:00:22. > :00:27.Good evening. Welcome to the programme. Tonight we are in
:00:27. > :00:33.Castleford. Here is what is on the show. The family torn apart by
:00:33. > :00:38.murder. We investigate whether new evidence could point to a
:00:38. > :00:44.miscarriage of justice. There is new evidence, things that the
:00:44. > :00:53.defence were not aware of at the doubt -- at the time, that cast
:00:53. > :01:03.serious doubt on this conviction. As fans get ready for the start of
:01:03. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:09.the Rugby league season we look at a financial health check. The seas
:01:09. > :01:15.swamped community after community wreaking devastation right along
:01:15. > :01:25.the North Sea coast. And we remember the dramatic east coast
:01:25. > :01:28.
:01:28. > :01:35.floods, 60 years on. Four years ago a trader from this market was
:01:35. > :01:40.jailed for the murder of his mother-in-law. The family are still
:01:40. > :01:47.fighting to clear his name. A private investigator hired by the
:01:47. > :01:55.family believes he has uncovered important new evidence. This is
:01:55. > :02:01.Castleford, at the heart of what used to be mining country. It is a
:02:01. > :02:08.busy and bustling kind of place but a story unfolded here that turned
:02:08. > :02:13.into a terrible tragedy. Seven years ago, Maxine Hill had plenty
:02:13. > :02:18.of reasons to enjoy life. She had a close family, and a good job as a
:02:18. > :02:22.teacher. Then, out of the blue, everything changed. Maxine's mother,
:02:22. > :02:32.Molly Wright, was found murdered at her home. She'd been battered to
:02:32. > :02:33.
:02:33. > :02:37.death. I felt as though I could not speak, I could not respond. It was
:02:37. > :02:40.just a huge, huge shock. Maxine had lost her mother in terrible
:02:40. > :02:50.circumstances. But then things got even worse - her husband David was
:02:50. > :02:58.arrested and unanimously convicted of Molly's murder. There were gasps
:02:58. > :03:04.from the public gallery and his wife and family were left in tears.
:03:04. > :03:11.It was devastating. To lose my mother in those circumstances and
:03:11. > :03:15.then have that. I cannot describe how awful it was. She does not
:03:15. > :03:22.think her husband is guilty and it is not just her, it is her sister
:03:22. > :03:27.and her in-laws as well. I could not have wished for a better
:03:27. > :03:35.brother-in-law. He is very, very gentle. He is not that person who
:03:35. > :03:43.could do such a thing to my mum. The legal team still have strong
:03:43. > :03:53.doubts. The doubts have not been allayed as far as I personally am
:03:53. > :03:57.
:03:57. > :04:00.concerned. What we now no need to be taken into account. The family
:04:00. > :04:03.turned to a private detective - Andrew Brown, who used to be head
:04:03. > :04:05.of West Yorkshire Police CID. He's done his own investigation, and
:04:05. > :04:12.he's found new evidence suggesting the wrong man could have been
:04:12. > :04:17.convicted of Molly's murder. more you look at it, things that
:04:17. > :04:22.the defence were not aware of at the time, the cast serious doubts
:04:22. > :04:26.on the conviction. Maxine and David Hill have been married for twenty
:04:26. > :04:28.years. They always saw a lot of Maxine's mother, Molly, who lived
:04:28. > :04:31.nearby. They went on holiday together. David became a partner in
:04:31. > :04:33.his mother-in-law's greeting cards and gifts business at Castleford
:04:33. > :04:43.Market. Non-one ever saw any problems between David and his
:04:43. > :04:43.
:04:43. > :04:48.mother-in-law. He could never do enough for people. He was always
:04:48. > :04:58.very kind and helpful. Then in September 2006, Molly was found
:04:58. > :04:58.
