Episode 1 Y Ditectif

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-In a murder case...

-..it's a race against time

-to discover what happened.

-What, why and who's responsible?

-I'm Mali Harries. I want to learn

-more about a detective's work.

-The scrutiny and analysis.

-The interrogation and psychology.

-Tonight, I discover

-how the police solved the case...

-..of the Saturday Night Strangler...

-..decades after the rape and murder

-of three young women.

-This time, the criminals aren't

-the only ones under the microscope.

-We focus on the detectives...

-..and their unrelenting work

-to discover the truth.

-In this woods,

-on a Sunday morning...

-..40 years ago, the bodies of

-two young women were discovered.

-How did their lives end here?

-Why did it take so long

-to capture the man who killed them?

-September 1973.

-The Top Rank nightclub in Swansea

-was packed on a Saturday night.

-Young people from across South Wales

-were present.

-The Rank was the place to be.

-Part of the crowd

-leaving one night...

-..were Geraldine

-and best friend Pauline.

-It was cold, raining and both needed

-a lift home to Llandarcy.

-A taxi was too expensive

-and the last bus had already left.

-Looking for a lift

-was their only choice.

-Everyone hitched

-on a Saturday night.

-They never arrived home.

-Geraldine Hughes

-came from Llandarcy.

-Pauline Floyd came from Skewen.

-Both were only 16 years old.

-Their bodies were dumped in woods

-near Llandarcy.

-Both had injuries to the head

-and had been strangled by rope.

-A local man walking his dog,

-Mr Watkins.

-As he was walking here that morning

-he looked into this area...

-..and saw what he thought

-was a tailor's dummy.

-He walked in,

-only about 20 yards in...

-..and discovered Geraldine's body.

-About another 100 yards in,

-they found Pauline's body.

-After searching the woods

-on the Jersey Marine road...

-..the police surmised that Pauline

-had tried to run for help.

-There was a possibility

-that the murderer...

-..had kept one of the girls

-in the car...

-..while he attacked the other one.

-It was difficult to determine

-what had happened.

-We are certain

-that they were killed here...

-..and the same person

-had killed both.

-When the forensic team

-visited the scene...

-..they were adamant that

-one person had killed both girls.

-The murderer left the girls

-lying in the mud and rain...

-..still wearing their clothes.

-The post-mortem showed

-that both had been raped.

-The mud inside their tights

-suggested...

-..that the murderer allowed them

-to dress before killing them.

-This had all happened less

-than a mile from Geraldine's home.

-The girls were buried

-in Coedffranc Cemetery in Skewen.

-Both had just left school.

-They'd been working

-in a local sewing factory.

-I knew all the family.

-Her uncle lived next-door to me.

-I remember Geraldine and her brother

-growing up in Llandarcy.

-It was a huge shock to know

-that someone had been murdered.

-Llandarcy is such a small town.

-We all know each other.

-Everyone was shocked.

-Local people had never heard

-the words serial killer before.

-There were fears that the murderer

-could strike again.

-The media were heavily involved.

-"A brutal sex attack."

-Those were the words of Chief

-Superintendent Ray Allen today.

-"We are dealing with a dangerous man

-and he's likely to strike again,"...

-..said Mr Allen, "I don't think

-he can control himself."

-It was an important story because

-so much attention was given to it...

-..by the Welsh press

-and the papers in Fleet Street.

-The murderer was dubbed

-the Saturday Night Strangler.

-That was the catalyst for a frenzy

-- everyone feared the worst.

-You know as well as I do...

-..that fear has been struck

-into people's hearts...

-..because of the tragedy

-in this locality.

-Oh, terrible.

-It's really shocked the whole area.

-I still see many, many girls

-hitching lifts.

-It's very upsetting.

-This is a close-knit community,

-as are the surrounding areas.

-When this happened...

-..two 16-year-old girls

-murdered on a Saturday night...

-..there was mass panic.

-The police published posters.

-'Don't thumb lifts -

-it causes death.'

-The posters were hung in pubs.

-The murderer was still on the loose.

-The journey from the centre of

-Swansea to Llandarcy is seven miles.

-The police took statements

-from witnesses...

-..who had seen the girls'

-last movements on this road.

-A local man saw Geraldine

-and Pauline in Swansea...

-..getting in to a white car

-similar to an Austin 1100.

-Another witness saw a similar car

-parked near the woods in Llandarcy.

-The white car became the centre

-point of the investigation.

-According to one of the witnesses...

-..the driver had dark, shabby hair

-and a moustache.

