN SUTTON: Five
days after Christmas,
00:25:53
on the 30th of December-- again, who knows
what's been going on inside the Searle household.
00:25:59
All this upset that they've
had over the preceding months has all come to a head.
00:26:05
Once again, Stephen Searle
and Anne are together. On that day, we know they're
alone together in the house.
00:26:13
And they've both been drinking. We know through
the toxicology work that we did alcohol
was a big factor.
00:26:19
It was a factor in the
lives of Anne and Steve. They were regular drinkers. And we know that at the
time when Anne was murdered,
00:26:27
she was probably somewhere in
the region of 2 and 1/2 times the drink drive
limit and Steve was
00:26:31
probably something similar
also, because of the tests we've conducted. It appears, and by the
accounts we've got,
00:26:39
there was some
level of argument. We don't know exactly
what that was about. NARRATOR: The couple were
known to drink every evening.
00:26:46
But as far as their
children were aware, it was rarely to excess. And they'd drink
to the point where
00:26:51
they'd get to a nice level
and then probably go to bed. So it was as simple as that.
00:26:55
It weren't let's stay up
till 4:00 in the morning and keep getting trashed. They would just drink
until they felt good
00:27:00
and then have some
food and go to bed. NARRATOR: But that
night was different. COLIN SUTTON: Once again,
this argument that they have
00:27:08
five days later becomes
heated, it becomes overheated, and becomes violent. And you've got Stephen Searle,
a man who despite being
00:27:18
in his 60s, has
kept to himself fit, has always been a fitness
fanatic really most
00:27:24
of his life, and was
trained, highly trained in unarmed combat, and
he ends up fighting
00:27:33
with his wife, a woman. EAMON BRIDGER: I believe that
he was trained to a degree
00:27:42
to be able to kill
people if he needed to, as would be standard
training for a Royal Marine.
00:27:47
We were never able to fully
understand the exact nature of the training he received.
00:27:52
But we can work reasonably
on the assumption that it was standard
marine training, which
00:27:58
was hand-to-hand combat,
restraint, and the ability to kill when needed. NARRATOR: Anne Searle, a mother
of three, doting grandmother,
00:28:16
lay dead on the
living room floor. Stephen Searle had killed
his wife of 45 years.
00:28:22
Calmly, he then
called the police. It was a really sort of
underplayed, understated
00:28:31
conversation. There's no drama to it at all. It was almost like
he'd sat for some time
00:28:37
and reflected on what he'd done. NARRATOR: At 10:19 PM, a 999
operator at Suffolk Police
00:28:44
received the call. 999 DISPATCHER (999 RECORDING):
Hello, can you hear me? STEPHEN SEARLE (999 RECORDING):
Yeah, I can hear you.
00:28:47
Can you hear me? 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): Yep. STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): Yeah,
00:28:51
I've, uh, just killed my wife. 999 DISPATCHER (999 RECORDING):
You've just killed your wife?
00:28:54
STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): Yeah. Officers were called to
the home address, as we said,
00:28:58
by Stephen himself. They arrived whilst actually
the call was still connected. So I have listened to, but was
not privy to the arrest itself.
00:29:07
He presented as quite
calm in demeanor. He showed officers to
Anne's body straightaway.
00:29:16
STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): OK. 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): Bit different
00:29:19
for you tonight I expect. STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): Happy New Year 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): OK,
00:29:23
and how have you killed her? STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): Um, suffocation really, I guess.
00:29:30
It's a bit of a
bizarre situation, but, you know, never mind. Having replayed
it many times, I
00:29:37
think it's the statement
of "never mind" and, again, having had
that personal interaction
00:29:42
with family and people who have
been devastated by his actions on that day, the fact that he
ever formed an opinion that it
00:29:50
didn't really matter,
which is what came across in that statement
to me, was hugely
00:29:55
disrespectful and insensitive
to those other family members. 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): OK, is it just
00:30:00
the two of you in the house? STEPHEN SEARLE (999 RECORDING):
Uh, well, it's just one of us
00:30:03
now. 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): Right, OK. STEPHEN SEARLE (999 RECORDING):
Well, two, you know.
