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00:01Every 90 seconds, someone is reported missing.
00:06Many return to their families.
00:09For others, something has gone seriously wrong.
00:13Her grandparents contacted and said,
00:16we haven't been able to get a hold of Claire.
00:19In Manchester, a young mum breaks off contact with her family.
00:24Where are you? Everyone's trying to get hold of you.
00:26Your daughter wants to see you. What's going on?
00:29What happens in the police investigation that follows?
00:32He'd been violent to previous partners
00:35in different parts of the country.
00:37What happens to the family at its heart?
00:39I cried in that moment, but to be honest,
00:43it never fully sank in for quite a long time.
00:46When missing, turns to murder.
01:01I had a happy childhood.
01:03You know, despite the fact that my parents were split,
01:05I had happy times with both parents.
01:07I loved both my mum and my dad, you know,
01:10and I loved hanging out with both of them,
01:12staying with both of them.
01:14Despite the separation,
01:16both parents maintain a good relationship
01:18for the sake of their six-year-old daughter.
01:23My memories of my mum were full of laughter and creativity.
01:29You know, we used to sit and watch films together,
01:32make popcorn, and we would go for shopping trips.
01:35Around the time of the divorce,
01:38Claire sadly lost her mum, Sheila, to cancer.
01:46But she had a wonderful and loving stepdad, Michael,
01:49who dedicated his life to raising Claire as his own daughter.
02:00My name's Carol Witcher.
02:03I was Michael's sister and Claire's aunt.
02:08Michael and I were very close as brother and sister.
02:12Like any dad, he was delighted seeing her develop into,
02:16you know, a young lady, a young woman.
02:19After the split with Maddy's father,
02:23she seemed to drift a bit.
02:26She seemed to lose focus.
02:30Aiming to move on with their lives,
02:32both Madeline's parents start to date new partners.
02:36Obviously, post-divorce,
02:37they want to make sure that they build up the relationship first
02:40with the new person, make sure that they're good.
02:43I was just happy for my parents, ultimately.
02:45Even though I was a kid, I just wanted them to be happy.
02:48She eventually met a chap,
02:50and he moved up to Carlisle, and she went with him.
02:55Even though Claire has moved a number of miles
02:58to the north of England,
02:59she always makes regular trips to see her daughter
03:02and introduces her to the new man in her life.
03:06They would come pick me up
03:07and drive all the way back to Carlisle on a lot of days,
03:10and, you know, it was still nice that she still made a lot of effort
03:13to make sure that I was still in her life.
03:19But she knew it wasn't right because she was too far away from Maddie,
03:23and she came back.
03:26That relationship ended.
03:28She came back and got herself a flat in Salford to be nearer Maddie.
03:38Now living closer to her daughter,
03:4136-year-old Claire seeks companionship
03:43and joins social media websites.
03:46She soon meets a man called George Appleton
03:49from the nearby town of Stockport.
03:52My first impression was, honestly, I really liked him.
03:55You know, things seemed happy.
03:57The times were fun.
03:57We would go out and do fun things.
04:00Things, like, progressed pretty fast.
04:03They were very much in each other's pocket.
04:05You know, there was talk of,
04:06oh, we're going to get married,
04:07you're going to be a bridesmaid, all that kind of stuff.
04:09And he was making my mum happy,
04:10and that was ultimately all that mattered to me.
04:21Post all the divorce and stuff,
04:23they were all just kind of getting on.
04:25We just kind of settled into the new routine
04:27of me visiting my mum on the Wednesdays and the Saturdays
04:30and staying over,
04:31and then coming home to my dad,
04:32and, you know, it kind of all just settled in.
04:41Well, I was supposed to go around,
04:43so my dad just popped my mum a text saying,
04:46hey, you still on for Maddy's normal visit?
04:48You know, she'll be staying over, as per.
04:50And he didn't hear back, which was quite unusual.
04:58Her grandparents contacted Michael and said,
05:01we haven't been able to get a hold of Claire.
05:05Her brother had tried, had got no answer.
05:08But Michael always said, you know,
05:09sometimes she'd run out of credit on her phone
05:12or the phone hadn't been charged.
05:17A few days passed and still nothing had been heard.
