- 2 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:13by february 2021 the situation was moving towards the climax
00:20daniel bolton is now living in a homeless hostel which is in skegness he has now got a restraining
00:27order but there is no way that he is not going to try and see his baby he is
00:40every day we think about it every day just doesn't sink in you want to wake up because
00:47you think no this is horrible nightmare but you don't wake up
01:02so
01:14daniel bolton had set off on a determined 28 mile walk
01:21from the hostel in skegness to bethany's home in louth overnight
01:30just picture walking 28 miles with a destination and a purpose in mind how do i get control back of
01:39this
01:39relationship his mental health by not being able to contact the baby is starting to deteriorate more
01:50than it already had and that was building up every step of that way more and more and more he's
01:57exceptionally dangerous i had no idea about what was going on or brewing or that he was walking so
02:07many miles to and they wondered
02:16so on the 17th of february bolton goes to court for the second assault so this is the threats to
02:23bethany
02:23and her mom and all that happens to him is that the restraining orders length of time and the
02:31community order are just enhanced and increased no extra action happens against him i firmly believe
02:41that from this moment on that they were at high risk of physical harm
02:50that very day he encountered dj's paternal grandfather at a bus stop and began to verbally abuse him
03:01it just shows the absolute disdain that he was showing for dj this time by extension to dj's family
03:13if you knew that he had a history of domestic violence if you knew that he was repeatedly breaching his
03:20bail
03:21conditions if you knew that he was saying how much he hated dj then he should be locked up that
03:29was the
03:30opportunity that he should have been in custody yes they did go around and make sure she was safe
03:35but why wasn't he spoken to
03:55cctb cameras tracked bolton on his arrival in louth
04:02just hanging around loitering his track record shows that he simply could not bring himself to stop
04:11doing what he was doing
04:16he's feeling again this total loss of control
04:21of course the only person who knew what he was planning to do is daniel bolton
04:37i know she said that she wasn't in contact with him at the time
04:43we didn't hear anything about him so that was a good thing really
04:48he couldn't drive or anything like that so he was out the way from bethany
04:54she phoned more she came round more i went round there more
04:58and things started then looking back to normal she seemed happier
05:07we got bethany back bethany realized who he is bethany realized that she doesn't need him in her life
05:25she was kind of entering a new phase of being a bit more stable and i think they really felt
05:33that
05:33then was the time to move her back closer to home into safe accommodation where bolton wouldn't know where
05:40they were because we knew he knew where she lived which was always at the back of our mind we
05:48wanted
05:49her to be near a family and kieran her ex-partner was working for someone who had got some properties
05:57in
05:58wayfleet i'm kieran henson and darren is my son my only son he's good
06:11i'm silly
06:17bethany was my ex-partner and my friend she was quiet very innocent wouldn't say boo to a ghost
06:25really beautiful personality there was no animosity at all i think bolton hated that
06:33i still love her to this day it's that love where she's the moon to my kid and i'd do
06:39anything for
06:39her really yeah
06:45i was happy that she was moving but scared that you'd find out i just wanted her to get out
06:52there
06:52and then
06:57the trouble is where we live a lot of people talk but she would have only been literally minutes away
07:04from my other daughter and minutes away from dj's dad so i knew if anything did happen or she called
07:10anything they would be there within seconds minutes do you know what i mean
07:17my research is very much that separation stage is high risk and i just feel that more knowledge
07:27if it was passed to magistrates and family courts would really help in this situation
07:36so bethany and then thereby her mum and dad and sister have a false idea of what's really going on
07:46he is no longer in control of what bethany does what happens to his baby whether dj's in or out
07:53of
07:53that household means that he's exceptionally dangerous in the back of my mind i thought maybe
08:00he has got the message but an inkling thinking is he waiting for his time
08:22this is now a totally unacceptable situation
08:27there's no putting an alarm in there's no security hardening to the address
08:33how is that good enough
08:58the homeless shelter that daniel bowden's living in are starting to have themselves
09:03concerns about it he then talks about how much he's upset by what's gone on in particular
09:14thinking about bethany's mother and he's saying that if it isn't sorted out he will wipe out the bloodline
09:27so this worker did share it with the management who reported that they shared it with the police
