Original subtitles

She said that she's been lying there absolutely petrified,

thinking, "Oh, my gosh, is he gonna kill me?"

These are the cold case detectives,

pursuing justice in crimes often decades old.

A team of seasoned investigators and forensic experts

at South Wales Police.

-Did you have sex with that woman? -No comment.

They're committed to solving some of the most baffling murders

and sex crimes which have gone undetected for years.

It's horrific. Horrific.

I just hope he... 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 say may be evidence.

Advances in forensic science

have given the cold case detectives a chance to try and solve

the 60-year-old abduction and murder of a little girl

that happened on a busy street in Cardiff.

For Gerry Blake, the murder of his childhood friend

Carol Ann Stephens is close to his heart.

I've got a personal knowledge of this case,

and every time I think of it, there's a knot in your stomach.

You just hope that one day, you're gonna get a breakthrough

that we may be able to detect this case.

This morning, the team are driving 300 miles

to interview a new witness.

So, we're travelling up from South Wales up to visit

a gentleman witness from the Folkestone area

who is friendly with Carol Ann Stephens.

He was a six or seven-year-old child at the time.

He stated that he was the young boy

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

and he was with Carol when she got into the car.

But the witness wasn't interviewed by police at the time

because of his young age.

We're gonna be showing him a line-up, and hopefully...

he may identify

the person who he thinks he saw some 60 years ago.

We're hoping that this person,

who we know is a key witness to this,

is gonna say, "I saw the driver, and I might recognise him again."

The team want to know

if the man he saw 60 years ago was Ronald Murray...

the prime suspect at the time,

who was questioned but never charged with the murder.

He was quite confident that...

about the information that he was passing

and he also suggested that there was a possibility

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

You've got to be thinking, "This is 60 years ago."

But you can also be thinking, "My God, if he picks him out,

where's this gonna take us?"

Can I just thank you...

-You're welcome. -For making the call to us

and giving the information that you have so far?

Back in 1959, you, of course, were living in Malefant Street.

That's right, yeah.

I was a short distance from you. Do you remember the area at all?

I do, yes, I remember the park, I remember the trams,

I remember my second year at... I went to Gladstone Primary...

That's what I wanted to come to, because I just wandered,

I was actually at Gladstone School.

Just between you and I, I'm just a little bit older.

She was one of the gang.

She fitted in well with the boys, so she was...

If there was a tree, she'd climb it,

or if there was a gate to jump over, it was the same.

I think she was quite happy.

She wanted that level of, you know...

Amusement with the kids. She was not happy to be at home.

She couldn't wait to get out. She was quite a wild child.

We knew the whole family.

We knew the mum cos she was only just a few doors down from us.

I would say she was in the same street, definitely.

Probably five, six, seven doors down the road from us.

And... regularly, there would be a tap on the door.

It would be her. "Can you come out and play?"

It would be quite Sunday mornings or all sorts of times.

She seemed to be out from... basically until it got dark.

So she was always out, seemed to be out.

Stephen was playing with Carol on the morning she went missing...

and is believed to be the last person

to see the six-year-old before she was abducted.

I really feel that...

I was very much at risk at that moment.

He may have taken us both, and we could both have been dead,

you just don't know.

I was certainly the one nearest the door when it was opened,

and if I'd got in, he might have just drove off with me.

As a 6-year-old, there's nothing you can do about it.

You'd have no chance, literally.

So I was lucky, and she was unlucky, but...

that's all you can say, really. You just don't know.

Tell me what you remember of that particular morning.

The main memory is I remember the car door being opened,

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

I can remember that.

Tell me about the car.

It was dark in colour, leather seat,

the door was open, and... there was a white bag.

I'm fairly sure he offered me the sweets first, and I...

-He offered you sweets? -Yes.

-There's a male in the car? -Yeah, definitely.

On his own. There was no-one else.

Whether we'd ever seen him before, I have no memory of it.

