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[audio logo] [tense music] ♪ ♪ Narrator: In July
1993, a loving mum and keen student with high
hopes for the future
00:00:13
was reported missing
by her husband. Hamish McCulloch:
She was always a good attender at college,
never missed anything.
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Then all of a sudden,
she doesn't come in. Iain Henderson: Very
quickly, it was clear there
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was something not right. Narrator: Hassan Al
Shatanawi's story about his wife
Laura's disappearance
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quickly unraveled as detectives
uncovered lie after lie. Andy Buckwell: He
had a family that he
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hadn't told the police about,
a secret mistress and a child. Jane Monckton-Smith: He was
one of those people where
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lies are just like a language. You just open your mouth,
and it's part of the language
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you use to manipulate. Narrator: Decades
later, the truth of what really happened
to Laura Al Shatanawi
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is still unknown. Rasheed Vaughan: Just
tell us what happened. Tell us where she is.
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Tell us what happened. Narrator: For murdering his
loving wife in cold blood and depriving
their son of a mother,
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Hassan Al Shatanawi
has proven himself to be one of the world's
most evil killers.
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[theme music] ♪ ♪ [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ The story of a missing
mother in a seaside town
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like Hartlepool made
big waves in 1993. Iain Henderson: It's
quite a small community.
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Everybody knew
what was going on. And at that time,
to have a missing mother, it's quite big news.
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Narrator: Detectives
used every tool at their disposal
searching for 36-year-old
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mother Laura Al Shatanawi. Andy Buckwell: If there's
a missing person, the police usually turn
to the public to help.
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And they do that by going
through the media. Narrator: Hassan
Al Shatanawi was only too keen to play the role
of the concerned husband.
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John Groves: He
went on the local TV and appealed for help in trying
to find where his wife was.
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Jane Monckton-Smith:
Police would have encouraged him
to do that as well, get his face out there, get
any witnesses who might not
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know about Laura going
missing, getting them to see this man on the TV. Narrator: The strategy brought
in a flood of calls from Good
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Samaritans,
including several who exposed 37-year-old
Hassan Al Shatanawi as a man with many secrets.
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- That was really
his downfall, when he decided to put his face
into the public domain.
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The more information we
got, the more suspicious you got that this isn't
exactly who he appears to be.
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[unsettling music] ♪ ♪ Narrator: This killer's story
begins in the Middle East
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on the 2nd of January, 1946. - Hassan Isa Salame
Shatanawi was his full name. And he was born in Jordan.
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Geoffrey Wansell: We don't know
very much about his early life, simply that he'd
studied medicine.
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Hamish McCulloch: We think he
commenced medical school or some sort of medical
training on two occasions,
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but never actually
took any exams. Narrator: By 1983, 37-year-old
Hassan Al Shatanawi was
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a postgraduate student
in clinical biochemistry living in Cairo, Egypt. He was ready to settle down.
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And he knew exactly what kind
of a woman he wanted to meet. Geoffrey Wansell: He put an ad
in a Lonely Hearts column,
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which said, "Doctor wants
to meet English princess." The lady who replied was
called Laura May Vaughan.
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Narrator: 26-year-old
Laura was from the port town of Hartlepool
in the northeast of England.
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Geoffrey Wansell: She'd
been to Cairo before. She liked traveling. And she replied to the ad.
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Many of her friends
actually did describe her as an English rose-- open-faced, warm, gentle.
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Jane Monckton-Smith:
And she goes out to Egypt, and they start a relationship. And it all happened
quite quickly.
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Iain Henderson: She was
a very likeable person. Nobody had a bad word
to say about Laura.
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Maybe a bit naive. She wanted love. I think that's what Laura
wanted, really, was love.
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And she thought she'd
found it with Hassan. [somber music] ♪ ♪ Narrator: Two years
later, the couple
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were back in Laura's hometown,
living with her father, Donald. Iain Henderson: It
was a terraced house
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off Main Town Center Road. So it was within two minutes
walk to Hartlepool town center.
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Jane Monckton-Smith:
Laura's father described Shatanawi as a real gentleman. It does conjure up a picture
almost of this perfect man who
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had a very strong
moral code and perhaps a gentleman
who would take control, look after their family.
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It's quite an old-fashioned
term to use. So we get back then
to that English princess,
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real gentleman. This whole relationship
appears to me to be presenting as some
kind of romantic fairy tale.
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Narrator: The couple married. And in August 1985, Laura
and Hassan Al Shatanawi
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welcomed a baby son, Rasheed. Rasheed Vaughan: I was
born in Hartlepool. I lived in Hartlepool with my
granddad, my mum, and my dad.
