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00:03I'm Steve Keogh, a former Scotland Yard murder detective inspector.
00:08I'm going to take you deep inside murder investigations,
00:13opening my contacts book for the first time
00:17to reveal the secrets of what it really takes to be a murder detective,
00:21on the front line, exposing how we solve the most heinous of crimes.
00:31Welcome to Secrets of a Murder Detective.
00:40The murder of Rosina Coleman in May 2018
00:44was one of East London's most challenging cases.
00:47I'm going to be meeting a detective on the case
00:49to reveal what really happened, the pressures, the setbacks
00:52and the methods in the investigation that brought the killer to justice.
00:55My name is Clare Watts. I was a detective constable
00:58on a homicide team in the Metropolitan Police in 2018.
01:04At the time of this murder, I was new to the homicide team
01:08and it was quite challenging being the new detective constable
01:12on a fully established murder team.
01:14Hi, Clare. Lovely to meet you.
01:20Clare, the incident we're going to be talking about today was from May 2018.
01:25What were you doing back then? What was your role?
01:28I just joined the homicide team at Barking.
01:31It was my first week. We were on call.
01:34And my initial few days there was just helping out on older cases.
01:40So you'd literally just arrived on the murder teams.
01:43Yes. And they would have 24-hour, seven-day-a-week responsibility
01:48to respond to any murders that came in.
01:50Yeah, that's correct.
01:51Actually, you'd been there on attachment a few months before.
01:55We received the call from the control room around lunchtime.
01:59So the information that I was aware of was that we had an elderly female
02:05deceased in her bungalow in a residential street
02:10far from Romford itself.
02:20They believed it was a murder because of the crime scene itself.
02:25So as a result, we gathered our belongings.
02:27I was the driver.
02:30We drove to the venue in Ashmore Gardens.
02:34It was the school run.
02:36The traffic was heavy.
02:38Yes, the HAT car is a marks vehicle,
02:41so it also can be rapidly deployed to the scene.
02:44I'm Gary Harriman.
02:46I was Detective Sergeant of the Metropolitan Police
02:49involved in the investigation's murder of Rosina Coleman.
02:52The HAT car is a vehicle.
02:56It's a term that's used for the team that were on call for that week.
03:00There'd be numerous detectives, detective sergeants,
03:04and detective inspectors and police officers on that team
03:07who will deal with those serious incidents.
03:11We arrived safely and were met by local uniform officers,
03:17so the first on-scene officers, with local CID officers that had attended.
03:23There we had a verbal briefing, effectively on the street, outside the premises.
03:32And at that stage, nobody entered those premises
03:34because we had to decide how to control cross-contamination.
03:39We didn't want to cause any problems with potential forensics.
03:43What are you confronted with when you get there?
03:45What do you see?
03:46There's cordons in place, as they should be, at the end of the street.
03:51A decision was made that only the DS and the exhibits officer
03:56with the crime scene manager would enter.
03:59They obviously kitted out in those lovely white overalls and overshoes, gloves,
04:06and went into the address, and I was left with the instructions
04:09to start doing the knocking on the doors and trying to get some information.
04:14One of the most important things, as well,
04:16is trying to understand if there were any witnesses around.
04:19What sort of things were you getting back when you were doing that?
04:22The street was a very quiet residential street.
04:24It did have a lot of elderly residents, so those people did answer the door
04:30and we were able to speak to them.
04:32But there was also returns that we had to conduct later on in the evening
04:36when most people get back from work.
04:39So whilst we're knocking on their doors,
04:42we are keeping an eye out for CCTV on-premises, ring doorbells,
04:47and looking at the dash areas of vehicles that are parked for any dash cameras.
04:52So we did that, and that was spent all day effectively into the evening.
05:00And then whilst I'm doing that with my colleagues,
05:04the crime scene is being forensicated.
05:07So when I attended the scene, local officers had already secured it
05:11and forensics had gone into the venue.
05:13So the premises had been secured from the front and from the rear,
05:18because at that stage you don't know where the perpetrators have come into that venue.
05:23And forensics had gone in and put down blocks that I could walk on without disturbing the scene.
05:30And I was also aware from officers the victim, Rosina Coleman, lived alone at that address.
05:35It was an 85-year-old woman.
05:37She was a grandmother and loved by all the residents who knew her.
05:41Once the crime scene had been finished forensication, I was permitted entry to the property.