05:21And this took us up to Friday of that week.
05:26My mum's relatives started actually saying to my dad,
05:29hey, have you heard from Claire?
05:32Four days have passed since anyone last heard from Claire.
05:36So the wider family try to find out why she has gone silent
05:40and where she might be.
05:43Maddy's dad contacted Claire's dad, Michael,
05:46to say, nobody's heard from Claire.
05:49Have you heard from Claire?
05:51And I believe Michael then messaged Claire to basically say,
05:55where are you?
05:56Everyone's trying to get hold of you.
05:58Pull your finger out, basically.
06:00You know, your daughter wants to see you.
06:02What's going on?
06:03So when it had gone nearly a whole week and no one had heard a thing,
06:06that was quite unusual.
06:13All of my mum's relatives lived in Yorkshire,
06:15whereas my dad was obviously the closest person who they had contact with.
06:19So they asked my dad to go around and check on her
06:21and see what was the deal.
06:27And when he went round,
06:30got no response at the door, but the door was open.
06:34And he went in.
06:42Alarmingly, the haze of smoke is throughout the house.
06:46And then eventually he made his way upstairs to the bedrooms upstairs.
06:52And it was he who discovered Claire's body.
07:02He found my mum.
07:06In a horrifying state,
07:08I can't even imagine what that must have been like for him.
07:13The body had been burnt.
07:16I know he obviously immediately started calling,
07:18you know, the police, the ambulances,
07:19everyone who needed to be called.
07:24He had to get checked for lung damage
07:26because, of course, he'd been in this house
07:28that had loads of smoke and soot
07:30and all kinds of horrible toxins.
07:37By the time the police arrived,
07:40the fire brigade had got that under control.
07:43So the police entered the address
07:45and they discovered that there was a female in the bed
07:49and that there was a fire on the bed,
07:52possibly a discarded cigarette.
07:58I remember a press release came through from Greater Manchester Police.
08:02There wasn't many details on there
08:05other than they'd found the body of a woman
08:07and the circumstances were being investigated.
08:12Our offices were based in the city centre,
08:14so it would literally be a sort of five, ten-minute drive down there.
08:18First thing I saw was the police sirens turn up
08:21or, you know, in this case, a fire engine turn up
08:23and there'd been a fire.
08:27And what our job is is to assess whether something is suspicious or not,
08:32whether it needs to be stepped up to another level.
08:40Obviously, there was a police cordon in place
08:42and it was quite far back from where the house was.
08:45A couple of more newspaper journalists appeared,
08:48writing down a few details of what the area was like.
08:51There was a couple of police officers on the cordon,
08:53obviously letting people in and out.
08:55As a detective superintendent in Greater Manchester,
08:58I heard about the tragic death of Claire.
09:00My role in Greater Manchester Police at the time
09:02was about protecting vulnerable people.
09:04In the immediate aftermath of Claire's tragic death,
09:08there was a major incident team that was appointed.
09:10It was a senior investigating officer.
09:12From memory, I do remember that the details of it being
09:15a 36-year-old mum came out quite quickly.
09:19So the body had sustained some damage
09:22from the small fire that had been lit,
09:25and obviously she could have suffered from inhalation,
09:28smoke inhalation.
09:35But it appeared obvious that she had other serious injuries as well.
09:43And it was immediately obvious the cigarette ends staged around the body,
09:48the way she was lying.
09:50It was clear that she'd been put in that position.
09:56Cigarettes had been left around the body
09:58in order to try and make it look like she'd accidentally lit herself on fire
10:01by, you know, falling asleep, even though she wasn't even a smoker.
10:07I think there'd been some effort from the perpetrator
10:09to try and stage manage the scene
10:12in order to hide his tracks in relation to the tragic death.
10:17So the cigarettes weren't strong enough
10:19to set fire to the material around Claire's body.
10:23It was a failed plan.
10:29The police phoned me as I was coming out of my shift,
10:32and somebody said,
10:33Mr. Brown, you want it on the phone?
10:35And the lady on the phone said,
10:37Dave, you shouldn't really have to be tall like this,
10:40but we've just found your daughter's body.
