Forensics Murder Case Season 1 Episode 1

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Transcript

00:00There are hundreds of cold cases in the UK.

00:08Killers getting away with their crimes.

00:11George Murdoch, a taxi driver in Aberdeen, was brutally killed more than four decades ago.

00:17Now you could help catch the killer at last.

00:22Please watch very closely.

00:25Some detail that you see could prove vital.

00:30You know, murder is the most heinous crime.

00:45I've been involved in a lot.

00:48But this one is totally different.

00:53It's taken, you know, the best part of 40 years to get to where we are.

01:08Yeah, I think we're close.

01:23I don't think there's any doubt about that.

01:28Because science is on our side.

01:31This is probably the best chance we'll ever have of solving it.

01:36And I only hope we can get there.

01:42Behind unmarked doors within the walls of almost every police station.

01:48The hidden room holds the weight of the UK's most serious unsolved crimes.

01:53In Aberdeen, with its nickname, the Granite City, there's long been a case as tough as stone to crack.

02:00Victims without justice.

02:02Just who murdered taxi driver George Murdoch four decades ago.

02:06Families without answers.

02:08Who carries a cheese work?

02:10Who would do that?

02:11Criminals who think they've got away with it.

02:1441 years on, we've never had that break to find out who was responsible.

02:19The police hung on to every scrap of evidence.

02:23For cold case detectives, these investigations are never closed.

02:28Somebody out there knows something.

02:30They don't stop.

02:31They keep going.

02:32With exclusive access, we follow every buried lead, forensic clue and forgotten whisper.

02:39Following the detectives who refuse to let the past rest.

02:53There's a murder that's haunted Aberdeen for over 40 years that you could help solve.

02:59The story begins at 8.30pm on the 29th of September, 1983.

03:0657-year-old taxi driver George Murdoch is working the West End.

03:13He's hailed down by what will be his last fare.

03:22Just picked up a fare to Cooter.

03:24George drives away from the city's lights, through the mizzle suspended in the night air, towards the countryside.

03:35Just two miles from town, he turns into a narrow, secluded lane and stops.

03:41He didn't stand a chance.

03:43The guy who came from behind, she's wearing the neck.

03:48It spills onto the road.

03:53Two 16-year-old boys cycling home witness a brutal struggle.

04:00He had his hands around his neck. They were struggling.

04:02The man on the ground tried to shout, help me, please.

04:07They cycle to the nearest telephone kiosk to ring the police.

04:11But it's too late.

04:13George is strangled.

04:15Left for dead.

04:17His wallet taken.

04:19The killer fleeing into the night.

04:20In 1983, Morvan Sherratt is a new addition to the Aberdeen CID.

04:39He's determined to uncover new leads and bring George's killer to justice.

04:44I was 25 years of age.

04:52This was the first murder investigation that I'd been involved in.

04:57It was unprecedented for the city to have a murder of that nature.

05:06This was not like a television drama.

05:09This was for real.

05:32This is where George's car was found.

05:35By the side of this house.

05:36And he was lying on the ground just here.

05:40It's just right at the...

05:43Right at the gable end here.

05:48But actually being here standing is probably the first time I've done that since 1983.

05:52And, er...

05:54Yeah.

05:56It's, er...

05:57It brings it all back.

05:58It was a particularly brutal attack using the cheese wire.

06:05And then the manual assault that took place when he was outside the vehicle as well.

06:10How obsessed the guy was with what he was doing.

06:16He did not have noticed the cyclists.

06:20He was so intent on assaulting George.

06:23The police were on the scene very, very quickly.

06:27They secure the street, comb the taxi, and search for witnesses to find the killer.

06:37A full-blown murder investigation was launched.

06:41Everyone thought because of the information that we had, we would get it solved very quickly.

06:46The hunt was on.

06:52The evening of Thursday the 29th of September.

06:56And the last journey of George Murdoch began.

06:59The one certain point about the journey is its end.

07:02Here in the gloom of Station Road Prefoddles.

07:04Which launched one of the biggest police murder hunts seen in the North for many years.

07:11There became a massive search for this person.

07:14We knew that two people had witnessed an altercation between George Murdoch and his assailant.

07:21I was sent to cover what was actually happening that morning.

