All language subtitles for Cold Case Detectives -- S01E01 (2023) WEB.eng

We found the body of a child

laying in a small stream
near a culvert.

Investigators have come together
over the murder of a little girl.

The most likely cause of death
was suffocation.

But this case is different

because this murder happened
more than 60 years ago.

These are the cold case detectives

pursuing justice in crimes
often decades old.

A team of investigators and forensic
experts at the South Wales Police.

They're committed to solving
the most baffling murders

and sex crimes which have gone
undetected for years.

Terrific, terrific.

I just hope he does get punished.

Using the latest developments
in forensic science

to uncover new evidence,
they're determined to put

some of the most dangerous
criminals behind bars.

The time will come where we will
be knocking on their door

and their world is gonna cave in.

You're under arrest
on suspicion of rape.

You don't have to say anything

but anything you do say
may be given in evidence.

So we're here to discuss a potential
Cold Case forensic review

into the murder of Carol Stephens

a six year old girl who was abducted
from Cardiff in 1959.

There are bereaved families
of people who have been murdered

and they've got
unanswered questions.

If we've got the ability to be able
to provide those answers.

We serve the public
so we must do that,

we must take
those opportunities to do that.

These are scene photographs
of the deposition site.

So you can have a look at those
at your leisure, really.

But yeah, we've got everything
she was wearing when she was taken.

We've got a cardigan,
we got a dress,

we got a skirt and spectacles.

Carol Ann Stephens' killer evaded
justice for more than 60 years.

But police now believe that recent
advances in forensic science

might reveal traces
of the killer's DNA

on the little girls clothes.

Generically speaking
we can look for touch DNA,

which we will do as matter course
now with cases

but the chance of us finding
anything is going to be quite slim.

But also then body fluids,
blood, semen, saliva,

we can have a look
for things like that.

This is a 60 year-old case,
so say the person who did it,

let's assume that he was 20
and he's going to be 80 now.

But he could be 30 then,
so he could be 90 or deceased.

So this is probably
a last resort for us.

So let's do what we can to try
and provide some answers.

I'd be happy with that.

It still means an awful lot
for a lot of people.

-It's a horrible case, isn't it?
-Of course, it is.

Seasoned Detective Gerry Blake
has his own personal reasons

for wanting justice for Carol.

In 1959 As a young boy,
seven and a half years of age,

and I was actually
in Sunday school with Carol

a couple of days
before she went missing.

That was someone that I knew
and she was murdered.

You would like to see that justice
is done on a personal matter

because you knew the person

and then of course is
the other professional aspect.

There is an undetected crime.

A child at the time, Gerry is now
a cold case investigator

and this case has been a driving
force throughout his career.

Now, he finally has the chance
to get justice for his friend.

She was in school with myself
and my two sisters

and of course, we remember
the event very, very well.

CATHAYS, CARDIFF

I knew Carol very well.

Carol was an innocent girl,
a very chatty girl,

a very friendly girl.

She did have a propensity to wander

but people would look out
for young children

and make sure that no harm
would come to you.

That was a type of neighbourhood
that we had here in Cathays.

This is 9, Malefant street
the home of Carol Stephens.

When Carol went missing,
there was great emotion here.

Everyone was saddened
by the whole incident

and of course, it had a huge impact
on the people in this community.

So coming back here
is quite sad and so poignant.

It brings back so many,
so many bad memories really,

to think of that poor girl
who was taken off the street.

It could have been any one of us.

Growing up in Cathays
in my time, it was quiet.

People just went about
their daily lives.

We went to school.
We had the library.

Nothing bad happened.
It just didn't.

It was a nice quiet
ordinary family area.

Gill Ward was 13 years old in 1959

and remembers Carol Ann Stephens
from the neighbourhood.

She was a quiet
little girl with glasses...

and she would
come down into our street

and play with the younger children.

She was in the wrong place
at the wrong time.

This used to be
the old corner shop, Wilkins shop.

Carol would run an errand
for her mother and attended the shop

and to buy sweets as well.

Carol Ann left the shop.

She walked back along the street...

and then later on in the day,

she was seeing knocking
on the window of a car door

that was parked in Fairoak road

which is just outside the cemetery.

