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00:07This killer has no conscience.
00:15The body of Samantha Klass was found in 1997 on the banks of the Humber estuary.
00:21We were dealing with a very callous, brutal killer.
00:25We were overwhelmed with fear of that could have been us.
00:30We've got a hit on the DNA profile.
00:33Nine months after her death, van driver Gary Allen from Hull was arrested and charged with the murder.
00:38He had an air of arrogance. I'm above all of this.
00:41But today, he was cleared by Sheffield Crown Court after a six-week trial.
00:46Gary Allen was acquitted.
00:47At that time, he couldn't be tried again for the same crime.
00:51He's the man that quite literally got away with murder.
00:56But I knew I was watching a future killer walk away.
01:01Alina Grilakova came to Rotherham from Slovakia, hoping for a better life for her four children.
01:07She dropped off the radar completely.
01:09She's been missing for over one month now.
01:13One of the last contacts that Alina had had was with a sex offender called Gary Allen.
01:21Do not knock on my door again.
01:23If you knock on my door again, I'm knocking the crap out of you.
01:27It tipped us into a murder inquiry.
01:46We worked on the investigation for several weeks, if not months.
01:51Alina had been vulnerable.
01:53There'd been no use of her phone, no financial transactions.
01:56She'd kind of dropped off the radar completely.
02:00I remember the first time I heard about Gary Allen has previously been acquitted of murder in Humberside 20 years
02:07ago.
02:09The hairs on the back of my neck did actually just come up because it was like, we've got a
02:14problem here.
02:15We couldn't divorce the fact that he'd been in contact with Alina.
02:19Go on, fuck off.
02:20Alina, if you knock on my door again, I'm coming out of you and I'm going to beat the fucking
02:25living shit out of you.
02:26The recording showed that Alan had been in contact with Alan that night.
02:32He'd basically made a specific threat to her and the way that he was shouting her made me believe that
02:37Gary Allen had actually caused her harm on that night.
02:44But when we were gearing up and getting ready to arrest him, the search coordinator rang me.
02:56They'd found a body.
03:01Was that Alina or in fact was that someone else?
03:07I remember walking across the fields and looking down to a small stream that was extremely muddy and what I
03:16could see was part of a female body, naked, exposed above the water.
03:22The body couldn't be identified at that time because of the nature of where it was found within a stream,
03:29a shallow stream.
03:30A number of experts were called in, archaeologists and pathologists, to excavate her, but also to secure as much physical
03:40evidence from the scene as we could.
03:45There had been a concerted effort to conceal her in the bottom of the stream bed.
03:51Some rock stone from the opposite banking had been used to weigh down her head and her feet.
04:04Seeing a dead body is never pleasant, especially in those circumstances.
04:12Once they took her body out, there was a tattoo that was visible.
04:16Which actually said Alina, which she knew that she had.
04:20Confirmation sort of came later through, sort of forensic testing.
04:26Alina had been murdered, she'd been deposited in that stream, and it was now my job to work out how
04:32she'd come to be there.
04:35Police say the body of a woman found in the Parkgate area of Rotherham earlier this week is Elena Graclova.
04:41They have started a murder inquiry.
04:43Her body was found on land behind a hotel on Taylor's Lane on Monday.
04:49It was really important to make sure that we got all the evidence that might tie Gary Allen into that
04:55scene.
04:58We had the specialists work in that area, not just the deposition site, but also looking at the CCTV, the
05:06adjoining premises, further witnesses, and neighbours in relation to that area.
05:15So close to Gary Allen's home address was a CCTV camera that was facing towards Gary Allen's home address.
05:26I was just dusting the windowsill and noticed gentlemen in suits hanging outside the flat, across there.
05:35That leads, you know, to the upstairs flat.
05:39That afternoon, got a phone call from the police, can we look at your CCTV?
05:45There's been an incident in one of the flats.
05:49I said, I don't think you'll get it, because I don't think the camera covers that far.
05:55It was motion activated, and Gary Allen's address was not within the radius of it,
06:01so any footage that was captured was by luck, or by chance, or something else had activated the camera.
06:09This guy came from the police.
06:13He went off upstairs and had a look.
06:17He'd come dashing downstairs.
06:20He said, we've got her, we've got her, at the flat.
06:24And it was at that time then we found out a young girl had been murdered.
06:31The CCTV showed Allen arriving in the afternoon.
06:38I am for the news.