10:48Well, any parent would be tormented,
10:50given the fact that Claire had to be identified
10:54by her dental records.
10:56He was absolutely numb after he got this news.
11:03It was very quick.
11:05It's usually the same day,
11:06and we very quickly knew that this was Clare Wood.
11:12Young Madeline is at school
11:14when a teacher takes her out of class
11:16and into an office.
11:18She opened the door, and I saw my dad was in there,
11:20and he was crying.
11:22I thought he was crying because I was in trouble.
11:24I mean, I was like, oh, my God.
11:26I've really upset him by getting in trouble.
11:29And I said, oh, you know, what's wrong?
11:31And he said, your mum's gone.
11:34And I was just so baffled by what he said.
11:38I couldn't even wrap my head around that concept.
11:41I didn't fully...
11:43I cried in that moment,
11:44but to be honest,
11:46it never fully sank in for quite a long time.
11:51And I just said, well, what happened?
11:53And he was like, it looks like there's been a fire,
11:55but I don't know.
11:56Honestly, I don't know what's happened.
12:00We started to find out a bit more information,
12:03that it wasn't just a police investigation.
12:04There was a fire investigation involved as well.
12:09And then a bit later, the forensic teams turned up,
12:12you know, your white suits walking down the street.
12:14The crime scene manager will come in,
12:17make sure that the scene is videoed.
12:19Then the photography takes place,
12:21so they photograph certain individual items.
12:23Then they will photograph the body
12:24and any items around it.
12:27To avoid any loss of forensic evidence
12:30when the body is moved,
12:31they will put bags around the hands,
12:35around the head,
12:35anything that might hold a forensic clue
12:39as to who's done this.
12:41Obviously, if somebody's been attacked,
12:43then they may have touched the murderer.
12:47Everyone, including the police,
12:49want to speak to Claire's boyfriend Appleton,
12:52but he doesn't possess a mobile phone
12:54and he can't be found at home
12:56or his usual haunts.
12:59So we had CCTV nearby Claire's address
13:02of a man walking to the address
13:05in the direction of the address
13:07and afterwards as well.
13:11A quick search on our intelligence systems,
13:14we quickly established that George Appleton
13:17had previously been violent to previous partners
13:19in different parts of the country.
13:22And we had witnesses saying
13:24that George had been seen around the area,
13:27he'd been lurking around,
13:29trying to get into Claire's address
13:31or was hammering on the door,
13:33disturbing the neighbours.
13:37It was very evident that George Appleton
13:39possessed all those characteristics
13:41of a domestic abuse perpetrator.
13:43And the only suspect early on was George,
13:46because we had been given that name by the family.
13:53He was the standout suspect.
13:55We couldn't say that for definite
13:58without checking a few more things.
14:00Obviously, we got lots of police systems,
14:02so very quickly we could put his name in
14:04and see that actually he was on bail.
14:09He was on bail for an offence against Claire
14:13and we could see very quickly that he had a history with Claire
14:16that had been brought to police attention
14:18and that he was under investigation.
14:21Police patrols have been stepped up in the local area,
14:24one, to reassure the community,
14:25but also as part of that investigation into
14:28where did he use to reside?
14:30Where did he hang out?
14:31Who did he speak to?
14:32Who were his friends?
14:35People we were talking to,
14:36we were getting a mixture of responses.
14:38Obviously, we were getting,
14:39George would never do anything like this.
14:41He's a nice man.
14:43Detectives, they started asking me about Appleton
14:45and it actually baffled me.
14:47I was like, why are they asking me about him?
14:48What's that got to do with anything?
14:50You know, they started asking,
14:51do you know if there's anywhere where he hangs out,
14:53where we might find him?
14:54I honestly believed it was just a freak accident.
14:57It didn't even occur to me
14:58and something that bad could even happen
15:00because we're nine years old,
15:01what nine-year-old would suspect that?
15:03And then we were getting ex-girlfriends,
15:06ex-partners telling us what a control freak he was,
15:10how he manipulated them,
15:12how he wouldn't,
15:13he'd isolate them from the family members.
15:15So I was looking at the police national computer,
15:18I was looking at our local criminal records
15:20for Greater Manchester Police
15:22and we were also looking
15:24whether there was any intelligence
15:25in other police forces as well
15:27and started looking into his criminal history.
