All language subtitles for Britains.Most.Evil.Killers.S02E10.WEBRip.en

-In 2002, in Bournemouth
on the south coast of England,

police were called to the scene
of a disturbance

in a residential street.

Two young children
were distraught

and being comforted
by a neighbor.

When the police
entered the house,

they found the mother
horrifically murdered.

-Her body has been mutilated,

but, bizarrely, in her hands
are cut head hair.

It's cut head hair,
but it's not her hair.

It's hair which is alien
from that scene.

-The murderer had conned his way
into his victim's house,

attacked and killed the woman,
then mutilated her body.

His name was Danilo Restivo.

-Most people, when they've
committed a murder,

they want to get as far away
from that body as possible

as quickly as possible.

But this is somebody
who enjoys spending time

with the body and mutilating it.

♪♪

-This has a fetishistic
and almost sadistic element

above and beyond the usual
simple motives for homicide.

-But police discovered

that this was not
the first time he had killed.

Their investigation revealed
Danilo Restivo

to be one of the world's
most evil killers.

♪♪

♪♪

-On the 12th of November, 2002,

Bournemouth police had received
a 999 call

from a terrified 14-year-old
and his 11-year-old sister.

They had returned home
from school

to find their mother's body
mutilated in the bathroom.

The investigating officer
was Phil James.

-The police were called
at about 4:00 in the afternoon.

The initial response
would be made

by uniformed police officers

as soon as they realized
it was a murder.

I received a call,
and I drove to Bournemouth,

and I took command
of that murder investigation.

-The woman was
a local seamstress,

48-year-old Heather Barnett.

Her children had returned
home from school

and expected to find her.

When they received no response
to their arrival,

the children searched the house

and found their mother's
mutilated body.

-When we look at the mutilation
of Heather's body,

both of her breasts
have been cut off.

She's got some hair
in her hand.

There's a glove down
by her underwear.

So what's happened here
is that this offender

has completely
humiliated his victim.

He's taken the very kind of
symbols of her femininity,

her breasts,
and taken that away.

So this is
a very distinct signature.

It's an incredibly unique thing.

-The killer
was Heather's neighbor,

30-year-old Danilo Restivo.

When police arrived
at the scene,

they found Restivo
and his girlfriend

comforting his
victim's children.

-They've been befriended

by the two Italians
from across the road,

who ended up becoming extremely
significant to the inquiry.

-Although he would soon become
their prime suspect

in this seemingly
random killing,

police were unable to prove
Restivo was responsible.

It would take
another eight years

till Restivo could finally be
charged with Heather's murder.

Due to the extreme nature
of the killing,

police were determined never
to let him out of their sight.

-We never left that case
even as the years progressed.

You worked long, hard days,

and you were always thinking
about that case,

you know, about the children,
about the horrific scene,

and about that, always,
the ongoing risk

that this man,
who was walking about,

driving about Bournemouth,

presented to the public.

-By the time
Restivo was finally caught

and faced trial for the murder
of Heather Barnett,

the police had already
uncovered connections

to another murder in Italy.

The sensational case
made headlines across the globe.

-This was truly a horrendous
and distressing murder

that took away a person

that was very special
to many, many people.

-He was sentenced to a minimum
of 40 years in prison.

-I can remember after that,

after he was found guilty,
later that day.

There wasn't massive
celebrations.

It was just, "At last,"

you know,
"We've done it for the family."

-Restivo may have finally faced
judge and jury in the UK,

but this killer's story
begins in Italy in 1972.

He was born in Sicily,

and his family later moved
to Potenza in Southern Italy.

-Potenza is a small Italian city

which is quite a way away
from all the other cities,

not just geographically,
but also culturally.

This is a city where the church
is very influential.

His family were amongst
the great and good of Potenza.

So he grew up in quite
a privileged position.

His family were quite powerful.

His father was the director

of the local branch
of the national library.

He was quite
an influential figure

within the local community.

If you would say
his father's name,

everybody would know
who that was.

-It was clear
from a very young age

that Restivo was different
from other children in Potenza.

-Well, Restivo as a child,
he had glasses.

He was quite pudgy.

He's the kind of boy
who would have been the target

for bullies at school.

He was the kind of boy
who would never really fit in

with his peers.

But I think in those early days,
he got a sense

that, "I'm an outsider.

