All language subtitles for Cold Case Detectives -- S01E03 (2023) WEB.eng

There was extensive blood
inside the vehicle.

This is where his body
was found three days later.

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.

Whatever's left in that profile
could be the killer.

They're committed to solving

some of the most baffling
murders and sex crimes

which have gone
undetected for years.

I wish Dad was still here.

He was taken away
from me too soon.

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 do not have to say anything,

but anything you do say
may be given in evidence.

This interview
is being visually recorded,

and I am DC 5501 Hargraves.

Detective Jenna Hargraves

is interrogating
66-year-old Roland Long,

accused of raping a woman
more than 40 years ago,

after advances in forensic science
linked him to the attack.

Did you have sexual intercourse
with this victim?

Which, again,
I'll put that photo in front of you.

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

There's loads of things to consider.

How is he gonna react to this,
after all this time?

This is something he may think he's
got away with after all these years.

The victim in this case
has waited four decades for justice.

If he can do it to one person,
he can do it again.

He just needs to be locked up.
Throw away the key.

She's described herself
as being quite a small, short lady,

slim, and she's been overpowered
by a bigger man.

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

-Was that you?
-No comment.

When you've turned her around
and she's been lying on her back...

you said, "No-one says no to me."

Are you a man
that likes to be in control?

Long's DNA was found
in a semen stain

left on the victim's skirt.

His DNA profile was already
on the national database

because he had previously
been convicted

of a string of sexual assaults.

Long gives no answers,
but the questions keep coming.

The victim said
the male said to her,

"Do as I say,
and you won't get hurt."

-Did you say that to the victim?
-No comment.

How has your semen
stained her skirt?

No comment.

What does a shrug mean?

Once the police
were called that night,

the victim was taken
back to the scene

to identify it to officers.

Her tights and knickers
were not there.

-Did you take them at the time?
-No comment.

-Did you collect women's clothing?
-No comment.

How old are you now, Roland?

-Sixty-six?
-Sixty-six.

So in August 1980, 26-year-old man.

Young man
with everything in front of you.

Is now the case that your crime
has caught up with you?

-Have you been waiting for this day?
-No comment.

She's had to live with this
for the last 40 years.

It was a traumatic event.

And there's nothing
you want to say at this point?

I was absolutely shocked...

when they told me
that they'd found...

the man.

I felt relieved, actually.

It is something
I never thought would happen.

You know,
that he would be caught and...

or they'd find him.

I was just completely shocked. Yeah.

And I...

I don't know, I was just shaken
a little bit cos I suppose...

all these different emotions,
it all comes back to you as well.

And... you know what happened.

Everything comes back, but...

But now... But you're glad...
that they've got him.

So, fingers crossed and...

he gets, you know,
what he deserves.

Yeah.

OK, the time is 16.20.

The date is still
the 15th of September 2020,

and I'm stopping the recorder.

He's been quite quiet,
not very talkative.

I think he knows he's been caught.

Especially with the "no comment."
There's no explanation of it.

Yeah. He knows he's been caught.

Long will have to spend
more time in the cells

while a decision is made

on whether there's
enough evidence to charge him.

Unsolved cases
are never officially closed,

and the cold case team
are focusing their efforts

on a baffling murder
which took place in 1979.

The case files are held deep
in the police archive.

Taxi driver Jack Armstrong
was bludgeoned to death,

but his killer
has never been caught.

It's vital
that today's investigators

understand what was done
by their predecessors

on the original investigation

before they can get started
looking for new evidence.

Here we have in storage the boxes

containing the original documents
from the enquiry in 1979.

There's approximately...

fifty-plus boxes
full of the old documents.

This reflects, really,
the amount of work

that went into
the original investigation in 1979.

Now, I know...

in total, there's over 1,000
statements were taken,

and in the region of 3,000 actions
that were raised for officers,

investigating officers
who were out on the ground,

to conduct enquiries.

Remarkably,

one of those officers
from 40 years ago

is now seasoned detective

and cold case investigator
Gerry Blake.

Back in '79, I hadn't long joined
the police force.

And in particular,
with Jack Armstrong,

I remember that it was
a very difficult enquiry.

