All language subtitles for Pushed.to.Death.S01E08.A.Stream.of.Lies.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

A fatal
fall into a stream

in a remote British
countryside.

The police said

there had been some sort of
an accident involving Natalie.

A young woman's
life cut short in an instant.

Was it just a tragic accident?

Andrew
Pearson gave an account,

he'd gone for a walk
with Natalie,

and she'd fallen
and slipped into a stream.

Or murder?

All
the police have at this point

is suspicions.

They've got questions.

But that is not enough
to provide evidence of guilt.

Natalie Harker
was born in North Yorkshire.

She lived with her mom
and dad, John and Deborah,

and her brother Alistair.

Natalie
was a loving, caring sister.

When we were younger
we were inseparable.

My uncle used to call us
the "gruesome twosome."

One day, me and Natalie were
out playing in the fields

and the farm that we lived on.

And my sister dared me
to sit on an ant hive.

So I did.

And then evidently
got my ass bit.

This was typical of what me
and Natalie would get up to.

We were like cats and dogs.

We were always scrapping,
but we were always close.

A loving brother and sister.

Natalie was described
as kind, hardworking,

loved by all of her
friends and the community

that she lived in.

She was really popular.

She could talk to anyone
about anything.

Everybody described her as a
bright, happy, bubbly character

who would help anybody out.

In early
2018, Natalie

was living at home
with her mom and dad

when she began dating
an older man named

Andrew Pearson, who she'd
met when they both worked

at a local supermarket.

And a few months after
Andrew had quit his job,

he came back in the store and
asked her to be his girlfriend,

and Natalie said yes.

Despite the 15 year
age gap, it was

what would seem like
a fairy tale relationship.

Natalie would talk in length
about Andrew, that he was so

kind and how amazing he was.

By October
2019, 30-year-old Natalie

had left her job
at the supermarket

and was working as a cleaner.

Natalie was a really
hard-working person.

She worked two
separate cleaning

jobs, one in the morning
and one in the afternoon.

Natalie often worked
on sociable hours,

but she always was
really reliable

and would turn up on time
every day for her shift.

On October 9,
2019, Natalie left her

parents' house at 4:30
AM to cycle to her

first cleaning job of the day.

Natalie told her parents that
she had a medical appointment

at 10:00 AM after she finished
work, and she said that

she would be home after that.

But by 1:00 PM,
there was no sign of Natalie.

Natalie's parents were
becoming increasingly

concerned at this point.

They went out
into the back garden,

they could see that her
bicycle wasn't there

and they called
her mobile phone,

it went straight to voicemail.

John and Deborah were
worried that maybe Natalie

had got into some
kind of accident,

and they went
to where she was meant

to have had her
appointment that day,

but Natalie had never shown.

At about 2:30 that day, I
got a phone call from my dad

saying Natalie
had gone missing,

didn't know where she'd gone.

And said, "you
need to come home."

By this point, they thought
something was seriously wrong.

They called 999
and within 10 minutes,

officers were at the house.

Detective
Inspector Steve Menzies

of North Yorkshire Police
was on duty that day.

So the first responders

arrived at Natalie's home.

Those officers did
a risk assessment

to find out what
Natalie's routines were,

who were her friends
and family were,

and to find out whether she
was suffering any issues.

Natalie would normally finish
her work about o'clock AM

in the morning.

She would then
cycle back home and

rest before her second shift.

It was established that
Natalie hadn't arrived at work

and she certainly
hadn't arrived home.

The police launched

an urgent missing
persons inquiry,

and they asked
the family to share

some recent pictures
of Natalie, which they

then shared on social media.

To help with
their search, the police

really needed to piece
together what Natalie

had done in the hours
before her disappearance,

particularly the route
that she had taken to work.

Natalie would
normally use the main road.

However, a few months before,
she'd fallen off her bike

and injured her ankle
and she was really scared

that she might
fall into the road

where there might
be passing traffic.

So she chose to use a cycle
route close by, which

bypassed much of the road.

The cycle path is quite narrow,
and on an October morning

it was really, really dark.

It was unlit, it was cold.

It was wet and it was
shrouded by trees and bushes.

As detectives
began to build a picture

of Natalie's movements earlier
that morning, at 4:43 PM,

over 3 hours since Natalie's
parents had reported her

missing, North Yorkshire
Police received a distressing

999 call from Andrew Pearson.