That was a last known sighting
of Carol Stephens.

When it happened,

there was a big sort of murmuring
among the adults, I suppose,

that she'd wandered off somewhere
and she'd be found.

Then of course,
when she wasn't found

there was a great rush
for moms or dads

who didn't take
their children to school.

They suddenly started to take them
to school and meeting them

because they were frightened.

And who's to say
that he wouldn't come back

and pick up another child

because as far
as we were concerned, this...

evil person could
come around in a car

and take a child off the street
just like that, as easy as that.

Which is very frightening.

I can remember obviously a detective
coming around the houses.

Speaking to my mum
and all the other mums.

When did they last see her?

Had they noticed anything strange?
Cars, whatever.

I can't remember them speaking
to any of us as children,

and that could have been
as a protective sort of thing.

They didn't want to frighten us.

For everyone involved, it would
be wonderful if they could solve it

and could finally find out
who actually did it.

It'll put a lot
of minds at rest, I think.

This case is undetected

and it would mean so much
not just for the family,

but also for the neighbours as well.

We've always thought and asked:

"Whatever happened
to Carol Stephens?"

After decades
of unanswered questions,

the team now prepares to examine
the 60 year old evidence for DNA

in the hope of finally
identifying Carol's killer.

As well as unsolved murder cases,

the cold case detectives
are also reviewing

more than 300 historical sex crimes
from the archives.

A mammoth task,
code-named Operation Dudley.

DNA will also
be key in their mission

to bring these sex offenders
to justice

decades after their crimes.

Cold Case investigator
James Phillips

is working through the list
of unsolved sex attacks

dating back to the 1980s.

He's looking for cases where
there's now a realistic chance

of finding offenders DNA
from the historical evidence.

So I've started on the team
two months ago.

There's lots of improvements
in the forensic science world.

We're looking at now
at options and possibilities

of reviewing some of those exhibits
that have been taken

and sending them off
to be examined again,

hopefully with some hits.

When I joined
the police force in1988,

DNA wasn't a thing.

Whereas previously, you would need
a large amount of blood,

a large amount of semen
in perhaps the early 90s,

for a profile.

Now they can pick up DNA profiles

from a slap on the back of a hand
on someone's face.

It's just amazing.

Okay, this interview
is being visually recorded.

Police report staff ID : 56655.

This man is being questioned
on suspicion of rape.

He's been arrested
by the cold case team

after advances in forensic science
identified traces of his DNA

on the clothing of a woman
who was raped 30 years ago.

In 1991, he victim was walking
through a park in Cardiff

early evening, walking her dogs.

She was brutally attacked, raped.

And as a result of those injuries,
she's required numerous operations.

It must have been
an horrendous attack.

Three decades later,

a tiny semen stain
on the victim's clothing

revealed the DNA profile
of the attacker.

By comparing this profile
with the national DNA database,

the team got a match
with a man called Antony Carling.

Every person that has come
into custody for recordable offence

has their DNA taken
as a matter of course.

It's like having your fingerprints
and photograph taken.

For 30 years, 64 year old Carling
thought he got away with his crime.

Now, he has some explaining to do.

It's amazing.
It's like, let's go get him.

It's just fantastic.

The time is exactly 1500 hours.

Do you recall ever seeing
a female walking dogs?

How would I remember 30 years ago
if somebody was walking a dog?

This female has got your semen
on her at some point.

So that may jog the memory.

Well, how would my semen
be on somebody that I don't know?

That's what we're saying.

That's a very good question.
Can you answer it?

No, I can't.

Because she's given us an account
why your semen is on her.

I haven't a clue why, sir.

Short on answers,
Carling is charged with the rape.

And 30 years after
he brutally attacked a woman,

today he must face up
to his crime in court.

Carling pleads guilty.

Back at base,
the cold case team wait anxiously

for Carling to be sentenced.

Alright, Paul, any news?

Oh, that's fantastic.
That's unbelievable, isn't it?

Yes, it's a great result.

Yeah, we were hoping
for double figures and well,

that's even better, isn't it? So...

He deserves it. Oh, that's great.
Thanks, Paul. That's fantastic.