05:47It was a pristine bungalow, well cared for and loved.
05:52And that's where I saw Rosina.
05:55She was lying prone on her back in the threshold of her bedroom.
06:01And I think that she would have been on her back because the paramedics had been working on her.
06:07And she reminded me of my mum.
06:08My mum was only about five years younger than her.
06:13So, you know, it's an interesting scene to go to.
06:17And I felt that I wanted to take part in trying to solve the murder of Rose for her family.
06:28I call her Rose because that's what she was called.
06:32And I noticed that her head was closest to the door, to the bedroom.
06:37And that she was on her back.
06:40I noticed blood around her, on her neck area, on her skull.
06:46I also noticed that she was very well-groomed.
06:53She had, like, polished nails and manicured and pedicured.
06:58So that stuck out for me.
07:00And then after I finished looking at Rose, I looked around the room.
07:05And you could just see cupboard doors open,
07:09bits of clothing hanging out of drawers and cupboards.
07:12So it was a chaotic...
07:15But you could tell a violent scene had occurred here.
07:19How did you feel when you were there in that house?
07:21You sort of give yourself a bit of a talking to.
07:24Try not to be emotional.
07:25It's difficult not to get emotional.
07:27But, you know, you get a lump in your throat.
07:29So, yeah.
07:30I investigated a lot of murders, but there are certain ones that do that.
07:34Where, for me, it was children or vulnerable people.
07:37Rose was a vulnerable person.
07:38Seeing someone that has lost their life,
07:42whose last moments are in that violent ending,
07:46it does give you that extra drive, doesn't it?
07:48Yeah, it does, definitely.
07:53Any crime scene, if it's a residential area,
07:57you know, it's normal for the neighbours to leave a curtain twitch,
08:01as you say, or come out and have a chat.
08:04They want to find out what's going on.
08:07The issue with the murder,
08:10I think we cordoned off each end of the street.
08:13There was shock.
08:14Obviously, they heard that Rose had died.
08:20And there was a few people that were visibly upset.
08:23She had adult children and grandchildren.
08:28So, yes, it was a big shock for that family
08:31and her neighbours and friends.
08:34Were there any signs of forced entry into Rose's home?
08:38No, not at all.
08:40So, you'd be looking for things like broken doors,
08:43broken windows, broken locks, there was none of that.
08:45So, what did that tell you about, potentially, how this had happened?
08:50Well, we knew the patio doors were open.
08:52So, we knew that either someone has walked in,
08:57the opportunist has managed to walk in,
09:01but it also put in their minds that it could be someone that she knew
09:04and that that person was invited in,
09:08or they even had access to the property.
09:11In any murder investigation like this,
09:13all the detectives that are working on it need to come together,
09:18have team meetings to discuss what each of you have been doing,
09:23making others aware of what information and evidence is available.
09:27Did you all come together to discuss what had gone on?
09:30We did. We sat around and discussed what we'd established.
09:35What we got is a residential bungalow.
09:38The patio doors were open.
09:40There was a messy search, untidy search in the bedroom.
09:45It looked like property had been stolen.
09:47So, the likely scenario was a burglary that had gone wrong.
09:52Your team are working on the basis
09:55that one of the most likely scenarios for Rose's death is a burglary.
10:00And burglaries can happen in different ways.
10:02It could be where someone's broken into somebody's house,
10:05or it could be what's referred to as artifice burglaries,
10:08where someone essentially tricks their way in.
10:12Older people tend to be the victims of these, don't they?
10:15They do, yes.
10:16I think they're a bit more trusting.
10:19And if they believe what the person's telling them,
10:21we'll grant them access to their premises.
10:24So, as a team, what were you doing to try and establish
10:27whether it was connected to one of these types of burglaries?
10:30So, we obviously had researchers
10:33that were looking into crime data patterns
10:37that were in that area,
10:39looking for any burglaries that had taken place
10:42with date parameters.
10:45Then they'd have to methodically go through
10:47and check to see what method was used,
10:50what items were stolen,
10:52whether there was any signs of actual breaking,
10:55or whether it was, as you say,
10:58being tricked into gaining access to a premises.
11:08Artifice burglaries are where a suspect will trick their way
11:13into somebody's home in order to steal.
11:16And more often than not, they will target elderly victims
11:20because they are more likely, in their eyes, to fall for their ruse.
11:25But this presents problems.
