- 2 days ago
Forensics- Murder Case Season 1 Episode 2
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00for more than four decades a murderer has walked free the 1983 killing of George murder a taxi
00:13driver in Aberdeen has cast a long shadow over Scotland and that shadow remains last time we
00:22saw that despite their best efforts the truth has eluded detectives for more than 40 years
00:28but now you could play your part in helping us try to catch his killer later I'll be joined by the
00:36senior investigating officer James Callender to find out how your insights or even your DNA could
00:43help him solve this crime but first the evidence
00:49behind unmarked doors within the walls of almost every police station the hidden room holds the
01:02weight of the UK's most serious unsolved crimes in Aberdeen with its nickname the Granite City
01:09there's long been a case as tough as stone to crack victims without justice just be murdered taxi driver
01:16George Murdoch four decades ago families without answers who carries a cheese one who would do that
01:24criminals who think they've got away with it 41 years on we've never had that break to find out
01:30who was responsible the police hung on to every scrap of evidence for cold case detectives these
01:38investigations are never closed somebody out there knows something they don't stop they keep going
01:44with exclusive access we follow every buried lead forensic clue and forgotten whisper following the
01:52detectives who refused to let the past rest
02:07the story of George Murdoch's murder begins in Aberdeen in the 1980s the city's hotels are washed with oil
02:14money and rig workers from all over the world George a local taxi driver is working near the
02:21Marcliffe hotel he picks up a fare a trip out of town towards Cooter 20 minutes later he's dead
02:31attacked with a cheese wire strangled to death and robbed his taxi discovered on a small secluded
02:39lane off North D side Road the only witnesses two sixteen-year-old cyclists who catch a fleeting
02:51horrifying glimpse of the killer before he disappears into the night
02:55I've been on cold cases before and we knew who done it we just had to prove it this one is totally different we have no idea who done it so it's even more than the night
02:57I've been on cold cases before and we knew who done it we just had to prove it this one is totally different we have no idea who done it so it's even more frustrating than then perhaps it should have been on cold cases before and we knew who done it we just had to prove it this one is totally different we have no idea who done it
03:27it should be but that's what keeps you going
03:34detective inspector James Callender has been leading the investigation into the 1983 murder of taxi driver George Murdoch for nearly four years
03:42if you want to get a an understanding of how things developed chronologically the papers are the best place to get it to some they're yesterday's fish and chip wrappers but to cold case detectives the newspapers are a haunting reminder of what remains unsolved
04:01James is at home immersed in the past forever searching for that one missed detail that one overlooked clue
04:08This one is basically the day after the murder
04:22Raced to help the death fight Cubby.
04:25Saturday, the 1st of October, a cheese wire's been found at the murder scene.
04:30So, a week later, till Friday the 7th, still getting reported on,
04:36and police are looking to identify somebody coming out of woods.
04:42The running man.
04:45The running man.
04:47A lead that never goes away.
04:50Detectives then and now can't forget him.
04:53He's the one, deep down, they suspect is the killer.
04:58Various witnesses around the time of the murder speak of
05:01seeing somebody running across North Eastside Road
05:05and that individual wasn't wearing shorts and T-shirt, wasn't out for a run.
05:11But sightings of who, I suppose that's the big question.
05:14You know, we never identified who the running man was.
05:22For 40 years, the investigation has focused on identifying the man
05:26who fled the scene of George's murder.
05:30James has something detectives in 1983 could only dream of.
05:35A DNA profile that he believes belongs to the killer.
05:38We have a DNA sample that hasn't been matched in the DNA database.
05:47Familial DNA's next step is a search of the National DNA Database
05:52to identify people with strong genetic links to the profile that we hold.
05:58These people aren't suspects.
05:59They're just genetically linked or close or similar to the DNA profile that we have.
06:04So similar that they may be related.
06:09The DNA sample and familial DNA is important
06:11and is the key to solving this.
06:24From Aberdeen, James' team are now all over the UK,
06:28determined to collect the DNA necessary to close the net on the killer's family.
06:34And ultimately, the killer himself.
06:39We're part of a team that are investigating a murder from 41 years ago.
06:43This killer was never caught.
06:45So what they've done recently is what we call familial DNA work.