15:31This was a man with history of violence against women,
15:36history of criminal offences against women
15:39and that he'd been complained about not just by Claire,
15:41by other women as well.
15:45This started to paint a picture of who George Appleton really was,
15:49the fact that he didn't really have any friends.
15:51He was a loner, he kept himself to himself,
15:53he spoke to people via Facebook and other online apps.
15:56He seemed to be someone who just didn't really have a settled life,
16:01he didn't have a settled address,
16:03but it appeared that the addresses that we had for him,
16:06they were always linked to a woman.
16:07So he seemed like the kind of person who would get in a relationship with a woman
16:12and instantly move in with them and try and infiltrate himself into their lives.
16:16He was a bloodsucker type person
16:19and we found out that he didn't really have a settled job.
16:23He was always on dating sites, social media sites,
16:27trying to meet women.
16:29We just didn't know what state of mind he was in.
16:31He was clearly a violent person who we needed to get off the streets straight away.
16:40The detective that was leading that investigation
16:43did a press conference with myself and all the members of the media.
16:50George, if you're listening to this,
16:52can I urge you to get in touch as soon as possible?
16:54I need to speak with you.
16:56I am concerned about your welfare.
16:58If you don't feel confident contacting me,
17:01can I urge you to contact your solicitor?
17:04So we do know that Claire had reached out to the police on a number of occasions.
17:09She felt threatened by George Appleton.
17:12There was evidence of criminal damage at her house by George Appleton.
17:16She'd phoned the police complaining of harassment on a number of occasions.
17:21When George Appleton first started dating Claire,
17:25he basically was honest with her that he'd served time
17:28and he said it was for driving offences.
17:31But of course, my mum loved him,
17:32so she just kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt
17:34and she believed the lie.
17:36But in reality, we now know it was a lot more serious than that.
17:42Claire would have never continued a relationship with a man like that had she known.
17:49One person who did have reservations about Appleton
17:52was Claire's stepfather when he first met him.
17:55Michael said to me he had met this guy and he said,
18:01I don't particularly care for him, which is unusual for Michael.
18:06But then he was a good judge of character.
18:10But I think when they were looking back,
18:14Michael said, you know, he could sense that this chap was isolating her
18:18because the calls became less, you know.
18:21He was grooming her without her realising
18:26and without the extended family realising that.
18:35Yeah, so when things started out for those first few months,
18:38she obviously seemed very happy.
18:40But then slowly as time went on, I noticed her sparkle,
18:43you know, her spark, if you like, slowly started to dim.
18:48Although he had decided not to move in with her,
18:52Appleton rented a flat closer to Claire's home in Salford.
18:56Madeleine noticed tensions between her mum and Appleton.
19:02The most I witnessed with aggression towards my mum
19:05was really just the screaming in the face
19:07and kind of getting a little bit threatening
19:09but not actually doing anything.
19:11The only thing outside of that was once my mum tried to leave him
19:14and tried to break up when she discovered a lot of stuff about him.
19:18It became apparent to Claire that he was being unfaithful.
19:23Well, he was having affairs with, I think, about four different women
19:25who had met again on Facebook and she found all this out
19:29and at that point she was like,
19:30no, I'm not doing this anymore.
19:35So, obviously, she ended it.
19:37But it was at that point when she became most at risk.
19:44She had said that she was having a bit of bother with him.
19:49But we then found out that, you know,
19:52she had reported him to the police for harassment.
19:58For criminal damage, he had come to the house
20:01and damaged the front door trying to get in.
20:06She'd called the police and he'd been arrested, questioned,
20:10and then bailed.
20:11He had admitted to the criminal damage
20:14and I think he paid a fine for that,
20:17but he denied any threats of violence towards her or harassment.
20:33The day after Claire's body is discovered,
20:36a huge manhunt for George Appleton begins.
20:39That's when it hit the national headlines
20:41because it was circulated not just from a local level
20:44but a national level as well and internationally as well
20:46because the ports were put on alert as well.
20:49His picture was circulated everywhere.