:04:58. > :05:04.murdered at her home. David said that he came to the house on the
:05:04. > :05:10.Wednesday afternoon and found Molly on the kitchen floor. She had been
:05:10. > :05:14.battered around the head. He immediately called the emergency
:05:15. > :05:19.services and when the ambulance and police arrived that was the
:05:19. > :05:22.discovery of Molly's murder. David Hill was convicted largely on the
:05:22. > :05:25.basis of forensic evidence. At his trial, it was stated by the
:05:25. > :05:33.prosecution that the type of blood spots on his clothes could only
:05:33. > :05:40.have been caused if he'd been Molly's attacker. David did have a
:05:40. > :05:47.motive. He owed around �20,000 on credit cards and his mother-in-law
:05:47. > :05:52.was a wealthy woman. The family said there was nothing unusual at
:05:52. > :05:55.the time of Molly's murder and about David's finances. Before he
:05:55. > :05:58.knew he was a suspect, Hill gave false information about where he'd
:05:58. > :06:01.been earlier that afternoon, and there were suggestions he'd been
:06:01. > :06:04.taking money out of the business without Molly knowing, all evidence
:06:04. > :06:07.which appeared to go against him at his trial One mystery was never
:06:07. > :06:13.solved. How did Hill get rid of the murder weapon, which must have been
:06:13. > :06:15.a blunt object? Despite extensive police searches, it was never found.
:06:15. > :06:20.Since Hill's trial, the interpretation of the forensic
:06:20. > :06:25.evidence has been called into question. His legal team claim it's
:06:25. > :06:28.been seriously undermined. The jury was told that the kind of blood
:06:28. > :06:37.spotting on Hill's clothes meant he had to be the killer. But now, a
:06:37. > :06:43.leading expert on blood stains disagrees. The defendant explained
:06:43. > :06:47.to the police that he had got very bloody hands and on and number of
:06:47. > :06:53.occasions shook his hands vigorously up and down his body to
:06:53. > :06:57.try and get the blood off. The blood spots that one sees are
:06:57. > :07:06.certainly not inconsistent with what might be called innocent
:07:06. > :07:10.action. Forensic evidence was central to the prosecution case. If
:07:10. > :07:16.they had heard contrary evidence at that time and it had been available
:07:16. > :07:21.to be considered there is a real prospect they might have made a
:07:21. > :07:24.different decision. Hill's legal team believe this new evidence
:07:24. > :07:26.could have led the jury to a different verdict. And now Andrew
:07:26. > :07:29.Brown has uncovered new evidence which places an alternative suspect
:07:29. > :07:38.near the scene of the crime, someone whose motive could have
:07:38. > :07:43.been robbery. New witnesses have come forward who have said there
:07:43. > :07:48.were people collecting drugs at all times of the day outside Molly's
:07:48. > :07:56.house. One of these new witnesses, who doesn't want to be identified,
:07:56. > :08:03.says drug dealing happened all the time. There were always people
:08:03. > :08:08.stood waiting, cars parked opposite. I did actually see people going
:08:08. > :08:11.across with cash and paying it to people sat in the car. And there's
:08:11. > :08:18.another new witness, who wasn't interviewed by police. She saw an
:08:18. > :08:21.alternative suspect near Molly's home just after she was murdered.
:08:21. > :08:26.She saw a man standing just round the corner on the afternoon of the
:08:26. > :08:29.murder. He was holding a plastic bag, which seemed to contain a
:08:29. > :08:38.heavy object. It could solve the mystery of what happened to the
:08:38. > :08:43.murder weapon. This witness asked as to disguise her appearance and
:08:43. > :08:46.voice. "He was just stood there. The thing that struck me as odd was
:08:46. > :08:50.the way he was holding the carrier bag. It looked like it was wrapped
:08:50. > :09:00.around an object. I've never seen him again. There's no doubt in my
:09:00. > :09:01.
:09:01. > :09:09.mind that he wasn't David Hill." The sighting was at 3 o'clock and
:09:09. > :09:14.the Sun and Lobbe did not arrive until half past belief. -- the son-
:09:14. > :09:16.in-law of. This sighting backs up information from another witness
:09:16. > :09:20.given to the police during their initial investigation that a man
:09:20. > :09:23.with a bag had been seen near the scene of the crime. The family say
:09:23. > :09:26.cash and rings belonging to Molly have never been found. West
:09:26. > :09:28.Yorkshire Police have looked at the issues raised by Andrew Brown, but
:09:28. > :09:37.say they've found nothing significant, and there's nothing to
:09:37. > :09:47.warrant re-opening the case. Up until now it David Hill has been
:09:47. > :09:53.