00:30:08
999 DISPATCHER (999 RECORDING):
OK, is there any other sort of issues that the officers
need to be aware of when
00:30:11
they come into the house.
Is there anything dangerous? STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): No, not really.
00:30:14
Um, you know, I'm not violent. I'm not nothing. COLIN SUTTON: It's was just-- it was one of the
most bizarre phone
00:30:21
call I think I've ever heard. He's so relaxed. He's so calm. He's so matter of fact.
00:30:27
He clearly had no
more regard for his wife than if she were
an item of clothing or a possession of his, because
he was able, when he rang
00:30:39
the emergency
services, to be so calm and not to be remotely upset. Not just about the fact
that he killed her,
00:30:47
I mean that was horrendous,
but actually, this was his life partner and
suddenly she was dead.
00:30:54
Yet, no emotion at all. STEPHEN SEARLE (999 RECORDING):
I've, uh, just killed my wife.
00:31:00
999 DISPATCHER (999 RECORDING):
You've just killed your wife. STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): Yeah.
00:31:03
999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): OK. So it was a
challenging call to hear. And I remember, as a team,
us listening to it together
00:31:09
and being really
surprised by the content, but even more surprised
by his attitude
00:31:14
and behavior within it. 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): Um, Stephen, can I just get you to
go and answer the door.
00:31:19
I believe we should have
some officers there. Are you able to just
go and speak to them?
00:31:25
STEPHEN SEARLE (999 RECORDING):
OK, they're here now, are they? 999 DISPATCHER (999 RECORDING):
They should be there.
00:31:28
STEPHEN SEARLE (999 RECORDING):
All right, I'm on my way. 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): OK.
00:31:32
STEPHEN SEARLE (999 RECORDING):
I'm on my way as we speak. 999 DISPATCHER (999
RECORDING): OK.
00:31:40
POLICE OFFICER (999
RECORDING): Hello. STEPHEN SEARLE (999
RECORDING): Oh hello, buddies.
00:31:44
How are you, all right? NARRATOR: Searle had
apparently confessed to murdering his wife.
00:31:50
There are elements of this
murder that are almost unique. And so I personally
have dealt with a number
00:31:56
of murders over the years. And this is the only
occasion where I've actually had the offender making a
confession at an early stage
00:32:03
to having killed. NARRATOR: 13 miles
away in Ipswich, Stevie Searle, the
couple's youngest son,
00:32:09
had enjoyed a night
in with his wife. I was actually here. It was prior new year.
00:32:16
So it was like the day
before New Year's Eve. Obviously, as you do, start
your season in celebration.
00:32:22
You know, we'd had a few drinks
that night, me and my wife, as you do. It gets to around about, I
don't know , 11:00 or so.
00:32:29
We get a bit tired. Nothing else new on telly. So we go to bed. And my doorbell goes at
like 4:00 in the morning.
00:32:37
And I instantly
bounced out of bed. I didn't want to wake my
children up to my doorbell
00:32:43
going off. And so I answered it. And basically it was like,
hi, this is Suffolk police.
00:32:51
NARRATOR: Nothing
could have prepared him what the police had to say. He'll actually
turn up and basically
00:32:57
wanted to have a chat with me. And I said, well,
what's this about? My initial thought
was that someone
00:33:02
that had a car
crash or something or that there would have
been a fight or something
00:33:06
between my mom and dad or
something bad had happened, but not to the extreme
that you'd feel.
00:33:14
And then when they told me, it
was just like an instant punch to the face of numbness.
