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00:01The perfect murder, the unsolvable crime, does it really exist?
00:07In a TV first, we reveal the cutting-edge technology now used by British police to join the dots
00:15and reveal new evidence in all homicide investigations.
00:19I'm Tim Tate. I've been an investigative journalist for almost 50 years.
00:26I'm Sam Robbins, and I'm a criminal intelligence analyst.
00:30For over 20 years, I've worked alongside detectives on major murder investigations.
00:34Together, in this new series, we are going to discover the fatal mistakes
00:39which prevented the perfect murder from ever being committed.
01:12I'm Sam Robbins, and I'll see you next time.
01:13I'm Sam Robbins, and I'll see you next time.
01:17Alfred Arthur Rouse was a clever man, confident, charming.
01:24He was a veteran, some might say a hero, of the First World War.
01:29But Alfred Rouse had a secret, a lethal secret.
01:34He was a shameless philanderer, bigamist, and liar.
01:41By the summer of 1931, his double life was rapidly catching up with him.
01:50Known as the blazing car murder, I think it's important to stress at the very beginning
01:56that this was an extremely brutal murder.
02:05Alfred Rouse.
02:09What struck me is that, because this is an historical case,
02:15we have an absolute cornucopia of case papers.
02:21Yes.
02:21What emerges is a really clear pattern, isn't it?
02:26Yes, absolutely.
02:28It's an amazing thing to do, to be able to look at the historic case papers
02:33and provide a really detailed timeline of the events and people
02:38that are associated with Alfred Rouse.
02:41So, what do we know about Alfred Rouse?
02:43We've got this one surviving still of our man.
02:48What does his biography tell us?
02:49So, the tale of Alfred Rouse is one of high sexual appetite,
02:56multiple marriages and illegitimate children,
02:59and the racking up of a huge amount of debt
03:03and being chased by the mothers of the children,
03:07which then ultimately ends up in Rouse trying to plan a perfect murder
03:13in order to abscond with no trace of himself.
03:16It's like something out of an Agatha Christie story, isn't it?
03:19This is almost a textbook example of a classic case of English murder.
03:30Alfred Rouse was born in 1894 in London and typical of young men at that time,
03:36left school quite early.
03:37In fact, when he was 14 years old, he started a career initially in carpentry
03:41and he spent five years working as a furniture manufacturing company.
03:46He was quite an exceptional athlete, quite good at all sports,
03:52and a very good accomplished musician.
03:55He could play the piano, the violin and the mandolin.
04:01In his teenage years, he became a staunch member of the Church of England
04:06and worked as a sacricant in the local church.
04:10He was a very, very well-respected, well-behaved individual.
04:15And around 1910, when he was around 16, he met a young lady
04:19and they very quickly formed a relationship.
04:21Obviously, in those days, it's quite common for people
04:24to form an early relationship, get married early.
04:28Alfred meets Lily May Watkins in 1909
04:32and he eventually marries her in 1914.
04:36And in that intervening time, he joins the war effort as a private
04:41and is sent to Paris, where he fathers an illegitimate child
04:47with a Parisian lady.
04:48So he's meant to be fighting in World War I.
04:51Yes.
04:52And he's got his own little battles going on in some kind of hotel in Paris.
04:57Yes, very much so.
04:59And this would be a repeating pattern of behaviour,
05:02you know, as we quite often see with offenders,
05:04particularly where motives are sex and money,
05:08you'll see a repeating pattern.
05:10And that one certainly plays out in the case of Alfred Rouse.
05:15He was posted to France
05:17and had some unpleasant experiences,
05:20as would be expected in the First World War,
05:23some dreadful events,
05:25which culminated in the Battle of Festerbert in France.
05:30This regiment was involved quite heavily
05:32and it's during this experience
05:34that Alfred became really sort of a hand-to-hand combat
05:38with a German soldier,
05:39a bayonet attack.
05:41And he stabbed first at the German soldier and missed
05:44and he was waiting for that retaliatory strike back at himself,
05:48which never came.
05:49But it was an experience that sort of haunted him
05:52for the rest of his days.
05:53He'd wake up with nightmares
05:54off this almost hand-to-hand battle with his German soldier.