-The car was the only other

-piece of evidence.

-Just on the corner here,

-a white car was seen about 2.30am.

-They thought it was either an Austin

-1100, Morris 1100 or an Austin Maxi.

-Once they had that information...

-..they started the investigation

-into the murders of the girls.

-The primary evidence from

-the crime scene was the white car.

-I remember the night-shifts.

-They were out stopping

-every white car.

-They concentrated on everyone who

-owned an Austin 1100 or Austin 1300.

-Detectives went out,

-interviewed men...

-..asked them how long

-they'd owned the car...

-..what were their whereabouts

-when the two girls died.

-They'd check the car,

-look for things out of the ordinary.

-There was a possible link

-with another case.

-Three months earlier,

-a girl's body was discovered...

-..near the disused, remote

-Garth colliery in the area.

-On the way home from a nightclub

-on a Saturday night...

-..Sandra Newton had been raped.

-She was strangled

-with the hem of her skirt.

-Sandra was also 16 years old.

-At the time,

-her boyfriend was implicated.

-He was the last person

-to see Sandra Newton alive.

-Once they'd left the nightclub

-in Briton Ferry...

-..they walked along the street...

-..and for whatever reason,

-he said he went home alone...

-..and let Sandra walk home

-on her own in the wind and rain.

-At the time, the police had their

-suspicions about her boyfriend.

-A witness had seen a white car,

-an Austin again...

-..driving at speed

-through Cimla that night.

-Sandra's boyfriend did not own a car

-and didn't have a driving licence.

-Everyone had a view

-about the murderer's identity.

-Psychologists and foreign experts.

-Each one had their own theory.

-When he got out

-with the two other girls...

-..he was less good-dressed.

-I think he looks like this.

-It could be that the murders

-are through moon madness.

-Months passed.

-Over 11,000 car owners

-were questioned.

-4,000 statements were taken

-by Austin owners.

-There was no CCTV

-or computers in those days.

-At the time, this was

-the biggest investigation....

-..in the history

-of South Wales Police.

-The paperwork became a bigger burden

-than finding the girls' killer.

-The police interviewed

-thousands of men...

-..but not one of them

-stood out as a murderer.

-None at all.

-In September 1973,

-hundreds of men worked in this area.

-Some worked on the construction

-of the M4 motorway...

-..others worked

-in the Port Talbot steelworks.

-Many were associated

-with the fair in Neath.

-They were now spread

-across the whole of Britain.

-The murderer could have long gone.

-The detectives

-struggled with the paperwork...

-..while the murderer

-was on the loose.

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-As detectives drowned under

-all the paperwork in the '70s...

-..the Saturday Night Strangler

-was still at large.

-But the police never close

-an unsolved murder case.

-Over the decades, they revisited

-the case of a murderer...

-..who'd raped and killed

-three girls in South Wales.

-At the end of the '90s, DNA science

-provided the opportunity...

-..to reinvestigate

-forensic evidence.

-DNA could change everything.

-Experts examined

-the girls' clothing...

-..including this jacket.

-After two years, they extracted

-a full DNA profile of the murderer.

-That profile wasn't on

-the national DNA database.

-27 years after the murders...

-..South Wales Police

-launched Operation Magnum...

-..and gave three detectives the task

-of researching the case anew.

-The aim was to draw up a shortlist

-of 500 names...

-..from the thousands

-that had been investigated.

-How did you choose the 500

-from the original list of 30,000?

-We had index cards,

-around 30,000 of them.

-There were over 5,000 statements.

-On every card, their name,

-where they lived, date of birth.

-If we'd had statements from them...

-..there was a reference number.

-Every time we pulled out a card, we

-sourced the corresponding statement.

-Over eight months, we read every

-scrap of paper that was there.

-The next step was collecting

-DNA swabs from the 500...

-..to see if one of them

-matched the murderer's DNA profile.

-We spoke to numerous people and they

-were glad we knocked their doors...

-..30 years later.

-This area has a small community.

-A lot of men

-had white cars at the time...

-..they gave girls lifts

-on Saturday nights.

-A lot of fingers

-had been pointed at local men.

-One man under suspicion for Sandra

-Newton's murder was her boyfriend.

-DNA would prove conclusively

-that he wasn't her murderer.

-He'd lived all these years with

-people saying he'd killed Sandra.

-It was a pleasure

-for us to knock his door...

-..to confirm he hadn't killed her.

-He broke down and cried.

-He said that he, his family and

-his children had lived with it...