20:52Police officers went out armed with his photograph,
20:56searches were carried out,
20:58house-to-house investigations were undertaken,
21:01CCTV opportunities,
21:03any other kind of intelligence opportunities
21:05we would seek to exploit around telephones, banking details.
21:09We notified neighbouring forces,
21:11other forces where he'd lived.
21:13Everybody knew we were looking for George
21:16and we had to get the message out as wide as possible
21:18because we needed him in.
21:20It was such a violent murder.
21:22And we knew that because he was that type of person
21:25who was violent towards women historically,
21:28the fear was that actually he'd gone and maybe hidden out
21:33at another woman's address and that she could be in danger as well.
21:39By now, Claire's body has undergone a pathologist's examination into her cause of death.
21:45So, a neck.
21:47It was obvious that she'd sustained an injury to the neck.
21:51The murder of Claire Wood sent shockwaves through the local community.
21:56There was some reassurance policing done at the time.
21:59This was very much a targeted attack.
22:01It wasn't a random attack of a lone female walking through the streets.
22:06Teams of policemen looking everywhere,
22:08especially in a lot of the areas he was connected to.
22:10I know he had some family connection in Leicester
22:12and I know he had some, you know, obviously in Salford
22:15and had friends in Salford
22:17and all of those places were being searched
22:19and they were absolutely trawling for him.
22:26Police now suspect Appleton could be sleeping rough in his car
22:30and have issued the number plate to the media.
22:34The net was closing quickly. He had nowhere to go.
22:37I think he'd been disowned by a number of his associates.
22:40We'd been exploiting a number of different intelligence opportunities.
22:43That led us to believe that he was potentially still in the Salford area,
22:46hadn't gone very far.
22:47My emotions were quite, um, almost numb.
22:51I don't think I really... I did have periods where I cried,
22:53but I didn't cry all that much
22:55because I think I was just so baffled and confused by it all
22:59and didn't really grasp the concept of death or anything like that
23:02and how permanent it was
23:03and how it really meant that I would never see my mum again.
23:08As the whole family go through shock, sadness and turmoil,
23:12the police manhunt continues.
23:14We were really, really desperate to get him in.
23:17Obviously, the family wanted him catching straight away.
23:21We were on duty 24 hours a day.
23:24No-one was going home.
23:25We were basically working round the clock.
23:28We had local bobbies, PCSOs, everybody out looking for him.
23:32Friends' addresses were being visited.
23:35We were doing everything that we could.
23:37No stone was left unturned.
23:39They were putting press releases out to say,
23:42we're still searching for George Appleton.
23:44And the fact that it had gone national,
23:47the fact that his picture was everywhere,
23:50it started to get to that point where you just think,
23:52where can he be?
23:53We were sleeping with animals.
24:23I remember being sat at the desk at Pendleton Police Station,
24:28still thinking he's coming in, and we got a phone call,
24:32and I was taken into the detective superintendent's office,
24:36and he said, I've got some bad news.
24:39There was another crime scene that was created in a derelict pub.
24:44The police found his car abandoned in Manchester, and they sent dogs in,
24:51and they found his body in a derelict building.
24:56George Appleton's body was found. He'd hung himself in a derelict pub in Salford.
25:00And my heart sank, not because he was dead,
25:04because I would never get that opportunity to ask him why he'd done it,
25:10and to be able to tell the family why he'd done it.
25:15It was horrendous, absolutely horrendous.
25:18It just felt like he'd taken the easy route out the coward's way.
25:23I was fuming. I still am.
25:27Literally yards from where Claire was found, so it wasn't that far.
25:32He hadn't even left the city where his body was found.
25:37It was really disappointing that we hadn't had the opportunity to arrest him.
25:42He took his own life and failed to face justice.
25:45Yeah, the nature of the crime was just so violent.
25:49He sexually assaulted her as well before he killed her, and he strangled her.
25:54And then also to then stage the scene, stay on fire, steal jewellery from her mum,
25:59so that he could get some money for the run. It just shows the kind of lack of empathy,
26:03and lack of any kind of humanity he really had.
26:09But Appleton's death is by no means any closure for Claire's family.
26:14It only prolongs the ongoing anguish for her loved ones.