06:00On the last day of the Battle of Festerbert,
06:03Alfred suffered severe injuries to his head
06:05and his legs and other parts of his body
06:08when a bomb exploded quite near to his head, actually,
06:11and he was invalided out.
06:13He spent a year in a military hospital.
06:15When he went home,
06:16he found it very difficult to walk correctly.
06:18His leg wouldn't bend at the knee
06:20and he'd have complained of dizziness,
06:23had headaches.
06:24So he was really awarded quite a good pension
06:27from the army when he first returned to London.
06:32The effect of the shrapnel,
06:34which was embedded into his head,
06:36caused some sort of personality problem to him.
06:40He became very, very talkative, apparently.
06:43He would laugh for no apparent reason during conversation.
06:47He complained of dizziness and insomnia
06:50and he suffered with short-term memory loss.
06:53That dreadful incident in the war
06:55certainly affected him mentally.
06:59So there's a very interesting case
07:01of a guy called Phineas Gage in psychology
07:03who suffered a very similar incident
07:06in terms of a brain injury to his frontal lobes
07:09and he's often cited as a case of somebody
07:12who suffered a very significant brain trauma
07:15but changed his personality quite significantly.
07:20And we see this very similar kind of situation
07:22in terms of Alfred Rouse
07:24in that he's suffered an injury
07:26which to some extent really altered his personality
07:30and made him into a very different character
07:32than he'd previously been.
07:37In terms of his personal life,
07:40everything from the surface looked rosy.
07:43He had a job, he had a house, he even had a car.
07:45He had a very well-paying job
07:47so he was a travelling representative for a company
07:50where he was receiving four pounds a week
07:53which, you know, back in the late 1920s, 1930s
07:57was a really decent wage.
07:59And the fact that he, you know, had his own car
08:02and had his own transport
08:03just goes to show the sort of status
08:05and the life that he was leading.
08:07But unfortunately, the balance was not in his favour
08:10in terms of that wasn't enough money
08:12to keep up with the lifestyle
08:14that he was choosing to leave privately.
08:21Rouse had always had an eye for the ladies
08:23but it seems that after his injury in the Great War
08:26he became more promiscuous
08:28and after he took a job as a travelling salesman
08:32he travelled all over the countries
08:34meeting various ladies
08:36and having affairs with them.
08:39At the point when he's discharged
08:40he's a war veteran.
08:42He is.
08:43He's got a pension.
08:45You might look at him as a respectable war hero.
08:49Yes.
08:50But the reality was?
08:52But the reality was
08:53is that there was really a secret life taking place.
08:56He commits bigamy
08:57and marries one of the ladies that he's involved with
08:59a lady called Helen Campbell.
09:01She was only 14
09:02so that also tells you something about his background
09:06and his willingness to have relationships
09:09with very young females.
09:10So he's a predator isn't he?
09:12Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
09:13And he will do whatever he needs to do
09:15to fulfil his sexual desire
09:19and if that means having relationships with children
09:23which is essentially what Helen is
09:27then so be it.
09:28That's what he will do.
09:31He got her pregnant within months
09:33of meeting and seducing her
09:35and then in what would become a familiar pattern
09:38he abandoned her.
09:40He began an affair with Nellie Tucker
09:43a young domestic servant.
09:46He's married to two women at the same time
09:48he's married to Lily and Helen
09:50and then he begins the affair
09:51with a lady called Nellie Tucker
09:54and in 1928 she has his baby.
09:59Now at this point
10:00he is juggling several relationships
10:03with several women and several children
10:05all of whom are unknown to each other.
10:09So Nellie catches on to this
10:13and the fact that Rouse isn't around
10:14there's been abandonment issues
10:16in terms of he's not providing for the child
10:18that he's fathered.
10:19I thought it was quite an unusual thing
10:21to happen back then
10:22but potentially not
10:23is that Nellie goes to court
10:25for a maintenance order.
10:27She asks the court
10:29to deal with the errant father.
10:33Yes.
10:33So in order for him to financially
10:37start to supply and take care
10:39of her and her child
10:41and his child.
10:42We often, when you put together
10:44a timeline like this
10:46we see something
10:48which could be a tipping point.
10:50Is that where you see the tipping point?
10:53I think essentially
10:54the tipping point
10:54comes a little bit further back here.