I'm not one of this group,

so I'm going to make up
my own rules."

-He was awkward, as well,

in the way he talked to women,
which is --

It's hard for you
to try to talk to somebody

when you look awkward
and you act awkward.

-Age 21, Restivo became obsessed
with a young girl.

-In 1993, he was a young guy,
and it was clear

he had an infatuation
for a girl called Elisa Claps.

Elisa Claps was 16,
and she had said to friends

that Restivo was becoming
a bit of a problem,

that he was chasing after her.

-Elisa may have been irritated
by Restivo's attention,

but one Sunday, she waswilling
to meet him at the local church.

-She's a good, kind person.

There are many stories
of her going out of her way

to help other people
in the community.

And I think she's somebody
who feels

quite sympathetic
towards Restivo.

She sees this lad
who is an outcast,

who's sort of picked on
and bullied by the people,

and I think she feels a sense
of kind of care towards him.

So when he asks whether
she would come and meet him,

she goes along with it, because
she doesn't for a million years

think that
his intentions are bad.

-On a particular Sunday,
she had arranged to meet up

with him outside of the church
in Potenza

in order that she could
say to him, "Look.

I don't want
a relationship with you.

I don't want to go out with you,
and can you leave me alone?"

-Elisa was seen going to
meet Restivo in the church,

but that was the last time
she was ever seen alive.

-Both Elisa and Restivo
went to that church.

Restivo left and returned home,

and Elisa was never seen again.

-Concerned for Elisa's safety,

her family reported her missing
to the police.

-There were quite a lot
of conspiracy theories

that developed around
her disappearance,

and one of them related
to a page in her diary,

which was missing.
And it was thought

that the words that were on
that page were in Albanian.

So there was this idea
that she'd been kidnapped

by this Albanian criminal gang.

An innocent girl
just completely vanishes

off the face of the earth.

It's rife for speculation.

-The local police were called
by the family

to investigate
her disappearance.

-A number of inquiries
were made to find her.

She was never found,

and she was considered
a missing person.

However, there were a number
of complications or issues,

which the Italian police

were not overly concerned
about following up.

We know, for example,

that some time
after Elisa went missing,

she supposedly sent an e-mail
to her family saying,

"Hi. I've left the country.
I'm not here any longer.

Don't worry about me.
I'm having a new life.

Everything's wonderful,
and just forget about me."

A number inquiries were made
in relation to that,

and that e-mail
wasn't sent from abroad.

It was sent from an Internet
cafe in Potenza,

and it was sent at a time

when Restivo was
in that Internet cafe.

-During the investigation,

the local police missed
some vital clues

that could have quickly
led them to Restivo.

-He had a history of taking
young girls behind a curtain

and up to the first floor
in the church.

There was an injury on his hand

around about the time
of her disappearance,

and none of this
was really scrutinized.

None of it was really
looked into by the police.

-The family did not
know it yet,

but 21-year-old Restivo
had in fact killed Elisa

and hidden her
in the attic of the church.

Danilo Restivo would eventually
be convicted of the murder

of 16-year-old Elisa Claps
in Italy in 1993,

but it would take nearly 18
years to bring him to justice.

What was known by the people
in the small town of Potenza

where he grew up
was that as a young man,

Restivo would chase after
young girls

in unusual ways.

-He approaches them,
and when they reject him,

he turns on them, essentially.

And he calls them,
and he plays the theme tune

of his favorite film,
"Profondo Rosso,"

which is quite scary,
quite intimidating music.

And this is a really odd thing
to be doing.

But what he's trying to do

is trying to instill fear
in these girls.

He's trying to say, "Oh, well,
you've rejected me,

so I'm now going to play
a bit of a game with you."

And I think that really does

just tell us about
his underlying psychopathy.

He's somebody who likes
playing with people.

-Restivo became obsessed

with one girl
in particular, Elisa Claps.

But when she rejected
Restivo's romantic approaches,

he reacted
in the most extreme way.

Unbeknownst to her family
and the police,

Restivo had in fact killed her

and hidden her body in 1993.

At the time,
the police considered Elisa

a missing person,
as her body was not found.

That, along with
some legal obstacles,

meant the investigation in Italy
was halted.

Rumors were rife that this was
because of Restivo's family

and their connections with
the police and the authorities.

-In Italy, certain positions
within a town

are considered high-powered
and influential.