Following Andrew's
999 call to report

that Natalie had died after
falling into a stream,

officers arrived at the scene.

They found Andrew Pearson.

He then directed them down
the cycle path to a gate,

where he pointed
across the field

and said that Natalie's
body was in a tent

within the wooded area.

Meanwhile,
Natalie's family

were still
frantically searching

for their missing loved one.

I said to my mom
and my dad, "I want to go out

and see if I can find her."

Mom came with me.

We drove around
for about 10, 15

minutes, looking
in all the places

we thought she maybe was.

And I said to mom
we'll go and see

if she's fallen off the bike.

So we went down
to the lane where

Natalie would sometimes go.

On the way back from work,
then walked down the lane,

heard a load of sirens.

Thought the police are coming.

So we ran out to be greeted
by Andrew Pearson and

two police officers.

The police said that
Andrew had called

and said that there had been
some sort of an accident

involving Natalie.

Andrew was jumping around
hysterically saying,

"this is the family,
this is the family."

The police said, "stand
over there, please.

Andrew's found Natalie."

In that moment, we had no
idea what was going on.

Both me and mom heard
the air ambulance coming over

and thought she
was being saved.

While Alistair
and his mom Deborah

awaited news
on Natalie, officers

followed Andrew's
directions into the woodland

where he claimed he
had been camping.

Officers
came across a thicket

of wooded area, brambles,
bushes, overhanging trees

and they scrambled down
that towards a stream.

Officers managed to get across
the stream but the other side,

and they came across Andrew
Pearson's tent, which

was a highly camouflaged tent,
which was underneath a tree

canopy, which made it
really difficult to be

found in the first instance.

Inside the tent, Natalie's
naked body was found

underneath the sleeping bag.

Officers could see
straight away that she

had some severe bruising
towards her upper torso and

her neck area.

When
the police came back

from hunting
around for Natalie,

they told us to sit
in the back of a police car

and wait for my father
to come down.

In that moment, we didn't
know what was going on.

The police said nothing to us.

When my father arrived,
a police person

came up and said,
"we found a body

and we believe it's Natalie."

After North Yorkshire
Police discovered the body

of 30-year-old Natalie Harker
inside a tent on October 9,

2019, they proceeded
to question Andrew Pearson,

who had called
emergency services,

claiming his girlfriend's
death had been

a tragic accident
after she'd slipped

and fallen into a stream.

Andrew
Pearson gave an account

they'd met on the cycle path.

He'd gone for a walk with
Natalie, and during that walk,

she'd fallen and slipped
into a stream.

He then stated that he'd
pulled Natalie from the stream,

given a CPR, and then
dragged her to a tent

that he'd pitched
nearby in some woods.

Andrew told the officers
whilst in the tent,

she was awfully cold and wet,
so he took her clothes

off to try and get her warm.

Pearson says that
he fell unconscious

from the pain of his back
injury, and when he woke,

he found Natalie dead.

And he said that the only
thing that woke him up

was a call from
a friend in America.

This was some 12
hours after Natalie had

cycled to work that morning.

Her body was now
found naked in a tent

with some severe injuries.

Natalie's brother
Alistair and their parents

were waiting at the scene
when detectives confirmed

they'd found Natalie.

Mom and dad both cried.

During this time,
we're very, very angry.

I felt numb all day and every
day for about a week after.

Nothing added up in our heads.

Why would Natalie
have gone down

into the woods at 5:30 in the
morning with it being dark?

I thought it was very, very
strange behavior for Natalie.

It's, of course, going to be
very unusual for a family to be

live at the scene itself.

The family stumbling across
the death of a loved one

is going to be
so distressing, so confusing,

and there's not going
to be any answers

to the millions
of questions that flood

their mind in that moment.

An investigation
into Natalie's death

was immediately launched,
led by Detective

Inspector Steve
Menzies, who began

to scrutinize Andrew's story.

But Andrew Pearson claimed
to have met Natalie down

this dark, dingy cycle path.

In actual fact, the route
from her home address

went down the main road and
there were several places where

Andrew Peterson could have met
Natalie in a well-lit area,

but he chose to meet her
down this cycle path.