06:50And the scientists have managed to take that DNA and narrow it down to around about 1,000 people across the UK.
07:00We've got on our list at the moment.
07:03And all of those 1,000 people have similarities in their DNA to that of the killers.
07:09And you are one of those 1,000.
07:13Lovely.
07:15We're trying to advance the inquiry for the family to still get answers for George's murder.
07:21So, yeah, are you happy to give that DNA to them?
07:23Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
07:24The people they're swabbing are not the killer, but a brother, an uncle, or their father could be.
07:32That's it.
07:33Anything for us?
07:34Any questions?
07:35Uh, no.
07:36Cool.
07:37Thanks for your time.
07:37Not every day you get your DNA top of the mirror, is it?
07:40No, exactly.
07:41Yeah, I'm a shock.
07:43Thanks very much.
07:44You're welcome.
07:45All right.
07:48Detectives have been out on the ground for weeks.
07:51Now they're heading back to Aberdeen with a new lead that needs checking out.
07:55Urgently.
07:57Police looking for clues today in Slack Lane at Oakworth, where Mahmood Ahmed's body was found early yesterday.
08:02He had no cash on him when he was found.
08:05Colleagues say he wouldn't have been carrying much anyway.
08:08Police have discovered a woman whose DNA is not only similar to the profile they have for George's killer.
08:14She's also related to Michael Metcalfe, the man who killed taxi driver Mahmood Ahmed in West Yorkshire in 2006.
08:23His taxi was found dumped in May Street at Ingro in Keighley last night.
08:28He'd been beaten and stabbed to death.
08:32When you compare the two of them, there are obvious similarities.
08:35Violent murder, potential robbery, secluded area where it happened.
08:44When leads like this do come in, they're taken seriously.
08:50There's chilling echoes between the crimes.
08:53And then there's the similarity in his bloodline.
08:59Was Metcalfe's DNA ever taken?
09:02If not, he could become a suspect for George's murder.
09:05Out of the 50 stories that we may get, only one of them can be right.
09:14So is this the person that killed George?
09:16No, it's not.
09:28His DNA is on file and doesn't match the DNA of George's killer.
09:33He may also have killed a taxi driver, but he's definitely not the man police are hunting.
09:38Really frustrating.
09:42There's been quite a lot of good leads in relation to this inquiry.
09:47There's probably upwards of a hundred names over the years that we've had to eliminate.
09:54But you have to remain optimistic.
09:56DNA, the thing that could solve this, has also torn through every possible suspect.
10:10George Murdoch's killer is a total stranger.
10:13That feeling of being so close yet so far can fuel seeds of doubt.
10:19I do feel maybe I'm under a lot of scrutiny at times.
10:25We've got to be making progress to justify what we're doing.
10:30The case is obviously 41 years old now.
10:33So there is real concern that the person is deceased.
10:38If the person is still alive, we could confidently say they've never been convicted, charged or arrested for a crime since DNA came into being.
10:46And it ultimately comes down to the age of the case.
10:53Leads that vanish.
10:55Evidence that fades.
10:57Could the killer be alive or might he be dead?
11:01A phantom they can't catch.
11:06Generally the investigation are more inclined to think that the individual is dead.
11:12Adam Gregory is a behavioural investigative advisor with the National Crime Agency.
11:23I don't think this individual needs to be dead.
11:27They just disappear.
11:30They go quiet.
11:31They stop offending.
11:33Or they offend in ways that, for whatever reason, doesn't identify them in the interim.
11:37With every reason to think they're still alive, I think that's the most likely hypothesis.
11:45This is a tale with a few twists and turns yet.
11:49When I'm fishing, it's an escape from day-to-day life.
12:14I first started fishing when I was, like, 10, 11 years old with Dodd.
12:25I remember always being out in his boat.
12:30We always used to catch fish.
12:34Jesse and Dodd were like additional grandparents to me and my sister.
12:39Lots of happy memories and good times with them.
12:44In the 70s, David and his family became neighbours to taxi driver George, affectionately known as Dodd, and his wife, Jessie.
12:55Simple, happy days filled with the warmth of the people next door.
13:00I remember being in bed, and all you could hear was them singing.
13:05I think it tended to be a Saturday night, and everyone took it in turns to sing a song.