06:40At the time on the audio recording, when Gary Allen is forcibly removing her,
06:45you can see that the light is on at the address and that the door has been opened.
06:50Fuck, you're fucking right.
06:52What are you trying this time? Fuck off.
06:55Keep up.
06:56I'm not going to fuck you, Frank.
06:58Keep up.
06:59Clear the fuck off.
07:00Go on.
07:02Get walking!
07:03Think I'm fucking about?
07:05Get fucking walking.
07:06I don't want to see you again.
07:10So, looking at the CCTV, we were able to build up a timeline about when he'd met her.
07:16But also, crucially, that she'd been to his flat on the 26th when she'd gone missing.
07:23It's, again, just further evidence that Gary Allen was involved with the murder.
07:30I think that Allen had returned to that flat that night and that he'd let her in for whatever reason.
07:36But then he had killed her within the flat.
07:44We arrested Gary Allen on suspicion of murder of Allen Agrilakova.
07:49Asked him if he understood.
07:51He said he did.
07:52But there was nothing else from him.
07:54No change in emotion.
07:55No reaction to his arrest.
07:58His contact with Allen had been put to him in an interview.
08:02And he'd been questioned about it.
08:06We're recording.
08:07OK.
08:08I was drinking Boxing Day.
08:14So, um...
08:15Elena came round.
08:17And I think you could classify Elena as a pest or a pain in the backside.
08:26I didn't want her at my place.
08:28And, um...
08:33I just wanted her gone.
08:35I just wanted rid of her.
08:36Simple as that.
08:37I didn't want her coming to my flat anymore.
08:40Just constantly being a pest or a constant sob story or something goes missing.
08:44Or, you know, you're just...
08:48You don't need it, do you?
08:49I'm just interested to know what your thoughts and feelings were towards her at that point in time.
08:56I didn't really have any.
08:58I just wanted her to leave.
09:00That was it.
09:01So, I don't know what to tell you apart from that I made her leave.
09:04Actually, as I say, I jostled her.
09:07I walked her to that area.
09:09And then I came back to my flat.
09:10And that's that.
09:13Did you have her in any way?
09:14No, I didn't.
09:15No, I haven't harmed her at all.
09:17I don't think, er...
09:19I don't think she was keeping good company.
09:22Well, I don't know what had happened.
09:24Hmm.
09:25There's no point asking me.
09:28Clarify for me, for Gary.
09:30Did you have any involvement in Elena's death?
09:32No.
09:33None whatsoever.
09:37He was remanded into custody while our investigation continued.
09:42We were always conscious of the fact that Gary Allen had previously been acquitted of such
09:49a serious offence.
09:50So, it was really important for me to understand what happened in Samantha Classe's investigation
09:55in Humberside and why he had been acquitted.
10:00It was at that point that we actually found out that one of the officers who had worked on the
10:05original case
10:06was still working for Humberside, Phil Bell.
10:12It was only a matter of time before somebody got a call, whether it was me or whether it was
10:15somebody else, in relating to Gary Allen.
10:22It seems such a long time ago, since we lost Sam and since we recovered her from the Humber.
10:30So, to sort of like see images of another victim.
10:42And see the pictures of somebody else that's sort of in water and partly buried, partly hidden
10:52by mud, was remarkably difficult to see, yeah.
10:58And it obviously brings it all back to 1997 again.
11:06I knew I would hear about Gary Allen again, but I didn't know much about the murder of Elena
11:13in South Yorkshire, other than that she was submerged in water, which is another giveaway really
11:21for Gary Allen.
11:22He is forensically aware, he always was, and he knows that water dilutes, damages or destroys
11:30evidence.
11:33Learning about the Humberside investigation, there were real connections with our investigations.
11:39Both victims had been allegedly sex workers, there had been a deposition in water, and both,
11:47in my opinion, were connected by Gary Allen.
11:56I don't know if there was any police officer in Humberside that didn't know the name Gary Allen,
12:00because it was just such a famous case.
12:04It was always known as the one that got away, wasn't it?
12:06The one that got away with murder.
12:09It was the fact that it was such a devastation for all the investigation team involved, that
12:15they knew they had the right man, and the jury found him not guilty.
12:21Ken Bates and Phil Bell had lived with it since 1997.
12:24You know, I came into it in 2019.
12:31The initial meeting with South Yorkshire was just really to discuss what we knew about Gary
12:37Allen, the case of Samantha.