As the investigation
got underway,

it wasn't long before
his team uncovered

a crucial piece of evidence.

So when the forensic
examination took place

with the tent, it was found
that Natalie's clothing was

folded neatly
in a zipped storage

compartment within the tent.

However, I would have expected
from Andrew Peterson's account

that had he taken Natalie's
clothing off to get her warm,

that clothing would
have been in a bundle,

not stored in a storage
compartment neatly folded.

But that
wasn't the only discovery

that set off alarm bells.

A number of items were found
within Andrew Pearson's tent.

A lot of survival items,
dried food, axes, knives.

But worryingly, what was
found was some gaffer tape,

which was very
suggestive of a gag

having been used on Natalie.

Officers immediately became
very suspicious of the account

that Andrew had given.

Based upon that
information, officers

determined that Andrew
Pearson should be arrested

on suspicion of murder.

You're under arrest
on suspicion of murder, OK?

You understand?

All right.

I'm just going to put some
cuffs on you at the moment, OK?

He is using a higher
pitched voice.

He is sort of trying to show
off some body language

of being really quite timid.

And I have to question whether
that is his natural reaction

or whether that's
quite intentional.

Pearson looks very distressed.

He looks very shocked.

None of that naturally
indicates guilt on its own.

What it could be
is that he stumbled

across a really
awful scene, and

he's distraught
at the loss of Natalie.

Or it could be a tactic to try
and garner some sympathy

from those arresting him

Following his
arrest, Andrew was taken

to Harrogate Police Station.

I felt a lot
of anger towards Andrew

when I'd found out he'd been
arrested because I thought

he was a kind, decent
person, and that he

wouldn't have hurt Natalie.

It's hard to describe,
but it's sort

of a numb feeling
in your head that you

just can't process anything.

The police now
just had 24 hours

to either charge Andrew Pearson
or to let him walk free.

They were desperately
hoping he could expand on

that first 999 call he made.

I
would have thought

that, given Andrew Pearson's
original account that Natalie

had fallen to this
stream and that this

was a complete accident
leading to her death,

having then been arrested
on suspicion of murder,

that he would have
been very keen to give

an account interview.

However, in the police
interview,

Andrew almost disengaged
from the police officers

and refused to answer
any questions.

That became really
suspicious for me

as the senior
investigating officer.

It's a real contrast from
that first 999 call where

he is desperate for help to now
somebody that looks really

disengaged with helping
the police understand

what's just
happened to somebody

who he claims that he loves.

It's relatively common that
when someone has experienced

a significant trauma, that they
go through a period of shock

and that can be an immediate
shock, or it can be prolonged.

And that can lead to displays
of various different behaviors,

including a kind
of panic response

where actually they
entirely withdraw.

You can also imagine if this
is a case of someone innocent

who's been arrested and is
being questioned as if they had

something to do with
this death, that alone

would be really traumatizing.

It can make you, you know,
totally withdraw into yourself.

It could really make you
question how safe you are.

Whilst naturally
you might think

that if someone's girlfriend
has had an accident

and died in front of them, that
they would be trying to provide

as much information
and context as

possible to an investigation.

But you also have to remember
that trauma can do really

unusual things to a person.

There's even conditions
like selective mutism,

where people struggle
to communicate at all verbally.

And so what Pearson
is doing here,

whilst maybe looks
unusual, is not

entirely unheard
of and cannot be enough

to evidence their guilt.

While police
struggled to get information

from Andrew, a forensic
post-mortem was being

carried out on Natalie's body.

Natalie had suffered

some external/internal
bruising to her upper torso

and to her neck, but Andrew
Pearson's account

was that he had
given CPR to Natalie

at the point of taking her from
the stream and at the tent.

So that could partially account
for some of the injuries

that Natalie had received.

Police would have to
wait for the post-mortem report

to find out if it would provide
further information about how

Natalie died and whether she
had fallen into the stream,

as Andrew claimed, or if she
had been pushed to her death.

All
the police have at this point

is suspicions.

They've got questions,
but that is not

enough to provide
evidence of guilt.

And so they need
a lot more information

before they can
start truly answering

any of those questions.

They're going to be
looking for alibis.

They're going to be
looking at the timelines.

They're going to be
looking at the crime scene.

Things like phone
records, anything

that can indicate where Andrew
was before and during the event

of Natalie's death.