Did the male person speak?

He did but I've got no memory of it.

-You don't recall what was said? -No, no.

I've got no memory of his accent or...

-Don't know his accent? -No.

Anything strange?

I would've remembered. It would've stood out a bit more.

What happened after you'd been invited to have the sweets?

Yeah, I would've stepped away.

I wouldn't have got in the car unless I'd known the person.

-What did Carol do? -I...

I only assume she got in, but I've not really

-got a memory of that. -Right, OK.

I think he realised that the information he had

was absolutely crucial.

And it put him in a huge position.

A very, very difficult position.

And he was trying to remember for when he was six years of age,

and knowing full well that he was the last person to see Carol alive,

except for the murderer.

Stephen, I certainly appreciate what you're doing.

We're going back 60 years. I'm conscious of that as well.

-Very difficult for you to remember. -Yeah.

After taking a statement,

it's the crunch moment of their visit.

Can the witness identify the man he saw in the car?

Strict procedures must be followed

for the outcome to be used as evidence

so Gerry and James leave the room and hand over to Paul Hayes,

a specialist in identification line-ups.

He's created a virtual identity parade of nine men,

one of them being their prime suspect, Ronald Murray,

and the others being pictures of innocent men,

unconnected with the case,

who the police refer to as "distractors".

My name is Paul Hayes.

We're at the home address of the witness in Folkestone, in Kent.

The date is 6th of 11th, 2019, the time is 11.47.

Are you able to identify any person on the film?

Number five is probably the only one that sort of...

came out of the page at me slightly.

In order to confirm the identification,

is this the person you were referring to?

Yes.

Stephen, if you could just sign by here, underneath.

How did it go?

OK, unfortunately, he's picked out a distractor.

-So it was a negative viewing. -Right.

That's a shame.

It is disappointing because had he picked the person out

on the photographs today then that would have been a huge bonus

and it would've been so significant given the line-up that it was.

I was, I think...

the word I'd have to use would be absolutely gutted.

If we'd had a live witness who could've put

Carol Stephens getting into Murray's car,

that would've been the icing on the cake, really.

Now Gerry and the team's last hope lies with the scientists

who are looking for any trace

of the killer's DNA on Carol's clothes.

The ability to recover suspects' DNA from the tiniest of stains

is already delivering results in their review of over 300

unsolved sex attacks, codenamed Operation Dudley.

As they begin work on a new case in the suburbs of Cardiff,

they're hoping for further success,

this time on a vicious rape from 1980.

I remember it like it's yesterday.

I remember every detail.

I was scared to go out, well, for the first five years,

scared to go out at night.

She got off the bus on Newport Road.

She'd been visiting family outside of the Cardiff area.

Detectives Jenna Hargraves and Patrick Catto are retracing

the steps of the victim in this 40-year-old crime.

Until you've been at that location,

you can't really have that true understanding

of what that area looked like.

And it's changed massively since the offence happened,

but the routes and everything are the same.

So it's just to have that clear image

and that understanding of what the victim is telling you.

She's walked along here, Partridge Road,

where she's actually come face-to-face with the suspect.

He's offered to help her carry her belongings,

she's got a box and she's walking her dog.

She declines, says, "No, I'm fine," continues to walk down this lane.

But as she turns around, she sees the suspect.

She's turned, she's looked at him and thought,

"Right, well, he was walking

in the other direction, and now he's behind me."

So she panics and continues to walk.

As she's walking, she can hear him picking up his pace.

So she starts to run.

She's got a pair of high heels on.

She's carrying a box, she's got her dog, she's panicking.

And the next minute, she just feels a push from behind her,

and next thing is she goes sliding onto the floor, basically.

She's felt the suspect then turn her over,

where she's lying on her back, and he basically straddles her,

which is when he then... he rapes her.

She said that she's been lying there absolutely petrified.

It was around the time that the Yorkshire Ripper was...

Was still outstanding.