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Narrator: Rasheed's
earliest memories betray nothing out of the
ordinary about his family life.
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Rasheed Vaughan:
My childhood was a bit like any other
childhood, really. You know, played
out, went to parties,
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went to friends' at school. I remember me, my mum,
my uncle, and my auntie all going to Rhodes
for the week.
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I've got some photographs
of me, my mum, my dad in Egypt. ♪ ♪ Narrator: Hassan Al
Shatanawi told people he'd
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been a GP in Jordan and Iraq. But once living in the UK,
he did not practice medicine.
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Iain Henderson: For someone
that professed to be a doctor, he'd never studied, never
practiced in this country.
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Andy Buckwell: He
may not have had the qualifications, the UK
qualifications required.
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But he took up
property developing. I think he owned a few
houses, which he rented out.
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And he also bought houses
to do up for renting. Narrator: Entrepreneurial Al
Shatanawi had numerous money
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making projects on the go. Rasheed Vaughan: He
had a carpet shop. He had a garage.
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He'd bought a big plot
of land up Oakenshaw to plant Christmas trees on. [tense music]
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♪ ♪ Narrator: Meanwhile,
Rasheed's mother Laura had ambitions of her own. - She was studying
travel and tourism.
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And she loved traveling. John Groves: She was working
for a local coop travel agency, and as a result
of that,
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was attending Hartlepool
College of Further Education, doing tourism. - She was quite a bit
of a character in the town,
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particularly throughout the-- the travel agents. She would always
fantasize about where
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she was going on holiday. And she wanted to visit
there, and she wanted to visit somewhere else.
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Always very exotic places. And she came across
as a very nice person who was wanting to better herself.
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Narrator: In June 1993, when
Laura was 36 and her son, Rasheed, just seven
years old, her
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hopes for the future
stalled in a way no one could have foreseen. [unsettling music]
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♪ ♪ Geoffrey Wansell:
On June the 15th, Laura takes her son Rasheed
to school and goes off
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to college to take an exam. Andy Buckwell: She was
due to meet her husband Hassan after the exam.
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Narrator: According
to Hassan Al Shatanawi, Laura never showed up. - The last time she was
seen by anybody, sitting
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in the exam in the college. Narrator: Though
her car was found parked in its normal spot
near the family home,
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Laura didn't return that night. Hassan Al Shatanawi told her
father she was working late.
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Days passed with
no sign of Laura. But when her father and brother
inquired about her whereabouts,
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Hassan Al Shatanawi
told them not to worry. Iain Henderson: He said he was
concerned she hadn't come home.
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But he wasn't concerned
about her safety. He believed she'd
gone on holiday and would return very shortly.
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Hamish McCulloch: She's gone
away to Egypt or whatever or somewhere
in the Middle East.
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And I've never heard
from her, and I don't know anything about it. Narrator: No one doubted that
Laura had the travel bug.
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But the idea of her taking
off alone seemed unlikely. - My mum always took me,
no matter where she went.
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I was always with her. So it was just out
of character for her supposedly going on holiday without me.
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♪ ♪ Narrator: Weeks passed,
and Hassan Al Shatanawi received no phone call, no
postcard, no contact at all
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from his wife. Jane Monckton-Smith:
Laura's friends and family were very concerned
about her suddenly
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disappearing, even
with his story about this impromptu holiday. And they were pushing him
and pushing him to say,
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you've got to report
her missing. But he resisted that. He really, really
didn't want to.
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Narrator: On Thursday,
the 8th of July, 1993, Hassan Al
Shatanawi finally reported his wife missing.
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With over three weeks having
passed since she vanished, the police would
have their work
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cut out to follow her trail. [tense music] ♪ ♪ On Friday, the 9th
of July, 1993,
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detectives John Groves and Iain
Henderson from Hartlepool Police visited 47-year-old
Hassan Al Shatanawi
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at his home to find
out more about his wife Laura's disappearance. ♪ ♪ Iain Henderson: We
interviewed Hassan and
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took a lengthy
statement of him to see what his account of Laura,
her lifestyle, how they'd met.
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He was very plausible,
very polite. And he was never disrespectful. And he never talked
badly of Laura.
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John Groves: He thought that
she may have gone on holiday. Although when
questioned, she'd never,
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ever been on holiday
with anybody else before other
than the family. She'd never spent a night
away from home before.
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Narrator: This was not
the only thing that stood out for the CID officers. - It wasn't the demeanor that
you would expect of somebody
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whose wife was missing. He was very calm. There was no tears. There was no such
sense of urgency
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in what he was telling us. The alarm bells were ringing. Narrator: Detectives began the
methodical process of searching
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for 36-year-old Laura. John Groves: We wanted to put
the bigger picture together.