09:33now i inquired into this much further there is no record at all that any police officer did visit the
09:42shelter at that time or any time there on after within that time period
09:51he would express to some of them how much he hated dj
10:03but he would also say how much he loved his own child
10:09and so whilst bethany was making her plans to move forward he was almost getting further and further
10:16down into the entrenched positions of his feelings towards the two different children
10:30i think the main reason why he got so mad is because he couldn't budge bethany like
10:36bethany was like no he's my son and that's as simple as that
10:40i think he wanted bethany to choose him you know and it's it's not even a question you ask the
10:45mom is it
10:48i think she's a real risk it's quite clear that he just can't hold it together any longer
11:07bolton now suddenly starts messaging bethany in earnest
11:15he sent a 900 facebook messenger messages
11:21they were in breach of court orders
11:25which was to have no contact
11:34the whole spectrum of emotional manipulation was on display in these messages
11:45i think she was just like what are you doing i don't think she took it quite seriously at the
11:52time
11:54there's no indication whatsoever that she responded to any of them
11:58but imagine being bethany receiving these messages the absolute risk to her is much heightened but this
12:07isn't conveyed to her
12:19dj had been at his dad's for the weekend kids had been off school it was holidays
12:23bethany did a usual thing came to hours for a while got some more boxes
12:29i can remember being on the phone to her i was talking to dj and asking how he was
12:36her said to me excited to live around the corner from anti-chloe and he was like yeah
12:43she never mentioned that he tried to get in touch
12:47i didn't really want to think about him too much to be honest
12:53she's the kind of woman that doesn't want anyone to worry and she'll keep a
12:57private business to herself there's a lot more people around bolton that knew what was going on
13:12the message is including a particularly chilling message
13:16is going to be a nightmare on home street which is the address at which bethany was living in mouth
13:24he is breaching his bail conditions he should have been arrested then he should be locked up
13:35he obviously had it in his head what he was going to do
13:40every step of that long way he's more and more intent on getting his way
13:53to get out of the way to get out of the way to get out of the way to get
13:59out of the way to get out of the way
13:59early afternoon on the 31st bolton turned up at the door here
14:07but bethany wouldn't let him in and send him away and as far as she was concerned he left
14:17i've had darren the whole weekend it was a bank holiday so i had him till monday this time
14:24she says when she come out the house that bolton was over the road stalking her
14:32but when she said it to me she laughed it off she didn't take it serious you know
14:37it was almost as if to say like i'm not worried that's what she's like
14:47so that night bethany rang me to say that can you tell mom to answer her phone
14:53she phoned and spoke to dj and his football stuff that he got thank you for my football kid
15:03really excited you could see the boxes in his bedroom as well
15:07he was playing with baby at the time and i said um good night to him and i said night
15:13to bethany
15:14i'll ring you in the morning see how you are and that's how i left that conversation
15:23we went to bed 11 00 past 11 and it was just a normal night
15:35i heard a car pull up around about two o'clock in the morning uh somebody knocked on the door
15:41so obviously you jump up like you do i opened the door and there was a police officer
15:48so um he said you the father of bethany vincent and i said yeah so he says can i come
15:54in so i
15:55says to him what's happened and he says can i come in please sir so um we let him in
16:01caroline was awake
16:03so we sat in the front room and he kept telling us to sit down and i was getting really
16:10frustrated
16:11because he wouldn't say what had happened i can't remember the exact words he said
16:18i'm really sorry to say bethany vince has been in in an accident so i said it's right okay um
16:25is
16:26she okay um he said i'm really sorry but she's
16:35she's she's lost her life
16:39you don't believe what they're saying to you you don't expect to hear that
16:46i said no just wait wait wait let me say it again let me say it again because i think
16:49we've
16:49got it wrong we've got it wrong and he says no he says i'm so sorry he says but
16:53bethany didn't survive her injuries
16:57and darren just broke down
17:06and then i just thought oh my god what about the boys if i said where's the boys where's the
17:16boys
17:21and then he said i'm sorry also dj's passed away
17:29you don't think it's real you don't think it's real i just cut it it would not sink in
17:38they told me that my daughter and my grandson
17:41had passed away how do you take that in that your daughter and your grandson is gone
17:48i couldn't believe it i couldn't i couldn't believe it
17:52i said you're wrong i couldn't take it in i just couldn't take it in