And she said that she lay there thinking,

"Oh, my gosh, is he gonna kill me?"

Well, after it happened, I was just a nervous wreck, you know.

And I did drink too much. That's what it led to.

It was... Yeah, it was just...

to try and forget, you know?

Once you get into that...

get, like, you know, into... start doing stuff like that,

you can't stop.

I did go a bit off the rails.

I know it's a long time ago.

At the time, it's a lot worse.

You know, you hurt more and... But you get...

Over the years, it fades a little bit.

It's still in your head, but...

you learn to live with it.

I've sat in front of this lady

and she has described a horrific attack

that happened to her and the impact it's had on her life.

So I want to be able to do the best job

to be able to have the best outcome for her

and to have some sort of closure for her, really.

The cold case detectives are determined

to get the victim the justice she deserves,

and it all hinges on the fact

that key items of evidence from 1980 have been preserved.

Forensic scientist Amy Lewis

will now examine the 40-year-old samples

for the tiniest traces of the attacker's DNA.

Unfortunately, we don't have any original clothing.

However, we do have the fibre tapings from the skirt.

So, this is similar to, like, a lint roller, if you like.

So, it's Sellotape that was dabbed over the surface

to remove the fibres on the surface.

So we're looking at those today for semen and DNA.

You can't see the semen staining, so I use wet and dry swabs

to remove as much material as possible,

and then those swabs, then, are sent to a forensic provider

to see if there is any semen present.

The stakes are high.

The process will destroy the fragile taping,

the only exhibit that could contain the attacker's semen.

Amy has just one chance to capture the DNA evidence she needs.

I feel a lot of pressure with cold cases.

I have a lot of passion for cold cases because I feel like...

These victims have lived with this regardless of what the offence is,

and they deserve justice.

Back with the murder investigation, cold case detective Gerry Blake

is haunted by the fact that the killer of his school friend

Carol Ann Stephens is still unidentified

after more than 60 years.

This is Gladstone School,

which is only a stone's throw from where Carol was living

and where I was living in Tewkesbury Street.

All the children from the area all used to come to this school.

Gerry knows the team's new testing using cutting-edge forensic science

might be his last chance to see the killer identified.

In the days following the finding of her body

and the days leading up to her funeral,

we, as children, were requested by the staff

if we could all bring in two of the old pennies,

which was a contribution to the floral tributes

for Carol's funeral.

And then, on the day of her funeral,

all the children from the school, together with the staff and parents,

would all stand outside the front of the school,

as they watched the funeral cortege come up from Malefant Street

and then, of course, into Cathays Cemetery,

where Carol's body was laid to rest.

With a child murderer still at large more than 60 years later,

the question of who killed Carol Ann Stephens

has always played on the minds of those living in the Cathays area.

There was always the fear that he would come back.

He could still be alive.

That's the worry. He could still be alive, and...

Did he do it again?

And what drove him to do it? I mean, was it the first?

Was there... Were there others? Wouldn't know.

Gill Ward was 13 years old in 1959

and is still looking for answers and justice

for her friend and neighbour.

It would be good if they could put an end to it and could finally...

find out who actually did it.

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

We want to find out who's done this. We've... I've got children.

And it is upsetting,

but 33 years in the police force, you...

No, you don't get used to it, but...

You just want to find the person that's done it.

We still have many of the exhibits

left from the murder of Carol Stephens,

which, as we speak, are with the Forensic Science Service.

We can only hope, with the advances in technology

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

I feel that would be our only opportunity to detect this case.

So, really and truly, everything is with the scientists.

But it's been such a long, long time,

the provenance of the exhibits has to be... maintained.

We can only live in hope.

And it would be so wonderful

to get a result for this particular case.

With cutting-edge DNA technology now on their side,

the cold case team have been testing Carol's clothes

for any trace of her killer.

But the senior team have some agonising decisions to make

now that the forensic tests have been completed.

With regards to leads, we're not getting anything that's jumping out.