10:57I think it's to do with personalities
10:58and how strong the women are
11:01really in this case
11:02and the women
11:03that Rouse
11:05potentially thinks
11:06that he's got control over
11:07are the ones
11:08that ultimately lead to his downfall.
11:10Helen, he's married her
11:12whilst being married to Lily
11:13but Nellie
11:14yeah, potentially Nellie
11:15being of a strong character
11:17and deciding that actually
11:18she's not going to stand
11:19for what he's peddling.
11:21I think that is definitely
11:22a tipping point
11:23because obviously
11:24he then has to start
11:26supplying money
11:26which he's now starting
11:28to run out of
11:29because he's got
11:30so many relationships
11:32that he's trying to juggle
11:33at the same time.
11:36Times were hard
11:37obviously it was the 1930s
11:39it was post-war Britain
11:41First World War
11:42and money was short.
11:45So things were looking
11:46a bit desperate
11:47for Alfred
11:48he wasn't earning enough money
11:49to pay the mortgage
11:50keep his family
11:52at home in London
11:53and support
11:54these maintenance payments.
11:55So he decided
11:56he didn't need
11:57to come up with a plan
11:58where he could
11:58rid himself
11:59of this pressure
12:00that was building up
12:01on him financially.
12:14A flurry
12:15of court orders
12:17began to arrive
12:18demanding
12:20Alfred Rouse
12:21pay support
12:22for the children
12:23he'd fathered.
12:25He realised
12:26the position
12:27he had got himself
12:28into
12:29was unsustainable
12:30he needed
12:31to find
12:32a solution
12:33and quickly.
12:35He really
12:36must have thought
12:37that this was
12:37the end of the line
12:38really
12:38and what he wanted
12:39to do
12:40was to sort of
12:40wipe the slate clean
12:41and start again.
12:43What we see
12:44in these kind of cases
12:45is that
12:46there's a certain level
12:47of ruthlessness
12:48that people would go to
12:49in order to
12:51get out of these situations.
12:53For most people
12:54they would face up
12:55to the consequences
12:56of what they've done.
12:58at some point
12:59he hatches a plan
13:00how do I get out
13:01of this ridiculous situation
13:04all these financial
13:05pressures etc.
13:10This is what struck me
13:13as the next tipping point
13:15he takes out
13:18an insurance policy.
13:20He does
13:21and it's a very
13:22specific one
13:23and when we
13:24look at cases
13:26where
13:28people have
13:29potentially died
13:29in unusual circumstances
13:31it's always a red flag
13:33if there is
13:34an insurance policy
13:35that is taken out
13:35shortly before
13:36an incident happens
13:38that's always
13:39a massive red flag
13:40in a murder investigation
13:42and lo and behold
13:44Ralph takes out
13:45an insurance policy here
13:46to provide for Lily
13:48his first wife
13:49which is interesting
13:50it was Lily
13:51but whether he felt
13:52that that was
13:53the first relationship
13:54that he'd cemented
13:55and married her
13:56and maybe
13:57that he owed it to her
13:59and he wanted her
13:59to be taken care of
14:02but he takes out
14:03an insurance policy
14:04and it's very specific
14:05this insurance policy
14:06it's should he die
14:07in a road accident.
14:09That's a very
14:10unusual wording.
14:11It's very unusual
14:12and very specific.
14:15The plan that
14:16Alfred Rouse came up with
14:17was to
14:18fake his own death
14:20but he took out
14:22this £1,000 insurance
14:23with the intention
14:25of
14:26finding someone
14:27to take his place
14:28in the death
14:30in the car
14:30and he would simply
14:31disappear
14:32start a new life
14:33elsewhere
14:34where no one knew him.
14:37Eventually
14:38he would admit
14:39that his plan
14:39was to disappear
14:40up in Scotland
14:41where he was unknown
14:41and just start again.
14:45So those kind of people
14:46who try to fake
14:47their own deaths
14:48and
14:50start a new life
14:51somewhere else
14:52whether it's to
14:52collect insurance money
14:54or whether it's
14:55because they've got
14:55an affair
14:56that they want
14:57to continue
14:57it clearly reflects
14:59a certain level
15:00really of fantasy
15:01of daydreaming
15:02they'll go through
15:04these kind of
15:04different scenarios
15:05that they
15:06want to plan out
15:08and how they think
15:09that their life
15:09will suddenly
15:10miraculously
15:11change
15:12and they can
15:13just start again.
