Episode 1 Conviction: Murder at the Station

VOICE ON POLICE RADIO

-RADIO:

-BBC news at midnight.

11 days after she disappeared,

Paula Poolton's body was discovered in the boot of her car.

She'd been stabbed seven times.

Her body left in her car along this road.

Paula Poolton will be remembered as joyful,

bubbly and a friend for life.

-TEARFULLY.

-It still hurts to know that she's no longer with us.

Roger Kearney was having an affair with Paula Poolton,

and for three months, they'd get together,

frequently having a physical relationship.

She told a friend that she wanted to set up home with Kearney.

He was tired of the relationship.

It lasted three months.

And ended with him stabbing Paula

and putting her body in the boot of her car.

There's no forensic evidence against Mr Kearney,

but they say the painstaking police investigation

has found fragments of information that go together like a jigsaw.

The prosecution say that he was responsible for

Paula Poolton's death.

At the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday,

Roger Kearney was sentenced to life imprisonment for Paula's murder.

The defence say they have the wrong man.

He denies murder.

We have loads of people writing to us at Inside Justice.

Ten to 30 letters every single week who say they are innocent

of the crime they've been convicted of.

People can write really good letters to us, but it's very easy

for somebody sitting there, isn't it,

with all the time in the world to put down some very careful...

Carefully thought-out words about why you should believe them.

There's lots of very good liars out there.

In Roger Kearney's case, his daughter, Louisa, wrote to me,

"Dear Louise, my father has been wrongly convicted of murder."

"I'm writing to ask for your help. We really do not know what to do.

"Firstly, there is no forensic evidence to link him

"to the crime whatsoever.

"And if you can help us, please, please do so.

"I don't want my father spending any more time away from his family,

"let alone being in there for the rest of his life.

"Please, please help. I miss my dad.

"And my children miss their grandad."

I mean, have you ever talked explicitly about whether he did it,

or have you always just assumed that he didn't?

There was never a time...

..that I've thought, "Ooh, maybe. He could have done it."

Because, it just...

It's just impossible really.

It's just not in his nature to do something so awful.

Often people say, you know, they've never done anything like this

-and they didn't have any sort of violence in their background...

-Mm-hm.

..but I remember reading in the judge's summing-up one time, the judge saying,

"Well, there is always a first time that somebody commits a really serious..."

-By the nature of the thing.

-Well, yeah.

There was no reason for him to do it.

What would you like to happen from here?

If you could have any investigations done that you wanted,

what do you think we should go after?

Looking at the forensic aspect, the fact that it was such a...

..a brutal murder. Um...

There must be something left behind by the person that could've done it.

That one.

-With your teddy bear?

-Yeah.

-And my sister.

-Was he a good dad?

-Yeah, he was, yeah.

-So you've always been close to him?

-Yeah.

-Because you're very supportive of him.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

But I think anybody would be, of...

of their dad.

He's, like, my best friend...

now.

SHE CHUCKLES

You know that the way we approach this is just to look for evidence?

-Yeah.

-Wherever that takes us.

-Yeah.

Are you prepared for if we find out that he has committed this?

-Yeah.

-I do think that people cannot admit their guilt

-for all sorts of reasons...

-Hmm.

..because they can't face the thought of having to say

to this person, "Yes, I did this really terrible thing that

"I completely regret and wish that I hadn't done."

So there might be reasons why he just can't face telling you that.

But no, I don't think he...

-Well, if you...

-He wouldn't have put me through...

all of this...for no reason.

I really don't think that he would let me down.

Um...

With every person,

you have to assume there's a good chance they're lying.

But Louisa's saying in this case there's no forensic evidence

linking her dad to the crime and I think that's important.

In a murder case like this, that's unusual.

These are the boxes.

His trial papers.

Oh...

It's all of his trial papers.

I don't know... I don't know what's in which one.

I'm not a scientist, I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a judge,

I'm not a police officer. I'm only...

interested in finding out where there's a case

that really appears to have merit.

We've had police all over it, the CPS has been all over it,

the prosecution teams then come in,

defence teams come in and a jury comes in and they also agree

that somebody is guilty, so we need to understand all of that.

You have to question everything.

Go right back to the beginning.

I don't know if he's committed this crime or not.

So I need answers. Facts.

Why they thought at time of the trial he was definitely guilty.

52-year-old Roger Kearney met Paula Poolton when they were

stewards at Southampton Football Club.