With Andrew
Pearson still in custody,

police decided to look
into his cell phone, which

had been seized
during his arrest,

to see if it could provide any
clues as to how Natalie died.

Andrew Pearson was
asked for his PIN number

to access that phone.

He refused to give that PIN
number, even though he was told

it could be an offense and he
could be prosecuted for not

providing the PIN number.

Again, that raised
even more suspicion

as to why Andrew Pearson
wasn't assisting the police.

I believed at that point that
that phone could be really

key to our investigation.

It was really key that
that phone forensically

examined as soon as possible to
try and provide some evidence

to support the investigation.

While Andrew
was still in custody,

the post-mortem
results came in.

At this stage
of the investigation,

the Crown Prosecution
Service would have

asked for a cause of death.

Unfortunately,
the forensic post-mortem

was inconclusive at that time.

The initial
post-mortem examination

confirmed that Natalie
had several broken ribs,

consistent with
Andrews account,

that he administered CPR,
but was not able to confirm

a definitive cause of death.

The forensic pathologist

needed some more
investigations conducted,

which included histology,
toxicology, and

also to check
for isotopes that may

have been in Natalie's body.

Isotopes are unique
to different bodies of water,

and obviously, if Natalie
had been in the stream,

I would expect isotopes
from the stream

to be Natalie's system.

The police
were still no closer

to discovering if this had
been a terrible accident,

and Natalie had fallen into
the stream, as Andrew claimed,

or if she had been pushed.

I was left
in a very difficult position.

Andrew Pearson's
account was partly

supported by the forensic
pathology report.

However, more
investigation needed doing.

Those investigations
were going to take

days, weeks, and months.

For myself
and the investigation team,

it was really frustrating
that we were not

in a position to charge Andrew
Pearson with Natalie's murder.

We were now left
in a position where

I had to bail him with
safeguarding conditions

until those investigations
could take place.

In October
2019, Andrew Pearson

was arrested for the suspected
murder of his girlfriend,

Natalie Harker.

You're under arrest
on suspicion of murder, OK?

You understand?

I'm just going to put some
cuffs on you at the moment.

But when
questioned, he wouldn't talk.

And with no clear
cause of death,

police were forced
to release him on bail.

Behind the scenes, detectives
raced to uncover the truth.

Had Natalie slipped
and fallen into the stream,

as Pearson claimed, or had
Andrew pushed her to her death?

It was a really tense time
for the investigation team

and for myself as a senior
investigating officer.

We knew that we'd potentially
had a really dangerous man

on bail, albeit with
safeguarding conditions,

that we had to work really
hard to get back into custody.

At this point, all
the police had to go

on where their suspicions.

But of course,
that is not enough.

They needed hard
evidence and they

wanted to try and piece
together a timeline, really,

from locations, phone records
as a way of trying to establish

the facts of what happened.

We all felt a lot
of anger when we found out

that the police
had released him,

because we all had a feeling
that he'd maybe done it.

We were all worried
as to how or

what Andrew was going
to do when he was

released from police custody.

While police awaited
further postmortem tests and

the forensic results
from Andrew's cell phone,

detectives began
digging into Natalie

and Andrew's relationship.

What we discovered was
that within a few weeks or

months of Andrew Pearson,
Natalie Harker becoming

involved in a relationship,
Andrew lost his job

and he spent most of his time
gaming on games consoles,

and he became more and more
dependent on Natalie.

While Natalie was securing
the finances with two jobs,

she would pester him
to try and get a job,

but he refused
to do so and even

told a friend that
he wouldn't be

told by Natalie to get a job.

Natalie got sick
and tired of always

having to pay for the cinema,
meals out, days out,

and things like that
as he never had any money.

As police continue
to question friends and

family about
their relationship,

some concerning
information came to light.

We found out that
Andrew Pearson started

to separate Natalie from
her friends and family,

and he became very
controlling over Natalie.

He determined
when she could see

people who she
could see and really

controlled a lot of her life.

Natalie's friends definitely
noticed a change in her.

They said that she changed
her personality the way

that she dressed,
and just became

a lot more disengaged from
her social life, her church,

which she had been
really heavily involved

with in the community.

During the course
of the relationship,

Pearson becomes increasingly
reliant on Natalie financially,

emotionally, and then
on top of that,

he starts restricting
her freedom of movement.