13:10Always used to make my laugh.
13:13And I remember 29th of September, 1983, so I was 13 years old.
13:18I remember the night like it was yesterday.
13:22And waking up to hearing Jesse cry from next door.
13:26The impact of his murder on George Dodd Murdoch's widow, Jessie, was unthinkable.
13:35Part of her died that night as well, 100%.
13:40She always had this fear that whoever had killed Dodd, because he took his wallet and his ID, his address, and everything was in there,
13:51that he was going to come and get her.
13:54She had that in her head all the time.
13:56When Jessie passed away, she'd definitely died of a broken heart.
14:02Her life stopped that night.
14:05Somebody out there knows who did it.
14:07And they've protected them for 40 years.
14:10How you can protect somebody that's taken a life is beyond me.
14:17For decades, someone may have shielded a killer, but you can't outrun DNA evidence forever.
14:28The police have a profile, a list of those who are most likely to be related to the man who murdered George.
14:36But the list is vast.
14:38They need help to make the haystack they're hunting through that much smaller.
14:42I've probably supported five or six hundred major crime investigations over the last 30 years.
14:59Recently, what we've been doing allows investigations to really maximise the youth familial DNA search.
15:06And not spend a lot of time running around the country taking samples from people who are very, very unlikely to be related to the suspect.
15:19Adam and his team at the NCA have developed innovative techniques that could accelerate the investigation.
15:26Familiar DNA search is a kind of a genetic product that will produce you a couple of lists of names of people that are genetically really similar.
15:44Yeah.
15:45To your crime scene profile on the basis that if they're really similar, then they might be related.
15:51They don't have to be, but we hope that one or more of them is.
15:54But we've started to develop a methodology where we can add in some kind of behavioural components to that as well.
16:02So we use age, we use geography, we combine those two things with the original genetics.
16:08Genetics, yeah.
16:09And reorder the list.
16:10All we'll be doing is bringing more people to the table that you won't have seen.
16:14The psychology of the offender, an age range, even a sense of where the killer may have lived.
16:23Piecing together these fragments could reorder the DNA list and fast track the police investigation.
16:29People don't suddenly become a criminal and act in a completely different way.
16:34They reflect shadows of themselves, elements of themselves, which you can pick up through a thorough analysis of a crime scene, witness statements, etc.
16:44James is going back to the police evidence vault to search for these shadows.
16:57He's starting with the statements of the sole witnesses to George's murder.
17:02The young cyclists.
17:04The two cyclists are hugely significant for us because their testimony and what they saw is crucial to know what happened.
17:17The cyclists have never spoken publicly, but their statements preserve key details of the murder.
17:25My friend and I were cycling northwards in Station Road at Foddles.
17:35I saw a man lying on his back.
17:40Another man was straddling him with his knees on either side of his waist.
17:45He had his hands around his neck.
17:47They were struggling.
17:47The man on the ground tried to shout, help me, please.
17:50It was awful.
17:52I couldn't believe it.
17:52We needed to ring the police and get help.
17:58Desperate, they raced to the nearest telephone box, but realised they didn't know the street name.
18:04One of them quickly returned.
18:07The man responsible was getting to his feet.
18:11And I saw him place one knee on the driver's seat.
18:14He leaned forward and looked as if he was picking up something from the floor.
18:19The injured man was still lying on his back.
18:22Not moving.
18:24The man looked like he wasn't breathing.
18:26I caught up with my friend and he was about to enter the public telephone kiosk.
18:32Hurry!
18:33It's Pitfall Station Road, please!
18:37We thereafter immediately headed back towards Station Road Pitfall's.
18:41I saw that the male was not moving.
18:45There was blood on his face and he might have been dead.
18:51I would describe the person responsible.
18:52I was 20 to 30 years old, 5 foot 7, 5 foot 8, slim build, dark coloured hair, dressed in a dark coloured jumper with a round neck, dark trousers and dark shoes.
19:05There were just two 16-year-old boys.
19:17And I know a 16-year-old would think they're a man, but in reality they're a boy.
19:21My son's 16 and I can't imagine how he would be feeling if he was in that situation.
19:29They didn't know somebody was going to die.