12:40We agreed to do a review of the evidence to see if we could assist them with the bad character
12:44evidence.
12:44It's a bad character, it can be anything like previous convictions, previous modus operandi,
12:51things that they've done in the past, that would assist with the investigation into the
12:56murder of Allen.
12:59So the first steps was to get the documents back from the archive.
13:04All these dusty boxes, because it obviously predates digital.
13:09There was 18,000 documents.
13:13It was a huge task.
13:15I was looking through the boxes, we found detailed crime reports and evidence from when
13:20Gary Allen went down to Plymouth, he'd attacked two sex workers down there.
13:46My name's Pretty Mistry, I'm a journalist for the BBC and I cover the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
13:50region.
13:51Gary Allen, at the end of the trial for the murder of Samantha Klaas, was acquitted.
13:56He ended up travelling further south to Plymouth.
14:03He's gone from one port city to another.
14:07Why?
14:08You know, what is it that attracts him to those areas?
14:13Is it that no one's going to know who you are or where you are?
14:19You know, you look at Hull and Plymouth, they're both quite similar.
14:23They both have access to green spaces, they both got access to water, sea, the sand and the countryside.
14:32And also on your doorstep, you know, there's a red light district area as well.
14:38At the time, there was that kind of whole stigma around sex workers, women who were like under the radar,
14:46in the shadows from society.
14:49And Gary Allen's kind of taken advantage of that.
14:53He'd gone down to Plymouth and then carried out two separate attacks on women, on sex workers.
15:01I'd been approached by a man, lingering around looking for business.
15:07He was wearing a blue coat, jeans, white trainers and long sweat back hair, with a bit of stubble on
15:16his face.
15:18She described how they'd agreed a price.
15:21They decided to walk to a quiet area, but holding hands to give off that impression that there were a
15:27couple to police who were like close by.
15:30She asked to be paid up front. That's when his demeanor just switched.
15:35He grabbed me by the neck. It was just rage. He obviously wanted to hurt me bad and I don't
15:44even know why.
15:46He got me in a headlock and dragged me back and I fell onto the floor.
15:53Then he was just punching me in the back of my head.
15:57In her fight to kind of fend him off, she was like screaming for help.
16:03He still carried on hitting me and I was just screaming.
16:08Someone help, someone help me. I don't know where I got the strength from that night, but I was fighting
16:14for my life and I knew if I didn't get away, I was going to be killed.
16:19She defied her death basically. A police officer had interjected and she was saved.
16:33Within five weeks of his acquittal, Gary Allen, who'd moved to Plymouth, had violently attacked first one, then later another.
16:43This was the story that we ran about Gary Allen being arrested in Plymouth for attacks on sex workers.
16:53And he said that he was arrested following an incident involving a 24 year old woman on Wednesday night in
16:59the Stonehouse area of Plymouth.
17:01I think the surprise and shock came that it was weeks since it had been cleared, you know, it confirmed
17:07to us all that he's a dangerous man and, you know, we said on the steps of the court after
17:12he was acquitted, it's only a matter of time and it's a when and not if he actually offends, offends
17:19again.
17:20This is what he's like. He convinces a jury in Sheffield that he's a nice, innocent individual. This is what
17:29he's really like.
17:29He was emboldened, essentially, to do these separate attacks on the sex workers, on these vulnerable women.
17:39He had his sights set on a particular type of woman who was working in a sex industry that's already
17:45stigmatised as it is.
17:49Judge Jeremy Griggs said to Allen, you were acquitted by a jury in another part of the country for another
17:55offence.
17:55I know nothing of those details, but the circumstances in which you threatened, these two, must have been terrifying.
18:02We knew, because of the investigations around the murder of Samantha Klass, the type of man he was, and it
18:10came as no surprise when we learned that he'd been arrested in Plymouth.
18:13He ended up getting convicted. He did five years in Plymouth for those attacks.
18:19He spent about ten years in prison for his various misdemeanours.
18:25I was pleased that Gary Allen was in prison and he was off the streets, but he was a young
18:33man.
18:33You know, he was only in his twenties. He would be out again in no time at all, really.
18:40While in prison, he was telling probation officers an account, an insight into his behaviour, his views and how he
18:49viewed women, especially sex workers.
18:52The extract I'm about to read is from the report that I found in one of the boxes from the
18:59probation officers who interviewed Gary Allen in 2003.
19:04And in the report, they write, he spoke openly about his strong dislike of prostitutes.