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Iain Henderson: You start
back at the beginning. And the beginning
is always where
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she lived, with her husband. The house was
searched with consent of Hassan and her father.
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Andy Buckwell: They went
to local travel agents. If you were going to buy
a ticket somewhere abroad,
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you would be doing it through
a travel agent, most likely. And there was nothing
to suggest that they could see
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that Laura had gone abroad. Geoffrey Wansell: There's no
evidence that her passport
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has been used. There is no evidence that her
bank cards have been used. There is no evidence
of her leaving
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any port in the British Isles. So where is she? Narrator: The police could
not find anyone who could
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say with certainty
they had seen Laura since the 15th of June. - So all sightings or all
of a normal activity
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ceased on that particular day. Narrator: Very quickly,
investigators realized that something was very wrong.
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Hamish McCulloch: She left her
son behind, which isn't normal. There's nothing to suggest
that she would disappear.
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Clearly, there's
something untoward. And there's no doubt
about it that-- that Laura Shatanawi
had come to some harm.
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And it was a matter of finding
out what harm that was and who was responsible. ♪ ♪
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Narrator: Hassan Al Shatanawi
was invited to the local police station to give a full
account of the circumstances
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surrounding his
wife's disappearance. - It was a comprehensive
statement. That statement ended
up nearly 50 pages.
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So halfway through, Mr.
Shatanawi said, I'm sorry, I've got a prior appointment.
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I must leave. And I'll come straight back. Narrator: Suspicious
from the start about Al Shatanawi's version
of events, detectives
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wondered if this was
the moment he would lead them to his missing wife. Iain Henderson: Well, it was
decided we'd put surveillance
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on him to see where he went. John Groves: Mr. Shatanawi,
he leaves the police station.
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He's gone into the town
center area. He's got on a local
bus, which was to Seaton Carew,
which was also boarded
00:14:30
by the surveillance team. Narrator: Seaton
Carew is a small town just three miles down
the coast from Hartlepool.
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- He was followed
to Seaton Carew, where he got off the bus, crossed
the road to the bus stop,
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and got on the bus and came
back to Hartlepool. Narrator: It was
a journey that made
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no sense
to the plainclothes officers following Al Shatanawi. Over the next
couple of days, they
00:14:57
constantly kept eyes on him. Iain Henderson: It would
have taken a lot of staff to do a surveillance, really,
because if he's on a bus,
00:15:07
they'd work
in pairs, and they've got to be inconspicuous. And when he's
on a bus every day,
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it would have to be
different people. He never appeared to become
suspicious or aware
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of the surveillance,
which continued to probably a couple of weeks. Narrator: On Monday,
the 12th of July,
00:15:25
Hassan Al Shatanawi met
with local journalists, telling them of his hopes
for Laura's safe return,
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claiming that he'd
wanted to report her missing much sooner but had
been put off by her family.
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Hamish McCulloch: He was in the
Hartlepool Mail, a local media, appealing for it
to come forward
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and say, well, I think
she's gone on holiday somewhere without me. As a result
of the media report,
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we had an awful lot
of people saying, I've seen a woman I
think is Laura Shatanawi.
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Any sighting that came in,
we would dispatch a team to that location and try
and find anybody else who can
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confirm that she'd been there. And nobody could. Narrator: Increasingly
sure that Laura
00:16:09
had met with some
kind of foul play, the police kept her
husband, Al Shatanawi,
00:16:14
firmly in their sights. Within a couple of days,
the costly operation brought them a lead.
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Iain Henderson: He took
the surveillance team all over Durham
and Cleveland whilst he
00:16:26
was traveling on the bus. So inquiries were made
in all these locations. And whilst we were
doing these inquiries,
00:16:33
one of the things that
we found out, that he did have an allotment
at Seaton Carew.
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Narrator: Al Shatanawi's
his green fingers were news to the police. He'd failed to mention
in his lengthy statement
00:16:45
the existence of an allotment. Other holes were also appearing
in the Jordanian's account.
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Hamish McCulloch: We
realized that he was living a bit of a fantasy's life. He called himself
Dr. Hassan Shatanawi,
00:16:58
but we know that he had
no medical qualifications. - We actually spoke
to his doctor at the time.
00:17:04
And they questioned
whether he had been fully medically qualified. - He would tell
different stories, too,
00:17:11
about how he was making
his living, what he'd done, where he'd been. It was just little
bits of information
00:17:16
that came in that
this person isn't all that he appears to be. [somber music] ♪ ♪
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Narrator: The secret allotment
seemed like a promising lead in Laura's disappearance.