11:28By the very nature of the victims being older,
11:32they can quite often get confused,
11:34and the information they give to police isn't always accurate.
11:39Plus, those that carry out these types of crimes
11:42are well practised in what they do,
11:44and they use methods to prevent themselves being caught.
11:53Rosina Coleman would have been pronounced deceased at the scene,
11:56and she would have been taken away to a mortuary,
11:58awaiting a post-mortem.
12:01So, from the post-mortem,
12:02it was established that Rose suffered blunt,
12:06false trauma to her skull and her neck,
12:10and she would have been hit 11 times.
12:15So, in the top of her skull, about here from behind,
12:19and to her neck.
12:20We didn't know what the weapon was at that time,
12:23but it would have been a blunt, false weapon of some description.
12:27Just for me, when you describe that,
12:31that goes way beyond what is necessary
12:34to incapacitate, disable, whatever you want to do,
12:40an elderly lady.
12:41To hit them that many times, that's just...
12:47I mean, I can't even begin to start to describe how awful that is.
12:52No, it's dreadful.
12:53We knew that Rose had had a telephone conversation with her daughter,
12:58and that would have been around 7.30 in the morning.
13:01And that was the last information we had of her being alive.
13:12So, Rose had a gardener, a stroke handyman,
13:16and he had gone round to the address, um,
13:19to collect some work boots,
13:22and he initially got no reply,
13:26and assumed she was in the bath,
13:29so went away and did a job.
13:30I think it was in Chadwell Heath.
13:32And then came back a bit later on,
13:36he's discovered her, um, covered in blood.
13:39He then calls 999.
13:42His name was Paul Prowse,
13:44and he, um, knew our victim,
13:49or Racina Coleman, for five to six years,
13:52and apparently treated like a member of the family,
13:56um, a frequent visitor at that address,
13:59so would have known her layout of her home very well.
14:04So, you essentially had this window
14:05between which Rose had been murdered.
14:08You had the...
14:08From the end of the telephone call with the daughter...
14:11Mm-hm.
14:11..and Paul discovering her body.
14:13Were you able to build up anything in between there,
14:16maybe from what she was doing during the day?
14:19No, we found that quite challenging,
14:20because had it been a younger victim
14:23who may have been on their phone
14:25or playing computer games or on social media,
14:28we didn't have that as, um, open to us
14:31as an option for a lead because of her...
14:34I assume because of her age,
14:36because I certainly know from my mum
14:38wouldn't be on the phone texting someone.
14:40It is quite difficult to track, uh, people of the age of Rosina.
14:46That is 85,
14:48as they very rarely use social media,
14:52uh, quite often not even using smartphones or computers,
14:56and therefore there is very little
14:59of a footprint for them to be found.
15:02My name is Chris Watts.
15:03I'm a digital forensic investigator,
15:06a job that I've carried out for the last 31 years.
15:09In the early stages of a murder investigation,
15:12the murder team will be looking to trace the victims' movements.
15:17And to do that, they will be looking for CCTV,
15:21a mobile phone that may, uh, show where they've been,
15:25who they've been calling, who's been calling them.
15:31Rosie's home was treated as a crime scene.
15:34Was there anything significant found?
15:36There was, actually.
15:37There was a ripped part of a, uh, rubber glove or Gore-Tex glove
15:43that had been trapped in, like, a door of the cupboard.
15:48So, we suspected the suspect had obviously left it there in...in a panic.
15:54That suggests someone who's forensically aware...
15:57Yeah.
15:57..who doesn't want their fingerprints or DNA found.
16:00And that's gonna...
16:01If you're dealing with a suspect like that,
16:04it's gonna make solving a crime more difficult, isn't it?
16:06It does,
16:07because they've obviously put some thought behind it
16:09before they've gone and committed that crime.
16:13So, that was a bit of a red flag.
16:20So, your team have put in a lot of work
16:22into trying to identify any burglars in the area.
16:25Were there any other lines of inquiry that you took as a team?
16:29Well, we have to keep an open mind,
16:30so we would be looking at the person that found her,
16:34the person that, uh, called 999.
16:38Most witnesses, when they come to police,
16:39they'll make a statement on a piece of paper
16:41and they'll get to sign it.
16:42But those that are considered significant,
16:45ones that could hold some really important information,
16:47are dealt with in a different way, aren't they?
16:49They're dealt with either on video or tape.