:09:53. > :09:59.refused leave to appeal. The CCRC has refused to take up his case.
:09:59. > :10:02.Maxine says she'll never give up. Now, a new attempt will be made to
:10:02. > :10:05.get the case referred to the Appeal Court. For Molly and David's
:10:05. > :10:08.relatives, life has to go on but, at family celebrations, two people
:10:08. > :10:17.are missing. Sadly, they know Molly's gone forever, but they're
:10:17. > :10:21.still hoping that David will return. Of course we will let you know what
:10:21. > :10:29.happens and whether the family succeed in getting D Case looked at
:10:29. > :10:39.again. Still to come tonight: Six years after the floods that
:10:39. > :10:42.
:10:42. > :10:47.devastated the east coast we ask if it could happen again. When it
:10:47. > :10:53.comes to sport there is only one game in town here and it is not
:10:53. > :10:59.football. It is the Rugby league. This is a vital and here as the
:10:59. > :11:09.World Cup comes to the UK. There are fears however over the finances
:11:09. > :11:22.
:11:22. > :11:27.of our clubs. We asked our reporter For me Rugby league sums up
:11:27. > :11:34.everything that is great about sport. It is fast, furious and
:11:34. > :11:41.physical. It can be physical. When I came off of the court -- the
:11:41. > :11:47.pitch it was in a bit of a mess. There are three or four teams doing
:11:47. > :11:55.particularly well, three or four doing poorly and some that struggle
:11:55. > :12:01.to wash their face financially. With as many headlines being made
:12:01. > :12:07.off the field as on it, 2012 was not necessarily a season to write
:12:07. > :12:13.home about. Will this one be any better. The last few months have
:12:13. > :12:20.seen two teams almost caught out of business so I am going to test the
:12:20. > :12:25.mood and health of the game in this vital World Cup year. Starting at
:12:25. > :12:31.Craven Park where only 12 months ago the Rovers chair man issued a
:12:31. > :12:41.dire warning for the sport. This man does not mince his words, last
:12:41. > :12:53.
:12:54. > :12:59.spring he said the game was We live be on our means and did for
:12:59. > :13:07.a variety of reasons. We have people who have a position in the
:13:07. > :13:09.community, the club as important to In Super League, the teams have a
:13:09. > :13:13.three-year franchise giving stability within the top flight of
:13:13. > :13:23.the game. There's no promotion or relegation and the TV money is
:13:23. > :13:25.
:13:25. > :13:28.divided equally between the 14 Unlike football, and to avoid a
:13:28. > :13:30.financial arms race, there's a salary cap on players wages, but
:13:30. > :13:33.rather than encouraging prudency, we've seen problems at Bradford,
:13:33. > :13:36.Salford and Wakefield If some clubs are spending more money than they
:13:36. > :13:46.make, should the salary cap be reduced from its current level of
:13:46. > :13:49.�1.65 million? There are growing attendances at grounds. There were
:13:49. > :13:58.strong viewing figures on television, but fundamental
:13:58. > :14:08.problems remain. Some even suggest a cull of Super League teams from
:14:08. > :14:10.
:14:10. > :14:15.14 down to 12 or 10. Enter town might Castleford, fancy you have
:14:15. > :14:20.every right to wonder what the future might bring. It is the small
:14:20. > :14:24.town clubs which should be most vulnerable in a slimmed-down Super
:14:24. > :14:27.League. 20 miles down the M62, the Leeds Rhinos have much to feel
:14:27. > :14:30.positive about - Super League champions and a club that's well
:14:30. > :14:38.run both on and off the turf, so what do they make of the problems
:14:38. > :14:43.facing the game? The prop up on the field has never been better, that
:14:43. > :14:48.struck -- the crowd to a strong. The game was as good as it has ever
:14:48. > :14:52.been. We do want that overshadowed by incompetence at club level and
:14:52. > :14:57.that is what we have seen. We need to bigger selves of that poor
:14:57. > :15:02.management. All clubs have a responsibility under Boult to play.