19:31Crucially, their statements provide an age range not only for the killer, but for any children or siblings he may have, who could be on the National DNA Database.
19:43That is the last and only sighting of George's killer.
19:49If it wasn't for the two cyclists, the age range could be between 20 and 60.
19:54But because they were there, it helps us hugely.
20:00The man they're hunting would be in his 60s or 70s today.
20:05Murder is rarely anyone's first or last offence, particularly in brutal cases.
20:12Most killers have form.
20:15But the lack of a DNA match tells the police something important.
20:18The killer likely stopped offending before DNA profiles were routinely taken upon arrest in the early 2000s.
20:29It's compelling James to delve again into the records.
20:34These are all these yellow forms, effectively, questionnaires that were given out to taxi drivers.
20:42All 700 taxi drivers that were registered in Aberdeen City.
20:46They were wanting to see if there had been any other potential victims of what George had obviously went through.
20:53Even in 1983, police suspected other taxi drivers in Aberdeen could hold more vital missing clues.
21:03My name is Alexander Birthwick and I've been taxiing for 51 years.
21:09Across the road there is 111, the Gallagate, which was City Taxi's office when I started with him.
21:20In the yard out the back, it's the last time I had seen George.
21:24There was nothing like that ever really happened in Aberdeen before.
21:39Back in them days, you got the occasional drunk, but there weren't any weather.
21:45Have you just humoured them?
21:46In the 80s, Alex was driving for City Taxis, the same taxi firm George was working for at the time of his murder.
21:55Once you heard about George's murder, everybody was very wary of somebody who got in your taxi and sat behind you.
22:06At the time, I was feeling very scared.
22:09Suddenly, you would think twice about getting a taxi.
22:15It wasn't a violent city, and it wasn't a crime-filled city.
22:20There was a feeling, surely nobody from Aberdeen could have done this, but then there were so many newcomers into Aberdeen.
22:26It could have been somebody who didn't actually belong to this area at all.
22:31The high-rise planning legacy of the 60s, and the old city with its granite motif carved out between the Dawn and the Dee.
22:37Some of the oldest streets date from the 13th century.
22:41Then came the oil.
22:52At the time, which was in the 80s, the oil really kicked off in Aberdeen.
22:57All oil-related ships lie in here now.
23:03This is the ones that go out to the oil rigs in the North Sea.
23:09A lot of Americans moved in.
23:12A lot of Italians, they were particularly in the diving industry.
23:15People from all over.
23:18Oil has meant more incomers and a new cosmopolitan confidence.
23:21When they arrived, they were into the best hotels, because they had the big money.
23:29And at the time, it was the Marcliffe Hotel.
23:33And if you walked in to pick somebody up, all you heard was American voices.
23:40And they were speaking about rigs, rigs, rigs.
23:42The Marcliffe Hotel was right next to where George picked up his last fare.
23:48It was the last place he was seen alive.
23:51Clearly, it had to be thought of that it was somebody who'd come into the area brought in by the oil industry.
23:57Could the killer have hidden in plain sight for 40 years, an Aberdeen native, known and yet unknown to all of his friends and family?
24:13Or did they arrive with the oil boom of the 80s, to leave a trail of death, escaping the city and the country, without a trace?
24:27The Marcliffe Hotel
24:28Aberdeen in the 1980s, it's an international city.
24:36Oil was booming.
24:38There was people here from all over the world.
24:43Detective Inspector James Callender is looking for clues buried deep within the 1983 murder of taxi driver George Murdoch
24:52that could help finally solve the case.
24:54There is that chance that the person responsible is not from this country, maybe is from this country, but since left this country.
25:03That could be a reason they're not on the DNA database.
25:07We have the ability, via Interpol, to have that checked in the USA, Canada, Australia, as well as most of Europe, with a negative result.
25:17So we know the person, if they have moved, they're not on their database either.
25:21There's another possibility, that the killer wasn't from abroad, but wasn't local either.
25:30Re-examining the original paperwork, James discovers that the cheese wire, left behind by the killer, is not just a weapon.
25:43It's another vital source of clues.
25:45Ultimately, George is strangled.
25:50We know the cheese wire actually didn't kill him, but there was a lot of work that went into the cheese wire.