17:58i felt sick and then my thoughts went to baby and i'm thinking please please don't tell me the
18:04the same about baby please don't tell me the same about baby
18:16and he said no no he's safe
18:19and they're taking him to the hospital
18:23sometimes it seems like it took them forever to tell us
18:26and then other times it feels like they told us within a second
18:32and i'm just there where you kind of feel like you're you have that outer experience where you're
18:38looking in and thinking this is not happening to us why is it happening to us because what have we
18:43done what does they do what's the teacher do
18:52i got a phone call and it was police officer
18:56he pulled up in the car park and as i've gone out i says what's happened to my son because
19:01i'm
19:01a bit hysterical at this point he's took his hat off and as soon as he did that i was
19:04just like no
19:05the police officer knew straight away he was bolton
19:10and then they told me that he was still at large
19:16because he wasn't caught at the time i was feared for my daughter
19:23i got a phone call off my dad
19:31and i knew instantly what had happened
19:35and then i said to him where are the kids and he said that dj had gone too
19:48at this time i wasn't scared for myself then but i was with he would turn up at our house
19:53because
19:54of his hatred for me really
20:02so two hours later four o'clock in the morning social worker comes and she literally stayed for
20:09an hour and then you've got a nine month old baby
20:18my head was just blowing you just lost your daughter and your grandson and you've gained
20:27a baby nine months old it's just so much taken
20:35well my questions were what actually happened we know they died of their injuries and i know they got
20:42stabbed so you get in your head that they've been stabbed there wasn't just stabbed no stabbed
20:51many times it's too many times
20:57i just felt sick why did he do that and especially to a little boy as well
21:06no that's not right
21:22bolton had gone to the back door he kicked it open
21:28and made his way into the front room of the house where bethany was standing
21:34by the window with the baby in her arms
21:42bolton then stabbed bethany at least nine times
21:49while she was holding the baby in her arms she had a broken nose consistent with her
21:57having been punched bolton then went upstairs to dj's bedroom where he proceeded to punch
22:08and stab dj repeatedly
22:19we know two young girls actually saw bethany at the window and they were so terrified by what they
22:26witnessed that they ran away but they very quickly wrong the police to tell them what was happening here
22:32it was thanks to those young girls that the police were contacted as quickly as they were
22:39he'd killed bethany gone upstairs ferociously attacked dj and then left the house within four minutes
22:51leaving the baby in the house with the bodies of its mother and half-brother
23:00we had police all over us all i want to do was find i wasn't allowed to move the house
23:09i wasn't allowed
23:10to move my car was allowed to go outside so then the manhunt began
23:24he made his way westwards out of louth before ending up in a deserted cottage in the hubbard's
23:31hills area just outside louth he forced his way in and spent the night there by the time he got
23:41there
23:41he was already being circulated as wanted in respect of the killings at bethany's home
23:53after bolton left the house he came to this area which is hubbard's hills it's essentially
23:59a really beautiful area of parkland popular with dog walkers family days out but on that day
24:06he disappeared in this area this place on that day was filled with police officers with sniffer dogs
24:16there were helicopters and drones overhead looking for bolton
24:22he was actually walking along here and was talking to a woman who was walking her dog and an
24:29off-duty police officer spotted him the officer was worried about the woman he went up tried to
24:36apprehend bolton but he ran the officer ran after him and in the process he stabbed the officer in the
24:43leg
24:45and fled once again
24:50i actually had a friend come round and as he was there they said that it was a certain place
24:56that
24:57he's been uh identified i think it just stabbed a police officer and they knew where he was so my
25:05friend actually went to that area i noticed that my car wasn't blocked in so i got in my car
25:15i tried to go through the barriers where a police officer stopped me and said what was going on i
25:21said that's my daughter and that's my grandson and i want to get to him and he said i'm sorry
25:26i'm really
25:27sorry so we couldn't get near him i couldn't i couldn't get to her
25:40i remember a police liaison officer coming around the day after i was asking if i could see them can
25:48i go there it's just horrible it's like you can't they're still there and i'm like god they've been there
25:56all night you know and she's like it's a crime scene they have to do this they have to do
26:02that
26:04and i was just upset that they'd been there all night
26:15so he was on the loose once again
26:20but that off-duty police officer called it in and very quickly this area was flooded with armed