He'd been with his partner for eight years, while Paula was married.

But they began an affair, spotted here on CCTV.

And for three months, they'd get together,

frequently having a physical relationship,

either at her home or in his car.

Paula had been looking at houses and wanted Kearney to move in with her.

He wasn't keen.

And after a heated phone call in the afternoon,

he met her in Duncan Road that night and stabbed her to death...

..before going to his night shift at the Royal Mail.

There's no forensic evidence against Mr Kearney,

but they say the painstaking police investigation

has found fragments of information that go together like a jigsaw.

The prosecution says Roger Kearney's fabricated a series of lies

about what he was doing on the evening of the 17th of October 2008.

OK, 17th of October 2008.

This is the police and the prosecution's version of events.

This is what got him sent to prison.

Right, the police started trying to retrace Paula's movements

that night and found CCTV footage at a Tesco.

And they see that here she is

and they say that that's her, arriving at 9.06.

According to the prosecution, Roger Kearney left home at 9.30

in order to go and meet up with Paula and they said that they know

he left at 9.30, because they say they found his car on CCTV.

But they say that's Roger Kearney's vehicle leaving his road.

He then drove down here...

..parked his car, they say...

..and he then went around on foot to the station road...

..where he waited for Paula.

And then at about 9.45, there's another bit of CCTV footage.

The prosecution say that is Paula's car, having left the Tesco

and driving towards the station.

Then she turned up.

He got into her car.

And stabs her repeatedly.

And then, they say, he takes her body out,

he puts her in the boot of the car and leaves her.

Roger Kearney arrives at work.

He did not swipe in with his Royal Mail swipe card,

and the police say that that's him covering his tracks.

According to the prosecution, he's behaving erratically.

He seems to walk to the front entrance,

and then he hesitates and walks away.

They say he starts running at one point and they can't understand why.

So the police say all of this is suspicious.

The police say all of this is the behaviour of a guilty man.

-So what are you waiting for now?

-Roger's going to call today.

He's managed to get my number on his list at the prison.

I've never actually spoken to him,

so he's...

..he's due to call me pretty much now.

I don't know him. He's not a personal friend of mine.

So it's not impossible to think he's done it at all.

So I want to keep going over things enough

so that if all of this is a front and he's lying through his teeth

and he's committed this murder, then I'll find out.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Inside Justice.

-'Hi, is that Louise?'

-Yes.

-'Hey, it's Roger.'

-Hello, Roger.

-It's good to talk to you after all this time.

-'Yes, it is.'

Why do you want Inside Justice to be involved in this, Roger?

'Cos I don't know what to do.

'I need help to prove my innocence.

'If you look at the evidence, there is no...

-'no forensics that link me to the case.'

-Right.

'Because everything is hearsay.'

Yeah.

'I am not a violent person.'

What I would like to ask you to do is talk me through the evening,

the 17th, when Paula went missing in as much colour and detail

-as you can possibly muster for me.

-'Right.

'About 5.45, Carol came home.

'She started dinner just about six o'clock-ish,

'maybe a little bit after that. And then we sat and watched a bit of TV.

'When that finished at ten o'clock, I got up and went to work.

'I recall... I don't recall exactly what time it was,

'but it was some time after ten.'

There was no record of you coming in, in your car, being swiped in.

'I can't understand why it didn't register because, I mean,

'you can't get your car in cos there's a barrier there

-'unless you swipe the card.'

-Mm-hm.

'If it failed, I wouldn't have been able to get in.'

I see. OK.

'I went to get my glasses on, realised I didn't have my glasses.

'I went back out,

'got my spare pair of glasses and then I ran to the gate.

'They say that was unusual behaviour,

'going through a vehicular entrance that I shouldn't have been using,

'but I've used it lots of times, and other people have used it as well.'

Are you absolutely certain you're telling....you're telling...

you're being straight with me?

'I swear to you.

'I wouldn't...lie to you.'

What's the worst thing that I'm going to find out about you,

do you think?

'I've got nothing to hide.'

Is there anything that you are anxious about that you don't

-want to be done?

-'You can look at everything.'

-Are you sure?

Is there anything at all that would make me worry

about anything you've told me?

'I've not told them anything different

'to I've said to anybody else.'

Are you absolutely sure, Roger? I need to know.

-If there's anything in there, I need to know it from you.

