Unearthing the Truth

In 1984 in Hull, the body of schoolboy Christopher Laverack is found floating in a canal after being reported missing. He was sexually assaulted, beaten to death and wrapped in a carpet bag weighed down with a brick. This distressing case became Humberside Police’s longest-running unsolved murder. The chief suspect was Christopher’s uncle, Melvyn Read, who had been babysitting Christopher the night he went missing. But with no evidence found to link him to the crime, the case went cold. Twenty years later, police turned to forensic ecologist Patricia Wiltshire. Detectives were convinced that Christopher was taken somewhere and then killed before his body was transported to the canal. Patricia was able to compare samples of pollen from Christopher’s clothing to pollen found in Read’s garden, providing a link between Read and where detectives believed Christopher had been killed.

Our second story starts on 4 January 1999, in Dorset, where 31-year-old Adam Shaw is discovered after having been brutally attacked in the shop where he worked. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The intensity of the attack created a gruesome scene and provided detectives with what was, potentially, a crucial piece of evidence – a bloody footprint. Forensic expert Ray Jenkins was brought onto the case. Ray’s analysis of the footprint was able to provide a match for a specific brand, design and size. When detectives cross-referenced these details with recent buyers, they were able to narrow down the suspects, eventually leading them to Terry Gibbs. Further analysis of Gibbs’s clothing found traces of Adam’s blood. The overwhelming forensic evidence would lead Gibbs to admit his guilt.