Cheers, mate. Bye, bye bye.

-12 years.
-Bloody hell.

-He deserves at least that.
-At least, yeah.

Jeremy, he's put her through hell.

-That was brilliant. She was there?
-Yeah. Yeah.

After 30 years of evading justice,

with the overwhelming
forensic evidence

presented to the court by the team,

Antony Carling
receives a 12 year sentence

for the vicious rape in 1991.

12 years, it's just
a phenomenal result really.

Although it's happened
a long time ago,

staff files never closed and we're
always trying to investigate

and find and get a bit of closure
for our victim.

The conviction of culling for rape
is an important result for the team.

But there's no time
to rest on their laurels.

Seasoned Detective Gerry Blake
is on a mission to crack a case

that has gone unsolved
for over 60 years.

The murder of his childhood friend,
Carol Ann Stephens.

I'd be absolutely elated.

One has to consider...

the background of this person,

and were there
any other offences committed?

So by progressing the science
and the forensic aspect of this case

we don't know
what we'll get at the end of it.

Key to solving the case
will be understanding

what lines of inquiry
were followed back in the 1950s.

If the files are here, hopefully
they're going to be in this section

but we can check the others as well.

Incredibly, most of the case papers
have survived.

It's amazing, as you as
you go through some of these

from my service I remember
the names and some of the cases.

What about this?
That's the only box there?

It's the only box, yes.

Well that's fantastic for a start.

It gives us a start,
Carol Ann, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, they don't
all appear to be in numerical order.

Really and truly
patience is a virtue.

To test your eyesight.

It's just a matter
of waiting through it.

I joined the police force
in the late 70s.

I was enthusiastic
to become a policeman.

I was in my 20s when I joined.

It was something that I wanted
to do for a long, long time.

I didn't have the confidence
to apply for the job.

I was in engineering
before I became a policeman

but it was something I wanted to do.

I think once you're a policeman,
you're always the policeman.

You're of service,
you want to serve the public

the community around you
and be helpful as much as you can.

Amongst the boxes of evidence,

Gerry and the team find
the original witness statements

taken by the police in 1959,

from the residents
of Cathays in Cardiff,

the area where Carol went missing.

They make a reference
to Carol being a chatterbox.

It appeared that she was going
to be going somewhere that morning.

There's a shopkeeper that says
she would normally stay and chat.

She didn't.

It appears that she was
more excited than normal.

Here's the bit, Gerry, about
that lady you said about the garage.

She saw Carol Stephens
in a green coloured motorcar

which might have been
a Morris Minor.

But then she was not sure the colour

she put it the green
or dark coloured car.

Carol was also seen
by several witnesses

playing with a group of children
in the street that morning.

They identified one little boy

who was in what we termed in the day
was a Red Indian outfit.

He was with Carol.

At the time that she approached,

so both of them
approached a motorcar.

He was suggesting
it was a dark coloured car.

He would be
the last person to see her alive.

And the last person
to see the killer.

He's a key witness and I think
it's a shame he was only six.

-Was a six?
-Would have been the same age.

It's a shame he wasn't
old enough to make a statement.

-It's clarified in the report.
-What does it say?

The children were too young
to provide statements.

He is vital.

He's seen the car,
he's seen the colour of the car

and he's seen the driver of the car.

Other witnesses were only able
to give a sketchy description

of the man in the car.

From that fireman statement,

tends to suggest
the person sitting in the car,

they referred to them
as commercial travellers.

And appeared
not to enjoy the best health,

although he was clean shaven.

This suspicious driver
was now the prime suspect.

Finding him became
the focus of the inquiry.

But after two weeks,

the search for a missing child
became a murder hunt.

Carol's body was found
60 miles west of Cardiff

in a stream near
the remote village of Horeb.

The news shook the community
and her friends to the core.

When she'd been found...

it was a realisation that
she'd been taken and actually killed

and that was a big shock.

There was great talk about
how she was found so far away

because it was assumed
she'd be found nearer to home.

I mean, the talk was...

It's awful to talk about it
because she's a little girl.

Was she murdered in the area

and then taken down later?

Did she travel all those hours
in the car with somebody

that she didn't know
but obviously trusted

on what would have been
a four hour car journey then

back in those days, no motorways.