07:26Which was police dogs, policemen, people searching the undergrowth all around the area.

07:31Police and an ambulance were here within minutes.

07:35But by the time they got Mr Murdoch to hospital, he was dead.

07:38People talked about it a lot.

07:40You could sense fear.

07:42Because it was so unbelievable, you didn't really know where to look to be safe.

07:48Just, it can't have happened here.

07:51These things don't happen here.

07:53The man they're looking for is 5 foot 7 inches tall, thin, has short dark hair, and is clean shaven.

07:59We felt that the whole city was behind us.

08:03They wanted the police to solve this crime.

08:06Everyone was dedicated and prepared to do whatever it took to make a breakthrough in this case.

08:13I just assumed that in a matter of days something would be found and that would lead to the culprit.

08:21It never happened.

08:24To this day, it's impossible to believe that this person literally disappeared into thin air.

08:31The shocking murder of George Dodd Murdoch has been an open investigation for over 40 years.

08:44I know coming into it, it's going to be really difficult.

08:45There was a lot of work done in 1983, but it's unsolved for a reason.

08:57Detective Inspector James Callender took over as the Senior Investigating Officer in 2021.

09:15He's solved some of Scotland's toughest cold cases.

09:20And the weight of this one now rests on his shoulders.

09:24There has been at least 4 or 5 other SIOs over the years.

09:29When you leave an inquiry as an SIO and it's unsolved, you're always going to have unfinished business.

09:38It can beat you up at times.

09:41So the SIOs of yesteryear, if they're still with us, will be looking to me to solve it.

09:48I know the answers are contained within this room.

09:50You know, everything related to the inquiry, there's no question that they'd be kept.

09:59Index cards, 10,000 house to house forms.

10:04There's probably about 7,000 hard copy statements in here.

10:11Everything is contained in the boxes.

10:14And the paperwork is...colossal.

10:1840 years of investigation, and there's never been a formal suspect for George's murder.

10:37They couldn't prove it, but the original detectives always had their suspicions about a number of men.

10:44One figure, known as the deli guy, raised lingering question marks.

10:51One particular gentleman at the time was known to be a drinker.

10:55Known to be violent.

10:57Especially when he was drunk.

11:00We know he worked in a delicatessen.

11:02Crucially, working in a deli could give him access to cheese wires, like the one used in George's murder.

11:12Wife alibi-ed him, yeah.

11:16That was the only alibi at that time.

11:19You know, this could be the guy.

11:21A real person of interest who, circumstantially, you could probably build a case around.

11:25Over the years, there's been dozens of persons of interest like the deli guy, each with their own alibis for the night of the murder.

11:37James now needs to get to the facts.

11:39You do have to take alibis with a pinch of salt, particularly when it comes to a close relationship.

11:48It's unsolved for a reason, because I know it is difficult.

11:53But I'm probably in a better position than any other SIO has ever been in.

12:02Because I do have something that they've never had.

12:05Working cold cases, it does help to have been around the job for three decades.

12:24You're constantly thinking, what's likely to have already been done?

12:28Where may gaps be?

12:30Why have we not found this person kind of getting deeper into the case and what might be possible?

12:36Killers were once caught with instincts and legwork, but the world marches on.

12:42So, too, does science.

12:45The National Crime Agency have identified a revolutionary new approach that could change everything in the George Murdoch inquiry.

12:54James, where are we? Where's the investigation at now?

12:57To be suddenly presented with a DNA breakthrough, it becomes really exciting.

13:06The George Murdoch murder could be the first familial DNA success in Scotland.

13:10And this feels like a genuine opportunity to solve a case which has been undetected for 40-plus years.

13:15Detectives in Aberdeen are investigating the violent murder of taxi driver George Dodd Murdoch in 1983.

13:37The attack that George endured, it must have been awful for him.

13:45Unravelling a crime means re-examining every detail.

13:49Following a major breakthrough, D.I. James' calendar needs to go back to the original post-mortem and forensic evidence.

13:56I don't think you get used to seeing photographs like this because it's...

14:02..it's pretty grim.

14:05You don't get used to it, but at times I have to. I have no choice.

14:09If you do need any motivation, you just need to go and speak to the family because they're living it day in, day out.