:15:02. > :15:12.The majority of clubs are working very hard and making a contribution.
:15:12. > :15:16.
:15:16. > :15:24.Some of the others have let the For those who watch the game
:15:25. > :15:31.closely, the ups and downs of 2012 have been alarming to watch. Rugby
:15:31. > :15:35.league has had its difficulties. What we have experienced in the
:15:35. > :15:39.last 12 months, is that any worse than what we have seen before?
:15:39. > :15:44.People have been predicting the death of rugby league from the word
:15:44. > :15:49.go. Time after time digging has proved them wrong. It is a very
:15:49. > :15:55.resilient sport. Now is slightly different to how the game was in
:15:55. > :16:01.the past. Not only are the other sports are much stronger, but the
:16:01. > :16:05.demands and other people's time is greater as well. And people's
:16:05. > :16:13.houses are like home entertainment centres nowadays and it is
:16:13. > :16:16.difficult to get people out into Rugby league's support base is
:16:16. > :16:26.legendary and in this BBC documentary from 1969 you can feel
:16:26. > :16:29.
:16:29. > :16:33.the passion. Come on! Get hold of him! The game's come a long way
:16:33. > :16:38.since the days of Eddie Waring and mud-baths in winter, but finance
:16:38. > :16:41.within the sport has always been a worry. So, to try and understand
:16:41. > :16:44.the state of the modern game, Inside Out has asked a sports
:16:44. > :16:50.finance expert to look at the books of the current set of Super League
:16:50. > :16:55.teams. A detailed look at the balances sheets of 11 of the
:16:55. > :17:00.league's 14 clubs reveals debts in excess of �60 million. There are
:17:00. > :17:05.too many clubs in the league generating insufficient turnover
:17:05. > :17:10.and debt. That alarms me as somebody who looks at finance and
:17:10. > :17:15.researchers these things. Using a term like rugby league is staring
:17:15. > :17:20.at a financial abyss I don't think is too harsh to say. A I disagree
:17:20. > :17:25.with that. The game is in good health. Like every sport we have
:17:25. > :17:30.our challenges, but the governing body is working very hard to meet
:17:30. > :17:37.them. We have an regulatory regime that allows clubs to be profitable.
:17:37. > :17:40.The work as close as you possibly can put those that aren't. Rugby
:17:40. > :17:42.league's problems are, of course, dwarfed by those in football, but
:17:42. > :17:46.later this week the Super League will kick-off without a main
:17:46. > :17:52.sponsor in place. Other revenues may boost Super League's finances,
:17:52. > :17:55.but at the moment new cash is coming from some unlikely sources.
:17:55. > :18:03.Salford could find themselves being one of the wealthiest clubs with a
:18:03. > :18:06.takeover by a millionaire racehorse owner. It will be a positive note
:18:06. > :18:09.after a wretched last few months, which has seen the club facing
:18:09. > :18:14.winding-up orders after the taxman and two former players chased
:18:14. > :18:18.unpaid debts. It's the players' viewpoint that I've sought at the
:18:18. > :18:22.end of my journey. With its shiny new stadium, St Helens is a
:18:22. > :18:26.testament to rugby league in the 21st century. Built for �30 million,
:18:26. > :18:34.it can hold 18,000 fans and here they feel the game still has a
:18:34. > :18:36.distinct and robust future. But for the players these are uncertain
:18:36. > :18:46.times, with the average playing career lasting just four years and
:18:46. > :18:48.
:18:48. > :18:52.an average salary of �60,000. fear for youth -- you fear for the
:18:52. > :18:56.financial security of your family. This is not sure investment
:18:57. > :19:01.portfolio, this is your mortgage being paid, the basics of day-to-
:19:01. > :19:05.day life. That positive message is echoed by the Rugby Football League,
:19:05. > :19:08.who say they are working hard to combat debt in the sport. With the
:19:08. > :19:18.spotlight on the game in its World Cup year, all within rugby league
:19:18. > :19:23.