15:13However
15:14we know
15:15that it's very
15:15very difficult
15:16to erase
15:18your past
15:19and it certainly
15:20brings to light
15:21some kind of
15:22flaws really
15:23in their thinking
15:23and it's almost
15:24this kind of
15:26fantasy
15:26belief
15:28that they have
15:28that leads
15:29to their downfall.
15:33on your timeline
15:34we're now
15:35at November 1930.
15:37Yes.
15:38So his planning
15:39is
15:40I'm going to
15:41stage a car accident.
15:43Oh.
15:44Bear in mind
15:45the insurance policy.
15:46Yes.
15:47And
15:48my body
15:49is going to be
15:50found
15:50in the car.
15:52Yes
15:52but what's the
15:53problem with that?
15:54You have to
15:54find a victim.
15:56Yes.
15:58Alfred Rousey's
15:59plan was to
16:00find a man
16:01that was
16:02similar build
16:03similar height
16:03to himself
16:04and get him
16:06in the car
16:06that he was
16:07going to destroy
16:08with the intention
16:09that the insurance
16:10people would
16:11accept that
16:12he himself
16:13had died
16:13in this car
16:14accident.
16:16We're right
16:17in the middle
16:18of the
16:18two world wars
16:20as it were
16:20when Britain
16:21was in pretty
16:22dire straits.
16:23Money was
16:24very difficult
16:24to earn.
16:25There were a lot
16:26of impoverished
16:27people.
16:28Of course
16:28pubs and clubs
16:29were where
16:30people would
16:31go to
16:31sort of
16:32forget their
16:33problems etc.
16:35Any individuals
16:36particularly men
16:37were often
16:38homeless or
16:39living in
16:39sheltered
16:40accommodation etc.
16:42He was in
16:42the perfect
16:43time period
16:44to find
16:44someone that
16:45would probably
16:46be not
16:46noticed if
16:47they disappeared
16:48or quickly
16:49forgotten if
16:50they were.
16:52A few days
16:53before the
16:53plan was put
16:54in place
16:54he remembered
16:55he remembered
16:56that he
16:56met this
16:56chap in
16:57a nearby
16:59pub
16:59that he
17:00knew
17:00didn't have
17:01any family
17:02no friends
17:02or family
17:03and he
17:04was very
17:04very similar
17:05to Alfred
17:06in appearance
17:06so he
17:07went and
17:07sought him
17:08out on
17:09the 2nd
17:093rd of
17:10November
17:10and sure
17:11enough the
17:11chap was
17:12still sitting
17:12having a
17:13drink.
17:14So to
17:15Rouse he
17:16appeared
17:16the ideal
17:17victim
17:18so he
17:19offered this
17:19chap
17:21the promise
17:21of work
17:22in Leicester
17:23and he'd
17:24give him
17:24a lift
17:24up to
17:25Leicester
17:25so that
17:26he could
17:26then get
17:27employment.
17:31He really
17:32has planned
17:33what he
17:34thinks is
17:34going to
17:35be the
17:35perfect
17:35murder
17:36by finding
17:37a victim
17:38that he
17:38thinks
17:38is not
17:40going to
17:40be missed.
17:40Very
17:41sadly
17:41for this
17:42individual
17:43we know
17:44that he'd
17:45let Rouse
17:46know that
17:46there wasn't
17:47a person
17:47in the
17:47world
17:47who would
17:48care
17:48if he
17:49lived or
17:50died
17:50so he'd
17:51almost
17:52written
17:52his own
17:53fate
17:53into that.
17:55Rouse
17:55had spotted
17:55him in
17:56terms of
17:56physical
17:57appearance
17:58and then
18:00that had
18:01been backed
18:01up by
18:01no one
18:02was going
18:02to miss
18:02this
18:02individual.
18:03That's
18:04one of the
18:04things that
18:04I took
18:05out of
18:05the case
18:06papers
18:06this
18:07statement
18:08that
18:09this
18:10soon-to-be
18:11victim
18:12said to
18:13Rouse
18:13Governor
18:14there's
18:15no one
18:16going to
18:16care
18:16if I
18:16live or
18:17die.