And Restivo's father
was the chief librarian,

and in Italy,
the chief librarian

is a significant
and powerful individual.

-To Danilo Restivo,
it seemed like

he'd got away with murder.

But Elisa's family
never gave up.

Since Restivo was the last
person to have seen her alive,

he was suspected
by much of the town

as having something to do
with her disappearance.

Being under observation,

Restivo was unable
to chase women

to fulfill his unusual passions.

In 2002, he turned 30

and decided to begin
a new chapter of his life

in Bournemouth
in the south of England.

-I think when Restivo arrives
in the UK,

he is a very
dangerous individual,

because he's never faced any
consequences for his actions.

He's in a country where
nobody knows his history.

Nobody can join
the dots together.

So he really is like a kid
in a sweet shop.

He's got every opportunity
to continue offending,

and nobody really knows
his background.

-Restivo met an Italian woman
on the Internet,

and he quickly
moved in with her.

They lived on a suburban street
in Bournemouth.

-She's an older woman.

She has a disability.

She's more of a mother
figure to him,

and she treats him
as if he's a son.

She looks after him.
She cooks his meals.

So he's stepping into
his well-established role

as this child
in a different location.

-Restivo's new home

was opposite that of 48-year-old
seamstress Heather Barnett.

Just six months after moving in
on the 6th of November 2002,

he went to visit Heather.

He claimed he wanted her
to do some work for him.

-Mr. Restivo had been over

and asked if she would make
a set of curtains for him

as a Christmas present
for his then-partner.

And you think, "Well, that's a
pretty strange Christmas present

for a man to give a woman."

-Restivo had been discussing
the work with Heather.

However, Restivo wasn't
interested in curtains.

Instead, he identified Heather
as his next victim.

On the 12th of November 2002,

he paid his neighbor
another visit.

-They'd gone through
to the back of the property,

which was her room for doing her
sewing and seamstress-type work.

And from there, it appears
that she tried to make an escape

from the individual.

Things were knocked over.

She'd moved through
into the lounge,

where he'd obviously
caught hold of her,

and he'd hit her several times
with a hammer.

Her skull was fractured,
and she would have been dead

in the lounge
very shortly afterwards.

From that point, she was dragged
through the lounge,

through the hallway,
and into a bathroom.

-Restivo had brutally murdered
Heather in her own home.

He then placed a lock of hair
in her hand.

Curiously, it was not
Heather's hair.

Restivo's callousness
did not end there.

He then mutilated
Heather's body.

-He cut the breasts off

and placed them behind
Heather's head.

He also mutilated the rest
of the body quite badly.

This maybe would show

that his obsession
was not simply the hair

but possibly the cutting of hair
and cutting itself.

To cut someone's skin

would possibly
have also excited him.

-A few hours later,
police arrived at the scene.

They were greeted by Restivo
and his partner,

who were looking after
Heather's two young children.

-Well, the children discovered
their mother's body.

And not only that,

but Restivo was one
of the first people on the scene

and appeared to be
comforting them.

But this isn't particularly
surprising to me.

When you have an offender
like Restivo,

he's quite proud
of what he has done.

So it's not enough for him
to mutilate his victim's body.

He wants to see the impact
of his actions

on the people around the victim,

and that is enhancing
his enjoyments

and enhancing his sense of power

over these people.

-Other than Heather's son
and daughter,

Restivo and his partner

were the only people
present at the scene.

Restivo was very keen
to point out to the police

that he'd been out all that day

before discovering
the distraught children

in the street.

-We started to look
at Mr. Restivo,

but from the very beginning,
we were being told

he had a strong alibi that
explained where he was all day.

So, immediately, you think,
"Well, it can't be him."

So you start to look
at other areas.

And it wasn't until other issues

started to develop
with Mr. Restivo

that it was necessary to go back
and look at his alibi and say,

"How strong is this alibi?"

-Regardless of this,
the police made Restivo

the center
of their investigation.

-Because he'd been at the scene,
in any case, we were interested.

We wanted his DNA so that
we could either implicate

or eliminate him
from those inquiries.

We started to ask questions
about his relationship,

if he knew Heather,

what involvement
he had with Heather.

-It became clear that Restivo
had previously met Heather

to discuss making some curtains.

So when he arrived
on the doorstep to kill her,

he was welcomed into the house.