:19:23. > :19:27.would agree that the problems of Later this week a special memorial
:19:27. > :19:35.service takes place in miniature German go one of the worst natural
:19:35. > :19:38.disasters ever seen in the country. 60 years ago the East Coast floods
:19:38. > :19:42.devastated the local community. Paul Hutton has been to meet some
:19:42. > :19:47.people who can remember those events and asks whether could ever
:19:47. > :19:50.happen again. Time might heal the scars, but the
:19:50. > :19:54.pain of what happened on the East Coast 60 years ago goes far beyond
:19:54. > :20:03.the damage to brick and mortar. It was a storm so savage, it's deadly
:20:03. > :20:07.impact still reverberates around the community today. Back in those
:20:07. > :20:13.days the a authorities were can place to be able to respond. People
:20:13. > :20:18.didn't know what to do, where to go. Those of us who came out of it were
:20:18. > :20:21.grateful that we did. It's a sharp winter's day in
:20:21. > :20:26.Sutton-on-Sea and 81-year-old Bud Shields is in a hurry to get back
:20:26. > :20:29.into the warm. More than most, he's aware of the lethal dangers of the
:20:29. > :20:32.biting North Sea wind. Over the next few hours, the harrowing
:20:32. > :20:42.experiences he is about to recount to the towns schoolchildren might
:20:42. > :20:50.
:20:50. > :20:57.chill one or two to the bone. Hello! 31st January, 1953, a long
:20:57. > :21:04.time ago, before you were born. I was there. I actually saw it happen.
:21:04. > :21:06.I can tell you what it is like to be in a flood. Bud was one of lucky
:21:06. > :21:10.ones surviving the most devastating floods this country has ever
:21:10. > :21:20.experienced. He wants to make sure his story and those of some of the
:21:20. > :21:22.
:21:22. > :21:27.victims are never forgotten. I saw all parts of the town just collapse.
:21:27. > :21:31.I just saw a massive foam of white water. No-one realised how
:21:31. > :21:34.disastrous it was going to be. people died here in Lincolnshire
:21:34. > :21:36.and 307 elsewhere along the coast as a terrifying combination of high
:21:36. > :21:46.seas, fierce winds and inadequate coastal defences swamped community
:21:46. > :21:51.
:21:51. > :21:54.after community, wreaking devastation along the North Sea.
:21:54. > :22:03.Elsie Birkett was another for whom that night's horrible memories will
:22:03. > :22:07.never be erased. What happened to us was not as bad as what happened
:22:07. > :22:09.to a lot of other people. Elsie was in Sandilands, close to where worst
:22:09. > :22:12.breaches happened. The flood waters tore through the bottom of her
:22:12. > :22:19.house and, after spending a night shivering in her bedroom, dawn
:22:19. > :22:26.broke to reveal some of her neighbours had perished. We find Mr
:22:26. > :22:35.Asher. He got his hands stuck in the branch of the tree, that had
:22:35. > :22:42.kept him above the water. We found his daughter, Thelma. Thelma died
:22:42. > :22:48.in our house. The other sister was the one who had panicked. She, her
:22:48. > :22:51.husband at the baby had gone right, and to a baby and her husband were
:22:51. > :22:53.lost. To understand how the storm happened I've come to Leeds
:22:53. > :23:03.University, where climatologist Professor Stephen Mobbs has been
:23:03. > :23:04.
:23:04. > :23:08.analysing the 1953 data. What were at the unique events? Three things
:23:08. > :23:13.came together. We had a relatively deep area of low pressure that
:23:13. > :23:19.developed over the North Sea. The low pressure over the sea sucks the
:23:19. > :23:23.water upwards. The second thing was that there was going to be an
:23:23. > :23:29.exceptionally high tide. This happens from time to time. The
:23:29. > :23:34.third effect, associated with the low pressure we had a strong
:23:34. > :23:39.northerly winds, exceptionally strong down the North Sea. That
:23:39. > :23:45.pushes a wall of water ahead of it. This piles up at the sudden end of
:23:45. > :23:49.the North Sea which has no were to go. That is when you get the
:23:49. > :23:52.largest storm surge. All three of those effects came together to
:23:52. > :23:54.create this event. Today, the heroism of how the East Coast
:23:54. > :23:57.communities came together and organised their own evacuations
:23:57. > :24:07.during the terrible deluge is setting the template for how people
:24:07. > :24:12.will need to react if such a catastrophe ever strikes again.