26:19Unfortunately, because of what happened with the perpetrator,
26:24the police couldn't release Claire's remains to arrange a funeral for a number of weeks,
26:30because they had to then have a police investigation into his death.
26:35So it was, I think it must have been about eight or nine weeks after she died,
26:40that they could actually have the funeral.
26:44A coroner concludes that Appleton committed suicide.
26:49Claire's funeral can finally take place at Swinton in Manchester.
26:55My mum's funeral, the things I remember are actually quite small things about it.
27:01The kind of random people that came that I never thought would.
27:05Even one of her ex-partners, who remembered her super fondly,
27:09he came all the way from Carlisle to her funeral.
27:12I mean, he was so genuinely sorry.
27:15And even the women who worked at my after-school club, who only vaguely saw my mum,
27:20even they came to say goodbye to her.
27:23Because I think she really did just have such an impact on people, even the smallest amount.
27:30The avoidable circumstances around Claire's murder
27:33has triggered the involvement of the independent office for police conduct.
27:38But it was 21 months before Claire's actual inquest took place.
27:43And that was because there were investigations taking place behind the scenes.
27:48So the police were being investigated by the IOPC about their contact with Claire leading up to her death.
27:56When a suspect kills themself, before you get a chance to speak to them and before you get a chance
28:02to go to trial,
28:03it's almost more difficult in a way because you have to absolutely prove it.
28:08Whereas we very quickly have to build a case to be able to show at coroner's court,
28:14this is who we believe the suspect was.
28:16So we couldn't just say it is George Appleton because he's killed himself.
28:22Why else would he kill himself?
28:23We had to say we have a forensic case against him.
28:27We have some live witnesses.
28:28We have CCTV.
28:30We have telephone evidence, cell site evidence.
28:33And this is why we believe that he then took the steps that he did to kill Claire.
28:39Only now at the inquiry could many of the errors made by Greater Manchester Police come to light.
28:46And the level of domestic violence Claire had been subjected to.
28:50So it was a very emotional day at Bolton Coroner's Court.
28:54This was particularly poignant because of Claire's father and the way he was
29:00so passionately speaking about his daughter and her life and the life that she had ahead of her.
29:09So the inquest was the first real eye-opener for the media to hear about the failings that
29:16surrounded the death of Claire Wood.
29:19So alongside my mum's concerns about the escalation of violence and also if it could ever start,
29:25you know, affecting me more, there was also a discovery she made on his social media
29:30that he'd been seeing multiple other women, you know, serial womaniser kind of stuff.
29:36So when Claire decided I don't want to be with this man anymore,
29:40it made her most at risk because he would not take no for an answer.
29:46Within days of her ending the relationship, he was harassing her.
29:50He kicked in the phone lines. She couldn't ring anyone.
29:52He punched holes in that door. Constantly turning up to her house.
29:58He said he was going to burn her house down. He was threatening her. It would not leave her alone.
30:03He had come to the house and damaged the front door trying to get in.
30:07She'd called the police and he'd been arrested and questioned and then bailed.
30:14However, that prosecution against Appleton did not reach the CPS for four months
30:20and his abuse towards Claire continued.
30:25She'd threatened to set the house on fire. I know that she'd had a panic alarm fitted.
30:31I know that they had sealed up the post box, the letter box,
30:34so that nothing could be poured through. But the bail conditions meant nothing to George Appleton.
30:41But there was more to Appleton's shocking reign of harassment and criminality.
30:46You know, he went round to the house and raped her.
30:51And she made an allegation to police, but then retracted that allegation,
30:57because she didn't want to.
31:00She wanted to find a way to just get him out of her life.
31:04She made some complaints around a sexual assault for George Appleton,
31:08but I think it was later identified that individual officers failed really to appreciate the risk
31:14and the escalation of risk at that particular time.
31:19But to the dismay of the family, this wasn't the first time Appleton had committed crimes of this severity.
31:26He had held a woman at knife point, you know, that he was in a previous relationship with.
31:31Really serious assaults against women.
31:33And there was, you know, claims that that fax didn't get over to the right people.
31:39It wasn't sent. Somebody didn't receive it.
31:41And there was just so many failings surrounding Claire's death that it was shocking.