It is a slow process, and sometimes we just need to know when to stop.

In several years' time,

will there be something better we can do with this sample?

Is it worth me using this sample up now

to try and get something, or hanging onto it for a few years

where I might be more certain of getting a result from it.

Unfortunately, there's no ground-breaking evidence right now

to say who's a potential offender of what happened to Carol.

It's very disappointing. We've put a lot of work and a lot of effort

to try and identify who may have been responsible,

but unfortunately, we haven't obtained that information.

It's frustrating that you try your hardest,

but the results just aren't there.

OK, so, really, then,

in terms of this guy that we've discussed,

you know, this Ronald Murray, who's been a sort of thread

throughout this inquiry from the early days,

you know, really, I think it's a fair assessment

to call him, you know,

a person of interest only.

Certainly, he's someone we're trying to rule out.

But currently, as we all know,

we've been unable to do it.

We haven't been able to rule him out, but likewise,

we haven't been able to firmly link him evidentially either.

No, we've got circumstantial evidence of movements,

but with today's sort of standards of charging, you know,

I think it's a fair sort of punt that,

you know, we need more, really.

Yeah.

It's clearly disappointing that all of the efforts we've gone

to find out who the killer is,

to try and prove or disprove if it was Ronald Murray,

cos he was a suspect at the time...

We've been unable to provide those definitive answers to the family

and to those communities in Cardiff, and down in Horeb.

So that is disappointing.

But... I think we can be satisfied

that we've demonstrated we've done all we can do.

The cold case detectives make the difficult decision

to call it a day...

for now.

There are those cases that kind of, like... I don't know.

They're imprinted on your mind and you never forget about them.

Going forward, all we can do,

if we can't further this to completion,

is take care of the documents, take care of the exhibits,

you know, hope that in years to come,

there's a DNA 25 or DNA 27 which is even more sensitive,

to hopefully pave the way for people

who will take our seats in years to come,

who can wrap this up once and for all, really.

For Gerry, it's a bitter pill to swallow,

and he knows his childhood community will also be disappointed.

Maybe as a child, you don't realise the full

significance and things.

But as an adult and as a parent, it's your worst nightmare

and something you never really get over.

You'd expect, in this day and age,

with science and the way it's come on in all these years,

that they could have perhaps linked

something with what they found at the scene.

I know it's a long time ago,

but you would hope that with the new DNA bases and whatever...

you'd think that they could.

But of course, if the evidence isn't there...

It's a shame, a great shame.

This is so sad

and such a tragic end to a lovely little girl.

A little girl who's life was taken far too young.

All Carol did was go out playing with friends and never came home.

There's still people, former friends of Carol's

and neighbours who remember her and who've come forward

because they still want to find justice for Carol.

We know that we're not far off from getting a result.

Unfortunately, we haven't got it,

but I know it wasn't for the want of trying.

We will still continue to try and get justice for Carol.

And I just hope that we can do it in my lifetime.

God bless you, Carol.

You were so young...

and you deserved so much better.

God bless.

Each day brings a new dawn for us.

Just because we haven't got a result on this particular case,

we look at the next case.

What we have is that we have highs and lows,

and we'll always be determined

to try and get justice for all the victims of crime.

That is the purpose and reason why we're police officers.

And that commitment to get justice,

whatever the passage of time, pays off...

with a breakthrough on the rape case from 1980.

Forensic scientist Amy Lewis

tested a taping thought to contain a semen stain

that was recovered from the skirt of the victim.

I've had some really good news.

I found out today that

we have a profile from the tapings that I took.

It's a male profile,

which, more than likely, is gonna be the offender.

This DNA profile has now been searched

against the national database of over six million names.

We have received a match from somebody

who has been in custody previously and provided their DNA.

The suspect is around the age of about 66, 67, according to this.

I think it's fantastic, sending out a message to people

that it doesn't matter when this crime was committed.

Don't think you've got away with it.