And you often see
that in relationships

that involve coercive
control, people

do this to isolate
their partner

intentionally so they can have
greater control over them.

Pearson is clearly
insecure about the fact

that he's not bringing
anything to this relationship.

And so by coercively
controlling,

by manipulating her, he's
able to feel some power when

he's actually probably
feeling quite powerless

in the rest of his life.

18 months
into her relationship

with Andrew, Natalie had turned
to her family for advice.

Natalie had come
to me, mom, and dad,

and spoken to us about
she wasn't feeling

happy in the relationship, so
the three of us and Natalie all

decided if she wasn't happy in
her marriage to call it quits.

She text Pearson
saying the relationship

was over, to not get
in contact with her again,

and it had taken a lot
for her to get to this point.

She was really optimistic,
looking forward

to a fresh start in life.

At the start, we thought
that Andrew had taken

the break up really well.

It was only afterwards we
discovered that he hadn't.

Pearson bombarded Natalie's
phone with text messages.

He refused to accept
her decision

and he wasn't going
to take no for an answer.

He would get friends
and family to message her.

He would send her
messages on social media

and actually bump into her
to and from her workplace.

Natalie is understandably
trying to fully

disengage at this point.

She's not responding
to any of the messages,

and you can understand
why this needs to sort

of be a cut and dry moment.

People normally go through
high emotional stress periods,

and then it sort of just
starts to fade out.

That's the normal
way of a breakup.

But in the case
of Andrew Pearson,

this does the opposite
because this

isn't so much about the breakup
or the loss of love.

For him, this is
the loss of control.

And so now, not having even
the ability to raise a response

from Natalie, that's going
to be infuriating to someone

like Andrew Pearson.

When Andrew's tactics
failed to win Natalie back,

he posted a message
on social media.

In that message, he

portrayed Natalie to be
the bad person, a person who

was stringing him
along, using him,

and that he was a perfect
gentleman in that relationship.

What he was trying
to do, in my view,

was to soil Natalie's name so
that if he couldn't have her,

nobody else would want her.

Andrew Pearson is
clearly narcissistic.

He has these extreme
senses of grandiosity,

and so someone like that
being broken up with

shakes them to their core,
because what

our internal feelings
of inadequacy,

it brings them to the surface.

And anyone who exposes
that inadequacy

is immediately an enemy
to someone like Pearson.

What he's doing
at this point is just

another way of him trying
to assert control over her,

over the narrative
of their relationship,

and positioning
himself as the victim.

When Natalie didn't
respond to the message,

Andrew's behavior took
a turn for the worse.

Andrew Pearson's
attitude towards Natalie

completely changed.

He now escalated to sending
a really nasty text messages

to upset her and to blame
her for the breakup

of the relationship.

Andrew was saying
that he was going

to reveal that Natalie
had been sleeping around

during their relationship.

I could not get
my head around why

anybody, let alone somebody
that claimed to love them,

would do that.

Made me really, really angry.

This resulted
on the 18th of September,

Natalie sending Andrew
Pearson a message saying that

the relationship was finished
and pleading with him to leave

her alone, not
to contact her, and

not to turn up at her at work.

In the aftermath
of the breakup,

Natalie tried to move
on with her life.

Friends of Natalie saw
a real positive change

in her whole demeanor having
ended the relationship

with Andrew Pearson.

She was wearing makeup.

She was doing more
things socially.

She was going to church
more, going to church events.

But Andrew
continued to harass her.

She mentioned
to a number of people, friends,

people from church,
work colleagues,

that Andrew Pearson
was concerning her

by turning up unexpectedly
at her workplace

or bumping into her when she
was going to or from work.

It was really apparent
that his behavior

was escalating
quite dangerously

to stalking behavior.

Natalie told
her family and friends

that she thought when
she cut off contact,

this would all just go away.

But Pearson was
really relentless.

He would not leave
Natalie alone

and she was getting frightened.

She told friends that she never
knew what he was capable of

and that he had a really
volatile personality.

After Natalie
had finished with them,

she'd said to me, "what
do I do if I see Andrew?"

And I said to her, "all you
need to do is if you see him,

walk away, go to somewhere
where there's lots of people,

and you'll be all right."