I recognise some of the faces.
They're all a lot older now.

And on the left is Billy Bryant,
wearing his Welsh Guardsman's tie.

Smudger Smith,
Gordon "Smudger" Smith,

and Mr Viv Brooks.

All looking very, very young
in the day.

To have somebody
like Gerry who has...

who was part of the initial search,

and then to be looking
at a forensic review

some 40-odd years later
is invaluable.

As a young police constable in 1979,

Gerry searched
for the missing taxi driver.

Jack Armstrong's car
had been found abandoned

on a dead-end lane
with its interior covered in blood.

But there was no sign of the missing
58-year-old family man.

Fifty detectives are still working,

and the thing
is still very much ongoing.

When Mr Armstrong
was reported missing,

quite clearly, everyone who had
any contact with him

had to be seen,
so that was a big exercise.

And officers were pulled in
from everywhere to go and follow up

and contact
these potential witnesses.

And that's what we did.

And, of course, being a taxi driver
and quite a sociable man as well,

lots of people were seen.

Enquiries did produce
a local witness.

In 1979, Garth Crandon
lived in the village

near where Jack's taxi
had been found.

I'd been for a walk with children,
pushing the two of them in the pram.

The car came by me very, very close.

Very carefully.
And just went slowly by.

But I thought to myself,
"Why is he coming here?

Because there's only two families
on the moors, and it's a block end."

Cars didn't come along here,

so there was something odd about it
without me knowing what it was.

The police asked me

if I'd noticed anything about
the driver, did I see the driver?

I can't honestly say
I saw the driver.

I was concerned
with the safety of the children.

And as the car came close by me,

all I saw was his arm
and his shoulder,

and, of course,
he was sitting back in the seat.

Really speaking,
I couldn't see his face at all.

Of course, standing here now,

we're about half a mile from the...
where the taxi was found.

You know,
it's quite disturbing, really.

It's early days
for the Armstrong case.

But back at the police station
in Cardiff,

the 40-year-old rape investigation
is at a critical stage.

Prime suspect,
Roland Long, is in custody

and has been confronted with the new
forensic evidence against him.

But he's refusing
to answer any questions.

OK, Mr Long, we're now
going to give you some bail.

The decision to release Long on bail

is a bitter blow
for the investigating team.

Despite what seemed like
overwhelming forensic evidence,

and his refusal
to provide any explanation,

the Crown Prosecution Service

decides there's not
enough evidence to charge Long.

OK, so between now
and the bail date,

of the 13th of October, I need you
to adhere to two conditions.

The pressure is on now to gather
as much evidence as possible

in order to get this charge

and then a conviction.

It wasn't just about the DNA.
We need to have that wider picture.

Like I said, it's finding out
was he in Cardiff at that time?

What was his connections to Cardiff?

Was there any connections
to the victim?

Although he's gone "no comment"
in interview,

we still have to explore
those avenues,

and we still need to conduct
the rest of that investigation.

So the pressure is on
to get this right.

As Jenna digs deeper, the team are
also carrying on their investigation

into the murder
of taxi driver Jack Armstrong.

Gerry Blake is a detective
with a wealth of experience.

In 1979,
he was a 26-year-old constable.

He's using his first-hand memory
of the case

to help his colleagues identify

where to look
for possible new leads.

It was a very big search,
it was a huge area.

The searches at the time
amassed a mountain of evidence

which may yet hold the answer
to Jack's murder.

We were assisted
by lots of volunteers.

People came out
with metal detectors,

groups of friends came out to assist

with the hope of locating Jack.

The search for the missing
58-year-old father

continued for three days
along the 25-mile route,

from where Jack Armstrong
picked up his fare in Cardiff

to where his taxi
was found abandoned.

But, unfortunately,

he was found,

and as we suspected,
he'd been murdered.

Jack Armstrong's body
was found five miles from his taxi

and it was suspected
he had been killed with a hammer.

The motive: robbery.

I just went into shock, really.

I had to have
an injection, sedative,

because I was...
I was just traumatised

cos I did blame myself
for a long, long time.

If I hadn't had split up,
if I hadn't gone to live with him,

if I hadn't had said,
"Would you do days",

he might've still been here.