16:52Is...is that how Paul, who discovered the body, was dealt with?
16:55That's right, yes, he was.
16:57So, his initial account,
16:59when the first attending officers
17:01was on their body-worn camera recorded,
17:03and then later on,
17:05when he gave his lengthy, um, account
17:08with our homicide detectives,
17:11then that would have been recorded as well.
17:14So, part of the next steps of the investigation
17:17was obviously to, uh, look at people's accounts,
17:21obviously one of which was the handyman, Paul's,
17:24and that it'd been noted that there was discrepancies.
17:28What were you seeing?
17:29We were seeing that...
17:31Well, we noticed that he was getting muddled
17:33around his visits to the address and the timings.
17:38So, on one occasion,
17:40he said he was actually at Rose's premises,
17:44when, in fact, he was fixing a washing machine in Chabble Heath.
17:48So, he couldn't have been where he said he was at that time.
17:51MUSIC
17:56Then they start to look at the CCTV.
18:00So, at this stage, you're trying to build a picture
18:02of what went on.
18:03So, you're collecting CCTV, ring doorbell,
18:06home address CCTV.
18:08You're making a house-to-house inquiries with residents.
18:12You're prioritising your forensics
18:15to hopefully establish who may have committed this offence.
18:18We did identify a couple of addresses that had CCTV cameras,
18:25generally covering their drive,
18:26but it would also cover part of the street
18:28that Rose's address was in.
18:31So, both cameras that had been identified
18:34were set up where we needed an engineer to come out
18:37to, obviously, do the download.
18:39Once that had happened and the engineers fed that CCTV back to you,
18:44was there anything significant on it?
18:45The team noticed on the footage from that street
18:50that there was this silver car passing by on a couple of occasions.
18:55MUSIC
19:02Whilst little evidence can be very compelling,
19:06it does not detract from the hard work of the murder detective
19:10who is out asking questions, knocking on doors,
19:15viewing hours and hours of CCTV footage
19:18to find that one little nugget of evidence
19:21that can really turn a case on its head.
19:25It was probably a Nissan driving up and down that road
19:30and around the area.
19:32Later on, we knew that Paul had a silver Nissan Micra,
19:37and we obviously put two and two together
19:41and realised that we should be looking at Paul.
19:50We wasn't happy with the account given by the handyman,
19:55and to corroborate the events of that day,
19:59I took a statement from his partner.
20:01I went round and spoke to her.
20:02I took a statement of his movements
20:05to try and get some more evidence.
20:07I took a statement from a resident
20:10where the handyman had been earlier that day.
20:12He provided me with details of the clothing
20:14that the handyman had been wearing.
20:16So what sort of things were you doing around Paul?
20:19Looking at the ANPR cameras, which identified his car.
20:25So Paul had stopped at a DIY store
20:28and bought a packet of latex gloves.
20:33And he then returned to the premises at 09.23 hours,
20:41or thereabouts.
20:43And then we know from the footage
20:45that his car is still in situ an hour and 40 minutes later,
20:50and he then returns back to his vehicle and drives away.
20:55Does it marry up with what he's saying in his witness accounts?
21:00No, not at all.
21:10Sometimes killers will try to stage a crime scene
21:13to make it appear as if something different has happened,
21:17maybe an accident or suicide.
21:19And they will spend a lot of time to try and achieve that.
21:23But there are certain evidential avenues
21:26that they have no control over.
21:28Phone records, CCTV, ANPR, and financial transactions.
21:34All evidential opportunities that they cannot influence at all.
21:39And invariably, it will be these that will catch them out.
21:44From the forensic examination, photography,
21:49the team were able to establish
21:51that Rose was assorted, physically assorted, in her bedroom.
21:58That she would have been killed that morning.
22:07Then, as the investigation developed,
22:10we was looking at CCTV footage of movements,
22:15looking at Paul's movements.
22:17We established that he had been at a job
22:24fixing a washing machine in Chadwell Heath.
22:27About half-eight then picked up on the camera in the DIY store,
22:31buying the Gore-Tex gloves at about 5 past 9.
22:35He's on camera again at 9.12 in Roses Street.
22:41So we can see him in his car,
22:43which was a Nissan Micra, silver,
22:46and was in her dress for that hour and 40 minutes.
22:50He gave an account that he had attended the address
22:55about half-past eight.
22:57He says to collect his work boots that he needed for a job.