26:27police officers they started to get reports of someone trying to break into cars to get away
26:35so that led them to a farm not far from here the helicopter started circling over the top of that
26:43farm
26:44they were really closing in on him at that point
26:56he's putting his hands up in the air and saying shoot me shoot me
27:02and they tasered him in the neck instead
27:06he thinks he's jason born and you see he's not
27:15you have to shuffle in yeah we'll sort that out just with that remaining barbed i need someone to
27:20be watching him right can you get me some air please i know i'm an evil
27:25i'm not here to judge you mate but i can't i haven't got any we're in nowhere at the moment
27:29so
27:30right we'll sort it let's get you get you rolling all right and get you there
27:36it was 16 hours he was on the run for
27:40he's hurt a nine-year-old disabled boy and a 26-year-old girl he's no man at all
27:51i had no feelings about it no i was just numb
28:01the annoying thing is he took so much away from us
28:06i couldn't go and sit with them when we found the funeral department and they explained no it's a closed
28:13casket
28:16we couldn't even say bye properly to them
28:20so i never got to sit with them i never got to stroke their hair or sit with him and
28:27he just took so much away from us still feel like they're just gonna walk through the door
28:37and i know they're not
28:40my little boy struggles with it sometimes asking where his auntie bett is and he's and dj is
28:50they just loved each other so much they got on so well said to tell your three-year-old
28:58that his auntie bett and his cousin dj's not here anymore it's just you can't
29:11i lost all my purpose you know there was no purpose left
29:17i wish a lot of people had told me and given me the chance you know to do something to
29:23protect
29:23my son i'm his father and i was supposed to protect him but how can i do that for the
29:27knowing of it
29:30for months it was really hard for a baby to dance i started going out a lot not drinking just
29:41out of
29:42the house the house was the place where i got told and i found it very hard
30:04so obviously court starts and it was a long time coming when someone passes away it's awful you know
30:12you have a funeral you you're upset this that and the other but people then start to grieve then
30:20but you can't when you've got that hanging over your head
30:28by the time i was instructed to act in this case an awful lot of work had already been done
30:33by
30:33the police and the crown prosecution service and my role is to really try and pull all of that together
30:40but there are a couple of things that stood out to me the first was the determination that he had
30:47shown
30:48in walking from skegness to laos secondly the idea of dj and dj's mum bethany bleeding to death
31:01whilst the nine-month-old baby was still in the house
31:08i found bethany's family some of the most delightful courteous restrained dignified people that i have
31:16ever met they were in a position which is almost unimaginable
31:27court was hard that was the first time obviously we've seen him since it happened
31:33first come up he just turned around and smoked so obviously me and kieran said a few words and we
31:40was um told that if there was any more of that that we would have to go out so we
31:46didn't want to
31:47jeopardize that so he stopped he was charged with four counts count one murder of bethany
32:00count two murder of dj count three burglary of the cottage at hubbard's hills
32:09and count four assault with intent to resist arrest on the police officer
32:13who had tried to stop him and got stabbed in the leg
32:19counts one and two he said not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter
32:24counts three and four straightforward guilty pleas
32:28so the issue left for the jury was this murder or was this manslaughter
32:37the majority of what i learned about bolton as a person came from the two psychiatric reports
32:44each determined that he suffered and had at the time of the killings
32:49suffered from a recognized psychiatric condition known as a disocial personality disorder
32:59the issue for the jury to determine was whether or not that condition had affected bolton's ability
33:07to make rational judgments it is for the prosecution to establish that in layman's terms he knew full well
33:16what he was doing
33:31but it takes time days weeks
33:37i was in a bad mess a really bad mess the one day i didn't go as pathologist so i
33:42didn't really
33:43want to hear all that but i ended up hearing it anyway in the closing statement
33:47but there was one comfort in a way the pathologist said that darren died instantly
33:55that gives me a little bit of comfort you know
34:00so it was building up to the verdict we was told by calf the lowest and the highest that he
34:08could get
34:08but there was no certainty
34:11i really was worried that he'd be able to do that and get away with manslaughter
34:16and it was really tense to be honest because obviously no normal person goes around doing this
34:23i can't really remember the feeling because i just i just it still feels numb now
34:37so we all went back to lincoln court it's going to be over now it's going to be over now