14:16Every time I come here, my mind gets transported back to when I was a kid, strangely enough.

14:36When I was a kid and I had a lot of time spent with my Uncle Dodd.

14:42Not his murder. I try and compartmentalise that and not think about that.

14:51You know, just thinking about the time that we were together.

14:58Known affectionately as Dodd, George's nephew remembers him as a gentle soul.

15:05He was just a normal working man, quiet man.

15:09But he enjoyed life. He had a lust for life despite being such a quiet man.

15:15He was married to the love of his life, Jesse.

15:19They wanted family but they couldn't.

15:22So they really looked upon us just almost like a son or a daughter.

15:27George's family, from one generation to the next, has always fought for justice.

15:36Now, we're kind of the last generation, the new Dodd.

15:45And once we're gone, that's pretty much it.

15:49We want this solved.

15:52We know he's been attacked from behind with the cheese wire.

16:06We know that it's spilled out of the taxi.

16:10George, they're often being strangled.

16:11This type of murder, the brutality of it, would have been really unusual.

16:22Brutality always leaves a trace.

16:26In the chaos of a murder, killers can leave behind the very clues that will bring them down.

16:31Without DNA, without forensic science, this case would not be getting looked up.

16:39It has totally turned this case on its head.

16:42Forensic scientists who have been looking at this over the years have never stopped.

16:49Everything now hinges on a DNA profile that has been found of George's killer.

16:55It's the result of decades of persistent, frustrating forensic work.

17:13Often, you'll find that in cold case reviews,

17:17there won't be anywhere near the number of items that we had the opportunity to look at in this case.

17:22Forensic scientist Sarah Walker has seen her share of cold cases.

17:29But the murder of George Murdoch?

17:32That was her first.

17:39There was cigarette ends from inside the taxi.

17:42There was coins, there was pens, the cheese wire, and George Murdoch's jacket.

17:47The jacket was put into a bag and then kept in a cupboard from 1983 to 2001,

17:57when I then opened it and started to take some samples.

18:00It actually doesn't feel like it's been nearly 25 years since I looked at this item.

18:11It almost feels like just yesterday actually.

18:15And I actually can remember the smell, which is really strange.

18:20In 1983, there wasn't any DNA being done in the criminal justice system.

18:31It didn't exist.

18:33They didn't know, at that point, that DNA analysis would be coming along.

18:38Come 2000, DNA analysis that was sensitive enough to pick up cells

18:42from having someone just sit on a seat in the taxi.

18:48The National DNA Database is established in 1995.

18:53By the early 2000s, it's revolutionising criminal investigations,

18:58holding nearly 3 million DNA profiles of people arrested for various crimes.

19:03Sarah knows that if she can extract a DNA profile from the crime scene material,

19:10it could match to a known offender and identify George's killer.

19:14We know that George succumbed to manual strangulation.

19:19So we targeted the clothing of George Murdoch for any DNA.

19:24We're already up to flag number 13 here, which means this is the 13th bloodstain

19:32off the item that I've sampled for DNA.

19:35We're looking for that individual who we can think,

19:40well, if they're present on his clothing, if they're present on the cheese wire

19:44and if they're present on samples from within his taxi,

19:47well, then that DNA profile is likely to be from the perpetrator.

19:50But the DNA has degraded over time.

19:55Pieces are visible in 2001, but it's not a full profile.

20:00It will take another 17 years of scientific advancement

20:05before Sarah and her team can finally get a breakthrough.

20:15Good evening. Police investigating the murder of a taxi driver

20:18in Aberdeen say they've identified a DNA profile

20:22which could help catch his killer.

20:25The DNA of the murder suspect is known as the male Z profile.

20:39It's a major step forward, but it's a blessing and a curse

20:42for detectives on the case.

20:48We've got this male Z profile, which we know has came from

20:51currency material and we believe to be that of the killer.

20:54But that DNA profile is only as good as matching it to somebody.

20:59The police run the DNA through the national database,

21:02but there are no matches.

21:03If we had a DNA match, we would have arrested the killer by now.

21:12It means George's killer likely hasn't been convicted, charged,

21:17or arrested for any other crime in recent history.

21:19And in Aberdeen, it never rains, it pours.