00:33:21
It was more painful-- I'd broken my bones before. But that broke me. And to find out that my dad
actually killed my mother
00:33:30
that night and been arrested on
suspicion of attempted murder, that sort of makes you think,
like, what the heck's going on,
00:33:39
you know? NARRATOR: DCS Eamon
Bridger was the officer tasked with unraveling
the complicated dynamic
00:33:45
of the Searle family. I think when we
speak to the family, there were times of tenderness.
00:33:53
And as a family there
were happy times as well. Obviously relationships--
all relationships
00:33:59
go through good and bad times. It was clear there
were long periods where this relationship was toxic.
00:34:06
There were periods,
certainly towards the end, where it became
unmanageable all together.
00:34:11
And obviously we ended up
with this spectacular event that happened on that day.
00:34:15
NARRATOR: A post-mortem was
carried out the next day, New Year's Eve. It found that Anne had died
an hour before the 999 call.
00:34:23
When police began
to question him, far from admitting his
guilt, Searle put all the blame on his now dead wife.
00:34:31
Searle claims that
this was self-defense. NARRATOR: Stephen Searle, an
ex-Marine, former bodybuilder,
00:34:41
a man who prided himself
on his physical strength, told detectives
that his wife Anne
00:34:46
had tried to kill him with a
small domestic steak knife. In defending himself
against this violent attack,
00:34:52
he had accidentally killed her. Police officers didn't
believe his story. But would a jury buy it?
00:35:01
So this was a man who expected
to get away with things. He'd pulled a gun on
his wife in public,
00:35:09
and nobody had complained. He'd had sex with
his son's partner, and nobody had complained.
00:35:17
He expected to get
away with things. He undoubtedly figured that
he'd get away with this.
00:35:24
Hey, he would
claim self-defense. NARRATOR: Stephen
Jr. didn't accept what his father was saying.
00:35:30
If his feisty mom had
intended to hurt somebody, she'd have done it properly. I don't think my mom would
have went for him with a knife.
00:35:39
Let's just say a little, puny
steak knife, that's not my mom. If my mom was going to
do you, she'd do you
00:35:46
with a proper kitchen knife. And that's how it was. NARRATOR: Stephen Searle
may have called the police
00:35:53
to admit killing his
wife, but that didn't prove he was guilty of murder. If he could show that he behaved
reasonably in defending himself
00:36:01
against his enraged,
intoxicated wife, he might find the charge
reduced to manslaughter.
00:36:07
We do have cases, and I've
been involved in cases myself, where self-defense is
actually what's happened.
00:36:13
NARRATOR: The burden was on
detectives to prove that it was his intention to kill.
00:36:17
And it was obvious,
as we went through it, that Mr. Searle
himself, Stephen Searle
00:36:21
was a highly
manipulative character. He had a very
interesting background, you know, previous
military training,
00:36:28
which I think is really an
important factor of the case. And it became
apparent to me that he
00:36:33
used that military training in
the actual murder of his wife. NARRATOR: As the couple's
story unfolded before a jury
00:36:40
at Ipswich Crown Court, it
would capture the imagination of the entire country. There were a number of
elements that gained interest.
00:36:48
One was the political element
as someone quite prominent in the community, as
a UKIP Councilor who
00:36:53
had some associations
with the actual leader of that party, that brought
a level of interest.
00:37:00
There were the more salacious
elements that really drove that interest even further.
00:37:04
So the fact that he had
engaged in a relationship with his daughter-in-law,
the two things added together
00:37:11
made it of interest
to lots of people. NARRATOR: The
post-mortem examination recorded that Mrs. Searle died
of compression of the neck.
00:37:21
Pathologists believed
that she had been held by the neck in a
chokehold for some time
00:37:26
before suffering a
fatal cardiac arrest. Searle was adamant he
had not deliberately
00:37:32
choked his wife to death. He conceded only that he'd
fended Anne off with his hand.
00:37:37
In court, prosecutors
were skeptical. This is somebody who had
deep-seated aggression and was
00:37:47
violent and was able
to take somebody's life without a great deal of effort. Anne was tiny compared to him.