19:11Gary admitted to me that he planned and subsequently committed the attacks on the prostitutes in Plymouth.
19:16He stated that the pleasure of hurting builds from the planning stage.
19:21Prostitutes are easy targets. I just want to hurt people. I enjoy thinking about it. I get pleasure from thinking.
19:28I just really enjoy different types of violence.
19:33It's the words of a psychopath, isn't it?
19:40But, erm, I knew it was such strong evidence for us as a prosecution team.
20:00So, Humberside concentrated on their review and the witnesses and their investigation,
20:08allowing us time to concentrate on our lines of investigations from South Yorkshire.
20:15Building a case is like a jigsaw puzzle, but sometimes you don't have all the pieces.
20:22We didn't find any forensic evidence in Gary Allen's address to show that Allen had been there.
20:28But what we did have is a really strong circumstantial case.
20:32So, we had to make sure that those key pieces of evidence are watertight.
20:39We got the CCTV footage of her arriving at Gary Allen's address,
20:44showing that both he and her had been there.
20:47Gary Allen has had contact with her. He's admitted that he'd seen her on that day.
20:51We've got a voice recording of him threatening her if she came back.
20:55So, what had happened to her?
20:59As we started to look at internet search history, phone records,
21:04positioning system activity for that phone,
21:06we get Gary Allen's GPS showing him in very close proximity to the deposition site
21:13on the days leading up to her disappearance.
21:17Had he been somehow scoping that area as somewhere to deposit her body after she was dead,
21:25what other reason would he have for being in that area?
21:30Following the last sighting of Allen, there are internet searches, news searches,
21:37purchases for trowels, gloves.
21:39Did he go and buy those trowels to then dig a shallow grave for Allen?
21:48There was evidence at the address that cleaning products had been purchased.
21:53Had there been an opportunity there to get rid of any forensic evidence?
21:58One of his phones contained images of dead women and females that had come to harm.
22:05These are all further pieces of circumstantial evidence that build a picture
22:09and a case against Gary Allen.
22:12We were able to get a cause of death which said that there'd been some damage to Allen's neck,
22:20i.e. she'd potentially been strangled, and that was really, really crucial
22:24because that gave us the similarities between our offence and Samantha Klaas.
22:30The sex work, the vulnerable women, strangulation, both found in water.
22:38That circumstantial case and previous offending history gave us the opportunity to try and demonstrate
22:45to a jury, if Gary Allen didn't murder Allen her, then who else could it have been?
22:56At Humberside, there was a lot of different lines of enquiry,
23:01as well as the probation officer of evidence.
23:03We also found three or four boxes of audio tapes due to an undercover operation on Gary Allen.
23:15It was called Operation Misty, and it was set up in 2010.
23:23This was new evidence to us.
23:25We didn't realise at the time that this had occurred.
23:29The initial brief was, because Allen had been released from prison,
23:34it was set up to monitor his movements, to ensure that members of the public,
23:40particularly sex workers, were safe, but also to gather any evidence
23:43in the murder of Samantha Klaas.
23:51Undercover officers were deployed to befriend Gary Allen.
23:59As part of one of the many officers that were deployed on Operation Misty,
24:04Ian struck up a friendship with Gary that the other officers didn't seem to have.
24:10Ian was making out that he was this top-level criminal, quite a violent criminal.
24:16Gary sort of, I think he idolised him a bit, and he thought he could trust him,
24:23but every time that they had a meeting with Gary Allen, there was an audio recording,
24:30which amounted to hundreds and hundreds of tapes.
24:34They had to be reviewed.
24:39One DC, I just sat there for 14 hours a day, just listening to tapes.
24:45He said, I just lived Gary Allen.
24:46He said, I was in his head.
24:48I knew what he was doing, I knew what he was thinking.
24:53It was a couple of months into listening to all the tapes,
24:57when I got the phone call from the DC, and they said,
25:00Boss, come over here, you've got to listen to this.
25:04It was right at the other side of Hull.
25:06He was at one side and I was at the other, so I got in my car,
25:09went across the whole team, stood in this room, small room,
25:13and we listened, and he played the tape, and he played it again.
25:17It was all listening, and it was just, you could hear a pin drop,
25:19and then we just went, wow.
25:31Well, I'll tell you the truth.