21:26All of the most likely suspects over the years,

21:31including the man who worked in a deli and had access to cheese wires,

21:35don't match the DNA profile either.

21:37It's quite frustrating when you've got such a good story.

21:42You know, some part of you thinks, right, that's another one ticked off the list.

21:46That's good.

21:48But the other side of you thinks, I wish that was him, but it's not.

21:52It is a who's done it.

21:54And there has never been one clear suspect,

21:56which really does make it, make it a lot harder.

21:59They're back to square one.

22:10The police's last forensic hope rests with a cutting-edge laboratory in Oxfordshire.

22:16It can be really frustrating when you can see a good DNA profile,

22:35it's just that the degradation of it has wiped out a significant portion of it.

22:41But then you go into a different sort of mode and think,

22:44OK, but what can we do about it?

22:46Is there any technique that we have at our disposal that can resurrect those parts?

22:51Andrew MacDonald is the lead DNA scientist at Cellmark Forensic Services.

22:57If anyone can help, it's him.

23:00He's been across some of the biggest breakthroughs

23:02on the UK's most challenging unsolved crimes.

23:05Massively parallel sequencing is a really new technique to forensic casework.

23:09And it is quite a complicated DNA process.

23:14We can look at the conventional part of the DNA that we do for forensic analysis,

23:20but we also look at lots of other things that might identify somebody's most likely ancestry

23:25or other characteristics about them.

23:27Andrew's hope is that he can improve the male Zed DNA enough for police to be able to search for a relative of the offender on the DNA database.

23:40Finding the killer's auntie, uncle, son or brother could lead detectives to the killer himself.

23:46If we could just generate a bit more of male Zed's profile, that would just open up lots of other opportunities.

23:54It's just massive for these sorts of cases.

23:56Typical Aberdeen weather.

24:11James has received major news from Cellmark.

24:15One of his first moves, update George Murdoch's family.

24:19Hi there.

24:38Hello, Robina. How are you?

24:40Good, good. Nice to see you.

24:42Hello, James. You got a bit wet.

24:45George's nephew, Alex, and his wife, Robina, have waited years for answers.

24:51Now there's a development that could crack the case.

24:55The good news is we've managed to get the profile enhanced.

24:58And we've had approval to go to familial DNA testing.

25:03Oh, that's good.

25:05So that's a huge step forward.

25:07Brilliant news, James.

25:09It'll be a lot of work. We'll end up with hundreds of names of people that we need to go and see.

25:12These people that we need to see aren't responsible.

25:15It's purely telling us that they could be related to the killer.

25:18Wow. It's basically what it is.

25:19Is that just anybody all over the UK?

25:21It's all over the UK.

25:23Basically anybody that is on the national DNA database.

25:27James, that's a quantum leap forward.

25:29What does history tell you in terms of getting familial, the chances of success?

25:35The chances are actually higher than I expected.

25:37They think about, you know, one in four chance of getting there.

25:42That's incredible.

25:44When an investigation starts, police never know if the crucial break will ever come.

25:50This case has haunted detectives for decades.

25:53But now, after 40 years, they're closer than they've ever been to finally finding George's killer.

26:00George's killer.

26:01George, just a note from the producers there, like genuine fascination there.

26:19Even though it's a very old case, these developments still happen.

26:23So, no case is ever closed.

26:26Any would-be murder suspects out there that think they've got away with it, think again, because things change.

26:31Is that behind the line?

26:33Is that okay?

26:34Yeah, perfect.

26:35Fantastic.

26:36Nice to meet you.

26:39Senior Investigating Officer James Callender is making an appeal on Crimewatch.

26:44After 40 years, a major breakthrough has reignited the investigation into the murder of George Murdoch.

26:52Hello and a very warm welcome to you.

26:54This morning, Police of Scotland, they're asking for information about a case that we have followed closely over the years.

26:59That's the death of George Murdoch.

27:01James, good morning.

27:02Thank you for joining us.

27:03What can you tell us about this interesting development?

27:06We had a breakthrough in that we hold DNA, a DNA profile recovered from the scene, believed to be that of the killer.

27:14Enhancement in DNA has enabled us to identify 200 possible genetic links, commonly known as familial DNA.