-Mr. Restivo had spent
a great deal of time

considering
what he was going to do.

He must have planned that murder

in great detail.

-It was Restivo's meticulous
attention to detail

that police hoped
to take advantage of

and use it to connect him
to the murder.

-Her body has been mutilated,

but, bizarrely, in her hands
are cut head hair.

It's cut head hair,
but it's not her hair.

It's hair which is alien
from that scene.

So you're trying to understand

why somebody who is going
to murder somebody

has brought with them hair

to a murder scene.

-In Heather's left hand
was a lock of her own hair.

In the right, a lock
of someone unknown's hair.

This strange obsession with hair

would eventually lead
to Restivo's downfall.

-Well, many people
would describe Restivo

as a trichophile.

He's got an obsession with hair.

Paraphilia is
a sexual attraction

towards an inanimate object
or a nonconsenting party,

'cause when you cut
somebody's hair,

and you take
a piece of that hair,

you're taking part of them,

and it's making you
feel quite powerful.

But this is really odd behavior.

It's incredibly
abnormal behavior.

-When police searched
Heather's house,

they found plenty of evidence.

-There was a lot
of blood about,

and the training shoes
worn by the killer

left trails
of blood-splattered footprints

around the house.

But, bizarrely, although
they moved around the house,

they never left and went to
the front door of the property.

By carrying out forensic tests
could work out

that the killer
had moved around the house

to a point in the lounge
where there was a chair,

and, in our opinion, he had then
changed his clothing.

-Police, however, were unable to
connect Restivo to the killing.

-Restivo would be what we
describe as forensically aware.

That means they know what sort
of evidence they may be leaving.

So he had the foresight

to change his clothes.

He had the foresight
to change gloves.

He had the foresight to try

and get rid of bloodstains
using bleach.

He was aware of the sort
of things that could be found

that could link him to a crime,

and he was doing what he could
to prevent that happening.

-He comes extremely
well-prepared.

He has a plan.
He executes that plan,

and then he leaves the house
in fresh clothes

that aren't going to cause
concern to any passersby.

-The only thing out of place
at the crime scene

was a green towel
found near the front door

of Heather Barnett's house.

-We considered
that the murdered had stopped,

taken off his training shoes.

Bizarrely, there was a chair,

and there was
a green towel on it.

That green towel
had blood on it,

but we always believed

that that green towel
was alien to that house.

Our belief was that
that wasn't their towel

and that it had been
brought there by the killer.

That towel was a constant
main line of inquiry

in order to try and identify
the killer by his DNA.

We knew that Heather's blood
was on that towel,

but there was a mixed profile
in that blood,

so it meant to say

there was the profile
of at least two individuals.

-Despite their suspicions,
police were not able to extract

a DNA connection to Restivo,
and they were unable

to bring any charges
against him at this time.

Restivo felt he'd got away
with murder again.

♪♪

-Restivo is somebody who's used
to getting away with his crimes.

This has been something
that he's been doing

for a very long time,

both in his native Italy
and in the UK, as well.

So this is somebody
who feels untouchable.

He's never had to face any
consequences for his actions,

so he's got no reason to believe
that things are going to change.

So he's just going
to carry on regardless.

-By the end of 2002,

police had identified Danilo
Restivo as the prime suspect.

They knew they were dealing
with a dangerous man

and were doing all they could

to gather enough evidence
to arrest him.

-We shortly came to the
conclusion that Danilo Restivo

was the person who killed
Heather Barnett.

He went over there
during that morning

and killed Heather Barnett,

and then he knew that the
persons that would find Heather

are her two children,

a 14-year-old
and an 11-year-old,

and that they would come back
and find that scene.

You know, that's beyond
anybody's imagination,

the cruelty to do that.

-On arrival at the scene
of the crime,

one of the first things
Restivo had done

was to supply police
with an alibi for the day.

But on closer examination,

what Restivo told them
did not add up.

-He had gone to a place
for unemployed people

to learn computer skills,

and the signing-in
register showed

that he'd signed in
at a specific time.

But when we looked at it again,
the entry had been altered.

It had been written over.

So it said one time
and also said another time.

So it then indicated
that perhaps that alibi

wasn't as good as first thought.

-Restivo was their only suspect.

When detectives began to uncover
his past in Italy,

their suspicions
only grew stronger.