And I've lived
with that for 42 years...

still.

Yep.

That's what I mean.

I need closure to get
these thoughts out of my head.

Getting justice after all this time

is what motivates
the cold case detectives.

Here we are, Pat, this is the scene
of the deposition of the body.

In 1979, it looked like that.

Not a lot of difference,

other than this is October,
the ferns are dying back,

so from an undergrowth
point of view,

there's more growth
and there's more material now

than there would be in October.

The car, we believe, was parked here
on the left-hand side,

and like our car is parked
just there now.

After the attack,
Jack is pulled from the car

and dragged in about five to seven
metres into the undergrowth

where his body is found
three days later.

And this track, then, is probably
where the assault took place.

That's the opinion
in terms of the forensic evidence.

The blood inside the car suggests
that the blows happened in the car,

and once Jack was subdued,
so to speak, he was then dragged out

to the nearside
which would present, then,

the killer dragging Jack
into the ferns five or seven metres.

I believe Jack has been hit
by a blunt object

from a person who was sitting
in the back of the vehicle.

I then believe that the suspect then
dragged his body into the bracken,

and then got back into the vehicle
and driven it down to Treoes.

The thoughts I have
in my head of how...

it happened,
I can't get out of my head.

If they can find out
exactly what happened,

my father can be put
to rest properly.

The investigation at the time
was a thorough investigation.

So, for me, what's going to detect
this is DNA, is the forensic route.

The focus for the team
will now be on determining

which of the many
40-year-old exhibits,

held in the police archives,

might best yield traces
of the killer's DNA.

And they have reason for optimism,
as the same forensic techniques

have already identified a suspect
in the rape case from 1980.

Roland Long's semen was found
on the skirt of his victim.

He's refusing to answer questions,

but the cold case detectives
still need more evidence

if they're going to be able
to charge him with the crime.

Detective Jenna Hargraves
is under pressure

to find more evidence
that supports the DNA result

and further incriminates Long.

We managed to locate
an old custody photo.

It's important
that we paint this picture

of what Roland Long
looked like then.

A jury is gonna see this
older man standing in front of them,

not the young, sort of,
fit lad that he was then.

I've taken a statement
from a witness

who has detailed that in the '80s,

when she was in a relationship
with Roland Long,

that he used to go out late at night

and actually come back stating
that he'd been with other women,

and women's items
were regularly found in his vehicle.

In this case, what happened
in Elm Street Lane,

the victim's tights and knickers
were never recovered.

So it just...
it builds that picture, really.

There is also significant
new information about

where Long lived and worked
at the time of the rape attack.

It's such a short
walking distance to the scene.

When it comes to his address,
it was minutes from the scene,

workplace, minutes from the scene.

After the offence was committed,
the suspect jumps over the wall.

He knew where he was going.
He knew that area.

He could jump over the wall knowing
that could take him to another route

to flee the scene then.

Bear in mind, this offence
has occurred at 11.00 p.m.

We have located a... petrol station

that he was working in in the 1980s.

And we know that he used to work
a lot of evening shifts.

Having all this information together

just shows that knowledge
that Roland had of the area

and that he was regularly out
at that time of night.

With this extra evidence,

Jenna has done
everything she can for now.

Ultimately, the decision
on whether to charge Long

rests in the hands
of the Crown Prosecution Service,

who will consider the case.

Deep inside the police archive
at a secret location in South Wales,

are boxes of evidence
from the taxi driver murder case.

They've been meticulously stored
in the hope that one day

forensic science would allow
their secrets to be unlocked.

In every murder investigation,
especially undetected murders,

we don't get rid of...
any exhibits whatsoever.

Science always develops

and new investigative
techniques generally develop

because the reality is nobody
can anticipate the future and...

A good example, in 1979,

there was effectively
no mention of DNA.

Now it is one of the main
investigative tools that we rely on.

This is the room where the exhibits
of Jack Armstrong are held.

In the original list,
there were 326 exhibits.

they're all on shown
on the register here.

And we see,
all these are the contents

from the boot of the car itself.

We've got jump leads,
air freshener...

And you can see there's a tin
of Primrose chopped ham here.

Some tools, some old tools,
who are now rusty.