23:00When, in fact, we knew that he was actually working
23:03on a washing machine at half-past eight.
23:07So that was one of the first lies that we established.
23:12And then, as it developed, he said he came back again
23:18at a different time to what is shown on the CCTV.
23:23And that's obviously when he goes into the bungalow
23:26and discovers that she's dead.
23:28And when we compared that footage
23:31for when he first turned up at the address
23:33and then his second returned to the address,
23:38he actually is in different clothing.
23:41He's changed his clothing.
23:43So, obviously, that's a red flag for us.
23:51So he completely missed out in both his interviews,
23:54that he had gone to Rosie's house,
23:57was there for an hour and 40 minutes,
23:59and on the way had stopped off and bought latex gloves.
24:03What were you thinking then when this information came through?
24:07The glove was the same colour as the ones from the packet
24:10in the DIY store.
24:12The officers that attended the DIY store
24:15would have got the receipt for that as well.
24:18I've been in that situation so many times
24:20where you're at the beginning of a murder investigation
24:23and you've got no idea where it's going to go.
24:26And if it is a burglary,
24:29that's going to be difficult to solve.
24:31But then something can happen in an inquiry,
24:35two or three bits of evidence fitting together,
24:37and it can change the whole direction of what you're doing.
24:40That's one of these moments, isn't it?
24:42Yeah, it raised the status from a significant witness
24:46or person of interest to a suspect for a murder.
24:53So each morning we'd have a team meeting
24:55where we'd talk about the developments.
24:56I was a bit shocked as a day earlier
24:58and taking a statement from the handyman's partner.
25:02I had met the handyman,
25:03and I didn't believe that he could do anything so brutal.
25:06After the breakthrough was discussed in the meeting,
25:09the decision to arrest the handyman
25:11was made by the senior investigating officer.
25:13I attended the address of the handyman
25:15and arrested him for the offence of murder of Rosina Coleman.
25:22His reaction, he didn't say anything on reply to caution.
25:27He looked a bit in shock.
25:32Paul was arrested three days after the murder
25:35at his home address,
25:36and I was assigned to be the lead interviewer
25:40for his suspect interviews.
25:42You were what's known as an advanced interviewer?
25:45Yes.
25:45So you would have had extra training than many of your colleagues.
25:49Correct, yeah.
25:50One of your first tasks would be to draw up,
25:54write up some what we call pre-interview briefing
25:58or pre-interview disclosure for the solicitor,
26:01for the legal representative of anyone being interviewed.
26:05That's correct.
26:05A lot of thought goes into that, doesn't it?
26:07Of, well, what is it we're going to tell them before we interview them?
26:10And I decided that I would hold back on information
26:15because what I wanted to avoid
26:16was if you tell the whole evidential story to him,
26:21he can then fit a defence around it.
26:24I would only tell him what he knew the police knew.
26:28The fact that he called police,
26:31the fact that he knew Rose for a long time,
26:36and the fact that he had been seen in the street with his car.
26:44That resulted in no-comment interview throughout.
26:48I still ask questions because it's my job to still ask those questions
26:52and was met with no comment, no comment.
26:55So the first one being the no-comment interview.
26:57Yeah.
26:58Then we go into the second one.
27:00Yeah.
27:01Can you remember what more information you gave him on that second one?
27:03I gave him more information around that we knew
27:07that he'd been to the address on a couple of occasions
27:13and he then, after his private consultation with his solicitor,
27:18decided he was going to speak freely
27:20and he gave a very detailed account of his movements,
27:25but obviously missed out the fact
27:27that he'd actually been in her address for over an hour and 40 minutes.
27:31So he never disclosed that.
27:39I also held back on the imagery from the DIY store as well.
27:45And that was obviously disclosed to him during that interview.
27:48That was at the end of interview two.
27:50My colleague had a laptop,
27:52so I knew at what point I was going to turn the laptop around and show him.
27:55Well, that's you turning up.
27:58That's you leaving.
28:00That's you talking to the officer and he's captured you on body worn.
28:06And I could see you're in different clothing.
28:08So, and that's, at that point, it was like, shut down.
28:12I need to speak to my solicitor.
28:14During the interview process with Paul Prowse,
28:17I was aware that the rest of the team were engaged in other tasks,
28:21one of which was to search his home address,
28:24where they would be looking for the murder weapon,
28:29clothing that maybe have traces of rose,
28:34whether it be blood or skin matter on his clothing.