But it was just a terrible,
terrible thing to a little child.

For everyone involved,

it would be wonderful
if they could solve it

and draw a line under it.

-We go over this river.
-Yeah.

It's in that field there,
I'm guessing

or that field over there.

Going somewhere and getting a feel

for where she's found
is quite important.

The Cold Case team
has come to the village of Horeb

to try and find the exact location
where Carol's body was found

more than 60 years ago.

-Where are we?
-I think...

Looking at those fields,
I think we need to head

towards the left over there,
because the stream is running down.

Going there with
the photograph from 1959

and turn up there 60 years later
and take another photo,

they're identical.
It's like nothing's changed.

So this is where she was found.

Do we assume
that she's come out to the culvert

or she's been brought
down the sides of this?

It would be difficult to climb here
carrying even a small child.

It's difficult
going down the incline

and she would have had more injuries
if she had been thrown over.

So the tunnel itself

there's nothing in there,
it's just a round, smooth tunnel.

Is goes in about a meter
and then it goes 45 degrees.

-Alright.
-Up to under the road.

The incline will bring things down.

So that means then we need to find
where she was put in.

This has always been
at the back of my mind.

It's not really the main reason
for joining the police force.

I think all police officers
would like to detect

every case that they're involved in.

This is poignant for me
because I knew Carol Stephens.

Alright, so this is above
where we were just now.

From what we've seen,
the culvert goes up

and an incline comes out
on that side of the road.

-It was a pullen area.
-It's pullen, isn't it?

Nobody would think anything of it.

They might think
you're just going into the field

even if you parked up here.

Well, this is the entrance
and look at the speed of the water.

You wouldn't have
to remove a drain cover.

It's a straightforward access
from the road.

He's driven along here.

He's pulled in off the roads
and natural pulling,

carries her here,

puts her into the culvert
at this point.

He must have thought the chance
of her ever being found here

is minimal.

I can't imagine he thought
she'd be found, not for a long time.

From here,
you'd have to know about this.

Oh, you'd have to know about it.

You would know the area,
wouldn't you?

To be able to conceal
Carol's body in that culvert

someone must have known
about the culvert and the area

so therefore
must have local knowledge.

So this narrows down
who the killer might.

The team are now convinced
Carol Ann Stephens killer

was a travelling salesman
with a dark Morris Minor

and had local knowledge
of West Wales.

Gerry and James are now
on the trail of a suspect

who was identified back in 1959.

A local shopkeeper reported
a suspicious conversation he'd had

with a travelling salesman
days before the murder.

The storekeeper being told
by the travelling salesman a story

which he thought was strange.

and it was about picking up a girl.

the suspicious salesman was
identified as Ronald Edward Murray.

Murray worked for Carson's
confectionery company,

delivering sweets to Cardiff
and across West Wales

and drove a dark Morris Minor.

Crucially, he had previously
worked at the Brickworks

in the village of Horeb.

Less than 300 yards
from where Carol's body was found.

Armed with this knowledge,

Gerry and James have come
to where the suspect lived,

and where detectives
came to question him in 1959.

"I have reason to believe
you may be to assist with inquiries

can you account for your movements
on the day that she disappeared

which was
the 7th of April 1959 at Cardiff?"

Murray says: "You don't think
I have anything to do with it?"

And then they asked him
if they can have access to his car

and take his vehicle,
and he comments:

"It's a firm's car but you can
do what you want with it."

Then he gave them
the keys to the car, he was quite...

-Helpful.
-He was helpful.

Albeit denying any involvement.

After initially saying
he was at home ill

on the day Carol went missing,

Murray then changed his story

and admitted that he had actually
travelled to Cardiff that day.

In his own words,
he parks up in Robert Street,

which is only just a short distance
from Carol's house.

-It's where the kids were playing.
-Exactly.

And then he identifies
the children playing in the streets.

According to Murray, he then drove
home and spent the afternoon alone.

He's home between
about 12:15, 12:30.

So no one accounts for his movements

until his lad comes home.

-From school at quarter to four.
-Quarter to four.