-'Absolutely.'

You know... You know our golden rule at this organisation.

-'Yes.'

-I want to make sure that I just tell you one more time.

If there is something that is significantly different to

what you've told me,

I would have real difficulty with carrying on with your case.

'There is nothing. I've done nothing to be ashamed of.'

I really need to know from you whether or not you did this murder.

'I guarantee that I did not do what they say.

'I'm afraid I've got to end the call.

'This is where they're banging us up.'

OK. All right, Roger, bye.

I-I-I hope he's telling the truth. He's...

If he's not, then he's absolutely extremely cold and, you know,

he's really just spinning a good line. You know, he's...

We're going into it... He must be enjoying the whole process.

Let's start going round the room, if we can, introducing ourselves.

Trevor Fordy, former senior investigating officer.

Dr Denise Syndercombe-Court. I'm an expert in DNA analysis.

I'm Correna Platt,

specialist in miscarriage of justice at Stephensons Solicitors.

Peter Vanezis,

I am a professor of forensic medical sciences at Barts and the London.

I'm Jo Millington.

I'm a senior forensic scientist at ArroGen Forensics.

My specialism is blood pattern interpretation.

I'm Dr Ann Priston. My specialism is textile fibre comparisons.

Thank you very much.

So the case we are here to discuss today is the case of Roger Kearney.

So this is the deposition site.

That's her black Peugeot there, on the right-hand side.

If you see something on a photograph...

Is there anything we are seeing in the photograph that doesn't fit

with the prosecution case?

I would expect a lot more blood in that car. I mean, I've been involved

with people who have been murdered in cars,

knifed in cars, and have found, you know, seatbelts slashed,

seats slashed, blood all over,

and there's nothing significant there.

I find the fact that if someone is stabbed eight times,

you would expect there to be

some blood which is obvious - and pooling of blood as well -

in the seat, in the well.

The fact that you can hardly see any blood there makes one wonder

whether she was actually stabbed there at all.

Anything you want to say about the prosecution case, Correna?

The prosecution case was circumstantial.

They built their case on that they were known to each other,

they were having an affair,

that she told her friend

that she was going, meeting him that evening that she was murdered.

The CCTV in relation to the cars,

the whole case was built on circumstantial evidence.

And that's what I find quite strange about this case.

Now, in my view, to Roger, a man who's left his home,

having had his tea with his wife, and then allegedly killed someone,

having no previous convictions for violence...

I'm still surprised that he was convicted, that's for sure.

It's an obvious case to re-examine.

-So it's worth...?

-Worth pursuing.

Thank you very much.

-REPORTERS.

-'The prosecution's case looks closely

'at Roger Kearney's movements

'on the night of Paula Poolton's disappearance.

'It was these CCTV pictures the police based their case on.

'Roger Kearney's car was caught on camera, spotted here on CCTV.'

CCTV was central to the prosecution case here.

They said it showed Roger's car heading towards the murder scene.

From working on many cases, it's always important to me

to physically retrace the prosecution's version of events.

# On the first part of the journey

# I was looking at all the life... #

Go to the murder scene,

go to the real place,

see if it fits.

# The first thing I met was a fly with no buzz

# And a sky with no clouds

# The heat was hot and the ground was dry, but... #

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Nice to see you again.

-Nice to see you.

-How was the journey?

-Oh...

-A bit busy, was it?

-Yeah.

-It's a long way.

-It's a long way, yeah.

-So, what is it you want to show me?

-I've got all the CCTV.

I put it all onto a laptop.

Just to show you all of the individual footage.

-I've just been trying to make sense of it.

-Right.

-So I thought if we went through it together...

-OK.

..it'll just make a bit more sense, perhaps.

-Now, this is... This is his car, OK?

-Yeah.

-This is where Roger was living at the time. That's his Shogun.

-OK.

And then what I've got is all the CCTV footage right from

the start of when they say he's leaving home and driving

to go and see her.

There.

There.

-That one.

-Right. It does look like a 4x4.

And the police are adamant that's his vehicle.

The prosecution expert says, "This is a dark tone or black

"Mitsubishi Shogun Sport," so it's very specific, isn't it?

That would be strong evidence because you've got

a car that matches Roger Kearney's vehicle.

So, Roger Kearney's house is here.

He comes out opposite, this is him coming left,

turns out to the main drag

-and he takes a left along here.

-Right.