-It was about six months
into that inquiry

when one of the detectives
working on the case

came into my office and said,
"Boss, I need to speak to you.

I've done a lot of research
on the Internet,

and we've managed
to find details

of a girl who went missing
in Potenza in 1993,

and there is a link
to Danilo Restivo."

Soon after, we started
making inquiries

about Elisa's death.

-But at this point,
Elisa was still considered

just a missing person
by Italian police.

It had not reached the stage
of a murder inquiry.

-In the case of Elisa Claps,
to start with,

there wasn't even a body.

Running a murder investigation

if you can't even prove
somebody is dead,

let alone how they died,

is clearly far more difficult.

There have been successful
prosecutions with no body,

but they're much rarer.

-And in the UK,
although there was a body,

there was not enough
hard evidence

to arrest Restivo for murder.

He was allowed to carry on
his daily life.

By March 2004,
16 months after the murder,

police were convinced Restivo
was a danger to the community.

So they put him
under surveillance.

Then in May that same year,

investigators made
a break in the case.

-We followed Restivo
for quite a while,

and there was
one specific incident that --

It still now chills me
to think about it.

He went down to an area
called Throop

at the edge of Bournemouth
on the countryside,

and on the morning in question,
Restivo went down there.

There were about half a dozen
ladies on their own

walking their dogs
in this isolated area,

and Restivo buried himself
in a bush

and was clearly watching
these individuals.

Everywhere he went and the risk
that he presented,

we were always concerned,
"Is today a day

where he's going to kill
another Heather Barnett?

Is he walking around
with a knife in his bag today?"

-When we look
at Restivo's behavior

when he's under surveillance,
this is the height of summer.

He's walking 'round
with gloves on.

He's got his hood up.

He's got waterproof trousers on.

He's filmed changing his
clothes,

and the police see
that he's observing women

from a distance, as well.

He's very clearly out
hunting for women.

-Afraid that he was
getting ready to kill again,

the police moved in.

-I arranged for two
uniform officers

to go down, check him out.

Mr. Restivo was wearing
two sets of clothing.

He had one set of clothing,

and then, he had
another set on top

and a nylon, waterproof jacket,

so very similar
to Heather's murder

where he took two sets
of clothing with him

and changed into one.

He's down there in the same.

-The police stopped Restivo
and searched his bag.

-In his rucksack, he had gloves.

He had a filleting knife.

He had other material in there,

and it was just horrific.

So he was brought in.

He was arrested, but he
explained everything perfectly.

He said, you know, "I'm wearing
two sets of clothing

because I was exercising,

and I want to lose some weight,
and it helps me perspire."

And I can't remember
the explanation for the knife,

but it was,
"Oh, I've been somewhere,

and I just happened
to still have it in my bag,"

or just bought it or something.

And again, extremely concerning,

but as far as the Crime
Prosecution Service

were concerned, it wasn't
that final piece of the jigsaw,

and it didn't prove Restivo
had killed Heather Barnett.

-Again, Restivo could not
be charged with murder.

Police needed more evidence
to pin him

to the killing
of Heather Barnett.

-I think Restivo became aware
of the idea

that the police
were interested in him

and that he could have been
connected to the murder.

But he had an explanation

for every part
of his bizarre behavior.

He felt that he was in control
of that information,

and he actually did
envision himself carrying on

and committing further crimes.

-The police changed tack.

They appealed to the public
for more information.

This time,
they focused on the hair

belonging to an unknown person
found in Heather's right hand.

Appeals were broadcast in the UK

and in Restivo's hometown
of Potenza and across Italy.

-And then you suddenly
get a call,

and they say, "Hi. I'm
such-and-such from Potenza.

Danilo Restivo cut my hair once.

I was sat in a cinema, and
he was sat in the row behind,

and he took some of my head hair
and cut it and took it away."

And then somebody else
would say,

"Oh, yeah. That happened to me.

Danilo Restivo was well known
for cutting women's hair."

And when we came back,
and we started to ask

the same question --
Had people in Bournemouth

had their hair cut --

women started to come forward
to say,

"Yeah. In fact, I was on one
of the Bournemouth yellow buses,

and I had some hair cut,
and I looked 'round,

and there was a guy
sat behind me,"

or, "I went
to the hairdresser's once,

and she said, 'You've got
a big chunk of hair missing

from the back of your hair.
When has that happened?'"