The pathologists saying that
judging by Carol's stomach contents

the time of death

would have been anytime
between 12:15 and 2:45.

-It's a window, isn't it?
-That is that window.

and he can't account
for his movements during that time.

There was a lot of circumstantial
evidence suggesting

Ronald Murray's involvement
in the in the alleged offence

but there wasn't that golden nugget,
I would say,

the forensic evidence
so there wasn't enough to charge.

But now Gerry and the team

hope they can take the case further
than the original investigation

and finally, prove
or disprove Murray's involvement.

We can only hope
with the advances in technology

and in the science itself,
that we may get a breakthrough.

As the team focused their attention
on modern forensics

for the Carol Ann Stephens case,

they're also hoping
for a breakthrough

in their troll of over
300 historical sex crimes

as part of Operation Dudley.

DNA technology has already
helped secure the conviction

of rapist Antony Carling,

and they're confident
of a breakthrough in a case

from 40 years ago,
in the Swansea area.

This is a nasty incident
of the little girl

who is raped,
stroked, sexually assaulted

and...

it appears there's a realistic
opportunity of semen being found

on the victim at the time.

-It's terrific.
-Terrific, yeah.

In particular with that offence

of a male person attacking a girl
you just dread to think

what he's done in the last 40 years.

-You think significant improvements?
-I think so.

-DNA in the sperm.
-Yeah.

So what we got in the archives
and we go from there, really.

Welcome to the forensic archive.

I've managed to locate
four packets of material.

Debbie and Steve
have come to the top secret

National Forensic archive.

Here, over 4 million items
of forensic evidence

dating back to the 1930s
from police forces across the UK

are kept in storage.

It's a treasure trove
for cold case detectives.

On its shelves is the evidence
that with today's forensic science,

could finally hold the answers
to hundreds of unsolved cases.

What we're able to do
is dig into the past.

Back in the 70s and 80s,
the procedures and processes

were very different.

DNA wasn't something
that was thought about.

But what the investigators
at the time

had the foresight to think about

was the fact that with the speed
that forensic developments progress

that there would be something
in the future in those exhibits,

something that we can review again
and get a result from it.

One slide reference: JN/2.

Hopefully, with the advances
in forensic science,

a lot more cases will be solved
again to bring closure to victims

and to let perpetrators
out there know

that we're not going
to let these things die down.

We were going to use every
possible investigative technique

to identify these perpetrators
to bring them justice.

The team head back to base

with the samples from the sexual
assault on the little girl.

Cold Case investigator
James Phillips

wants to get an expert opinion
on whether the 40 year old samples

could still contain
the attackers DNA.

Cheek.

Ear. Ear and Neck.

We're at a stage now
where DNA is just so sensitive.

It doesn't take
a great deal of contact

for us to be able
to obtain a DNA profile.

So what they'll do
is they'll soak the slides,

remove the cover slip,

and they'll swab the sample
underneath the cover slip then

and then the swabs from the samples
will be profile for DNA.

It's a horrific incident

for a young girl to go through.

Now, if it comes back with a profile

they're be good bet
that he'd be on the database.

This case now rests
with the scientists.

As does the other investigation

into the murder
of six year old Carol Ann Stephens.

Senior forensic adviser David Thomas

has been looking at the 60 year old
exhibits to assess their potential.

They're hoping to find traces of DNA

that would prove once and for all
whether they're prime suspect

travelling sweet salesman,
Ronald Murray, is the killer.

That...

is the right shoe
at the scene of Carol Ann

which is in the water
or in the stream then.

The river may have done some damage.

I think it has, my recollection,

and going back on a personal note
on the weekend before

she attended Sunday school with us
and they were new shoes.

Oh, were they?

Now a small child cardigan.
This is reference: 101-2

Correct me if I'm wrong quite sure
this is more Carol Ann was wearing

when she was abducted
on Malefant Street.

Yeah, it's a possibility
if she's wearing it, his touch.

She had to get out if she was
in the car, removed from wherever

into that culvert.

There must have been some sort
of touching around there.

Touch DNA is,
say you grabbed me on my arm

you would leave DNA on my arm

from sweat skin cells,
maybe even some hairs.