OK, so they then say that he drives up here,

parks at a little car park

and that he then went round on foot to the station road,

where he waited for Paula. There, where the red dot is,

that's where her body is found in the boot.

What they're showing is the route that was driven.

I'd just like to test that.

We're going now to Roger's house and we're going to retrace

the steps that the prosecution said he took.

-This is his road then.

-Yeah.

So...

So at 9.30, according to the prosecution case,

Roger drove to the end of his road,

and the light from his headlights lit up this car park.

Headlights were going across there, yeah.

You can't see a vehicle,

all you can see is a light shining on the car park.

They then say that he's turned right...

..to go down to the main drag,

and then he has taken a left on the main road.

Down that road.

Just when we get to the end of here, isn't it?

It just picks up as it revolves round.

-The next CCTV would be that shown at the Esso garage.

-Yeah.

And then our next one is the chip shop.

There it is.

Into the car park.

So they say his car's picked up

on the camera across from that chippy.

So they say he parked up here, just by the chippy. Right, OK.

And then walked down...

-It's down here.

-This way?

-Yeah.

So there's no CCTV along this road.

But they say he was walking up here to get to the place

where he was meeting Paula.

This is a busy little road, isn't it?

Right, so we're here now.

When you look at the photographs,

it's pretty much where we're stood now.

It's exactly where we are, isn't it? Cos, look, there's the fence.

-That's that there, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-I mean, it is here.

-You see the street lighting is exactly the same.

-Yeah.

None of this is new. That's all exactly as it was.

Three street lights.

According to the police, the prosecution,

this is exactly the time of night, on a Friday night, when they say

he met up with her here

to repeatedly stab her, get her out of her car...

-And put her in the boot.

-..put her in the boot of the car.

-But there's... I mean, there's a taxi rank.

-People stood about.

I mean, that is a really busy road. Of all the places to choose...

There's cars turning down it.

-So it's not an unused, dimly lit...

-No.

Another taxi.

He's had to meet her, kill her,

-put her in the boot...

-Yeah.

-Very strange.

And then 11 and a half minutes later, they say there is CCTV

of him walking past a camera up that way.

Yeah, so if we time our walk now...

Find out how long it takes for him to walk there,

that will show how long he would've had here, at the scene,

-to actually kill her.

-Yeah.

So this is where they say...

You know, that figure caught passing here on foot.

Let's just work it out.

The window of opportunity

-is more or less 7½ minutes.

-Yeah.

Yeah. So he's got a very, very short, narrow,

window of opportunity,

and there are people and cars passing pretty much constantly.

It seems really,

really pushing the boundaries of what is actually possible here.

After my visit, I'm not convinced by the prosecution's version of

when and where it happened.

The prosecution say that Paula was killed before ten o'clock,

but Roger says that he was at home at that time watching

Little Britain on the television with his partner, Carol.

And that's really important because it's not just him saying,

"I was at home watching television," she backed him up.

She found out that Roger Kearney was having an affair and,

even in light of that, she never wavered from that.

I really want to start speaking to him and start going through

the detail of it, get some honest answers.

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

-'Hello, Louise? It's Roger.'

-Hello, Roger, how are you doing?

-'Very well, thank you.'

-Good.

Good, good. Thanks very much for phoning again.

What would be really helpful for me would be if we could just go

-back to the day when...the 17th.

-'Yep.'

How did you spend the sort of early evening and, you know...?

-'I was preparing dinner.'

-What did you have? Just talk me through.

'A pizza that I probably got that afternoon.

'And then we sat and watched TV.'

MUFFLED SITCOM LAUGHTER

'Andy!

'I'm not sure I believe you, Mr Pipkin.'

'Yeah...'

-ROGER.

-'We were watching TV till about ten o'clock.

'We watched Little Britain.'

'No...'

'When that finished at ten o'clock, I got up and went to work.

'It was after ten o'clock.'

You know, according to the police, you'd left more like 9.30,

decided that you were going to kill her, basically.

'I assure you, or I swear to you, that I did not kill Paula.'

-Did you see Paula that day?

-'No, I didn't.'

Did you agree to meet up with her that evening or talk to her about

-meeting her that evening?

-'No.'

One of the most damning things was the 9.30 CCTV,

which the police said was your car.

'Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

'The CCTV is damning in the fact

'that they are suggesting that it is my car at that time, from 9.30,

'but the fact that...