28:39So, your first interview was not giving him an awful lot, really,
28:43just telling him the basics that he would have known that the police know.
28:47Yeah, exactly.
28:48Then he's been speaking for England in the second interview.
28:51So, what's he going to tell us now?
28:52Now that we've delivered our evidence
28:55and shown him what we've got, we showed our hand,
28:58I was excited to know, is he going to go back to no comment
29:01or is he going to actually talk again?
29:04He wants to stop. He wants to speak to his solicitor.
29:07He hadn't accounted for what that CCTV showed.
29:10You then also disclose to him, after this,
29:16the fact that he's been seen buying latex gloves.
29:21Yes.
29:21Gloves that match the part of the glove
29:25that's found at the scene in the wardrobe.
29:28Right.
29:28So, the evidence is now building, building, building.
29:33He is in no doubt that it's not looking good for him.
29:41The role of the interviewing officer, Claire,
29:44was vital in this investigation.
29:47She is not known as an advanced interviewer.
29:50I mean, that she would have spent weeks training
29:53in situations where actors would have come in,
29:57actors that would have provided a real challenge
29:59to test whether or not she has the ability to pass,
30:03because not everybody passes this course.
30:05It's a really difficult course.
30:07And I think the technique demonstrated by her in this case
30:13is a reflection of just how high-level these officers are.
30:24Which way did it go?
30:26He confessed.
30:28It totally blew my mind.
30:31So, I obviously started the recording equipment,
30:34did the introductions,
30:36and then he just...
30:37I can't even remember his stance.
30:39He was like, hands here, and he said,
30:40Claire, I'm going to tell you everything.
30:46What did he say?
30:47What did he say happened?
30:48He said that he'd been round there for a cup of tea.
30:52They'd been chatting.
30:54Rose was walking him to the front door
30:55when she made some flippant comment
30:58along the lines of, oh, cheer up your silly sod,
31:00or something like that.
31:03And he said something flipped,
31:05and he then hit her with this hammer
31:08that he had in his hand.
31:10And then he realised,
31:12oh, I've got to finish this,
31:14because I can't leave her alive.
31:17And so he continued to hit her a further ten times
31:20with that hammer.
31:24But what he'd also said was
31:26that this occurred in the hallway.
31:29So, we know no violent struggle
31:33or attack occurred in the hallway.
31:35It all took place in that bedroom.
31:40He decides that he's got to make it look like a burglary.
31:43So, he opens up all the wardrobes,
31:46pulls out stuff from drawers, cupboards.
31:50He clearly was wearing gloves at the time,
31:53because, obviously, we've established
31:54that there was a glove or partial,
31:58like a finger part of a glove,
32:00attached to one of the cupboards
32:01near to her safe where she kept her jewellery.
32:05And he also disclosed that he did steal from her.
32:10He stole the diamond ring and also cosmetic jewellery.
32:18And he took some money, but he says not a lot,
32:22and then left.
32:25He then went home.
32:27What are you thinking as he's telling you this story?
32:31Part of me is obviously excited,
32:34because we're getting a confession.
32:37His excuse was that he was in debt
32:41and that he gave this scenario
32:45where, apparently, Rose made this flippant comment
32:48about, you know, cheering up,
32:50and that's how he reacted.
32:52I suspect, as did some of the team,
32:54that he was actually in her bedroom
32:58when she walks in on him, going through her stuff.
33:01And I think that Rose was going to call the police,
33:05and he had to stop her from calling the police.
33:07And he did that by hitting her with that hammer.
33:11When people confess, when they do it,
33:14they're not always being completely honest.
33:17Often they try and mitigate.
33:18He wanted to minimise, potentially,
33:21that, you know, in his eyes it wasn't premeditated,
33:25that it was just a thing that happened with his brain
33:29that just a comment by her triggered him to become violent.
33:32But I never believed that, as did my colleagues.
33:37One thing that kind of destroys that story are the gloves.
33:42Yeah.
33:43Why would he be wearing gloves
33:46if it was just a spare-and-moment thing he reacted?
33:51Yeah.
33:51It doesn't make sense, does it?
33:52No, not at all.
33:54Again, another lie that was uncovered and,
33:57you know,
34:00sealed his fate, shall we say.
34:06Mr Prowse had previous convictions
34:09dating back to 1966,
34:12and I think 1994,
34:15for...