25:56There was Grace School of Art, which wasn't far away from the locusts.
26:00It had classes on pottery, of which they would use a cheese wire.
26:05We know cheese wires were used in the oil industry.
26:08Detectives found out exactly where the cheese wire was manufactured.
26:16From there, it was only ever sold by one organisation.
26:21The cheese wire was provided by a company that manufacture cheese wares,
26:25who told us that this particular cheese wire is the only model they ever made of that size and for Bristol Youth Workshops.
26:34The workshops offered employability skills to young people at risk of falling into criminality.
26:44We know where it was made, and we know where it was sold from.
26:48A company that came into being to help guys leaving school, maybe not a lot of prospects, down in Bristol.
26:56This could be a breadcrumb for James.
26:59Could the killer have links to the south-west of England?
27:04He's meeting Adam, an NCA behavioural advisor, at the original crime scene.
27:12In terms of a trip to Peter Coulter, that would just be straight along this road?
27:15Straight on, yeah.
27:15Just carry on the up road?
27:16Yeah.
27:17OK.
27:17Yeah.
27:18And you're probably a couple of miles from the city centre, that way.
27:21OK, got you.
27:21Yeah.
27:23They're piecing together James' findings and analysing the mechanics of the murder,
27:28looking for more insights into the offender's background that could advance their DNA investigation.
27:33The fact that they end up literally on this pavement with people coming past on bicycles,
27:42and the offender is still carrying on that suit, and I think that's really important.
27:49When one of the young lads comes back to check the name of the road,
27:55he sees, obviously, the assailant going back into the car.
27:58We are assuming he's taken the taxi takings and his wallet.
28:03To have that as what's going through your mind, having just killed someone on the pavement,
28:08to be returning to the vehicle to profit financially, I think, tells you a lot about the sort of individual.
28:13Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:14To anticipate an acquisitive crime background, and similarly the willingness and capability
28:19to engage so violently, that, again, is telling us something about his history.
28:26Yeah.
28:27And come in prepared.
28:28Yeah.
28:29With a cheeseware.
28:31We know it's manufactured in the south of England, but it's found its way up in Aberdeen.
28:35I think that's where it gets really difficult, because is it him that's bringing it from Bristol to Aberdeen,
28:41or has that journey already taken place and he just happens to come across it in Aberdeen?
28:46The idea that he's either going to Coulter or he's going to somewhere even more kind of locally constrained,
28:51I don't think we would anticipate that to be within the knowledge of a complete stranger in Aberdeen,
28:56to come out with those sort of terms, or indeed to head in this direction.
28:59No.
28:59Anyone with an association or a family connection to Bristol would be interesting.
29:03But you can't assume that it's going to be there.
29:06There is the chance that it's not local, but I've always thought it was.
29:12Armed with these details, the detectives on the ground are piecing together family histories,
29:17searching for connections to Bristol or Scotland.
29:31Are we okay to come in and have a quick chat?
29:32That's okay. Perfect. Thank you very much.
29:37A positive DNA match with a relative of the killer would trigger a complex investigation into their family tree.
29:45Every clue is vital.
29:47Did you have family, like, in Scotland around that time, or what's your kind of family history?
29:54I mean, I lived in Scotland for a little while.
29:57I lived in Lossiemouth, but that was years ago, because my dad was in the Navy.
30:01He was a philanderer, so, I mean, I don't know whether, you know, he had kids or, you know, so...
30:08That's interesting.
30:09With the latest set of samples gathered, the team are heading back to Aberdeen.
30:21In any murder investigation, the public possesses vital information that can lead to a breakthrough.
30:35It's something that moves George's remaining family to keep the case in the public eye.
30:40You just can't imagine somebody you know, this happening to them.
30:47He was one of the two ushers at our wedding.
30:50But it's just the manner of killing which stays with you more than any other.
30:58George's nephew Alex and his wife Robina have worked tirelessly to ensure he's never forgotten.
31:05Fondly remembered as Dodd, the evening before their wedding is a memory they hold dear.
31:11At the end of the night, he says, right, we're off to the dancing.
31:14We're going to go to the parley.
31:16And somebody says, you can't get in without a toy.
31:19And Dodd, he had a clip on the...
31:22I never knew he had a clip on time.