-'And the police expert insists that it is a Mitsubishi Shogun.'

-Yeah.

'I can guarantee, the only...

'The car that they've got coming out at 9.30,

'going down towards the station is not my car.'

How do you know that?

'Because my car was in the drive.

'We were watching TV until about ten o'clock.'

The thing I've...

that sort of worries me, that I'm struggling with,

I've seen the CCTV, they can check for your vehicle coming out

of your road, going down to the station, you know,

all those different areas. You know, there's so much, that's the trouble.

-'I didn't leave early that night.'

-How can you guarantee you didn't

leave earlier than you thought?

-'Cos if you look for it at 10.15, you see my vehicle.'

-Why?

-How do you mean?

-'In that video.'

-I don't understand, what do you mean, Roger?

-'Sorry?'

I don't understand what you mean. How do you mean?

'Because of the CCTV.

'Gone ten o'clock, you can see my car...leaving.'

That you can definitely see? Cos the thing...

I was looking at the CCTV earlier...

'I swear that that is my car, gone ten o'clock.'

-How was that footage found?

-'Me and my solicitor found it.'

What did the police say then, at that stage?

-Did they...?

-'They say it couldn't be my car.'

If that is your car,

then there is no way you've committed the murder.

'I suggested about getting...trying to get the number plate enhanced,

'and I've always said, one day,

'the technology will be available to prove that that is my car.

'I am 100% convinced that that is my car.'

So this is the image that Roger Kearney says is him

leaving his street at 22.20.

So Roger's right, there is a car.

If that's him, he cannot have committed the murder.

But the prosecution always dismissed this image because of another

bit of footage, which is this.

Roger Kearney's vehicle, nearly two miles away at 10.21.

There's not enough time, the police say,

for Roger to be leaving here at 10.20,

drive nearly two miles up the road

to be caught on this later camera less than one minute later.

But in court, there was lots of debate about the accuracy of

the clocks on the CCTV cameras, the footage,

and the defence argued that there could've been enough time.

The only way you can resolve it is if we can read that number plate,

that would tell us whether or not it's Roger Kearney's car.

'I swear that that is my car.

'As God as my witness.'

The prosecution and defence provided expert evidence

about the CCTV at trial.

Neither expert was able to identify the number plate on that image

or any of the others.

So I've asked an expert in video forensic analysis

to take a look to see what he thinks.

He's been reviewing some of the key CCTV images

from Roger's defence file.

I've not told him what kind of car Roger Kearney had.

I just want to see what he can tell me about that number plate

and the other images.

Thank you very much.

Marvellous.

-Good to see you.

-Yes, and you. Thanks for seeing me.

So it's probably best if we dimmed the lights.

OK.

These are a copy of the images which would have been shown to the jury.

I can provide an initial view which is subject, obviously,

to me being able to review the original media files.

I'll talk you through the various images.

-OK.

-Right.

So this is the most helpful of the images

in identifying the type of car.

It's obviously, in my view, a 4x4 of some description.

I think it is possibly a Mitsubishi Shogun motor vehicle.

Really?

That's quite damning, actually.

-So this is the vehicle passing the chippy.

-Yes.

And all we see, effectively,

is probably best described as a silhouette of a vehicle passing.

It is, I believe, a 4x4.

-Right.

-As to what make and model it is, I really don't know.

So the part of the image we are most interested in is this area here.

-Yeah.

-Right? It's a vehicle.

And to be perfectly honest with you, I can't go any further than that.

-There simply isn't sufficient detail.

-Is it a 4x4?

-I couldn't even tell you that.

-Really?

-Yeah.

So let me just talk you through now what they ended up saying in court.

So on that roundabout, where we had the petrol station images.

-Yeah, travelling in.

-Yeah.

-The prosecution expert says it's a Shogun.

-Yes.

He did a reconstruction and noted the Shogun was a good match.

-And the defence expert says, "I can't agree with that."

-Yep.

The prosecution expert says about the fish and chip shop...

"Most likely to be a Shogun or Range Rover.

"But possibly another vehicle would have the same features."

But look at the difference between a Range Rover and a Shogun.

There is a big difference, in my view,

-between a Shogun and a Range Rover.

-Hm.

So if the detail is that vague, the definition is that poor,

that you can't tell if it's a Shogun or a Range Rover...

-..that demonstrates just how poor quality the imagery is.