34:15Well, back in 1966 it would have come under the Larceny Act,
34:18which was theft offences
34:21and also a burglary offence.
34:24He was a gambler
34:25and owed lots of money,
34:28so was desperate for money.
34:30He wasn't earning lots of money
34:33working as a handyman.
34:35My thoughts at this time
34:36are with Rosina Coleman's family and friends,
34:39but also having met the partner of the handyman
34:43and her family,
34:45I felt upset for them
34:47knowing that a loved one
34:49could commit that brutal offence.
34:51Even though we had a confession,
34:53we need to make sure that we had all the evidence
34:55to prove the offence
34:56and confirm to a jury
35:00that Paul Prowse was the person
35:02who had killed Rosina Coleman.
35:04Once he started to confess,
35:08it was all fed back to the team then.
35:10And then once that was done,
35:12we could concentrate on getting more detail.
35:14Obviously, we wanted to find out
35:15where the metal weapon was,
35:18what did he do with his clothing,
35:20what's happened to all the stolen property.
35:24So that was what was going on in my mind.
35:26I had to steer myself back into getting that information.
35:29At any stage,
35:32Paul Prowse could have redrawn his confession,
35:36and we had to make sure
35:37we had all the evidence
35:40to secure our conviction.
35:49All murders are treated the same.
35:53You don't differentiate
35:54in the work you put in
35:56based on the type of victim.
35:59But, undoubtedly,
36:01you can become more emotionally invested in a case,
36:04particularly where there is a vulnerability
36:07around the victim,
36:09if they're a child or an elderly person.
36:12Now, that doesn't mean you put in more effort,
36:15but undoubtedly,
36:16you can become more emotionally invested.
36:19And I think when it comes to Rosina's murder,
36:23the team that investigated it,
36:25that would be the same.
36:32So, members of the investigation team,
36:35including the SIO,
36:37would have physically gone
36:38and had a face-to-face with Rose's family
36:41to tell them, you know,
36:42what has been disclosed in interview.
36:45Clearly, they were distressed
36:46by what was disclosed by Mr. Prowse.
36:49They were shocked, angry.
36:52Every emotion you could ever imagine.
36:56So, the third interview was the confession.
36:59Yeah.
36:59But you had a fourth interview.
37:01What was that about?
37:02So, we wanted to find out what he'd done with Rose's items.
37:07We needed to find out what had happened to the murder weapon.
37:11And we wanted to find out what he'd done with the clothing
37:13he was wearing at the time of murdering Rose.
37:17So, we took in a map and asked him to point out
37:20where he'd discarded these items.
37:23And during that interview,
37:25he also disclosed that the ring that he kept,
37:28the diamond ring,
37:29he had hidden that actually at his home address
37:32where he had like a brick-built shed
37:35at the end of his garden
37:37and there was a loose brick that he hid the diamond ring behind.
37:40So, as a result of that information,
37:43that was relayed to our team
37:45who then organised the specialist search team
37:48to come out and retrieve those items.
37:50I was aware the search of Paul Prowse's address
37:53had located a ring of Rosina Coleman's in his shed
37:58and that I was then directed to a river nearby the house
38:03where a bag was found containing the murder weapon,
38:07some clothing and other items of Rosina Coleman.
38:13The Prowse's search team
38:14that conducted the specialist searching of the River Rom
38:18retrieved the murder weapon, which was a nylon hammer,
38:21and retrieved Paul's clothing
38:24that he was wearing at the time of the murder.
38:26They were obviously submitted to the forensic science lab
38:29and they were able,
38:31even though it had been in the water for some hours,
38:34they were able to prove that Rose's DNA was on that hammer.
38:40And her DNA was on his clothing.
38:46The evidence against Paul Prowse was overwhelming.
38:50The forensic linking to the scene,
38:52the forensics in the bag with a murder weapon,
38:54that ceased to be showing that he lied to police
38:57with his account of finding Rosina Coleman deceased in the address.
39:03These were all strong piece of evidence.
39:06So what you and the team have done is built up a substantial case against him.
39:16Overwhelming.
39:17Overwhelming.
39:18Which is going to then put him in a position,
39:20because he is now charged with Rose's murder.
39:23Yeah.
39:23He is going to go to court.
39:25And he's got two options.
39:26You either plead guilty or not guilty.
39:30Not guilty, you have a trial.
39:32Yeah.
39:32Guilty, obviously not.