25:34Well, you're probably not going to want to know me afterwards,
25:36but the truth of the matter is,
25:38you know, years ago, when I was depressed,
25:40I had sex with prostitutes about four or five times in a few years,
25:45and I had sex with this prostitute one night,
25:48and the condoms were,
25:49and she said, I want your name and I want your address,
25:52the money and everything else,
25:54and then I told the police to rape me.
25:56So I strangled her,
25:58and I dumped her in the other.
26:00The police had DNA in that,
26:02but I went on the database.
26:03The reason I worked on the database is because I'm never in any trouble.
26:07You know, I've not led a criminal lifestyle enough, so...
26:10Anyway, I got dumped for drink driving,
26:12and the DNA that way, and he arrested me in that,
26:14and I went to Sheffield Crown Court,
26:16and I got found not guilty,
26:17because he had nothing on me.
26:22Gary Allen's confession to killing Samantha Klaas.
26:27It's just so a matter of a fact.
26:29It's just so a matter of a...
26:30Well, that prostitute, well, that Samantha Klaas thing,
26:32I killed her, it's...
26:36There's no emotion, there's no...
26:39Erm, feeling sorry for Samantha,
26:43there's no...there's nothing.
26:46I remember going into the office back in 2010
26:50to be told that he'd made an admission the previous night
26:54about the Sam Klaas murder.
26:59In my head, that was all we wanted.
27:02That was, like, my job done.
27:04Let's get him recharged and get him back to court.
27:09But the double jeopardy rule,
27:11it wasn't quite as simple as that.
27:14Double jeopardy simply means that the person
27:19that is charged with an offence and is acquitted
27:23cannot be recharged with the same offence again.
27:27That was the law until 2003, when it was changed.
27:31The British criminal justice system must be dragged
27:34from the 19th to the 21st century, according to Tony Blair.
27:38The law was changed to allow the same offenders to be recharged
27:42based on new and compelling evidence.
27:46For serious offences, if there is overwhelming new evidence
27:49that implicates the accused again, they should go back to court.
27:52That's the case in many jurisdictions in Europe.
27:55It makes sense there, it makes sense here too.
27:57It was a game-changer, as far as anybody who wanted
28:01to get additional evidence to charge again the same crime,
28:07and that was on the radar of Humberside Police.
28:11When the confession came out,
28:14there was an application for an overturning
28:17of the acquittal of Gary Allen due to the undercover evidence.
28:24But that got knocked back
28:26because it wasn't deemed to be enough new evidence.
28:30It wasn't sufficient,
28:31and they needed some further evidence to support that confession.
28:36I couldn't get my simple Westall lad head
28:40around the fact that there was insufficient evidence.
28:44It felt as if it'd maybe slipped the net again.
28:48Sometimes you can't win, can you?
28:51Double Jeopardy at that time was still quite new,
28:54and Double Jeopardy rules were mainly on forensic science
28:59that brought breakthroughs that way,
29:02but not undercover evidence.
29:04But it is frustrating, the fact that
29:06there was that golden nugget of evidence
29:08sat in a box for ten years.
29:18The guidelines for Double Jeopardy
29:20were new and compelling evidence
29:22in order to go to the Court of Appeal
29:25to try and get the acquittal overturned.
29:28So by bringing both cases together,
29:31in 2019, we did have the new and compelling evidence.
29:35We had the evidence of the similarities of the old defence
29:38and Alan's murder.
29:40We were desperate for the appeal
29:43and for his acquittal to be quashed.
29:46Both South Yorkshire and Humberside
29:48worked meticulously on long hours,
29:50and we felt that we had enough
29:52to go to the director of public prosecutions.
29:57What's interesting about the Alan case
29:59is that we knew we had a person
30:02who was guilty but had been found innocent,
30:05where there were so many strands of evidence
30:08from his life afterwards
30:10that demonstrated that acquittal was wrong.
30:15I think everyone who touched this case
30:18is conscious that if it had been possible
30:21to stop this man before 2018,
30:24Alan Aglakova might still be alive.
30:27You realise pretty quickly
30:29that there are similarities
30:31between these two murders.
30:33And when you put those two cases
30:35alongside each other,
30:37I was convinced that we had enough
30:40to go to the Court of Appeal
30:41over the murder of Samantha Klaas
30:44to clarify whether Alan was going to stand trial
30:48for one murder or two.
30:51In the majority of double jeopardy applications
30:54to the Court of Appeal,
30:55it was developments in forensic science
30:58which made the difference.