27:22Neither the police nor the family have given up hope for justice being served.

27:28And George's wife, Jessie, died never knowing who killed her husband.

27:32It would be an unimaginable burden.

27:34Hopefully, yes, the public can assist us in this next phase of the investigation.

27:38There's no doubt the DNA discoveries are a game changer.

27:53But science is just one piece of the puzzle.

27:57It's the combination of this new evidence and the legwork of the 80s that can close the case.

28:03Familial DNA searching can be very successful, but I firmly believe that the information is in what we've got.

28:15If we get a match to that DNA, we'll be able to find that person in our archive.

28:20This isn't the biggest archive to cold case in Grand Payne's history for no reason.

28:27They effectively threw the kitchen sink at it.

28:30In 1983, it was boots on the ground and old school policing.

28:34The tools of a detective were a notebook and a pen.

28:46The entire search process was paper-driven.

28:51It was feet on the ground.

28:53It was knowing the neighbourhood, knowing the people.

28:56It was done with police interviews, witness statements.

28:59You really had to just swamp the houses in the closest proximity and knock on doors.

29:06Boots on ground, knock on doors, speak to people, ask the questions.

29:10With no CCTV or mobile phone records at their fingertips, the detectives rely on the city's goodwill, on whispers and local knowledge.

29:19The entire city embraced the investigation.

29:25They were very cooperative with the police in a way that I hadn't seen before.

29:30And we used media to make appeals for witnesses.

29:34Aberdeen's a city, but it's not a big city.

29:37There's more of a town feeling about it.

29:39People knew each other or they knew somebody who knew somebody.

29:42So bad news travels fast, very, very fast.

29:45The police appeals receive a huge response from the public.

29:50The girls in the typing pool were almost 24 hours collating all of that information.

29:56There had been lots of sightings of different people near or around where George's car was found.

30:05Amongst the flood of tips, two sightings grab the interest of detectives.

30:10Around 8.48pm, a man is seen running from the south to the north pavements of North East Side Road.

30:17At 9.03pm, another witness sees a man running in the same area.

30:25At 9.30pm, a witness says a man entered Mr Chip's chip shop on Great Western Road with injuries to his hands and face, asking for plaster.

30:36This was a young man who'd gone to the local fish and chip shop and that his hands were covered in blood.

30:44I remember thinking, ah, they've got him.

30:46They've got him.

30:49The man in the chip shop becomes a critical lead for detectives.

30:55But the clue comes in 17 days after the sighting, an eternity in 1983.

31:03With memories fading fast, they piece together a photo fit.

31:07But the picture remains frustratingly unclear.

31:11This was a photo fit that was done from a witness of the chart that was seen in the Mr Chips.

31:19In 1983 was a case of putting various noses and eyes and lips and chins and foreheads together with a hairstyle,

31:27whereas today it's CCTV or, you know, digital media and all that sort of stuff.

31:36They're relying on somebody's recollection, which is probably now three weeks old.

31:40So another one from the chip shop, which is somewhat different to the other one, isn't it?

31:47Despite the conflicting descriptions, detectives pursue the lead doggedly.

31:56The chip shop sighting in particular was interesting because of the bloodied hands and the agitated state of the individual.

32:07Obviously it was going to be crucial to try to identify who this individual was and either eliminate or otherwise from the investigation.

32:13There's splashes in the local newspapers, appealing for a name for the chip shop man.

32:20But it's fruitless.

32:22Out of options, they turned to an unorthodox tactic.

32:26Football.

32:32About a month after the murder, Aberdeen played Celtic football club.

32:36And the strategy was to come along and have detectives and police officers at every entrance to the stadium.

32:45It gave us a great opportunity to capture, if you like, thousands of young men in the age bracket that we were looking for.

32:55Over 20,000 of a crowd.

32:58We had officers at every turnstile.

32:59The plan was to engage with the fans and ask to inspect their hands for injuries or any signs of somebody that had been involved in a recent fight.

33:11Obviously the golden bullet would have been to identify someone who was potentially a suspect, but maybe someone in that crowd might have known something.

33:21The gamble doesn't pay off.

33:29As the net widens, finding the killer becomes increasingly impossible.

33:35Over time, less officers were involved.