00:17:34
Detectives thought
it might explain Al Shatanawi's fleeting
visit to Seaton Carew the day
00:17:40
they started following him. Hamish McCulloch:
The surveillance team noted that he was
interested in what
00:17:45
was going on in the allotment
when he went past. John Groves:
Our supposition then
00:17:49
was, he was there to see if
there was any police activity. Narrator: But an initial
search of Al Shatanawi's plot
00:17:57
failed to yield any clues. John Groves: We
identified the allotment. A warrant was obtained.
00:18:05
And it was searched with
a negative result at the time. Narrator: By Thursday,
the 15th of July,
00:18:12
a month after she
was last seen, the police still had
no clues as to Laura Al Shatanawi's whereabouts.
00:18:19
That day, her husband made
another emotional appeal via the media. John Groves: Mr. Shatanawi
went on the local TV
00:18:27
and appealed for help in trying
to find where his wife was. There were some
tears shed on the TV.
00:18:34
Jane Monckton-Smith:
Police would have been watching him like a hawk. We know, don't we,
that a lot of killers
00:18:41
have gone and done
press conferences and have revealed themselves
in those press conferences.
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Narrator: Nothing in Al
Shatanawi's words or behavior gave anything away that day.
00:18:54
But very quickly, the calls
from TV news viewers began to pour in. Hamish McCulloch: People
started contacting the incident
00:19:03
room to say that,
I know this person, but they don't call
him Hassan Shatanawi. I know him as something else.
00:19:10
He used to say
he doesn't drive. Somebody else came in and said,
I've seen him driving his car.
00:19:15
And so the more
information we got, result of him putting
himself in the public domain,
00:19:19
the more suspicious
we got that this isn't exactly who he appears to be. [tense music]
00:19:26
♪ ♪ Narrator: With
the help of the public, the Hartlepool
Police incident room
00:19:33
was building up a picture
of a husband who was a liar and a fantasist. The next call that
came in would prove
00:19:42
that he was also a killer. [suspenseful music] ♪ ♪ After Hassan Al Shatanawi's
TV appeal for the safe return
00:19:59
of his missing wife Laura
on the 15th of July, 1993, a local tradesman
called the incident
00:20:06
room at Hartlepool Police. ♪ ♪ Iain Henderson: He'd been
approached by Hassan Shatanawi
00:20:15
to get rid of a shed that
he had in the allotment. John Groves: He'd said,
that chap there, he
00:20:22
paid me an amount of money to
take the shed away and burn it. Narrator: This had happened
around the 21st of June,
00:20:29
a week or so after
Laura went missing. The police quickly discovered
the shed had only been
00:20:36
built around the 14th of June. - The shed had cost, you
know, quite a sum, 250 pounds.
00:20:44
John Groves: The shed
was brand new. It had no windows
in it, just a door. Narrator: It was
an astounding development.
00:20:51
Hassan Al Shatanawi had paid
someone to build a shed the day before his wife's
disappearance,
00:20:57
then asked someone else to
destroy it just a week later. Hamish McCulloch: Who
would want a shed building
00:21:02
immediately with no
windows, and then pay somebody 50 pounds to burn it? That's just not normal.
00:21:10
Narrator: The existence
of the shed was a significant development. But detectives knew that
if it had been burned,
00:21:17
any forensic evidence it held
would have gone up in smoke. Jane Monckton-Smith: They
would have wanted that shed
00:21:23
back against all odds. That's what they would
have been looking for. Even if it was
in pieces, it wouldn't
00:21:31
matter because every
contact leaves a trace. That's the mantra in forensics. Narrator: But in an incredible
stroke of luck,
00:21:38
the workman hadn't carried out
the job he'd been paid to do. Hamish McCulloch: When we went
to see it, it was brand new.
00:21:45
It was far too good to burn. So I took it apart,
and I sold it to a guy over in Middlesbrough.
00:21:52
So we found the address,
and we hotfooted it to this gentleman's
house in Middlesbrough.
00:21:58
Narrator: The shed had been
rebuilt in the buyer's garden. But it would soon be
on the move once more.
00:22:05
Piece by piece, forensic
officers dismantled the shed and took it to their lab.
00:22:11
Investigators realized
immediately it would be a crucial piece of the puzzle. [unsettling music]
00:22:19
♪ ♪ Hamish McCulloch:
The floorboards in the center of the shed
had been gouged out
00:22:24
quite crudely with
probably a hammer and chisel to about half
the depth of the wood.
00:22:29
Narrator: The damaged
section had been painted with a thick
layer of creosote.