-Right.

Right. The image we are looking at now is that the defendant says

he's left his home at around 10.20.

-Yep.

-Right.

-Shall we have a look?

-Yep.

So all we see within this clip is the front of the vehicle.

Could this be the defendant's vehicle, whatever that is?

-The lights are fairly high off the ground.

-Right.

-Which would suggest a 4x4.

-Uh-huh.

-But it's impossible to say what make and model that vehicle is.

-Right.

-Is that part of the registration plate?

-Quite possibly,

Which is quite high and, to me, that's why I'm thinking,

possibly, 4x4.

-Is there anything we would ever be able to do to clean that up?

-No. No.

It would resolve the case,

in terms of if it's him or not, if he's the murderer or not.

Unfortunately, we haven't got the luxury of fine detail.

We've got some plusses and minuses, I suppose.

The biggest minus is that he looked at the 9.30 image,

and he said, "Yep, I think that's a Mitsubishi Shogun Sport."

He didn't know that was the kind of car that Roger Kearney drives,

yet that is the kind of car he picks out.

On the plus side,

when it comes to the car at 10.20,

the expert says, "Yeah, that could be a 4x4."

So that means it could be Roger Kearney's car.

So what will you do next?

We do carry on, and I think the next sort of big area

of evidence that we need to look at here is the motive.

Did Roger Kearney have a motive to kill Paula Poolton?

The prosecution said he did. I think we need to explore that motive.

-REPORTERS.

-'Full of life and unique.'

Paula Poolton will be remembered as joyful,

bubbly and a friend for life.

'The jury was told that when Mrs Poolton disappeared,

'it wasn't long before police discovered

'she had been having an affair.

'Paula was married.

'The court heard neither Mr Kearney's partner nor

'Mrs Poolton's husband were aware of the affair.

'The court heard she told a friend she wanted to set up home

'with Kearney.

'Paula had been looking at houses

'and wanted Kearney to move in with her.

'The court was told the defendant was less keen.'

The motive that Roger Kearney had to murder Paula Poolton

was to stop her from revealing the affair.

'And after a heated phone call in the afternoon,

'he met her in Duncan Road that night and stabbed her to death.'

We need to understand more about the affair to try and see

whether or not it could have come to a head like that.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Inside Justice.

-'Hello, Louise, it's Roger.'

-Hello, Roger, how are you?

-'I'm very well, thank you.'

-Good, good.

Right, can you talk me through what the police said your motive was?

What was their theory on why you'd have done this?

HE LAUGHS

'The police said, or what their theory was,

'that Paula was putting me under pressure to move in with her.

'That was their theory.'

Just, can you talk me through now, then, please, how you first

met Paula and how your relationship became, when it became intimate?

'Um... Well, I first met Paula at the football ground.

'She started coming to the gym at the hotel.

'After a couple of times she came down, she sort of...

'..made it fairly obvious that...

'she wanted a bit more than just...to be friends.

'She came down there and went for a sauna, and she was in there

'with a bikini, she sat really close to me, and afterwards,

'we had a cup of coffee, went out to the car park,

'she got in my car and we had sex in the backseat seat of my car.'

It's funny how you...

how you talk about Paula.

I don't quite know where it comes from. It...

It sounds like you're blaming her for the affair, if I'm frank,

which sounds rather callous, to be honest.

'Oh, no, I'm not saying it's her fault. She was...

-'I found her very attractive. She was funny. She was...'

-Right.

'I found her kind. She had a nice figure.

'She was such a nice person, I thought.'

It seems to me that you two were pretty close, really.

I don't get the impression... From just looking at your phone records,

it feels like you're speaking pretty much every day,

you're spending a lot of time on the phone together, you know,

it sounds like you are close, to me.

'Yeah, I suppose we were quite close.

'It's, you know, friends, basically. That was for quite some time.

'And, as I say, I was attracted to her.

'But I...

'I...

'I don't know whether it would've gone on. If it...

'I can't say whether it would've developed any more.

'There was no commitment on either side of us.'

Were you in love with her?

'No.'

Was she in love with you?

'I don't think she ever said so.

'No, I'm pretty sure she didn't ever say that, no.'

Did you think she might be?

'No, I'm not sure. No. I don't think so.'

-Why did you have a sexual relationship with her?

-'Why?

'Er...

'Cos I fancied her.

'Um, to be honest, she had...