31:00I knew that this was one of those cases
31:02which could be a difficult case
31:05because there wasn't an obvious
31:07tick-box answer provided by forensic science.
31:12But it's for that reason
31:13that I decided not only to authorise the case
31:18and the application before the Court of Appeal,
31:20but to go myself
31:21and to be the lead advocate.
31:26There were four strands of evidence
31:29that we asked the Court of Appeal to consider.
31:32The first was the attacks in 2000
31:35on two women.
31:36The second was what was revealed
31:39about his mindset towards those women
31:41while serving a prison sentence for attacking them
31:45and how that mindset was something
31:49that was in him from an early age.
31:52The third strand of evidence
31:53was the confession evidence
31:55to an undercover police officer
31:57of the killing of Samantha Klass.
32:01And the fourth strand of evidence
32:02was the murder of Alina Glacover.
32:06You have one chance at doing this.
32:09And if it fails
32:11and the Court of Appeal says
32:13this is not enough,
32:14then it doesn't matter
32:16whether you have three or four
32:19new strands of compelling evidence after that.
32:22you've had your chance
32:24and you've lost it.
32:25This is the only chance
32:26that Humpherside Police have
32:27to convict Gary Allen
32:29of the murder of Samantha Klass.
32:30We tried before
32:31and haven't got there.
32:34And I knew that we had to get it right
32:37for the second time around.
32:39You know, this was in the hands
32:41of some of the top judges in the country.
32:45So it's just a matter of waiting
32:46for the decision to come back.
32:50The Court of Appeal decided
32:53Alan, who'd been acquitted
32:55two decades earlier,
32:57should be tried again.
33:00It was a jump up and down,
33:02scream and shout moment.
33:03All this work was worth it.
33:05The fantastic news was
33:06that the acquittal was overturned.
33:09We would be able to charge Gary Allen
33:12with the murder of Samantha Klass
33:13and it'd be a retrial.
33:19The next thing was to go
33:21and interview Gary Allen in prison.
33:24He'd already been interviewed
33:26for Allen's murder.
33:28So he'd already knew
33:30what evidence that they had.
33:32And I think he thought,
33:33Humpherside are just going to interview me
33:34and they've got no evidence.
33:37And that was the first time Gary Allen
33:39had been presented with the undercover evidence.
33:45We played in the tape
33:46of his confession to Ian.
33:51Well, I'll tell you the truth.
33:53I've got a shangled in my dungeon, young man.
33:58That was the only time he had tears in his eyes
34:00and I'm sure those tears in his eyes
34:03was because he thought he in all these years
34:05was his friend and never realised
34:07he was an undercover officer.
34:08It was that realisation
34:10that actually they have got something here.
34:13He didn't say anything in interview
34:14after we played that.
34:16And about a week later
34:18we charged him with Samantha's murder
34:20for a second time.
34:34What we had is, in effect,
34:36a trial of two murders 21 years apart.
34:40God, it's taken us so long
34:42and we've been through so much on this case
34:45together, jointly
34:47and the families have been through so much
34:50and they've waited such a long time.
34:53So I chose to go to court
34:56for one day.
34:57I'd never physically been in a room with him
35:00and it was about time
35:02that I needed to sort of like see
35:04what he looked like.
35:06All the evidence,
35:07it was all allowed in on this occasion.
35:11Gary Allen did take to the stand
35:13and when he gave evidence
35:14he was just again one angry man
35:18that felt as if it was all a waste of time.
35:21All the evidence that was put through him
35:23he was just,
35:24he didn't have an answer for it.
35:26He kept saying that
35:27it was a conspiracy,
35:30you know,
35:30the operation that the homicide police ran.
35:34When he was answering,
35:36you know,
35:37answering the questions in court
35:39he was quite brash
35:40and, you know,
35:41quite standoffish.
35:43And I just thought
35:44there was no respect of the law at all.
35:49Prosecutions say that
35:5047-year-old Gary Allen
35:52had deep-seated adverse feelings
35:55about sex workers.
35:56Mr Allen denies murdering
35:58Samantha Klaas
35:59and Elena Gerlakova
36:01who died in Rotherham in 2018
36:04and the case does continue.
36:08The thing that sticks out on me
36:10is our witnesses really
36:11and how good they were in the box,
36:13how confident they were
36:14and it was just that silencing cop.
36:19You could see the jury
36:20just absolutely concentrating.