00:22:34
Officers suspected the work had
been done to hide something. John Groves:
Further examination
00:22:41
by the scenes of crime
revealed some head hairs and some blood
between the lats on the floor of the shed.
00:22:48
Iain Henderson: It
showed significant blood loss, not just a cut. Something very serious
had happened in that shed.
00:22:53
♪ ♪ Narrator: Within
a week, a brand new shed had been built, stained with
blood, painted, and dismantled.
00:23:04
It was a turning point
in the investigation, one which dashed
any hopes of finding
00:23:09
Laura Al Shatanawi alive. - Our assumption from
that was that this had been the murder scene,
and she'd been murdered here.
00:23:19
And this is the remnants
of the blood, and he's gouged it out
to try and get rid of it.
00:23:26
Narrator: What investigators
couldn't prove just yet was that the large
quantities of blood
00:23:31
definitely belonged to Laura. - 1993 was quite early
for DNA analysis. I think probably started
using it in criminal justice
00:23:42
around 1986. Narrator: Attempts
to extract a DNA profile from the strands of hair
found in the crevices
00:23:50
of the shed floor
were unsuccessful. But while efforts
continued, detectives felt they had enough to bring
Al Shatanawi into custody.
00:24:00
Iain Henderson:
Hassan was arrested. Even then, he was very polite. There was no fear in him
or anything like that.
00:24:07
Narrator: Al Shatanawi
may have been calm. But for seven-year-old Rasheed,
already missing his mother,
00:24:15
it was a watershed moment. - When I first
really knew about it was when my mum's
best friend came
00:24:23
to pick us up from school. That's when it really-- the alarm bells
started ringing.
00:24:28
I knew there was something
up, but I didn't know what. And we went back
to my mum's friends,
00:24:35
and the police were there. I was feeling scared,
not knowing what-- what was happening.
00:24:41
Narrator: While Rasheed was
being sheltered by his mother's friend, his father was
denying any knowledge
00:24:47
of Laura's whereabouts
to interviewing officer John Groves. John Groves: He
answered some questions.
00:24:53
And we decided we would
produce the photographs of the shed floor. When Shatanawi saw
the photographs,
00:25:01
he was taken aback. He was visibly shocked. You could see he didn't
think for one moment
00:25:09
that the police
would ever recover the shed floor that he'd
paid a workman to dispose of
00:25:14
and to burn. Narrator: With Hassan
Al Shatanawi refusing to answer further
questions, the police
00:25:20
took their case to the Crown
Prosecution Service. John Groves:
The circumstances which
00:25:26
we found the shed, the fact
that he hadn't reported her missing for 23 days
when she'd never,
00:25:30
ever spent a day from home
before, all circumstantial. But put it all together,
and CPS thought we had enough
00:25:38
to charge him, which we did. [tense music] ♪ ♪ Narrator: Charged
on the 19th of July
00:25:46
with his wife's
murder, Al Shatanawi was remanded in custody. In the meantime, the search
for Laura's body continued.
00:25:55
- Recovery of the body
was obviously paramount to the investigation. John Groves: We believe that
she was killed in the shed.
00:26:02
We don't know where her
body parts or her body was disposed of. There were several avenues.
00:26:08
But, yes, there was a report
that he had dismembered her, and he'd taken her
to the skips in Stockton.
00:26:15
There were stories that
she'd been fed to the pigs. People say, well, because he
was a doctor in Jordan,
00:26:21
he'd be aware of how
to dismember people. Hamish McCulloch:
It's quite possible he knew how to dismember
a body because the first years
00:26:27
at university, if you
want to be a doctor, is you actually dissect a body. Narrator: It was
one of many theories
00:26:33
the police worked on as they
explored every line of inquiry. John Groves: I don't know
whether that's true or not.
00:26:39
You do get people falling
in with false stories. And again, you've still
got to chase them to see
00:26:46
whether they're right or not. Narrator: Without Laura's body,
the police and prosecutors
00:26:51
knew convicting Al
Shatanawi for her murder would be much more difficult.
They were also struggling
00:26:58
to identify a motive. - He never disclosed
anything other than a normal relationship.
00:27:05
And as far as he was concerned,
it was a happy relationship. Narrator: The answer,
when it came,
00:27:11
was a bombshell from
an unexpected source. Jane Monckton-Smith: The police
found that Shatanawi was
00:27:19
actually living a double life. John Groves: Well, we
understood from social services
00:27:22
that Mr. Shatanawi had been
involved with another woman. Geoffrey Wansell:
Hassan had started
00:27:29
a second relationship with a
woman whom he met at a bus stop in 1988. And indeed, she becomes
pregnant with Hassan's child.