And then we would sample that area
where we know you have touched

to recover the DNA
that you've left on the surfaces.

Incredibly, police even preserved
the confectionery

found in Murray's car
more than 60 years ago,

in the hope
that it would one day yield close.

Two chocolates
in green foil wrappers.

Dorchestrer
chocolate label by Carsons.

Do those sweets
link up at all in any way?

Can they link at all to Carol Ann?

There could be some on the wrapper.

There are also dozens
of Carol's belongings

that could crucially finally provide
that forensic link to Murray.

Albeit, Murray's our strong suspect

for a number of different
investigative reasons.

But who's to say
it's not somebody else?

Whatever's there is there.
Let's go looking for it.

Yeah.

But generally think
there is some potential here.

While the forensic
examinations get underway

on the Carol Ann Stephens case,

Cold Case investigator
James Phillips

has been waiting on the DNA results

from the sexual assault on a
little girl more than 40 years ago.

It's not good news.

The report is coming back
more or less saying that...

there's no further potential.

However, the scientist,
I'll read it out,

and it's one of the first ones
we've had where he says:

I recommend that these slides
are retained and attempt to profile

reconsidered and perhaps
three to five years

pending any advances
in DNA profiling technology.

In particular,
the extraction of DNA from slides.

Gutted, is the word for that one.

Then we have ups and downs,
good days and bad days.

Just got to carry on.
Just got to, yeah.

Yeah...

As one door closes,
the team are hopeful

that senior Forensic Scientist
Claire Morse

will have better luck
as they begin the work of testing

the 60 year old evidence

in the murder of Cardiff schoolgirl
Carol Ann Stephens.

We will recover everything that
we can from her items of clothing.

We are really looking for DNA.

If we can find DNA
from somebody that's not Carol Ann

we need to find out
who that person is.

Could be a legitimate contact,
but it could be an offender.

So DNA from a touch
or from blood or semen or saliva

is going to be the easiest thing
really for us to look at.

It's a very difficult case.

Carol Ann was found in a culvert.

She was wet and had probably
been in water for several days.

The fact that she's been in water
means that any DNA

blood, semen
saliva, could have been lost.

But there's always a chance
with these things,

and that's why we keep going.

With the forensic testing underway,

Carol's school friend
and veteran Detective Gerry Blake

has been digging deeper
into the background

of lead suspect, Ronald Murray.

What he's found is deeply troubling.

His wife had a tragic death.

And in fact, the family
are concerned that he had some...

some dealing with a with a death.

What had happened was that

Ronald Murray had a young child,

and he said they would play games,
turning the gas on and off.

Murray says that the child
had played the game on this mother.

She suffocated with the gas
from the gas stove.

The officers who conducted
the inquiries into that

were clearly suspicious
about the story given.

But the verdict...

it was an accidental death.

Gerry's research has turned up
another death certificate.

Murray died in 1973.

There are significant questions

that we would
have liked to ask Ronald Murray.

Because the style
of questioning at the time

is different
to what we would do now.

That doesn't mean to say that we're
going to stop our investigation.

Whilst he is a suspect

but from the evidence we've got in

it might not be Murray.

So that must be a key driver
for us to carry on.

So if it's somebody else,
that person may still be alive.

That person may still be a risk,
an ongoing risk

to the public, to young girls.

So it's vital
that we continue on inquiries.

So we'll be putting an immediate
appeal out asking for information.

It needs to go
out on a press release,

it needs to go on the website,
it needs to go on the socials.

There may be people who for example,
Mister Murray may have spoken to

and told people about what happened

what he did, if he is responsible.

They might have
the smallest piece of information

but that might be significant to us
because of what we know.

Next time.

Time catches up with a vicious
rapist on operation Dudley.

-Police.
-You're under arrest.

On suspicion of rape

that occurred
on the 17th of August 1980.

In there.

And a breakthrough
when after 60 years

a new witness comes forward
in the Carol Ann Stephens case.

The main memory is I remember
the car door being opened

and there was a white bag of sweets
on the car seat.

He also suggested
that there was a possibility

that he may identify this man
if he saw a photograph.

Are you able to identify
any person on the film?

Yes.

Subtitles: Amaury Pinos
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