36:27The evidence of the previous victim
36:30from Plymouth,
36:31I think that is probably the thing
36:33that's going to stick with me
36:34from the trial.
36:37You know,
36:38to have been the victim of crime
36:42so many years ago
36:43and then being so brave
36:45to come to court
36:47and to relive that
36:48so many years on.
36:51So we have got it
36:52where he grabbed you
36:53with one hand by the neck
36:55and then he got you
36:56into a headlock.
36:57Yeah.
36:58How did that,
36:59if at all,
37:00affect your ability to breathe?
37:02Well, I was struggling.
37:04He like dragged me
37:05and I fell
37:06and then I fell on the floor
37:08and then I was screaming.
37:10What were you screaming?
37:12Somebody help me.
37:13He's attacking me.
37:14I think,
37:14I think I shouted a few times.
37:17You told us
37:18that you were shouting for help.
37:19Did you continue to do that or?
37:21I did,
37:22but he tried to put his hand
37:23in my mouth.
37:24Put his whole hand in my mouth.
37:26In your mouth?
37:28He,
37:29he was trying to put his fingers
37:31in my mouth.
37:32Did he manage to get
37:33any fingers
37:34into your mouth?
37:36Yeah,
37:37he did
37:38because I bit him.
37:40He punched me again after that.
37:42What happened next?
37:43I think he called me
37:44a prostitute
37:45or something like
37:47a whore.
37:50She remembered it
37:52in such detail.
37:53She didn't have to have prompts
37:55or anything
37:56or a statement with her
37:58and it was
37:59very compelling.
38:01It is a testament
38:03to her strength, really.
38:04You know,
38:04she was giving a voice
38:06to all those victims
38:07that he'd attacked
38:09and the two women
38:10that he'd murdered
38:13and, you know,
38:14what a voice it was.
38:19And I think that's
38:20when you were a jury
38:22listening to it,
38:23you realise how,
38:24how evil
38:26Gary Allen was.
38:31So the jury went out.
38:34You're just
38:35a million through things
38:36in your mind.
38:37Did we do this right?
38:38Did we do that right?
38:41It's a really tense wait.
38:43The jury was out.
38:45They'd been out
38:45a couple of days
38:46and we'd gone to
38:47just had a cup of tea
38:49in the cafe
38:49just up by the court.
38:51It was all sat
38:52round the table
38:53and someone shouted
38:54from the court.
38:55The verdict's saying
38:56that we just left
38:57out and just ran
38:58and that's when
38:59I started feeling
39:00sick, shaky,
39:02thinking this is it.
39:06Yeah, this is it.
39:15This is the second chance.
39:17Don't blow this one.
39:18Don't blow this one.
39:19And that was just
39:20the whole feeling
39:21with it that,
39:22you know,
39:22you can't,
39:23you can't get away
39:24with murder twice,
39:25surely.
39:26I just wanted
39:27to hear
39:30guilty.
39:33The foreman
39:34of the jury
39:35stands up
39:35and he's asked
39:36whether they found
39:38Gary Allen
39:39guilty or not guilty
39:40of both murders.
39:42And they gave
39:43the verdicts
39:44individually.
39:45Have you reached
39:46a verdict on
39:47Allen's murder?
39:48Have you reached
39:48a verdict on Sam's murder?
39:52He was found guilty
39:53of both.
39:57He'd been found guilty
39:58of Sam's murder.
40:04And
40:05Elena's murder.
40:07We just all went
40:08like this
40:09and we just all
40:10put our head
40:10in our hands
40:12and I remember
40:13Ken behind me.
40:14He was sat behind me
40:16and he just went
40:17like that on my shoulder
40:19and we was all
40:21just crying.
40:22Yeah.
40:23And I think
40:24some of the
40:24dewy were crying
40:25as well.
40:27But yeah,
40:29very emotional
40:30even after all
40:31this time.
40:34It was
40:35hugs all round
40:36for people
40:37that had
40:38carried this
40:39and lived with this
40:41all these years.
40:43It was a very
40:44emotional day
40:44I have to say.
40:46Top story
40:47tonight.
40:49Finally brought
40:49to justice.
40:50Two women
40:51were murdered
40:5221 years apart.
40:54Today
40:54Gary Allen
40:55was found guilty
40:56of them both.
40:57Tragically
40:58it took the murder
40:59of Alina
40:59to finally bring
41:01Gary Allen
41:01to justice
41:02for his horrendous
41:03crimes.