00:27:42
[unsettling music] Narrator: In the early
days of their relationship, Al Shatanawi told his new
partner he was single.
00:27:51
Even when he admitted
to being married, he insisted it was
in all but name. The marriage was
effectively over.
00:27:59
John Groves: The other woman
had some health problems. And as a result, social
services were involved.
00:28:06
And they were intent on taking
the child from the other woman. Narrator: Al
Shatanawi was faced
00:28:14
with his secret child
entering the care system, something he could not accept. John Groves: There
was a court case
00:28:22
at Leeds Family Court where
Shatanawi attended and gave evidence to say that his
wife knew all about the affair,
00:28:32
knew all about the other child. And he was willing to look
after this other child.
00:28:39
Narrator: Neighbors
of the Al Shatanawi family would later report that shortly
before Laura disappeared,
00:28:46
they'd heard an almighty
and unusual row coming from the home, something
which may tally
00:28:53
with a memory the couple's
son, Rasheed, now relives in his nightmares. Rasheed Vaughan: I
just remember my dad,
00:29:03
like, attacking my mum. Then he set about me. So on one hand, he could be
this nice, caring person.
00:29:12
Then on the other hand,
he could be a psychopath. But luckily, I only
saw him do it the once.
00:29:17
Narrator: In hindsight,
Rasheed wonders if this was the day
Hassan Al Shatanawi's two
00:29:23
worlds collided
when Laura found out about her husband's mistress. - I think that's
why my mum died
00:29:31
that day, because I
think she might have found out what had happened. Narrator: A couple of days
after the alleged fight,
00:29:39
Laura disappeared. Two days after that,
Hassan Al Shatanawi met with his lover
and a social worker
00:29:47
to say he was ready to move
in with his second family. - The thoughts
of the investigating team
00:29:53
were, well, what
was this motive? Jane Monckton-Smith:
It is quite possible that it had
come to the point
00:30:01
where Laura had to know. And it's quite possible
that she decided to leave him at that point.
00:30:09
[solemn music] ♪ ♪ - If he killed his wife,
he's still got both his sons. Jane Monckton-Smith: It
tells us an awful lot
00:30:18
about Shatanawi's mindset. Having custody of those
boys meant more to him than anything else.
00:30:28
The women were
expendable, disposable. These were his sons. ♪ ♪ [tense music] ♪ ♪
00:30:40
Narrator: It was a strong
motive to take to trial. But as the court
date approached,
00:30:45
Laura's body was still missing. In fact, detectives still
couldn't prove the blood
00:30:50
in the shed was even hers. Would they be able to convince
a jury that Hassan Al Shatanawi
00:30:57
was a cold-blooded killer? [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ On the 13th of October,
1994, 48-year-old Hassan Al
00:31:15
Shatanawi stood
trial in Newcastle for his wife Laura's murder. [solemn music] ♪ ♪
00:31:25
Iain Henderson: The trial
was at Moot Hall in the center of Newcastle. It was the old Crown
Court building.
00:31:30
Moot Hall is a traditional,
old fashioned Victorian court. It's how everybody
imagines a Crown Court
00:31:38
to be from the olden days. It's quite daunting, really. ♪ ♪ Narrator: Sitting in the dock,
the medic-turned-property
00:31:53
developer exhibited
the same smooth plausibility he'd presented to police
officers like Hamish McCulloch
00:32:01
from day one. - His demeanor throughout the
trial was very sure of himself that he was not going
to be convicted.
00:32:09
He didn't look concerned, he
didn't look worried because he knew we didn't have a body.
00:32:14
And without a body, it's very
hard to get a conviction. Narrator: Though 36-year-old
Laura's body had not been
00:32:21
recovered, investigators
had no doubt that her husband had killed her. Andy Buckwell:
The prosecution was centered
00:32:29
on his character and behavior. I mean, he was a man
that had not reported his wife missing initially.
00:32:35
She'd gone missing
without apparently telling anyone where she was going. And we were relying only on him
that she'd gone on holiday.
00:32:42
There was a suspicious nature
of his visits to the allotment, then the discovery of this
shed, which he bought
00:32:48
and disposed of very quickly. - One of the most amazing
moments of the trial was when the police
reconstructed
00:32:55
the shed in the courtroom. John Groves: To show
the jury exactly what the police had found.
00:33:03
So it was built. And then
it was taken apart and showed them the-- the wood where it
had been gouged out
00:33:10
and where there
had been creosote. Geoffrey Wansell: Can you
imagine what the jury must have
00:33:14
thought, looking at the shed? Was this where Laura
May met her end? John Groves: We said
it was premeditated--
00:33:21
building the shed,
getting the shed made ready for that particular day. He'd organize everything.