-Restivo actually developed
a paraphilia for hair.

This may have been some
originating situation

where he felt, you know,
sexually excited, et cetera,

over contact with hair.

His victims had their hair cut
often from behind.

He wasn't in the social world.

He was in a very focused,
obsessive world.

-In June 2004,

the police questioned
Restivo again.

This time,
they asked him specifically

about his hair
cutting activities.

The investigators were hoping
to connect Restivo

to the hair found
in Heather's hand

at the murder scene
two years earlier.

-We put Danilo Restivo
on an identification parade,

and in two instances,

those woman picked
Danilo Restivo out

as the man who had sat
behind them on a local bus,

cut their hair,
and then got off the bus.

So we always knew
he had a hair fetish.

We knew that he'd brought
alien head hair

into the murder scene
and left it in Heather's hand.

-Restivo said that when he held
these women's hair in his hand,

he said,
"Everything is visible,"

and that he could see
everything.

It's making him realize,
"I can take a piece

of these women,
and I can possess them."

He's got a real, kind of,
a grandiose sense of himself,

a real kind of elevated sense
of his own power here.

-But all this evidence
was circumstantial

and was still not enough
to convince the courts

that Restivo could be charged
with Heather's murder.

-This man is truly evil.

He prepared some time in advance

to kill this lovely single lady

who's bringing up
two lovely children.

He killed her
in the most horrific manner,

mutilating her body
and knowing --

The most evil part of him
is he knew

that the people
that would find their mother

mutilated in
the worst possible way

was her two young children.

Are you telling me
that somebody who could do that

is not evil?

-Restivo was released yet again
without charge.

To prove him guilty, the police
needed to connect Restivo

to the crime scene.

Their hopes rested on the green
towel with blood splatters

that was found
in Heather's hallway

the day she was murdered.

But to make the case
against Restivo,

they had a major hurdle
to overcome.

-The forensic technology

and the forensic advances
weren't there.

But we kept going back
to that green towel and saying,

"How can we develop

or separate out
that mixed profile?"

And it did take
a number of years

before forensic
science advanced,

and we were able to do that.

-Police would finally
connect Restivo

directly to Heather's murder,

but it would take the discovery
of a body in Italy

to bring this murderer
to justice.

♪♪

-What lies behind
Restivo's motivation

to kill and mutilate women

is a sense of power,

so he does so in the most
extreme way -- in killing them,

mutilating them,
and using their hair

as something that he has
that's part of them.

-Police in Dorset had already
found the connection

between Restivo
and several cases

of women having had their hair
cut off by a stranger in public.

But it was a murder in
Bournemouth in November of 2002

that was their primary focus.

In 2008, police re-examined
a blood-stained green towel

that they had found in the house

of murder victim
seamstress Heather Barnett.

Critically, the towel had two
different types of DNA on it.

-It took some years
for DNA analysis

to progress to the stage where
the material on the green towel,

which we said Restivo had left
at Heather Barnett's address,

could be analyzed
and produce a profile

which could be
put forward as evidence.

♪♪

-Then in 2008, we find
that magic solution,

and it's that final bit of that
jigsaw where scientists say,

"Look. We can now separate out
those two bits of DNA.

We can now separate
Heather's out,

and we can identify
whose DNA that is."

And that DNA that separated out
from that towel

belongs to Danilo Restivo.

-Finally, the investigators
felt they had enough evidence

to charge Restivo with
the murder of Heather Barnett.

To make certain, they also
needed to tie Restivo

to the murder of 16-year-old
Elisa Claps back in Italy

in 1993.

But with no body found, all
they had were their suspicions.

Elisa was still classed
as a missing person.

Then in March of 2010,

a remarkable discovery was made

that would seal the case
and Restivo's fate.

-At the stage when Restivo
was first charged,

Elisa Claps' body had not
in fact been found,

and so we proceeded
purely on the UK evidence.

However, on the 17th
of March, 2010,

Elisa's body was discovered

in the loft
in the church in Potenza,

where it, in fact, it had been
since she disappeared

on the 12th of September, 1993.

-When Elisa's body was found
in the church

that Danilo and Elisa had met
outside of and had been in,

it was decided that myself
and another officer

would immediately
fly over to Italy

to try and work
with the Italian police,

because we wanted to look
at the similarities

between the murder scene
of Elisa and our murder scene,

because as far
as we were concerned,

Danilo Restivo had murdered
both individuals.