At this point, I
felt very angry

towards Andrew, as I
didn't know why he

wouldn't leave Natalie alone.

And now Natalie

has fully cut
contact with Andrew,

he is now escalating his
behavior even further

because this is just
another step of his control

being challenged.

He's obsessing over the end
of this relationship,

this loss of control.

And so this is his way of
trying to strike fear into her.

And it's working.

We didn't know
at the time that Andrew

was stalking Natalie and
turning up at her workplace.

Natalie was a very
independent person.

She didn't tell us
about what was going on

as she felt that we were going
to start not letting her go out

on a bike and taking
her to places,

and that would have taken
her independence away.

We now had a really
good understanding

of Andrew Pearson's
behavior towards Natalie,

and he developed
a motive to harm Natalie.

Natalie was so concerned about
Andrew Pearson's behavior

that she warned him that she
would report him to the police

if he didn't leave her alone.

Unfortunately, she never did.

Despite
the damning testimony

police had gathered about
Andrew's controlling and

threatening behavior, it
wasn't enough to prove

that he had murdered Natalie.

But then came a major
breakthrough in the case.

The forensic
examination managed to get

into Andrew Pearson's phone.

What we discovered
were a series

of photographs that
had been deleted,

but were managed
to be recovered.

And that showed
that Andrew Pearson

had been plotting some week
or so before Natalie's death.

Evidence showed that he'd been
photographing up the cycle

path, down the cycle
path, which

gave alternate views
of what he could see

and what Natalie could see as
she was cycling down the path.

They photographed the gateway,
the field, the barbed wire

fence, through the wooded
area, over the stream,

and up to the area where
Andrew Pearson would

eventually pitch his tent.

The discovery
of the photographs

taken from Andrew
Pearson's phone

was a key missing piece
of the investigation.

These photos just go to show
exactly how obsessive Pearson

was becoming, because this is
now someone who is not just

mentally stewing
on this breakup

and becoming
internally frustrated.

This is someone who's now
actively planning ways to scare

and potentially hurt
their ex-partner.

These pictures are evidence
that Pearson's initial account

of what occurred
that he just had

a chance meeting with
Natalie along the path

is total nonsense.

These pictures prove that
this is premeditated,

this is planned, and Pearson
can no longer be believed.

The phone data also
provided critical information

about Andrew's
whereabouts in the days

leading up to Natalie's death.

Further
evidence gained from the phone

was cell site evidence.

We can show that the morning
before Natalie was murdered,

he'd been in the field
or at the gate,

watching when Natalie cycled
past on her way to work,

so he knew exactly the time
that she would pass.

Almost a dry run
for the events that would take

place the following day.

This showed that, contrary to
what Andrew Pearson had stated,

where he said that he'd
been camping out in the days

before he met Natalie
on that cycle path.

In actual fact, he hadn't.

The night before
Natalie was murdered,

he was actually at home in bed.

We could also evidence
from his phone

that Andrew Pearson had set his
alarm that morning, so he could

get down to the scene
and be there

in preparation when Natalie
cycled down that cycle path.

This was not a chance
meeting with Natalie.

This data shows
that this is clearly

someone who has methodically
mapped out exactly

what he intends to happen.

And it's really sinister.

It's really chilling.

It's very telling of his
mental state at that moment.

This is someone out to attack,
out to assert their control.

As police continue
to build their case,

another key piece
of evidence surfaced

from the morning Natalie died.

Further examination
of Andrew Pearson's mobile

telephone showed
that it was powered

down at 7:12 AM that morning.

Andrew Pearson claims that
when he got back to the tent

and having taken
Natalie's clothing off,

he collapsed his
unconscious for a number

of hours due to severe
back pain that he suffered.

Even though Andrew
Pearson had powered down

his mobile telephone, another
device in his possession

showed that he was
actually moving

around the field
at a point where

he claims to be unconscious.

This just demonstrated that
Andrew Pearson's account

was completely untrue.

But what police
would discover next would be

the most damning evidence yet.

The next inconsistency
in Andrew Pearson's account

was that he claimed, having
gone unconscious next

to Natalie, he
woke up because he

received a call on his
mobile telephone

from a friend in America.

However, the evidence showed
that having powered up his

mobile telephone at 3:06
PM in the afternoon,

he actually tried
to make a video

call to a friend in America.