18:18it's
18:19heart
18:19rending
18:19isn't
18:20it?
18:20It's really
18:20heart
18:20rending
18:21isn't
18:21it?
18:21Particularly
18:22if you've
18:23gone to
18:23war and
18:24fought for
18:24your country
18:26essentially you
18:27return from
18:27war a
18:28hero but
18:29not hero
18:30enough that
18:30anyone's going
18:31to miss you
18:31if you die
18:32on your
18:32homeland.
18:34There's a
18:34date which
18:35crops up
18:35very quickly
18:36and it's
18:37in terms of
18:40Rouse's
18:40perfect murder
18:42planning it's a
18:43significant date.
18:44It is.
18:45Obviously he has
18:46to get around
18:46the fact that
18:47the body
18:47the victim is
18:49going to be
18:49identified as
18:50not being
18:51Alfred Rouse
18:51so the idea
18:53of fire
18:54setting starts
18:55with Alfred.
18:57You know there
18:57is no more
18:58perfect a date
18:59to set a fire
19:00than the 5th
19:01of November.
19:03He had
19:04selected the
19:055th of November
19:061930 as the
19:08night that he
19:09would carry out
19:10this attack
19:11this murder.
19:13Bonfire night
19:13fires are put
19:15together made
19:15out of wood
19:16or whatever
19:16materials and
19:18lit all over
19:19the country in
19:20gardens on
19:20hillsides
19:22beacons if
19:23you like
19:23and traditionally
19:25fireworks are
19:26set off.
19:27This fitted
19:28well in with
19:28his plans because
19:29when he set
19:30fire to the
19:31vehicle people
19:32would naturally
19:32think well
19:33look there's
19:34another bonfire
19:35up on the
19:35lane there up
19:36the hill
19:37and so the
19:38fire in the
19:39vehicle would
19:39attract no
19:40attention.
19:42To make
19:43sure that
19:43his potential
19:44victim had
19:45no resistance
19:45Alfred bought
19:46a bottle of
19:47whiskey in
19:48advance and
19:48sure enough
19:49picked up the
19:50gentleman they
19:51made their way
19:52up to supposedly
19:53driving up from
19:53London to
19:54Leicester and
19:55all the while
19:56this passenger
19:57was drinking
19:57whiskey so he
19:58was quite
19:58insensible.
19:59By the time
20:00they got to
20:00Hardingstone
20:01near Northampton
20:03he was quite
20:04drunk.
20:06Rouse turned
20:07off the main
20:08road onto a
20:09little side
20:09road leading
20:10to the small
20:11village of
20:12Hardingstone
20:13and he pulled
20:14up at the
20:15side of the
20:16road and told
20:17the man who
20:18was now very
20:19drunk he
20:20said I'm just
20:21getting out for
20:22a pee.
20:24It's believed
20:25that Rouse
20:26knocked his
20:28victim unconscious
20:29with a wooden
20:30mallet that
20:31was found
20:32at the
20:32crime scene.
20:36Rouse stuffed
20:37the man into
20:39the Morris
20:39saloon car
20:40and pushed
20:42his own
20:42wallet in
20:43the man's
20:44trousers so
20:45that if he
20:46were found
20:46it would look
20:47as if it
20:47was Rouse
20:48in the car.
20:49He believed
20:50the man
20:51was dead.
20:52Then as part
20:53of the plan
20:54which he
20:54thought
20:55through
20:55he loosened
20:56the joint
20:57underneath
20:58the vehicle
20:58the petrol
21:00pipe which
21:01feeds the
21:01carburettor
21:02from the
21:02petrol tank
21:03to the
21:03carburettor
21:04which caused
21:05petrol to
21:05flow into
21:07the vehicle
21:07and in fact
21:08underneath the
21:09vehicle.
21:10He then set
21:11fire to the
21:11vehicle
21:12and he
21:18might have
21:18got away
21:19with it.
21:19His plan
21:20for the
21:20perfect
21:21murder
21:21might have
21:23worked.
21:27Now
21:28Rouse's
21:28story
21:30changed
21:31at various
21:32times
21:33but what
21:34we can
21:34say with
21:36certainty
21:37is that
21:38he staged
21:39a car crash
21:39in a little
21:40lane
21:42off a little
21:43village.
21:43Yes.