34:49he was found guilty of murder on both counts
34:55and was sentenced to life sentence with a minimum of 40 years to serve before he could apply for parole
35:05when they give the sentence what are you supposed to cheer
35:11when the judge said that he'd got given what he got given and he just turned around and looked at
35:18us
35:20in such a smug little way i just i'll never forget that face
35:26i know he got a long time 40 years but the judge that giving the sentence he said he couldn't
35:31put
35:31it down for premeditated but how can walking 28 miles and sending all them texts saying nightmare
35:37on home street how's that not re-meditated
35:49to be honest after the trial you kind of think right that's it build new lives and whatever
35:57um but russell came to our house to go through the homicide review
36:03and so many things that came up that we weren't aware of the anger started
36:13i was a police officer for 30 years the majority of which was a detective and a homicide detective
36:20it's a legal requirement in order to carry out these sorts of reviews
36:26what i remember what i picture to this day is how much love that they had for bethany but more
36:33so the
36:33love that they had for dj
36:39it's so much so that actually we owe it to them to change things we owe it to them to
36:45make a difference
36:46and that's what documentaries like this still do we had to relive that again
36:58he'd ever think worse knowing that he'd already told somebody what he was going to do and nobody
37:03believed it so it could have been prevented
37:11so i've got some key headlines up i hope change one is robust child in need processes that adult
37:19services or anybody that's got any involvement with that family get involved
37:29but the key bit is claire's law does the public know well enough that they can ask people that
37:38have a new partner do they know well enough that they can ask do professionals know well enough that
37:43they can ask and another one is that domestic abuse is always always harmful to children
37:54i think they should have looked into it more and it's proven that there was things that were missed
38:02and then we do feel let down massively for me the failure if that's not too strong a word
38:12to put it together in a multi-agency environment where all of the agencies
38:16are together and can discuss their concerns is where it fell down
38:24the amount of times the police were called they obviously knew his background
38:30and i think that's what gets me angry they did know and nothing was done
38:48whenever i speak to bethany's family the way their eyes light up when they talk about bethany when they
38:55talk about dj you can tell just how much they love them and still do and they will never ever
39:03get over
39:04what happened to them but i think they have this real determination that those lessons will be learned
39:15for starters i think restraining orders need to be changed because bethany's was nothing it was a piece
39:21of paper and a piece of paper is not going to stop someone getting to their victim if they want
39:26to
39:26do something has to be done about that dot gov can go back 16 years on us and check our
39:34national
39:35insurance and our tax see what we pay why can't they do something like that with someone's name and
39:40their background history of violent offenses i want to shake the papers in front of them and say do you
39:49think that was good enough if this was your child and your grandson would you be happy with this report
39:56and i can guarantee you no one would be if i could help one person then i've achieved something
40:06if you're feeling that there's something not right pursue it because if you rely on the authorities
40:13that we should do it doesn't always work
40:20i've got to protect her if i was nearer if i knew
40:25i just wish that they did more for them because then we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in
40:32now
40:43our relationship between me and darren and caroline they more flourished after the death and that's
40:48when i found out a lot of the stuff and a lot of people were worried
40:54well me and caroline are best friends now we've talked to each other all the time
40:59i love darren more than anything i've even got his ashes in their necklace here
41:07i'd swap my life for his any day i would if i could go back
41:15keep going keep going gg was coming to being a little man it was his birthday on wednesday last
41:22week and he would have been 14 and i just wanted if i could just for an hour just to
41:28see what he
41:28would have been like because he was becoming this amazing person
41:35definitely was so proud
41:39i'm proud of them both
41:47i want to remember them as a loving family
41:51a young girl that was devoted to her boys
41:57i also want people to see this and hear about his past
42:05what he did to them before killing them and that's the sort of person we're letting walk the streets
42:15at the moment and it ends in people like us losing family members
42:43as i don't know
42:43i really don't want to take over all your desires so i should be told i will get rid of
43:04them
43:04but i might be afraid i have to go to with the and i want to take over some people
Comments