00:33:27
And then he thought
23 days would give him time to get rid of the shed. But I'm afraid he was wrong.
00:33:39
Narrator:
The prosecution argued that Al Shatanawi's
motive for murder was his secret
partner and child,
00:33:46
whom he'd promised
to move in with shortly after Laura went missing. Jane Monckton-Smith:
The trial must
00:33:52
have been difficult for so many
people, and especially the other woman,
who could so easily
00:33:59
have been the victim in this. And of course, a murder
trial of this type is going to bring all sorts
of press and media interest,
00:34:09
going back into her
history, putting her in the limelight and her son. It must have been
absolute torture for her.
00:34:17
Narrator: Even
worse, detectives had also discovered that even
this second relationship was
00:34:23
not sacred to Al Shatanawi. Hamish McCulloch:
He wasn't a stranger to advertising in publications
to meet other women.
00:34:31
He put an advert in Farming
Weekly or something, wanting to meet a farmer's
daughter or somebody
00:34:36
of that nature in Ireland. Narrator: The prosecution's
circumstantial case against Hassan Al
Shatanawi was strong.
00:34:45
And they had another
card to play. For over a year,
forensic scientists had been trying
to prove that the blood
00:34:53
found in the slats of the shed
floor belonged to Laura. - The police had
some challenges
00:35:02
to match forensic samples
from the shed to Laura. Geoffrey Wansell: There
is no conclusive DNA
00:35:10
from the blood in the shed. And there is no conclusive
DNA from the hairs. Narrator: In September
1994, just one month
00:35:19
before Al Shatanawi's
trial, the UK Home Office had approved a new
technique for obtaining DNA.
00:35:27
At long last, scientists had
managed to successfully extract a DNA profile from the blood.
00:35:33
But they had no
confirmed sample of Laura's to compare it to. Andy Buckwell: What they did
was take DNA from her son,
00:35:40
Rasheed, and her father. John Groves: Cross
examined the results and came up with
a positive result.
00:35:51
Narrator: We share
around 50% of our DNA with siblings and children. So it was a strong indication
that the blood in the shed
00:35:59
belonged to Laura. Neither Rasheed
nor his grandfather had ever been inside the shed.
00:36:06
But the prosecution wanted
to be even more sure. They asked Laura's father
for mail she'd sent him.
00:36:14
And he found something
from five years earlier. - Laura had sent a postcard
home to her parents
00:36:22
from a holiday she'd
taken in Malta. And she'd licked
the postage stamp. Narrator: Once again, the new
technique for analyzing
00:36:30
DNA was employed. - They got
the postage stamp and were able to extract DNA
from the gum of the stamp
00:36:38
that had been licked by Laura. And that gave them
a much clearer match with the DNA from the
blood found in the shed floor.
00:36:48
So this was a huge breakthrough
in terms of proving Hassan Al Shatanawi's guilt.
00:36:53
Narrator: Incredibly,
DNA from beyond the grave had given Laura
a chance of justice.
00:36:58
But the job wasn't
done just yet. Al Shatanawi's defense
lawyers brought up the many well-intentioned
phone calls
00:37:06
from citizens who insisted
they'd seen Laura alive and well over the last year.
00:37:11
Iain Henderson: That
was used by the defense to say, well, she's not dead. People have seen her.
00:37:16
Blood in the shed doesn't
prove that she's dead. It's not for the defense to
prove that he didn't kill her.
00:37:23
It's for the prosecution
to prove that he did kill her. Narrator: After a five-week
trial, on the 21st of November,
00:37:30
1994, it was time to find
out if the prosecution had proved their case. Hamish McCulloch:
The jury retired
00:37:38
to decide their verdict. And it took them
quite some time. I remember they were
out a long time.
00:37:45
Iain Henderson: I've been
at many murder trials. And you look
at the juries, and you
00:37:48
try to work out what way-- what
way the juries are thinking. And you don't know.
00:37:54
Narrator: After two
days of deliberation, the jury were ready
to deliver their verdict.
00:38:00
Andy Buckwell: One member
of the jury had fallen ill, and they accepted
a majority verdict.
00:38:05
Geoffrey Wansell: They decide
by a majority of 10 to 1 that Hassan is
guilty of the murder
00:38:10
of Laura May, sentencing
Hassan to life with a minimum of 16 years. The judge said, you deprived
your son of his mother.
00:38:19
This is a wicked crime. Iain Henderson: It's
a bittersweet sort of result. You're happy that
we got the result.