31:47The police still have to convince the coroner that Appleton was indeed Claire's killer.
31:53The police still have to admit that he was responsible for Claire's murder.
31:59This, alongside ample DNA evidence, is enough for Greater Manchester Police
32:06to confidently issue their final statement.
32:18The Bolton coroner gave Michael an opportunity to ask
32:22any questions that he wanted to ask.
32:24And he stood up and he said,
32:27Why did no one inform my daughter that she was involved with a very dangerous and violent individual?
32:36It came out that due to data protection,
32:40these perpetrators up and down the country were hiding behind that.
32:46The police were not in a position to disclose that information.
32:50And Michael immediately said that is wrong.
32:55My view at the time was that the pendulum had swung too far the other way.
33:01And we were about perpetrators' rights.
33:03We introduced some new intelligence systems, some new procedures,
33:07which I then articulated to the coroner in relation to, um, you know,
33:11how Greater Manchester Police were trying to support vulnerable victims.
33:14And so there wouldn't be another murder.
33:18With such clear failings, the coroner writes to the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, to recommend changes.
33:27But for Michael, forever changed by the loss of his daughter,
33:32he embarks on a campaign of his own with the local press.
33:35He did seem so lost and so broken.
33:39And for me, as a local journalist, my passion has always been to help people.
33:45So I did an interview with him at his house.
33:48And what surprised me about Michael was he pulled out this box.
33:53And there was research, well, research and research of domestic abuse.
33:58He said, but I'm shocked at what I'm hearing.
34:02I'm shocked that two women are dying every week.
34:06Until you lose a child, you don't think you realise it doesn't matter how old that child is.
34:14If she could have been from no hair to grey hair, she's still your kid.
34:23His big aim was to make it so that in future, if there's these kinds of concerns about a person,
34:30that people have a right to know about that.
34:33And that, because if my mum had, things might have been different.
34:39Michael wanted to create Clare's Law in response to his daughter's needless death
34:44and to fix the loopholes allowing domestic abusers to go unchecked.
34:49The lead for domestic abuse with the Association of Chief Police Officers at the time
34:54straight away said, right, yeah, I'll speak to you.
34:57And I couldn't believe it when he was telling me that I've already put this framework together,
35:03a similar thing to what you're describing as Clare's Law.
35:06We did an investigation into how many serial perpetrators there were across the country,
35:12going from woman to woman, relationship to relationship.
35:15There were 25,000 that they knew of at the time.
35:21With these staggering statistics already known by police,
35:26Michael and Michelle know they have to push forward in a long and complicated process.
35:42It must have been a year or two after my mum passed.
35:46It was decided that we probably had a case against Greater Manchester Police,
35:50as they had neglected to really do much to help my mum.
35:54We needed a legal claim, which we had under the Human Rights Act,
36:00and we had legal aid, which would fund the family's legal fees.
36:07But the risk is Greater Manchester Police could defend themselves in court.
36:12Any claim would have to have a robust chance of winning,
36:16or the family could end up with nothing.
36:18We went to Clare's doctor, her GP. We obtained her notes from the doctor.
36:24We obtained Madeleine's school records, her notes,
36:28because we needed to know what her performance was like in school,
36:32the impact on her of Clare's death.
36:38The police response to Clare going to them in October 2008 was surprisingly not very effective.
36:45And it was criticised by the IPCC in its report.
36:49There was no risk assessment carried out.
36:51Because what happened later on was, the failures by Greater Manchester Police were looked at again.
36:59And a view was taken that if she had been assessed, risk assessed at that point,
37:04she would have been assessed at high risk from him.
37:08Compiling the claim would mean having to pore over the personal circumstances of Clare's life
37:13during her time with the abusive Appleton.
37:16Even reading highly personal letters that she had written to her abuser.
37:22When I first read the letter that Clare wrote to Appleton,
37:25it made me think that Clare was a determined, strong person.
37:32She was determined to get Appleton out of her life.
37:35But at the same time, it seemed to bring out a caring side of Clare.
37:40Even to Appleton, the abuser.
37:42She said to him, try and get your life back together.
37:45Try and get on with life.