-..all these years and now, he could

-walk around with his head held high.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-

-Hi.

-My name's Mali Harries.

-I'm here to have a look around.

-This forensic lab in Birmingham...

-..works with police forces

-across Britain.

-Can I ask you

-to take your DNA with a swab.

-Can I get you to rub that

-on the inside of your cheek.

-DNA science has developed rapidly

-since the 1990s.

-Experts today can analyse

-a DNA sample the size of a pinhead.

-Thank you.

-DNA is a large molecule found

-within chromosomes...

-..that are contained in the nucleus

-of each of ourselves.

-It governs the way in which

-the cells produce chemicals...

-..that the body needs, the way the

-body functions, the way you look.

-It's very important stuff.

-It's been used

-to solve so many crimes.

-The police couldn't do without it.

-Here we have a profile.

-A female,

-because you've got an X chromosome.

-You haven't got a Y.

-There's an X beacon, no Y peak.

-It's a full profile

-because we have results of each...

-..of the areas that we've tested.

-We inherit our DNA from our parents.

-We pass on half of that DNA

-to our children.

-Experts can identify an offender

-by studying the DNA profile...

-..of members of their family.

-Bearing in mind there are six

-million profiles on the database...

-..having searched your profile

-against the database...

-..there may not be a hit.

-You know that your offender

-is not on the database...

-..so you say, "OK, your offender

-might not be on there"...

-..but perhaps

-there's a relative on there.

-Once you find a relative, you may

-be able to find your offender.

-The murders of these young women

-in South Wales...

-..was the first case in Britain

-to use familial DNA.

-Experts discovered a DNA

-similar to that of the murderer...

-..on the national database -

-Paul Kappen from Port Talbot.

-He would only have been

-seven years old in 1973...

-..but the Kappen name

-rang a bell with the detectives.

-We checked to see

-if we had Kappen in the system.

-Joseph William Kappen,

-Paul's father, was in the system.

-We started investigating

-Joseph William Kappen.

-We spoke to a policeman

-who knew him at the time.

-We were told he was a bouncer

-in a local nightclub.

-He was a man who was fond of women.

-He'd been in and out of trouble

-over the years.

-He also had a white car.

-In September 1973, Joseph Kappen

-lived with his family...

-..on Port Talbot's

-Sandfields Estate.

-He had told detectives

-he'd been in a fair in Neath...

-..on the night of the murders.

-He was then at home all night

-with his wife.

-He also had an explanation

-for his white Austin car.

-The policeman had been down

-to talk to Kappen.

-Kappen said he had a white car but

-he hadn't driven the car in days...

-..because it was outside the house

-on a ramp.

-On reading the paperwork

-once more...

-..it became apparent

-that he had lied.

-We found out that the car

-had been stopped by police...

-..on the days he said

-it was parked outside the house.

-Even though the detectives

-were on the right trail...

-..they were too late.

-Joseph Kappen

-had died of lung cancer in 1990.

-The police collected a DNA sample

-from his wife and daughter.

-The DNA profile again suggested

-that Kappen was the murderer.

-The only way to be certain was

-to build a complete DNA profile...

-..from Joseph Kappen's body.

-He was the first man

-in British history...

-..to be exhumed in a murder case.

-Joseph Kappen was buried with

-his grandfather and step-father.

-Permission from his family

-and Home Secretary was sought...

-..to exhume his grave

-in Goytre Cemetery.

-The only way to confirm

-that he had murdered the girls...

-..was by exhuming his grave.

-The morning weather was dramatic...

-..but events inside the police tent

-were equally impressive...

-..for Welsh criminal history.

-After midnight, gravediggers began

-the first exhumation in Wales...

-..to recover DNA evidence.

-Experts took a DNA sample

-from Kappen's teeth...

-..and a bone in his leg.

-Three weeks later,

-the results were published.

-The likelihood

-was a billion to one...

-..that someone other than

-Joseph Kappen was the murderer.

-He was the murderer.

-It was important for the families.

-I was glad I could tell the families

-that he'd killed their daughters.

-These women were so young -

-all three were 16 years old.

-They had their lives

-in front of them.

-Kappen appeared one night

-and changed everything.

-Whilst he was alive, Joseph Kappen

-managed to evade justice.

-The truth about him

-was finally revealed...

-..while he lay in his grave.

-For the families of

-Geraldine Hughes, Pauline Floyd...

-..and Sandra Newton,

-there was justice and answers...

-..to lift the dark cloud

-from this community.

-S4C Subtitles by Adnod Cyf.

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