33:41Over months, it started to diminish.

33:43And there's a frustration to this day, 41 years on, that we've never had that break to find out who was responsible.

33:53In Aberdeen, the chip shop man is infamous, presumed by many to be George's killer.

34:13But nowadays, there's suspicions over how significant he really was.

34:17One of the risks, I suppose, of getting too excited is you can maybe get tunnel vision.

34:24And that can be quite dangerous.

34:26It's great if you're on the right tunnel.

34:29Yeah, it's a fine balance to be met.

34:31James is looking for clarity from Adam, a behavioural investigative advisor with the National Crime Agency, who's been drafted in to help on the case.

34:48There's obviously the story about the chip shop guy who turned up at the chip shop with scratches his face and cut hands.

35:01It's become part of the story in terms of previous media releases.

35:04For me, I think I'm right in saying that the account kind of came out about three weeks after once the house-to-house was extended into a new era.

35:17So, I think if you look at the dynamic of that in 2024, 2025 policing and knowing what we do about eyewitness testimony

35:27and the potential for people to get slightly confused on days and for stories to develop, then factor in that it's probably 20 minutes after,

35:37it doesn't seem to me to fit with the rest of the offence.

35:41The idea that you would then choose to put yourself in view of people with cuts and bruises.

35:47We know the vast majority of people that commit interpersonal crime go back to a place of safety immediately afterwards.

35:52Yeah.

35:53So, I would be more inclined to think, this has happened, it's gone horribly wrong.

35:56Yeah.

35:57He's gone home.

35:58I'm going into Hayden, not going into a chip shop.

35:59The idea that he's in a chip shop 20 minutes later asking for plasters.

36:02Yeah.

36:03Just, I can't, I can't reconcile that.

36:06Adam can see what many others can't.

36:09Clues about who the murderer may be laid bare in the brutality of the crime.

36:15So, there's something really criminally ingrained in this individual.

36:18Those individuals are more likely to have criminal family members and therefore are more likely to have relatives that are also on the national DNA database.

36:28James now has the strongest lead there's been for over 40 years.

36:42A long list of possible relatives of male Z, the DNA profile police believe to be from George's killer.

36:48Because we know the male Z profile is not on the database, we obviously can't search for him, so we need to search for family members.

36:58There's around 5 million on the DNA database versus about 66 million in the UK.

37:05Out of the search on the DNA database of 5 million, we've got over a thousand names there, most similar to the DNA profile, the male Z DNA profile.

37:15James's team must convince as many people as possible on that list of 1,000 names to voluntarily give a new DNA sample.

37:24This is their best chance to uncover any family link to the killer.

37:28It's physically impossible probably to go and meet or identify every single person.

37:36But it all comes down to our ability to do it and our staff and we will do as much as we can.

37:41We need to go and obtain their DNA sample.

37:44You know, the family have hopes and expectations.

37:47Nobody's ever been brought to justice for this crime.

37:50The DNA sample and familial DNA is important and is the key to solving this.

37:55They got all in, I've never been to Liverpool before.

38:14Detectives are travelling all over the UK, hunting for relatives of George's killer.

38:22In 1983, it was house to house inquiries and witness statements.

38:27Today, it's all about gathering DNA.

38:29We're doing what we call familial DNA testing.

38:35So, we've got probably over nearly a thousand people to sort of try and make inquiries with all over the country.

38:45Their DNA is similar to that of the killers. It's not the same DNA. It's not the exact match.

38:50It could be a relative. It could be a very distant relative.

38:55Or it could be just the fact that they have similar DNA.

38:58So, do you know where you're going?

39:00Negative.

39:02One, two, three.

39:04You're going up there.

39:11The detectives face a steep challenge.

39:14They need to persuade everyone on their list to voluntarily give them a fresh DNA sample.

39:23Trying to get people in the house is a challenge. Try to get a hold of them.

39:28Some of them think it's a bit like grassing people in.

39:32All the people we're seeing, it might be, you know, a really minor offence that they've committed.

39:37But they're on our database because they've committed a crime and their DNA has been kept from that.

39:46Their hard work is paying off.

39:51Hi, Des. All right?

39:52Desmond. Yeah.