This video call was either
rejected or not connected.

Andrew Pearson then sends
a text to his friend in America

saying, "goodbye,
I've killed Natalie.

I'm going to hand myself in."

Even though Andrew Pearson
had deleted the iPhone message

in an effort to destroy
the evidence,

the forensic examiners were
able to recover the message.

The iPhone message
led to his friend

in America phoning
Andrew Pearson.

Then followed a long
telephone conversation,

during which Andrew
Pearson tells

him that Natalie had fallen
into the stream and had died.

The friend tells Andrew
Pearson to contact the police.

As the senior investigating
officer for this investigation,

this was a massive
breakthrough.

This suggested
to me that this was

a pre-planned,
premeditated kidnap

and murder of Natalie Harker.

Investigators
were finally

able to piece
together what happened

on the day Natalie died.

Had she fallen to her
death, as Pearson suggested?

Or was she murdered?

Based now on all
this new evidence,

I believe that
Andrew Pearson had

waited down that cycle path.

And when she
cycled towards him,

he jumped out, dragged
Natalie off the bike,

and then forced her over
the fence, across the field,

through the thicket
to the stream.

I believe, at some
point, Andrew Pearson

had tried to drown
Natalie in the stream.

He's then taken
to his tent where

he stripped of her clothing.

Once in his tent, I
believe Andrew Pearson

has powered down his phone
to try and hide his location.

From the point of the kidnap of
Natalie at 4:45 AM to the 999

call is some 12 hours.

I believe that
Andrew Pearson had

to remain in the tent
with Natalie's body

because he was disturbed by
some men working in the woods.

That meant he couldn't
emerge from the tent

for fear of being seen.

With all of the evidence from
the breakup of the relationship

between Andrew
Pearson and Natalie,

from the evidence of Andrew
Pearson stalking Natalie

to the mobile
telephone, which showed

the movements
of Andrew Pearson,

I felt it was a really
strong position

to re-arrest Andrew Pearson
for the offense of kidnap

and murder of Natalie Harker.

By late October 2019,
Andrew Pearson was out on bail,

claiming that Natalie
had died after slipping

and falling into a stream.

But behind
the scenes, detectives

were building a case,
one that pointed

not to a tragic
accident, but to murder.

Police now had evidence
which included the photographs

of the cycle path,
messages which Pearson

had deleted from his
friend in America,

and also evidence
from his devices

which showed that
he'd been on the move

when he claimed he'd
been unconscious.

And the police also had
the evidence of their breakup

as the motive.

So all the jigsaw pieces
were there for them

to re-arrest and charge
Pearson with the kidnapping

and murder of Natalie.

I
deployed officers

early one morning to go
to his family home

to make that arrest.

Those officers
told me he'd made

no reaction to that arrest.

When I found out
that Andrew had

been re-arrested
on charges of murder,

I felt very, very happy.

I thought to myself,
"they've got the--"

Andrew was taken
to Harrogate Police Station

and interviewed
by detectives who

presented the overwhelming
evidence they had against him

that they believed
proved Pearson had

pushed Natalie to her death.

He
continued to be disengaged

from the interviewing officers,
and failed to respond to any

of the questions posed to him.

Despite all this new
evidence that was put to him,

this continued to demonstrate
to me that Andrew Pearson

was guilty of this offense.

Following those final
interviews with Andrew Pearson,

we approached the Crown
Prosecution Service

asking for charges of kidnap
and murder of Natalie Harker.

Those were authorized
and Andrew Pearson was charged

and remanded into custody.

In the months
that followed,

police continued
to build their case

to try and prove that
Andrew had kidnapped and

killed Natalie in cold blood.

But there was still no
definitive cause of death

until the forensic
pathologist's

full report finally came in.

The evidence showed
that Natalie Harker

had died as a result of neck
injuries, and the fact

that both her mouth and nose
had been submerged under water.

Natalie's cause
of death was a result

of strangulation and drowning.

To identify
the location

where Natalie was murdered,
an isotope analysis

of the water in her
lungs had also

been carried out and examined.

The isotopes
within Natalie's system matched

those from the stream close
to where Andrew Pearson

had pitched his tent.

The pathology
results concluded

there was no evidence
of a brain injury,

despite Andrew's claim that
she had fallen into the stream.