Science and technology changes, the way we investigate a crime,

it's changing all the time, and to be able to...

get a suspect out of that now I think is phenomenal.

It's unbelievable.

I never would have thought, not in a million years, you know.

I mean, forty years, my God.

I would think, "Oh, it would be a miracle if they caught him,

cos they've forgotten about it now."

But I didn't.

I just want him to suffer after what he put me through.

I just hope he does get punished.

OK, morning. It's six o'clock. Thank you for coming in so promptly.

OK, the purpose of today is to effect the arrest

following a cold case review by the major crime review team.

He's to be arrested on suspicion of rape.

He's likely to be an engaging character,

he's been arrested previously for indecent images.

From speaking to Avon and Somerset officers, it's quite a small flat.

It's not a large area to search.

We can access the building from the rear.

It's absolutely incredible.

This happened before I was even born.

-Hi there. Roland Long? -Police, it is.

-Just woke up, have you? -Yeah.

Do you want to take a seat there for me?

Mr Long, you're under arrest on suspicion of rape

that occurred on the 17th August, 1980 in Cardiff.

OK? You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention something which you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

Their suspect is 66-year-old Roland Long,

who has previous convictions for a string of sexual assaults.

We'll do a search of your address. You got a laptop? Other devices?

-Have you got a phone? -I think he was incredibly shocked.

40 years. I don't think he believed that we were gonna come knocking

and arrest him for an offence that happened back then.

Right, go on, then.

Roland Long will now be taken to Cardiff Bay police station

where he will be questioned.

This is his opportunity to tell us what happened

on that date of the offence

and to give us that insight of... Was he in Cardiff on that date?

Where was he living? Did he have a family?

Where was he working?

Did he have any connections to the victim?

Does he know her?

So this is his opportunity to tell us his side of the story.

OK, we'll go to Cardiff Bay now, Roland, OK?

OK, come on, then, Roland. We'll book you in, OK?

He put his sunglasses on while he was in custody,

and he seemed like he was trying to hide himself,

shuffling along like this quiet older man, I suppose.

Can you take your sunglasses off, please?

Whether he was trying to come across as this innocent individual

that wouldn't have committed a crime like this.

-How long will I be here? -I don't know.

I don't know how long. That's one thing we don't know.

You've been arrested for a recordable offence.

That gives the police powers to take fingerprints, DNA,

a footwear impression and a photograph.

We're just in here, OK?

Right foot on the yellow pad.

And then that same right foot onto the middle of the white.

That's perfect.

We've got that DNA evidence, and we want to know

how have we located his semen on that victim's skirt?

We want to find out did he commit the offence.

If you can sit back for me

and face the top circle there for the camera. OK?

A bright light's gonna come on now, OK?

One last thing to do, then, I need to take a swab of your DNA.

Open your mouth slightly.

It'll be from the inside of your cheeks.

Thank you.

-And on the other side, OK? -Sure.

At this point, he could turn round and say

that he met the victim and it was all consensual,

but this is his opportunity to tell us that.

The... He's in...

Bloomin' hell, what a day.

With Long in custody,

as the detectives gear up to question him,

the rest of the cold case team get started on their next investigation.

This time, a 40-year-old unsolved murder

of a taxi driver from Cardiff.

Morning, everyone. Thanks for coming today.

Just gonna give you a quick ten-minute presentation

on the review that we're starting

on John Joseph Armstrong, affectionately known as Jack.

The victim, born the 7th September, 1921

in Penrith in Cumbria, and moved to Cardiff in 1951.

Detective Chief Inspector Patrick Catto

now believes recent scientific developments

mean there's a very real chance of identifying his killer.

We're looking at a forensic review to revisit all the exhibits.

The investigation at the time was a thorough investigation.

There are over 300 exhibits from the scene.

It has so much potential to find out who is responsible for this.

He was always quiet, dad.

Kept himself to himself, like. He had a couple of best friends.