31:24I'd never seen a clip on time before.
31:25So he takes it off and he says, you can take mine.
31:31Oh dear.
31:33For them, this is about both remembering who George was and demanding the justice denied to him.
31:40It's a big part of my life.
31:50It was just unconscionable for me not to do anything.
31:53I'm not saying we can help or we have helped or whatever, but we still had to do something.
31:58For the past four years, Robina has tirelessly maintained a Facebook group dedicated to gathering tips about George's murder.
32:10We didn't really know what was going to happen, but it actually took off really quickly.
32:17And almost immediately, we started getting tips.
32:21Lots of tips.
32:24There was one which came in pretty quickly.
32:32It was a group of young guys who'd been out for a night out.
32:36They were in Wilson's Sports Bar in Market Street in Aberdeen.
32:39And they happened to sit at the table with this older guy.
32:45The discussion in the pub in 2015 took a chilling turn when the topic shifted to a murdered taxi driver.
32:53I believe the guy was pretty drunk.
32:56But towards the end of the evening, he became quite emotional, very emotional.
33:00In fact, he was in tears.
33:02He appeared to know details about a taxi driver's killing.
33:07Was he talking about George?
33:09To this day, the police believe the man has information they urgently need.
33:15But the only record of the night is a hastily snapped photo of the man in the Iron Maiden t-shirt.
33:27That was the post on July 2023.
33:32They weren't able to get a photo of his face, just the chin, which is why it was so difficult to identify the guy.
33:38And they still haven't.
33:42I mean, how it was described to us, it's difficult not to get your hopes up.
33:48Somebody out there knows something.
33:55You get emotionally involved with it yourself, trying to help a family who've lost a loved one through murder.
34:01Some people are of the view, what's the point?
34:09I generally don't want to try and justify what we're doing too much, because I know it's worth it.
34:15The most frustrating part is the not knowing.
34:18James' team have returned to Aberdeen after the latest round of familial DNA sampling.
34:42The detectives are contacting some of the people whose test results have come back.
34:54Hello, how are you doing?
35:00I'm calling from Police Scotland up in Aberdeen.
35:04What it is, we've had the DNA all tested and it's all come back, so you can relax now.
35:12You've been eliminated from the inquiry.
35:15Meanwhile, James is awaiting a crucial phone call that could connect a relative to George's killer.
35:25A breakthrough that would finally expose the truth.
35:29D.I. James Callender has been leading the investigation into the 1983 murder of taxi driver George Murray.
35:59He's on his way to George's closest living relatives, with an update.
36:07Every family is different.
36:09Every next of kin deals with significant news differently.
36:16But families have lost a loved one.
36:19They just want to make some sense of it.
36:21James Callender and his team are giving a lot to this.
36:43They are the last and best hope in terms of getting this solved.
36:47It is a cause worth fighting for.
36:58For years, George's nephew Alex and his wife Robina have looked for answers.
37:04They now look to James.
37:06We've made many, many trips up and down the country and we've been out there basically capturing people's DNA.
37:15Quite a lot of them have been sent to the scientists for examination.
37:19We haven't got that golden nugget yet.
37:24We haven't identified who's responsible yet, but there's a long way to go.
37:28But sometimes in searching for answers, a breakthrough can present itself out of nowhere.
37:43Police are still desperate to identify a man from two sightings decades apart.
37:49One running along North D-side Road away from the crime scene in 1983.
37:54And another wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt in Wilson's Sports Bar in 2015.
38:00In the meantime, the DNA hunt for George's killer continues.
38:05We always live in hope.
38:08I absolutely believe this person will be identified.
38:14If he's there, he's dead, but if he's not, you'll get him.
38:17My team and the forensic guys have managed to get this to a stage that we never thought we would ever get to.
38:38It's hugely important to me of nearing the end of my time as a police officer.
38:43There's nothing I'd like more than to detect this before I retire.
38:47I quite regularly go out of town in the direction of Kutem.
38:59And I pass that scene and my eyes always flick across to see Pit Foddle Station Road.
39:07I just clock it.
39:10And it makes me think, gosh, they still haven't got George's murderer.
39:17Over the years, for whatever reason, someone out there has been withholding information.
39:24Someone, somewhere, must know something about this crime.