'..a bubbly, happy-go-lucky...

'..personality.

'I know she had a bit of a dark side. I know.'

It is just Roger's word against their theory, isn't it?

And I don't know what he meant about her having a dark side.

I need to find somebody who can tell me about their relationship.

This is Swanwick.

It is a nice little village just outside of Southampton.

Paula lived nearby.

She had lots of friends.

People said she was a genuine, caring person, very bubbly,

crazy chick with an infectious laugh.

I think she cheered people up.

They might hold the key

to whether the prosecution motive was realistic.

One said, "Paula was a good friend, but she should not be taken

"too literally as she could make a drama over little things."

This is Paula's friend Carol who was really key to the prosecution case

because she told the police that Paula had said to her

the day she went missing, that Paula told her she was going to

meet up with Roger that night.

So I need to phone Carol.

I want to sort of see what else did Paula tell her about Roger,

you know, how keen was their whole relationship becoming,

so I need to give her a call and see if she'll meet up.

Carol, hello. My name is Louise Shorter.

I work for a charity called Inside Justice.

I'm sorry to phone you out of the blue.

I'm in the process of looking at the case of the murder of your friend

Paula Poolton and I wondered if we could just meet up and have a chat.

OK.

Thank you very much. Thanks very much, Carol. Cheers. Bye-bye. Bye.

Phew!

I think it's just a bit of a shocker to get a phone call like that.

You know? So she's going to go ahead and think about it.

-A bit like a bolt out of the blue.

-Totally. Totally.

I mean, it's awful. I do hate...phoning people up like that.

Because I'm... You know, her friend's been murdered. That's...

That's probably not something she wants to be thinking about again.

But then, you know, it can be so surprising.

I've worked on cases where the family of the person who has been

murdered ends up campaigning and being involved with the campaign

that the person imprisoned isn't guilty and, you know...

So you just can't make assumptions of people,

you just have to sort of gently tell them, "This is what we are doing.

"If we're looking at the wrong case, if this person is really guilty,

"if you know something that we need to know, then please tell us."

But, you know, let them have the choice, really,

in whether they want to get involved.

Paula had a long-standing sort of friendship with a man called Stan.

I know she doted on him.

At trial, he said that she would sometimes spend a night at his home.

So who is this Stan Baker?

It says that Paula had known him for years

and she went to him in times of trouble.

But Stan lives on the other side of town.

No. Go round the front.

Hm.

-'Hello?'

-Hello, is Stanley there, please?

'Stanley has not lived here for about eight years, love.'

Oh, hasn't he? Oh. Has he moved on? Do you know where he's moved on to?

'I couldn't say, love.'

Oh.

You aren't the man I was just talking to, are you?

-Do you know Stanley?

-No.

-Oh.

OK. Hello? Do you know...remember...?

You don't know Stan, do you? He didn't die, did he?

Cos I know he was quite old, you know.

It was about eight years ago, wasn't it, that he...?

-Did he move out or did he...?

-Yeah, well, my mate lives there now.

Oh, I'm trying to find Stan Baker.

No, Stan's not here now. He's gone down to St Mary's.

I've got one of my cards.

That's my number for Stan. Thanks.

Hello.

Sorry, I'm trying to find Stan, who lived downstairs at number 35.

This lady was saying that he's moved over to St Mary's,

but she wasn't sure which number.

Do you know which number he's living at?

OK. I'm going to park.

GROANING

That's Paula, yeah.

Yeah.

Paula...

-Is that a picture of Paula?

-Yeah.

-Oh, it's lovely.

-Yeah.

That's lovely. I wonder how old she is there.

-Tell me about her.

-I met her at a nightclub.

-Yeah.

I was a doorman there.

And we've been friends ever since, like...

Very nice, well mannered, very pretty girl.

She loved me.

Sometimes she would stay, sometimes she didn't, like...

-Do you want me to help?

-There's some there.

-That was years ago, that was.

-So that's how you looked when...

-Yeah.

-..when you first knew Paula, then?

-Yeah.

-There's Paula there.

-With a budgie on the arm.

-Oh, yeah.

-So you are still in touch with Paula's parents?

-Yeah.

Every time on her birthday or Christmas time,

-I always send them money for flowers.

-Mm-hm.

-I always tell Mum I miss her a lot.

-Was she good company?

She drunk quite a few,

but she had a bad temper.

-Was that when she was drinking?