00:38:26
But then underneath it all,
there's always the family. You know they
haven't got a result.
00:38:31
And they then know that
their mother, daughter, sister is dead, but they've
still got no answers.
00:38:38
They don't have any
closure for what happened. Narrator: Al
Shatanawi's conviction
00:38:42
confirmed he had killed
his wife in an act of cold-blooded premeditation. Iain Henderson: On the face
of it, he was quite polite.
00:38:49
It was all a cover. He was evil. He was a horrible man. Hamish McCulloch: He's planned
to get rid of his wife, Laura.
00:38:57
And he's had no
thought about his son and how he's going to miss out
on his mother bringing him up.
00:39:04
Narrator: The guilty verdict
ended a tumultuous time in Rasheed's young life. Aged just 9, he
would have to live
00:39:13
his life knowing his father
had murdered his mother. Rasheed Vaughan: To me,
both my parents have gone.
00:39:20
I lost both
my parents that day. Although my dad
was alive and well, he couldn't do what
normal fathers do.
00:39:31
He was locked up. Narrator: Rasheed
moved to Durham to live with his great aunt.
00:39:36
Rasheed Vaughan: I had
to, like, rebuild my life. You know, I went
to a new place to live.
00:39:42
I had to make new friends. I had to go to a new
school, fit in there. Wasn't easy.
00:39:48
For years and years, I
was having nightmares. Narrator: The hardest
thing for Rasheed
00:39:52
and the rest of Laura's
family is that her body has never been found. Rasheed Vaughan: I just want
to know where my mum is.
00:39:59
That's all I want. I just want
to finally bury her. You know, like, my granddad
went to his grave
00:40:05
not knowing where she is. My uncle, who passed away
a couple of years ago, he-- he kept on trying.
00:40:14
He's gone to his
grave not knowing. So I think it's only
right we try and-- just try and get it
done, just for all
00:40:24
my mum's friends as well
and the rest of the family. Iain Henderson: People
would visit him in jail
00:40:29
to ask after he was
convicted, would he disclose where the body was? And he wouldn't.
00:40:34
He showed no remorse. He never showed any
empathy to the family, to his son, who was
left without a mother,
00:40:44
to Laura's brother, who
asked and then begged him to say where it was. Narrator: Hassan Al
Shatanawi continued
00:40:56
to protest his
innocence and has never revealed where his
wife's remains can be found.
00:41:02
Over the years, efforts have
continued to locate Laura. Andy Buckwell: 2005,
more than 20 years
00:41:09
after Laura's disappearance,
the police received a tipoff that she may have been disposed
of in Seaton Carew Golf Course.
00:41:17
John Groves: Somebody
had phoned in to say, around about
the time of the murder and the disappearance
of Laura, somebody
00:41:23
was seen carrying
what appeared to be a body over the golf course. The search team
were brought out,
00:41:31
and they exhumed
what they thought was the body, which transpired
to be those of a dog.
00:41:38
Narrator: In January
2013, Rasheed got a phone call
that shook his family and dashed their hopes
of finding Laura.
00:41:47
- I'd just come in from work,
and the phone was ringing. So I answered it, and it
was the probation service.
00:41:56
And they had been
notified off the police that my dad had been deported. And it just
happened that quick.
00:42:03
Geoffrey Wansell:
He was freed, even though the parole board had
said he was still dangerous.
00:42:08
And the Home Office decided
that he should be deported back to Jordan without
any hesitation,
00:42:14
which is indeed what happened. That annoyed the family, who
felt that he was dangerous
00:42:20
and that they still
didn't know what happened to Laura May's body. Jane Monckton-Smith:
Even when his son has,
00:42:27
you know, implored him to give
some answers, he hasn't. He doesn't really want to take
responsibility for this.
00:42:37
He still maintains his-- his innocence. And for him, I
suppose, it's a way of being the victim in this
rather than the killer.
00:42:48
Narrator: Having lost
touch with his father and lacking
the answers he craves,
00:42:53
Rasheed and his young
son have their own way of remembering Laura. Rasheed Vaughan:
We've got a headstone
00:42:59
now with her name and that on. We do go and we
let a balloon off, and we put some
flowers and that down.
00:43:07
[tense music] ♪ ♪ Narrator: In 1983,
Laura Vaughan was a young woman with
a passion for travel
00:43:17
and a desire to find
the love of her life. Just 10 years later,
she'd been murdered
00:43:23
by the man she'd
fallen in love with, an arch manipulator who lied
as easily as he breathed.
00:43:32
Hassan Al Shatanawi was finally
proved to be one of the world's most evil killers.
00:43:40
[theme music] ♪ ♪