Babes in the Wood by Graham Bartlett

Author:Graham Bartlett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

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Although the case was slowly coming together, we still needed help. We told the public as much as we could. The use of the press was a key tactic and this time we were not going to allow Bishop’s side to hog the front pages. Everything you read or hear from the police in a major enquiry is the result of a conscious decision of how and when to release it; nothing is left to chance.

It was only right that people understood why Devil’s Dyke was out of bounds: we were still looking for clothing. As a consequence, with the best intentions, every rag and discarded shoe was phoned in. One call gave us the break we were after.

Stuck in rush-hour traffic, an observant taxi driver glanced to the grass verge along Mill Road, one of the natural routes back from Devil’s Dyke to Moulsecoomb. On any other day the crumpled fabric would not have registered. Even if it had, he would have forgotten it in a heartbeat. But not that day.

His call started with the usual preamble: ‘Sorry to bother you. It’s probably nothing but . . .’

But it was something. It was the most significant find so far.

What might have seemed like a discarded pair of men’s blue jogging bottoms was, quite simply, a parcel of evidence carelessly dumped on a grass verge. This was sounding familiar to those who remembered the Pinto sweatshirt. They were carefully photographed, plotted on a map and forensically packaged before being removed to Brighton Police Station and then rushed to the Forensic Science Service. These were very early days in the use of DNA evidence but Gordon and ToC were clear; all avenues would be followed. It would be one of the first times this breakthrough technology was used in a major crime enquiry in Sussex.

The scientists eventually proved what none of us had dared hope for. Splattered across the dirty fabric was sufficient blood, semen and flecks of red paint to provide a cast-iron link between Claire, Bishop and his red Cortina.

Investigations into Bishop’s car revealed that it was stolen. It was a ringer – made to look legally registered – and a clone of an identical car. Damningly, the boot lid originally came from a different-coloured Cortina and had been resprayed a number of times. Most paintwork comprises three coats. This had six layers, making it collectively unique. The chances of finding paint flecks in that combination trapped among Claire’s blood and Bishop’s semen on the fabric were incalculable. This damning cocktail of evidence trapped on the discarded trousers would nail Bishop.

The interior of the car contained even more evidential gems.

Debris from the mats and carpets contained fibres that would later be matched to Claire’s clothes. The holes that Claire had noticed appeared to have been drilled through the boot lid. Had they been created deliberately to preserve a young girl’s life just long enough for Bishop to assault and then dispose of her?

As well as trying to find any

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