39:53I'm Tom from the police. How are you doing?

39:54Nice to meet you. I'm good.

39:55Thanks for having us round this afternoon. All right.

39:58Is all right to come in? Yeah, of course.

39:59Yeah, awesome. Cheers.

40:00You've obviously had DNA taken before, so what was that for?

40:07Drink driving. Drink driving, Dean. Right, okay. All right.

40:10One silly bad decision, was it?

40:12About 20, 28 years ago.

40:14Oh, man, something like that.

40:15So, was it similar to this?

40:17Was it just two scrapes in the mouth?

40:19With a swab?

40:20Yeah, I think it was, yeah.

40:23The more samples the detectives gather,

40:26the more likely they are to find a relative of male Zed,

40:31George's killer.

40:32Cool. Right, cheers.

40:33Thanks very much.

40:34Good to see you.

40:39There's never been a familial DNA successful case in Scotland,

40:43but there has been in England.

40:46This will be like a first if it works.

40:48So, hopefully, it does.

40:51Because it's a lot of work.

40:52If that murder happened nowadays, there would be CCTV everywhere,

40:57there would be ring doorbell cameras everywhere.

41:00It probably wouldn't have come to this.

41:08If this crime happened today, I've no doubt in my mind

41:11that it would be detected by now.

41:13I don't think there's any doubt about that.

41:16In 1983, CCTV, dash cam footage, they weren't a thing.

41:22But if police could get to a witness just after they'd seen something,

41:27that was the next best thing.

41:31So, for me, the most significant sighting for the whole inquiry

41:36was the running man.

41:37There's quite a number of statements about the running man over the years.

41:45One, two, three, four, five, six, six.

41:52Seven or eight people who've came forward to speak about the running man,

41:56that he wasn't in trainers and shorts and T-shirt.

41:59You know, nine o'clock on a Thursday evening.

42:01You wouldn't see many runners at nine o'clock on a Thursday evening.

42:06And he's running away from when a murder's taken place.

42:09So, hugely significant back in 1983 and indeed to this day.

42:14But, obviously, he has never been identified.

42:19Decades of dead ends and it always comes back to him,

42:23hidden in plain sight, the running man.

42:27Could it be the person that killed George Murdoch?

42:29Out of all the stories over the years, it's the most plausible.

42:38Who is the running man?

42:46For weeks, James' team have been carrying out

42:50familial DNA testing across the UK.

42:52PHONE RINGS

42:58Tom, how you doing?

42:59Yeah, not bad. How are you?

43:01Yeah, good. Good. What are you saying?

43:03The girl we've just been to see.

43:06She was a bit taken aback because her relative is actually in jail at the moment.

43:10For the murder of a taxi driver a few years ago.

43:13Whereabouts was that like, Tom?

43:16This was Yorkshire, yeah.

43:18And what was his MO, Tom?

43:21She didn't go into it, but we had an open-source check on it after.

43:26And the taxi driver has picked up a requested fare.

43:31Driven out to a nearby quiet bay road.

43:35And then he stabbed him multiple times and then used a hammer on him.

43:42And then he's basically ransacked his clothing and stolen all his money.

43:45The crimes shared chilling similarities and remarkably, a family member of the Yorkshire taxi killer has similar DNA to that of George's murderer.

44:01Could he have evaded justice only to strike again, targeting another taxi driver years later?

44:08After 41 years of hitting brick walls, the police's luck may have finally changed.

44:21Join me, Kirsty Wark, next time when we move one step closer to finding out who killed George Murdoch.

44:30I'll be joined by the senior investigating officer, James Callender.

44:34And together we'll be looking at your insight.

44:37What do we need to hear from you?

44:39What are the vital details and clues which could bring us to George Murdoch's killer?

44:47And Kirsty Wark is back with all the details on how you can play your part in the investigation

44:52when Forensic's murder case continues tomorrow at nine.

44:56They were the guests who checked in, but never made it to check out.

44:59Britain's Hotel Murders streamed the full series now on Five.

45:04Police suspect number one is next.

45:05cœur

45:10Break

45:11Yae

45:13carving

45:14everybody

45:16on

45:18the

45:19beginning

45:21to

45:22join

45:24the

45:25snapping

45:27каб

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