39:40Port Prowse plead guilty to the murder of Rosina Coleman,
39:45Elliot O'Bailey.
39:51And was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years imprisonment.
40:00So he pleaded guilty to murder.
40:02Mm-hm.
40:03Got a minimum sentence, a life sentence.
40:05Yeah.
40:05With a minimum of 22 years.
40:07Yeah.
40:08Meaning there will be that amount of time before he can apply for parole.
40:11Correct, yeah.
40:12How do you feel when you reflect on that sentence?
40:19Well, I would have preferred that he got longer, but...
40:24Gets credit for that.
40:24Credit, yeah.
40:25So the judge gave him credit for his plea of guilty.
40:30So it was satisfying that that family didn't have to go to trial
40:36and sit and listen to all the evidence that they would have to listen to.
40:41It would be very graphic and very distressing for them.
40:47I suppose importantly for Rose's family,
40:50what would have been the most significant thing would have been the engagement ring.
40:55Definitely, yeah.
40:57It transpires I think it was worth about £7,000 at that time.
41:05So my overall impression of Mr. Prowse as a person is someone that got himself into such a mess financially.
41:17And I think he believed that Rose was wealthy and that he could use his position of trust to actually
41:30take items from her to raise money for his debts.
41:35We do know subsequently that, this is from Rose's family, that Rose had said to her family that things keep
41:44going missing in the house or in the bungalow.
41:48And they initially put it down to, well, she's in her 80s, she's just getting a bit forgetful.
41:54So they never regarded Paul then as someone that would do something like that.
42:00It's very rare for someone to confess to a murder, even though the evidence points to their community in the
42:06offence.
42:07The family of Rosina Coleman will never see her again.
42:11It's 22 years life imprisonment, justice for the family in regards to the time that Paul Prowse must serve.
42:20In this tragic case where Rosina was murdered in her home,
42:24digital forensics helped alongside other forensics thinking about the latex glove and the CCTV.
42:34Rosina's family were able to get justice at the end of the day.
42:41When you reflect back on the investigation into Rose's murder, how do you feel about it?
42:47I have satisfaction and I suppose I'm quite proud of that confession and it's very important.
42:54To the family mainly.
42:59Claire, you had a fantastic career which you finished on the murder teams.
43:03What was your journey getting there?
43:05I first joined as a uniformed officer as a probationer for two years
43:09and then decided I wanted to be a detective and trained to be a detective.
43:14So I then went on to a robbery squad and then investigated anything from child protection matters,
43:25domestic violence matters, all the way up to and beyond stranger rapes.
43:30This gave me the skills that I wanted to accumulate before I ended up on the homicide team because that
43:36was my dream.
43:37So after those 28 years you made it onto a homicide team, which is majority men at all ranks, particularly
43:47at the more senior ranks.
43:49Correct, yeah.
43:50How was that experience as a female officer there?
43:55Well, for me, I found it quite positive.
44:00I was quite confident and would put my name forward for various roles because I wanted the important roles.
44:08I was coming to the twilight years of my career and I wanted to take part in important roles and
44:16I knew that I had the skills and the confidence to deal with that.
44:19So, essentially, are you telling me that, for you, you didn't feel that being a female on the team had...?
44:25I wasn't overlooked. I believe I had the same opportunities as my male colleagues.
44:31I was asked to do important roles. They were asked to do important roles.
44:36So, a positive experience.
44:39For me, looking at Rose's murder, who died in the most horrific...
44:47Circumstances. Circumstances.
44:48Yeah.
44:50..you, as an individual, managed to turn somebody who was going no comment in an interview...
45:00Yeah.
45:01..turn that into someone giving a false account...
45:04Mm-hm.
45:05..and turn that into, which is incredibly rare...
45:09Yeah. ..a confession.
45:11Definitely.
45:12The work that you did as an individual undoubtedly contributed
45:17..to justice for Rose's family.
45:21So, just on their behalf, I'd like to thank you for the work you did,
45:25which I think is absolutely outstanding.
45:27Very satisfying.
45:28Absolutely outstanding. Well done.
45:40Crime dramas often give a false impression of police interviews,
45:44particularly in the case of murderers who rarely speak to you.
45:48The fact that Claire was able to get this suspect to not only speak to her,
45:53but then confess to the crime,
45:55was a reflection of what an outstanding detective she clearly was.
45:59No, I think there was!
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