All
of the forensic evidence

and the evidence
gained from the scene

didn't show that Natalie
had fallen into the stream.

My belief is Andrew Pearson
dragged Natalie to that stream

and tried to drown her.

Armed with
evidence that Andrew

had pushed Natalie
underwater and drowned her,

police received further
devastating details

about Pearson's actions
on the day Natalie died.

So the initial
post-mortem report suggested

that there had been some sexual
activity that had taken place.

Pearson raping Natalie

is just another way that
he is yet again trying

to assert control
over her because he

is physically, in that
moment, dominating her.

And I think this is just
another element where you're

seeing how insidious and how
controlling this person

really is.

Pearson was in the tent
with Natalie for hours.

And this was a person who
he claimed to have loved.

At Teesside Crown
Court in November 2020,

almost a year after his
arrest, Andrew Pearson

stood trial for the murder
of Natalie Harker.

We're in the courtroom.

We heard the 999 call
that Andrew had made.

And I remember thinking
to myself, "you little--

how dare you make yourself
look like a victim?"

Despite all
of this overwhelming evidence,

the fact of the mobile
telephone,

the fact of the history, all
of the forensic evidence,

Andrew Pearson continued to
deny the fact that he kidnapped

and murdered Natalie Harker.

In court, he stuck by the story
that they'd met together.

They'd walked across the field,
they'd had sex in the field,

and then she'd fallen
into the stream by accident,

following which he
dragged her to the tent.

The jury to sit through and
listen to all of the evidence,

first from the prosecution
and then the defense.

It was harrowing evidence.

But not only the jury.

Natalie Harker's family had to
sit through the evidence, too.

So it was really
tough for them.

When we were
in the courtroom listening

to all the evidence
brought against Andrew,

I kept looking
over at him and I

saw absolutely no
emotion whatsoever,

no remorse, no anything,
just a blank expression.

Going into the trial,
I felt really confident

in the investigation
that team had conducted.

The evidence was overwhelming.

However, it's a jury trial.

The jury have to listen to both
the prosecution case and

the defense case,
and then have to make up

their own minds
based on the evidence

as to what they believe.

The jury heard evidence for
over three weeks in this trial,

yet they took just three
hours to return a verdict.

Andrew
Pearson was found guilty

and sentenced to life
in prison with a minimum

of 25 years for the kidnap
and murder of Natalie Harker.

When
the jury came back

with a guilty verdict,
it was a massive relief

both to the investigation
team and Natalie's family.

When we heard
the verdict, I was at home

with my mother and my father
rang me and said,

"they've got him."

And I jumped up and I
said, "we've finally

got justice for Natalie.

They've got
the little bastard."

Both my mom and dad were
feeling very, very happy,

as was sad but we
were all still

very numb and very hollow.

At no point through
this whole process,

from Andrew Pearson
being arrested

to the point he was
sentenced by a judge,

did he show any
remorse for the kidnap

and murder of Natalie Harker.

As a murder detective, I have
investigated lots of murders.

However, this was quite
striking in the fact

that Andrew Pearson
sought revenge on Natalie.

Andrew Pearson controlled
the relationship

with Natalie Harker.

However, once she got
that control back,

he couldn't cope with that.

This was a matter of power,
revenge against Natalie Harker.

This is just such
a tragic and upsetting case.

You have this young
woman that was trying

to leave this relationship
with such an abusive man,

and you just hope
that the verdict

gave her family a real sense
of justice and closure.

In the years following

Natalie Harker's
death, her memory

lives on through her
friends and family.

We got
a commemorative bench

in Natalie's favorite
place, the church.

It's a lovely place
to go and sit and

contemplate Natalie,
just think about how

much of a lovely young lady
she was, how happy and kind

she was, all the friends
she's left behind,

and the family that
she's left behind.

I'll go and visit the bench
on Natalie's birthday

or the anniversary
of when she was killed,

and think about how
bright, beautiful,

and amazing of a sister
she really was.

When me and my wife
Amanda got married,

Natalie would have been
a big part of this.

But with the life
being so cruelly taken,

we decided that we'd have some
photos taken by a memorial

bench so that it felt like
she was part of the day

and part of our lives.

She was a kind, loving
human being with so

much love and life to give.

And that's how I'd like
my sister to be remembered.