And then, equally...

we've got, not surprising,
we've got...

two wheel braces here.

The initial submissions will be
exhibits from the most likely area

which we believe, as a team,

are gonna yield
the best possibility for DNA.

In this box, we have the clothing
of Jack Armstrong, the shoe,

the trousers, the shirt, jacket,
the right shoe, and so forth,

and the cardigan of Jack Armstrong.

Jack's clothing, initially,
for me, is really important.

The hopes are to recover DNA
from the person responsible.

The hope is that person
is on the police system already,

and then we can do
a direct match on that person

and find out
who's responsible for this.

DNA techniques now have enhanced,
they're far more sensitive.

So possibly we're hoping that

something in this box,
for example...

will give us that breakthrough
we really need.

New forensic testing
is about to begin

on the clothes of Jack Armstrong.

Detectives believe that the killer

may have dragged him by the legs
before dumping his body.

We're sampling the socks that Jack
Armstrong was wearing when he died.

He had to be moved from the car,
out to where he was found.

The perpetrator would've had
to handle him somehow

to get him out the car,
so we're targeting the areas

we think may have been touched
by the perpetrator.

The person responsible for this
is a danger to the public.

And there is a possibility

this person responsible
is still alive.

We're also looking
at the trousers for any damage.

Damage, really, has that been caused

by somebody grabbing at the clothing
and pulling him out.

If it has, can we sample
around those areas

and submit that for DNA profiling
in case there's any DNA

from anybody that's touched around
and caused that damage?

When you're so involved in a case,

whether it's cold case
or a current case,

and you send off samples,
just waiting for that DNA profiling

to know whether you've got a match,

and so much depends
on those results...

the waiting can be horrible.

The processes cannot be rushed.

But in the 40-year-old
rape investigation,

detective Jenna Hargraves urgently
needs to speak to the victim.

-Hello.
-How you doing?

-I'm good. Come in.
-Good.

-It is all right to come in?
-Yes.

So, how have you been?

Good. Yeah.

With such important news,

Jenna wanted
to give it face to face.

So... since we last spoke,

I've got a bit of news for you.

CPS came back yesterday
with a decision to charge...

-Roland Long. OK.
-Oh, amazing.

So, we'll... So, yeah,
he's gonna be charged with rape.

I know it's... You know,
it seems like such a long process.

-Yes. Yeah.
-And it's such a journey.

Yeah, but it's amazing.

To get this result now, I'm just...

Honestly, I'm so pleased to sit here
and tell you this is the outcome.

I was proud that I was able
to deliver that message to her

and to help her try and get some
closure after all these years.

So, the plan now is for me
to go to his home address this week,

and hand-deliver that charge to him.

The victim has waited
40 years for this news.

But there's still a long road ahead.

After decades of getting away
with his crime,

Roland Long will now face justice.

-Morning, Roland.
-Hi, Roland.

What now?

Roland, obviously, back last year,

you were arrested and brought
into Cardiff custody.

On relation to the rape
going back in 1980.

-The case was taken to CPS, Roland.
-Go away!

He was not delighted to see us.

I think he knew it was coming.
He's been waiting for us to come.

And he knew his day of reckoning
in court would ultimately...

be where we're heading.

He's been arrogant throughout,
had dealings with him previously.

He was the type, really.

While Roland Long waits for his case
to be heard before the courts...

...in headquarters, Jenna debriefs
her cold case colleagues

on the operation to charge him.

How's the victim?

-I was about to say.
-I know you've been in touch.

There was an outpouring
of emotion when she was first told

which makes it worthwhile,
what we're doing.

Definitely. Can you imagine
having that knock on the door,

like 40 years down the line,
saying "Oh, we've got him"?

Like, what message
does that send out to our victims?

"We're still working on this,
trying to get that result for you."

-And potential perpetrators as well.
-And perpetrators, yeah.

"Keep looking behind your shoulders.
We're not far behind."

So, yeah. It sends
that message out, doesn't it?

With the victim in this case,
she's just pleased

that we're on top of this
and we've got someone for it.

Because at the end of the day,
we got a semen stain,

his DNA on her skirt.

And he hasn't
given an account for it.

And it's on the back,
on the inside of her skirt.