We were allowed
to go down to Salerno,

which is the main city
near Potenza.

We were allowed to see
the videos,

and we were allowed to speak
to some of the scientists.

And lo and behold,

there were things like
hair in Elisa's hand,

the same as there were
in Heather's case,

and it started to make
a bit more sense.

-So, Restivo's signature
is quite evident in both cases.

So, both of the women
have hair in their hands.

Both of them have
their trousers pulled down.

So this is quite
a distinct thing in itself.

Here is a case where
the offender has spent time

with both of these victims.

But the crucial
difference for me

is that whilst
Elisa's body was hidden,

Heather's body was displayed.

He'd got to the point
in his offending here

where he's saying,
"Hey. Look at me."

So this is somebody
who's evolved over time,

and it's really,
really concerning.

This is somebody who's not going
to stop unless they are caught.

-The UK police
could not charge Restivo

in relation to the murder
of Elisa Claps,

as the crime
was committed in Italy

and so out of their territory.

But connecting Restivo
to the murder of Elisa

solidified their case

in regard to the murder
of Heather Barnett.

-Even though he'd never
been tried in Italy

for that crime, we adduced
all the evidence

in relation
to Elisa Claps' murder

in order to prove him guilty
of Heather Barnett's murder.

-Finally, in May 2011,

Danilo Restivo went to court,

charged with the murder
of Heather Barnett.

-We've arrested Danilo Restivo
on a number of occasions,

and we've always also lived
with the concern

that he's also so dangerous
he's likely to kill again.

And eventually,
the case is solved,

and we've got
that magic solution.

We've got that final piece
of the jigsaw.

-It had been a long battle,
but in the end,

the murder Restivo
had committed in 1993

and thought he had got away with
was to be the deciding factor

when he faced judge and jury.

-The police were having
quite a hard time of it

getting enough evidence together

to be able
to meet that threshold

to be able to secure
a conviction.

But then when Elisa's body
was discovered,

you've got these two women,

thousands of miles
and 17 years apart,

but they're connected by one
thing, and that's Restivo.

-He had always thought he was
cleverer than everybody else,

but now that didn't matter.

He wasn't cleverer
than everybody else.

He wasn't cleverer than us.

We had beaten him.
We'd solved the case.

And because the evidence was
so powerful and overwhelming,

it did make him
look like an idiot

in terms of some
of his responses,

whereas before,
he could show that bluster,

and he could say, "It's not me."

Well, when he said that now,
it was meaningless,

because the evidence
was overwhelming,

and it did prove it was him.

-The jury unanimously
found Restivo guilty

of Heather Barnett's murder.

Of course, they could not
return a verdict

in relation to Elisa Claps,

because Restivo
is an Italian subject,

and, therefore, could not be
charged with her murder.

The jury retired and returned
the verdict on the same day,

and thereafter,
Restivo was sentenced.

There is of course satisfaction
that justice has been done,

but I think really an
overwhelming feeling of sadness

that two people that died
wholly unnecessarily

to satisfy his lust for killing.

-Heather Barnett was a local
woman in Bournemouth.

She was a mother
to two children,

and that's one of the things
that I find quite annoying

about cases like Restivo.

When you've got such a grotesque
and such a unique murderer,

there's a tendency
to forget the victims,

and they become known
as the victims of Restivo.

These two women,
Elisa and Heather,

were individuals
in their own rights.

They had lives.
They had families.

They had futures, and that was
callously taken away

by Restivo.

-In June 2011, Restivo was
given a whole life sentence

for the murder
of Heather Barnett.

He later appealed
and was given a life sentence

and ordered to serve
a minimum of 40 years.

Meanwhile, in Italy,
in November 2011,

a court in Salerno found
Danilo Restivo, in his absence,

guilty of the murder
of 16-year-old Elisa Claps

in 1993.

-With someone like Restivo

with that very specific MO,

with two cases so far apart

and so similar,

there has to be more.

We need to look very carefully

into the past of Danilo Restivo,

because he must have
struck elsewhere.

-Since his imprisonment,
Restivo's name has been linked

with other murders,

but no charges
have been brought.

However, the horrific murders
of both Elisa Claps

and Heather Barnett have shown

that Danilo Restivo is one of
the world's most evil killers.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