39:37They were just a genuinely lovely couple that didn't deserve what happened to them.
39:43If anybody knows anything, do the right thing.
39:47Let two people rest in peace.
39:53I hope they find him.
39:54You know, if we thought this wasn't worth looking into, it wouldn't have been opened up again.
40:04And we've got a real hope that we can finally get there.
40:09Cold cases never close.
40:14We don't stop.
40:16We keep going.
40:17Well, welcome to Police Scotland.
40:34I'm here with James Callender.
40:36It just struck me first, the impact, the waves, the eddying of waves that this has had on Aberdeen and beyond for so many years.
40:45And so many people know about it still.
40:47It's such a notorious, brutal murder for Aberdeen.
40:50It's not just had an impact on the family, but I suppose the whole city, to be quite frank.
40:56Obviously, Aberdeen looks very different now to this.
40:58But the fundamentals are the same, that he's picked up in a very busy area.
41:03And because of where he was headed to and where he asked possibly the tax driver to turn into, you think he had local knowledge?
41:12I think so.
41:13But Fordor Station Road is so small and narrow, I think a local would only know that for sure.
41:20If you were going to Peter Cooter, you'd just stay in the north-east side road.
41:23What age do you think this man was when he did the crime?
41:26We're relying obviously on the cyclists, they've said somewhere between 20 and 30.
41:32So we're now 40, almost 42 years on, so let's say somewhere between 60 and 70.
41:40And clearly the person isn't on the DNA database because it would have marched.
41:43Yes, and so clearly this man did not commit a crime that's been detected.
41:49After DNA came into being, which is probably the mid-90s onwards.
41:52But I think history tells you that people commit most of their crime in their younger years.
41:58I was fascinated by the partial image in the sports bar.
42:04You could just see the chin and the Iron Maiden t-shirt.
42:07Yeah, so we know he was in the Wilson Sports Bar in Market Street in Aberdeen back in 2015.
42:14From our perspective, the guy in the Iron Maiden t-shirt clearly has something we would like to speak to him about.
42:20Was this a Scottish guy or was it...?
42:23Yeah, a local guy, we believe, to Aberdeen, spoke about the cheeseware murder.
42:28He would probably have been aged about 60 to 70 at the time.
42:33There's a couple of things that have been really interesting in this case over the years, and that is right up there.
42:37Identifying him is really important.
42:40Now you have been taking fresh DNA samples.
42:43Yeah, we're probably about maybe a quarter of the way through.
42:48It's a huge undertaking.
42:50The individuals we've got off the database are similar to the DNA that we've got for the killer.
42:56It's so similar that it could be a family relative.
42:59And you think there might be a connection to Bristol?
43:02There may be a connection to Bristol.
43:04We know the cheeseware originated from Bristol, and that's an area that we've focused on with the familial DNA testing.
43:11And am I right in saying there's a £10,000 reward for a DNA match that helps you?
43:19Yeah, so the family have said they'll give £10,000 to any individual who gives their DNA that leads to the identity of the killer.
43:27And there's a £50,000 reward as well, which is any information that leads to the confirmed identity of the killer.
43:33It doesn't have to be a conviction because the individual might be dead, of course, so...
43:37And if people have information, are there a variety of ways to get in touch with you?
43:42There's loads of ways.
43:43You know, go on to the Police Scotland website, send an email to the contact us, dial 101.
43:49Everybody knows my name.
43:51An email will get to me.
43:52But also the family have a Facebook page as well.
43:55You can contact anonymously, and they hugely encourage that.
44:01We'll have to do everything we can to get justice for a family.
44:04George, you could probably argue, is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
44:09Yeah.
44:10Just a brutal way to end, not just for him, but his poor wife Jessie and the wider family.
44:17James, thank you very much indeed.
44:19And this case is still very much open.
44:23So, if there's anything that sparks a thought, a memory, a detail, nothing is too small or insignificant.
44:32Because something that you might remember, something you might think of,
44:36could help the police get to the door of George Murder's killer.
44:41So, thank you for watching.
44:42We'll see you next time.
Recommended
45:16
|
Up next
52:21
41:38
41:31
41:31
1:33:52
43:05
40:39
38:51
22:12
24:59