-Yeah.
-Like you said, no account. Yeah.

I just hope that he sees sense
and pleads guilty

so that she doesn't
have to go through the ordeal

of giving evidence
and reliving it all again.

Exactly, yeah.

-Fingers crossed.
-It's just fingers crossed.

It's an anxious day for detective
Jenna Hargraves and the team...

as Roland Long arrives in court.

Despite the powerful
evidence against him,

the team's worst fears are realised,

as Long pleads not guilty
to the charge.

I wasn't surprised,

but I was annoyed...

that, you know,
he's entered that plea.

And the thought now
that not only has the victim

had to go through
what he put her through

and have had to live
with it for 40 years,

the thought now he's gonna put her
through a court process as well.

But there is a little bit of welcome
news for the team and the victim.

Despite him entering that plea,

the judge was not happy
that he was released on bail,

so she decided to remand him,

which I don't think
he was expecting.

It was a big shock, but fantastic.

She clearly sees that concern...

and worried possibly
about any reoffending.

So, you know,
I feel far more comfortable

knowing that he is remanded
at the moment,

and he's not out there
on the streets.

For the cold case team,
there's growing confidence

the same forensic techniques that
yielded the evidence against Long

will provide a breakthrough
in the taxi driver murder case.

Jack Armstrong's clothes have slowly
been giving up their secrets

about who might
have attacked him so brutally.

-All right?
-I got results from Jack's clothing.

Oh, right. OK. Any good?

Some of them are OK. They're mainly
incomplete DNA profiles, though.

An incomplete profile means the team

only have part of what could be
the killer's DNA.

Maybe for the first time,

they have a glimpse
of the murderer.

But it's not quite enough.

We're not gonna search them
on the database.

Right. OK.

What we always hope for
with regards to DNA profile

is a full, complete DNA profile,

which will then allow us to compare
that fully with somebody else.

So, they haven't been as successful
as we'd hoped they would be.

So it's... we're at a difficult
stage with it.

-OK. Disappointing though, isn't it?
-Yeah. It is disappointing.

Cos we know...
he must have been dragged.

We know the possibility
is only one person.

But, as I say,
it's the passage of time.

Yeah.

-I suppose we'll have to see...
-See what more can be done.

-What more can be done.
-Yeah.

Back at the scene of the murder,
for the man leading the hunt,

it feels like they are so close
and yet so far.

In cases like this,
you need a little luck,

and right now, it's not coming.

This is a disappointment,
but it is the reality.

This case is over 40 years old,
and it's expected in this,

but we will keep going.

There are ups and downs
in a reinvestigation and reviews.

You get your highs and lows.

But it's the motivation to continue.

OK, there may be setbacks,

but look for the next... possibility

and remain optimistic.

The team has to rethink where they
might find new traces of the killer.

They go back to the very beginning
to re-examine the attack on Jack.

I've gone back through
the list of exhibits

that were taken at the time,
and there's lots of them,

but came across DJR-19,

which is the tapings of Jack's face.

Back in 1979, the pathologist
who examined Jack's body

noticed that he had been
punched in the face,

and so he took tape samples
from Jack's bruised skin.

If the killer made contact with him,
he may have left a trace.

What do you think the potential is?

I doesn't appear to...
It hasn't been examined.

If he has been punched
several times by the offender,

then there's a chance the offender's
left some DNA on Jack's face.

And those tapings have then

potentially picked
that DNA up from Jack's face.

So that would be
the suspect's sweat.

-Sweat, skin flakes, possibly hair.
-Saliva, the hair.

Yeah, if he's been shouting at Jack,

saliva may have been deposited
and picked up in the same way.

-There is a potential there.
-Yes.

We need a breakthrough.
And a bit of luck as well, and...

I'm always hopeful,
but you're more hopeful

when certain exhibits
haven't been looked at previously.

It's that sort of, "Oh, my God,
there could be something here."

The testing is complex
and painstaking,

but with the technology advancing
almost on a daily basis,

even the tiniest beads
of sweat or saliva

could be enough
to unmask the killer.

We've had the results
from the tapings of Jack's face.

Unfortunately, there's no profiles
obtained at the moment

that could potentially
identify an offender.