41:04A calculated liar
41:06with a hatred
41:07of women
41:07now facing
41:08a life
41:09behind bars.
41:11I wanted
41:12to just
41:13see
41:15his reaction
41:17to his conviction
41:19as opposed
41:21to his reaction
41:23when he was
41:23acquitted.
41:25I wanted
41:26to look him
41:27in the eye
41:27again
41:27and just
41:29smile or nod
41:30as if to say
41:31you finally
41:32got what you
41:33deserve.
41:3630 odd years
41:37in prison.
41:39Such a good
41:39sentence
41:40and that was
41:41a big thing
41:42to make sure
41:43he never got out.
41:46It had been
41:47a long wait
41:49for Alina's family.
41:50They'd waited
41:50over two years
41:52to get justice.
41:58I can't imagine
42:00how the family
42:01of Samantha
42:02Klass felt
42:03after 21 years
42:05later
42:05they got justice
42:06for their mum.
42:10but what you've
42:11got to think
42:12about is
42:12nothing's going
42:13to bring
42:13these two
42:14women back.
42:15Alan has
42:16left her
42:17children behind
42:19and Sam's
42:20done the same
42:21with her family.
42:23We're never
42:23going to bring
42:24them back.
42:25Gary Allen
42:26may have
42:27her sentence
42:27but my family
42:28and I
42:30have and will
42:31continue
42:31to suffer
42:32the bigger
42:32sentence.
42:33I could never
42:34have my mother
42:34back.
42:35I have got to
42:36live with that
42:36and there will
42:37always be a
42:37break in my
42:38heart.
42:39But at least
42:39for us all
42:40there are no
42:40more questions.
42:42For the people
42:43who suffered
42:43after my mum's
42:44death
42:44and most
42:45importantly
42:45for her
42:46we finally
42:46have justice
42:47after 24
42:48years.
42:59Sam got
43:00justice
43:02eventually
43:04but what I
43:05was angry
43:05about was
43:06the fact that
43:08he should
43:08have been
43:09stopped back
43:09in 2000.
43:11Justice
43:12came at
43:13the cost of
43:14other women
43:14and that
43:16shouldn't have
43:16happened.
43:17I do feel
43:18that in the
43:18intervening time
43:19between 1998
43:21and now
43:21there's been a
43:22lot more
43:22discussion about
43:24the violence
43:25that women
43:25face.
43:26It's possible
43:27maybe that if
43:28the same
43:29trial happened
43:30today that the
43:30jury might be
43:31more aware
43:32and more likely
43:32to convict
43:33on the first
43:34instance.
43:34It's an
43:35intractable
43:35issue, male
43:37violence against
43:37women.
43:39You look at
43:40it and you
43:40think, you
43:41know, had he
43:42been convicted
43:43the first time
43:43round then
43:45Eleanor would
43:45have still
43:46been alive.
43:46the two
43:48victims in
43:49Plymouth
43:49wouldn't have
43:50been attacked
43:50so, but you
43:52could go with
43:53what ifs for a
43:54long time
43:54couldn't you?
43:55The criminal
43:56justice system
43:57has woken up
43:59to a greater
43:59extent.
44:00Whereas in
44:012000, the
44:02old way of
44:03doing it,
44:03questioning the
44:04victim, where
44:05she was if it
44:06was late at
44:07night, how
44:08she was dressed,
44:09whether she'd
44:09been drinking,
44:10whereas the
44:11question you
44:11should be
44:12asking is why
44:13was that
44:14man in
44:15that place
44:15in the
44:16middle of
44:17the night?
44:17Had he
44:18been drinking?
44:19What was
44:19he doing?
44:20And that is
44:21actually what
44:21we did in
44:22Allen's case,
44:23was show him
44:24for what he
44:25truly was,
44:26and that
44:26demonstrated
44:27his guilt
44:28without anybody
44:29needing to
44:30question the
44:31actions of
44:32his victims.
44:33In the
44:33end, justice
44:34has been
44:35done to
44:36Gary Allen.
44:36He has been
44:37convicted of
44:38both murders.
44:40He's no
44:40longer a
44:41danger to
44:41women, but
44:43it took
44:43time, and
44:44in that
44:44time, another
44:46woman lost
44:46her life.
44:47At least
44:48one woman
44:49lost her
44:50life.
44:51We don't
44:52know whether
44:52there was
44:53more.
45:19more than
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