:24:12. > :24:15.experiences from the people from 1953 that they have shared that we
:24:15. > :24:19.have been extremely useful in terms of being able to develop
:24:20. > :24:24.educational programmes for schoolchildren, plants for the
:24:24. > :24:28.voluntary sector. The new generations have no way did that
:24:28. > :24:36.this happened. It is very important that we took some of that spoken-
:24:36. > :24:40.word history and brought it into the present. I didn't feel
:24:40. > :24:49.frightened to start what underlies all parts of the beach hotel
:24:49. > :24:55.collapse. I saw people swept away and masses of water. People care
:24:55. > :24:59.its, and helped. The Red Cross what they're handing out hot soup and
:24:59. > :25:04.cloves and accommodation. Weather forecasting and communications have
:25:04. > :25:06.improved beyond recognition in the past half-century. The systems
:25:06. > :25:12.simply weren't sophisticated enough to predict exactly what would
:25:12. > :25:15.happen in 1953. But the power of nature can never be truly predicted
:25:15. > :25:25.and when a catastrophe occurs the emergency services can't be
:25:25. > :25:31.
:25:31. > :25:36.everywhere at once. Where we are now would have been four feet deep
:25:36. > :25:42.in water. Imagine trying to reach higher ground in those stormy
:25:42. > :25:46.conditions. At night time you have no landmarks. It would have been
:25:46. > :25:53.terrifying. You can see the height of the beach compared to the
:25:53. > :25:57.community. We just didn't up the sea defences here. Looking out
:25:57. > :26:02.across the Community, where we are standing is at the height of the
:26:02. > :26:12.houses, or even higher than the bungalows. That poses a lot of
:26:12. > :26:16.
:26:16. > :26:21.risks if the sea was to come over, the need to evacuate out. Since
:26:21. > :26:27.1953 we have invested millions of pounds and sea defences. We use a
:26:27. > :26:35.soft engineering approach. That serves a very shallow gradient,
:26:35. > :26:45.which reduces the energy of the waves. It produces do reset the
:26:45. > :26:51.people in the communities. survivors of 1953 are hoping they
:26:51. > :26:55.are right. Elsie's family were so traumatised by their experience
:26:55. > :27:00.they never returned to live in their house again. There wasn't a
:27:00. > :27:05.lot of physical damage inside, but it was very dirty. My mother didn't
:27:05. > :27:09.want to go back, it frightened her. She couldn't see her she could ever
:27:09. > :27:15.be happy in there again. Back at the school, Bud's words of wisdom
:27:15. > :27:21.are hitting home. Summoned coming in he has experienced it, it makes
:27:21. > :27:27.you realise what it is like. It was fascinating, but para of the sea
:27:27. > :27:31.was so strong. I was a bit shocked at how the seat could damage that
:27:31. > :27:35.much. Storm surges as powerful as the 1953 example have occurred
:27:35. > :27:37.since that fateful day and new the defences have held them back, but
:27:37. > :27:47.the attacks will keep coming and predictions are that they are
:27:47. > :27:49.
:27:49. > :27:54.likely to get worse. Sea levels are rising. It is rising quite quickly.
:27:54. > :27:59.If you start with the see them much higher to begin with, then put a
:27:59. > :28:03.storm surge and top of that and you'll get a bigger effect. We are
:28:03. > :28:08.asking communities to develop simple steps of safeguarding the
:28:08. > :28:12.Rhone communities in the short period of time but it would be from
:28:12. > :28:18.incident to the emergency services respondent. He could be anything up
:28:18. > :28:27.to three days. Anybody living in that area has to be aware that it
:28:27. > :28:32.could happen one day. They have got to look after themselves.
:28:32. > :28:36.That is it from us for tonight. If you eat -- watching in East