-Yeah.

She'd get angry, throw a bottle at you or something.

-What would make her angry?

-Jealousy.

-Ah!

-That's what we say, jealousy.

-Right.

Did she say anything to you about the postman?

I don't know other people's business.

I don't want to know anyway.

-Did she ever say the name Roger to you?

-No.

I can't forget her.

So they're sort of definite different compartments

to Paula's life, I think.

So there seem to be the group of friends, like Carol,

who meet her for coffee and that kind of thing.

And then there seem to be people like Stan.

I don't think those two worlds collided, really.

What I don't understand is whether Paula would definitely have said

the absolute truth to Carol.

Some people know certain secrets and others know others,

but nobody seems to know the whole...

the whole picture of her, really.

-ANSWERING MACHINE.

-'Next saved message. 2.44pm.'

'Yes, hello.

'You came down last evening enquiring...

'I know Stan very well, Stan Baker.

'I know Paula.

'She was my best friend.

'Can you get back to me, please?

'I know a lot of things.'

PHONE CLICKS

-So you come from London then?

-Yeah.

-Here we go.

-Oh, lovely.

-Gosh, I don't think I'd recognise her from that photograph.

-No.

She dyed her hair.

-It's a lovely picture.

-Yeah, isn't it beautiful?

Well, Ann, thank you very much for calling me.

-Tell me, first of all, how you first met Paula.

-I met Paula through Stan.

-Oh, did you?

-Yes.

You know, she was fabulous. Everyone loved her.

She had to be in with a crowd.

She loved all that.

She liked to be the centre of attention. She loved it.

Do you remember sort of times, nights you had together?

-Yeah.

-Would she just turn up out of the blue

or would she phone you first, or how would that work?

No, no, out of the blue. Always.

She used to sleep here sometimes.

I loved her to bits.

She used to tell me a lot of things, and I kept it to myself.

She met someone else, in fact two other men.

-So she was... She was married to Ricky...

-Yes, she was.

-..but she was having two different affairs.

-Yes, that's right.

-Yes, she was.

-The postman who is now in prison.

-That's right.

-And this other man?

-Yeah.

Without a doubt.

What did she say then, firstly, about the postman?

Um, she was excited.

Did she want the relationship with him to be more serious, then?

-From my angle, I think she did.

-Mm-hm.

-Yeah.

-So what did she tell you about this other man?

About a week before it happens,

she said she had to get rid of them.

Why?

-Because he was bullying her.

-This was definitely the other boyfriend?

Oh, yeah, I'm not talking about the postman now.

-You're not talking about the husband?

-Oh, no, no, I'm not.

-So she said that the boyfriend was bullying her?

-Yeah.

Was she worried about him?

-She definitely was.

-Did she tell you anything about this man?

Did she describe him or tell you what he was like?

-She talked more about the postman.

-Uh-huh.

She didn't say a lot about the other one, the tall one.

You have no idea who this other man was?

-I never met him.

-Did she...?

-It was very hush-hush.

-Was it?

-Yes, that's right.

-So she was happy with Roger the postman?

-Yeah.

-But she was worried about the other one?

-That's right.

So do you think she was going to call off the relationship

-with the third man?

-Yeah.

-Then what?

How did she seem then, when she said she was going to call it off?

-Er...nervous.

-Right.

-And...

-It's not like her to get like that.

-Wasn't it?

-No!

No, no, no. She was getting in a right tiswas here.

She was definitely worried about something.

Something was wrong with her.

Something was wrong and I could feel it. I could sense it coming off her.

It was horrible to see her like that,

to hear her talk like she did.

Tell me about it. This is important. Had something happened to her?

Men!

Yeah.

The pattern of blood stains allows us to interpret

how that blood came to be.

Small areas of blood staining were found on the driver's seat.

Is that suggestive that somebody wet with blood has driven the car?

It could be.

Um, what I want to know is, does this turn at all?

Definitely moving.

-The murder could have taken place...

-Anywhere.

-..anywhere.

If you stick a tape onto something and take it off, you don't just

pick up fibres with it, you'll pick up biological material.

So that DNA from the perpetrator is actually still happily

sitting on those tapings.

I've had a text. "Kearney is an extremely unpleasant individual.

"Try not to be his next female victim."

-ROGER.

-'If you actually feel that I possibly could have done it,

'I wouldn't blame you if you dropped my case.'