Never knew him to go out drinking.

Never knew him to go to the pictures ever, no.

He just was a family man.

He just used to go out, earn his money, and come home.

Sit on the chair.

Say he was awake, but he was asleep. "I'm just resting my eyes."

He had quirky little ways, If he was driving,

he never had his shirt sleeves down, always had his sleeves rolled up.

And he always put his right arm out of the window,

and his one arm was always brown and the other wasn't. Yeah.

We owe this to the victims of these horrific crimes.

If we find that person who is responsible, that would be huge.

That would really put some closure and help the family move on.

The murder weapon has never been found.

I know there was extensive searches...

with metal detectors

up and around the area, but it had never been found.

But it looks as if a plumber's hammer has been used,

or some sort of hammer, to the side of his head,

and, ultimately, killed him.

There's gonna be a few photographs here now

which are quite disturbing.

That's the blood.

The heavy blood staining in the passenger seat of...

Jack's car.

So there's an indication something has taken place there.

The person responsible has caused some horrific injuries to Jack,

and are obviously a dangerous individual

and a danger to the public.

And there is a possibility this person responsible is still alive.

On Friday, 5th October, 1979, at one o'clock in the afternoon,

Jack Armstrong was called to pick up a fare

going by the name of Mr Williams.

The customer had booked a taxi to take him from a pub in Cardiff

to Cowbridge, a short distance from the city.

At half past one, Jack radioed in with his call sign, "Castle 10",

to say he'd picked up his fare.

This was the last time anyone heard from Jack.

Later that evening the police were called

after Jack's taxi was found abandoned

near the village of Treoes, twenty miles from Cardiff.

This is the lane, Pat, that, in 1979, looked like this.

Forty years worth of nature reclaiming the ground.

Now it's a path rather than a road.

Jack's car was found down in Treoes,

and there was nobody in the vehicle.

Jack was nowhere to be seen.

And there was extensive blood inside the vehicle,

and in particular in the passenger side.

Following the discovery of the car,

two witnesses came forward with vital information.

They saw a suspicious man cleaning inside the taxi,

but he did not match Jack's description.

Whoever's done it, hasn't just dumped it and run.

They've taken the time to wipe the steering wheel and...

Yeah, which, as the witness has said,

that somebody's leaning inside the taxi,

they more or less try and shield themselves

and are wiping something down, maybe even the steering wheel.

That would indicate that the person

who was wiping that would be wiping off evidence

relating to themselves, probably fingerprints.

The man seen by the witness quickly became the prime suspect.

We've been able to position where Jack's taxi was

and where it was dumped here.

Parked facing the dual carriageway, abandoned on the left-hand side.

The road, effectively, was a dead end.

For somebody to come up this lane...

-Yeah. -It's, you know...

They... To me, it would appear that they know where this lane is.

Back in 1979,

detectives were fearing the worst as they searched for Jack,

and had to break the news to his family.

I was living with my dad at the time.

I cut his hair for him cos I always used to cut his hair for him.

And he went about his business as usual.

Had his cuppa and his ciggie, that was his breakfast, always.

A cup of tea and a cigarette and a cough,

and that was his breakfast, always, for years.

He went to work, as far as I know, everything was fine,

and never heard no more.

In the evening, I went up to the pub cos I used to play darts up there.

And Robert, my step-brother,

came up the pub and said, "Your father's missing."

DNA technology, science, has advanced significantly.

Now, even the slightest touch is enough to yield DNA,

even going back all this time.

So there is a real possibility of getting DNA

and find out who's responsible for this.

Next time, the cold case detectives sift through 40-year-old exhibits

which could hold the key to finding Jack's killer.

We'd eliminate Jack,

and whatever's left in that profile could be the killer.

And the prime suspect in a 40-year-old rape case

faces tough questions.

"He has held her to that floor where he's raped her."

Was that you?

Subtitles: Krzysiek Igielski plint.com