00:37:56
She was comparatively
very frail. NARRATOR: The jury heard
that this method of killing
00:38:01
was something Searle would
have practiced again and again during his three decades
in one of the military's
00:38:06
most elite fighting forces. A chokehold is
basically where you cut off somebody's
method of breathing
00:38:15
in order to subdue them. TOM POTTER: The
allegation was that he had got her in a chokehold
and suffocated her.
00:38:24
Earlier we knew
that she had died by compression of the neck. What's happening here is that
you're crushing the windpipe
00:38:30
so somebody can't breathe. That induces complete terror. As the trial
progressed, more came out
00:38:38
about Searle's background,
that he was trained in those kind of techniques. We know that he
demonstrated regularly
00:38:48
certain military chokeholds. And I believe that he then
squeezed the life out of Anne.
00:38:53
And that's going to result in
unconsciousness very quickly. He absolutely did
not need to continue
00:39:03
to press until she died. NARRATOR: If Stephen
Searle really had been acting in
self-defense, he
00:39:09
could easily have used
his training to simply render his wife unconscious. Prosecutors asked
the question, why
00:39:16
did he not stop at that point? Why did he continue
squeezing his wife's throat for several minutes
until she was dead?
00:39:24
I believe this was just
another element of control, of him taking his time and
telling us when he was ready
00:39:29
that he'd done what
he'd done and then trying to then manipulate
the criminal justice
00:39:32
system to believe
that it happened because of reasons
that helped him rather than the truth of it.
00:39:38
NARRATOR: In claiming
self-defense, Searle also failed
to explain why he'd waited an hour before
making that emergency
00:39:44
call to the police. Why hadn't he
called an ambulance? Why hadn't he
tried to revive her
00:39:50
himself, something he also would
have learned in the Marines. My initial reaction was
probably one of anger,
00:39:59
because I listened to a man
who had clearly been involved in a violent act, had
waited best part of an hour
00:40:06
before reporting the fact that
someone had been seriously hurt, and then who, once having
made those early disclosures,
00:40:13
was immediately trying to
backtrack from his blame within it, which was
evident for all to see.
00:40:18
And it obviously played
out in the trial. NARRATOR: Detectives
and prosecutors felt they had enough evidence
to persuade a jury of Stephen
00:40:25
Searle's guilt. His son, Stephen
Jr. was on standby to give evidence against
his father But Was
00:40:31
stood down at the last minute. STEPHEN SEARLE JR: A
massive relief, massively. I weren't comfortable
enough going in that court,
00:40:39
but could you
imagine standing up in front of like 12 random
people who you don't even know.
00:40:47
You know, they're
there for their job. That's their job. And then obviously, if I
looked slightly to my left,
00:40:52
my dad would be sitting there. And he is my dad
at the end of day. But it would kill me but
curse me at the same time,
00:41:00
which is pretty heavy. NARRATOR: The jury
took 3 and 1/2 hours to find Stephen
Searle guilty of murdering
00:41:07
his wife Anne. In deciding upon a
fitting punishment, the judge, Mr. Justice Green,
reflected on the waves of pain
00:41:13
and anguish that Searle's
actions had sent crashing through the entire family. I've gained nothing out of
this, because things I've lost
00:41:23
is A, my mother and my dad. Like I said, I lost my
best mate and my mom. She was also my best
friend, you know.
00:41:29
I could tell her anything. But like my wife says to me, you
got to remember the good times.
00:41:36
I remember the last
time I saw my mom, I left on amazing terms. I gave my mom a massive kiss
and a cuddle before that
00:41:44
was the last time I saw here. And she gave me the biggest
squeeze known to man. So it was a heavy thing to hold.
00:41:50
But it's a great thing
to see that my mom was happy with the last
time I saw her.
00:41:55
NARRATOR: Stephen
Searle had recently been diagnosed with a prostate
cancer, a fact, the judge
00:42:00
considered when sentencing him
to life with a minimum tariff of 14 years. [music playing]