37:47So, she wasn't prepared to put the boot into Appleton.
37:50Or throw him under a bus, perhaps.
37:54While a legal claim is being compiled against Greater Manchester Police,
37:58the campaign for Clare's law is also underway.
38:05So, we set up a petition, launched it, publicised it.
38:10Within days, hundreds of names started to go onto that petition.
38:16Importantly, it also draws out other harrowing stories of domestic abuse.
38:22And thousands more sign up for change.
38:24And the results were that 91% of women who answered the question,
38:30would you want to know your partner had had a violent background, said yes.
38:35And 77% of those polled said they would leave that partner.
38:42We couldn't get anywhere without some political support.
38:45So, that's when I got in touch with the MP for Salford at the time,
38:49which was Hazel Blaise.
38:53Three years after his daughter's murder,
38:56Michael and journalist Michelle are on the steps of Number 10,
39:00handing in their petition.
39:02That is when it first caught the national pressure, should we say,
39:06because they saw us walking up down the street, knocking on the door,
39:09delivering the petition, having pictures outside.
39:19I remember I was sat in the reception area of the Home Office,
39:24whilst Hazel and Michael went upstairs to meet the Home Secretary, Theresa May.
39:29And I just remember Michael's face when he came down the stairs.
39:34And he was absolutely in awe of Theresa May.
39:38His words were, what a woman.
39:42The evidence in the legal case against the failings of Greater Manchester Police is mounting.
39:48There was a serious attempted rape by Appleton of Clare.
39:53He tried to strangle her.
39:56So, she went to Greater Manchester Police.
39:59This time, she was interviewed.
40:01But unfortunately, and crucially, that information about the attempted rape and strangulation
40:09was not passed on by Greater Manchester Police to the Crown Prosecutional Service.
40:17The family now pressed for compensation to be awarded to Madeleine over the loss of her mother.
40:24She did try and separate from him. She did go to the police. She did throw him out of her
40:30property.
40:31So, to her credit, she carried out those positive acts. And that's why she needed adequate
40:38safeguarding and protection from, frankly, the only public agency able to give that to her,
40:44Greater Manchester Police. And they failed miserably.
40:49Finally, the case against Greater Manchester Police goes to court.
41:11The outcome was that we were able to agree terms with Greater Manchester Police
41:18for a reasonable level of compensation,
41:21which would have set Madeleine up and it would have helped her through perhaps her education, growing up.
41:32After years of campaigning by Clare's stepfather, Michael,
41:36and the efforts of the journalist, Michelle Livesey, Clare's Law entered a trial period.
41:47Clare's Law is basically a piece of legislation that allows you to go to your police station,
41:55make an appeal and say, I'm concerned about this person's actions for X, Y and Z.
42:01Can I know if they have any previous violent history? And actually, you don't have to be the person in
42:07the
42:07relationship. You can be concerned about a family member. So even if you're just not in the situation
42:13yourself and you're just concerned about a family member, you can also make a disclosure request.
42:18So something positive came out of Clare's murder. Obviously, her dad campaigned relentlessly
42:27and there was a law change and it needed it. It still needs to go further.
42:34The trial of Clare's Law covered the Greater Manchester area, Gwent, Wiltshire and Nottingham.
42:41Over 400 women made applications for disclosure on suspected domestic abusers.
42:49I had to lose my daughter to get where we were today. But to find out that there was so
42:55many people
42:56backing my cause, it does surprise me that my daughter's death has seemed to have woken up
43:02the people in the UK to say enough is enough.
43:07Clare's Law now is kind of embedded in the landscape of how forces and how support agencies
43:13can try and protect victims by using Clare's Law.
43:18Well, in one respect, I'm sad that there wasn't a law in place to save her. But because of what's
43:26happened to Clare, she's just not a statistic. You know, she'll never be forgotten.
43:36Some days it becomes very murky and I really struggle. But then every now and then I'll have
43:41a moment where I'll just think of something random or I'll smell something random that reminds me of
43:45my mum's perfume. I'll have a moment where I really remember it before all this stuff happened.
43:53And those are always the best moments.
43:55And those are always the best moments.
44:54And those are always the best moments.
44:54I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
44:54I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
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