It is disappointing,
but there is further work

that could be done
possibly in the future.

With this case, it's quite unique

in that we still have
all the exhibits.

We still have all the documentary,
the 50 boxes mentioned.

So it's a good case, I believe,
to keep looking at.

There's work to be done.

We owe this to the public,

we owe this to the victims of
these horrific crimes to keep going.

Science will move on
in five years, ten years.

Patience, determination, motivation.

South Wales Police
will never give up.

We will find somebody
responsible for this.

While investigators remain positive,

the fact that tests have failed
to produce any new clues

is difficult news for Jack's family,
who've longed for a breakthrough.

Whoever it was,
he had no right to do that.

No right whatsoever.

Nobody's got the right
to take another life.

Oh, I hate him.
Hate him with a vengeance.

He's a monster.

Absolute monster.

I wish dad was still here.

He was taken away from me too soon.

I just hate to think
that he suffered like he did,

cos he must have done.

And he is missed
by a lot of people, even now.

Hey, dad.

I'm always thinking about you,
always will do.

Love you to bits. I've got
some nice flowers for you, look.

As the cold case team

deal with the disappointment
of the Jack Armstrong murder,

there's unexpected news
in the 40-year-old rape case.

The trial was due to start
in four months' time,

but the accused, Roland Long,
has suddenly been brought to court.

After a brief hearing,

Jenna needs to call
the headquarters.

Hi, Jen.

-Hiya, chief, how are you doing?
-Good, thanks. How are you?

Not too bad. Just ringing you
with some good news.

Roland has changed
his plea to guilty.

That's fantastic.
I'm over the moon about that.

Due to our work,

you know, obtaining the DNA
and exploring every single avenue

to make this investigation
as watertight as possible,

we've given him nowhere to go.

It's amazing, isn't it?

Well, I'm proud of you.
That's fantastic news.

How do you feel about it?

Yeah, I'm obviously
really excited about it.

I just can't wait
to tell the victim now.

He has obviously seen sense now,
and it's a good feeling.

And the fact now
that changing his plea to guilty

prevents that victim from having
to go through that process at court.

Two months later,
the team are all in court

to see Long sentenced for his crime.

It's the culmination
of months of hard work.

I feel sick to my stomach,
if I'm honest.

The fact now that we're bringing
the victim into the courtroom

to be able to hear that sentencing,

I feel nervous for her.

For the first time,
it's revealed to the public

that Roland Long
is a serial offender,

with previous convictions
for a string of sexual assaults,

violence and making
indecent images of children.

The judge is in no doubt
that he's a dangerous man.

Long is sentenced
to 12 years in prison,

and given his age,
may never be freed.

Thanks to the application
of advanced DNA technology,

Roland Long was identified
as the person responsible,

and has now been brought to justice.

His previous offences,
I was so shocked,

and what a horrible, horrible man.

He deserves to be locked up.

And people are safer.

It's almost 42 years,
and now I can just forget about it.

Really pleased with the sentence.
Very pleased.

It just shows that we never give up.

The police never give up.
And it's given me that satisfaction.

It's something
I'm really passionate about.

It's something that I feel
is never forgotten.

We're constantly looking
to bring people to justice,

no matter how long has passed,

and I find it really satisfying when
we get a result like this.

It's quite difficult, I'm finding,
putting my emotions into words.

I feel quite proud.

Proud to be part
of this organisation.

Proud to be a part of the team
that I've been working with

to get such an outstanding result,
really, for the victim.

And just really happy about it,
really happy.

When we started this off,

I didn't know
if we were gonna be successful.

I really didn't.

I was optimistic that I thought
we had the passion and the ability

and, you know, the availability
of forensic science

to make a difference,
but I didn't know,

but now all I can say is
I am immensely proud of the team.

And I remain really hopeful

we're gonna bring
further people to justice.

So we're gonna carry on.

The offence is one of rape
of a female over 16 years old.

An authority has been given

to carry out the taking
of an intimate sample.

You do not have to allow
this sample to be taken

but I must warn you that
if you refuse without good cause,

your refusal may harm your case
if it comes to trial.

Subtitles: Krzysiek Igielski
plint.com