21:44How close
21:45does he come
21:45to getting
21:45away with this?
21:46Very close.
21:47Very close.
21:48He could have
21:49if he'd have
21:50chosen
21:50another route
21:53or he'd
21:54not taken
21:56the actions
21:56that he
21:57takes next
21:57then he
21:59could have
21:59walked away.
22:01The car
22:01would have
22:02burnt to
22:02the point
22:03where
22:04everything
22:04would have
22:05been fairly
22:05difficult to
22:06identify
22:06and he
22:07could have
22:08walked away
22:08into the
22:09sunset.
22:10Lily would
22:11have been
22:11taken care
22:11of and his
22:12plan would
22:13have been
22:13carried out
22:14in the manner
22:14to which he
22:15thought it
22:15was going
22:15to.
22:16But?
22:17But that
22:17is not
22:18what
22:18happened.
22:34Alfred
22:35Rouse
22:36took a
22:37match
22:37and set
22:38fire to
22:39the car
22:40with the
22:41man inside.
22:42He then
22:43picked up
22:44his briefcase
22:45and strolled
22:46off
22:46down the
22:47road
22:47away from
22:49the little
22:49village of
22:50Hardingstone.
22:51His plan
22:51for the
22:52perfect
22:52murder
22:53might have
22:54worked.
22:57Unfortunately
22:58for Alfred
22:58as he was
22:59walking away
23:00from the
23:00vehicle
23:00back towards
23:01the main
23:01road
23:02two young
23:03men
23:03who had
23:04just been
23:04to a
23:05firework
23:05display
23:06about half
23:07a mile
23:07away
23:08met with
23:08him
23:09and he
23:09turned
23:10and said
23:11to the
23:11two young
23:12men
23:12oh look
23:13there's a
23:14fire up
23:15there
23:15somebody's
23:15having
23:15a bit
23:16of a
23:16bonfire
23:17to try
23:18and make
23:18light
23:18of what
23:19they could
23:20see
23:20and what
23:21they say
23:22then is
23:22that this
23:23man who
23:23they described
23:25then walked
23:26off towards
23:26the main
23:27road
23:27quite
23:28nonchalantly.
23:30These two
23:31men then
23:31made their
23:32way over to
23:32where the
23:33fire was
23:34and realised
23:34it wasn't a
23:35bonfire
23:36it was a
23:36car in
23:37flames.
23:38They sent
23:39for the
23:39local police
23:40officers
23:41and with
23:41the aid
23:42of the
23:42water
23:43from a
23:43nearby
23:43pond
23:44they
23:44managed
23:44to
23:44douse
23:45the
23:45fire
23:46and
23:46then
23:46they
23:46saw
23:46the
23:47charred remains of a body
23:48lying across the driver's seat and the passenger seat.
23:58On examination of the vehicle of course the constable discovered
24:02laying on the front seat sideways with his head on the driving seat basically a
24:08charred corpse and he described the head of the victim as almost like a burnt rugby
24:15ball.
24:17I think Roush had the right idea in thinking that if I set light to the car it will burn
24:25the body beyond recognition it will never be identified and to that extent it's true because to this day the
24:32body still hasn't been identified there's no name to it but unfortunately for Roush he left far too many clues
24:41behind that gave the police evidence to suggest that a
24:46another person had been involved in that arson and it wasn't simply Roush laying in his own car having been
24:55burnt to death.
25:01So inside police can see that the fire hasn't taken as much as Roush probably anticipated it would.
25:11There's a body in the car it's badly burnt but also the number plate of the vehicle hasn't completely melted
25:22so there's a partial number plate available to the police as well.
25:27Today you know we take number plate recognition ANPR we take it for granted don't we?
25:32Yes.
25:32This is 1930.
25:34Yes.
25:35Yeah.
25:35I was quite surprised by this I've got to say.
25:38Yeah I was surprised that they were that there was a database and it was checked and very quickly that
25:46car was identified as belonging to Alfred Roush.
25:50Senior officers were involved were called in and the murder scene was sealed.
25:56It was then discovered by forensic examination that in fact the nut underneath the petrol tank had in fact been
26:04loosened purposely and that was proven by a scientist which of course allowed the petrol to ignite beneath and inside
26:11the vehicle.
26:13This is a fascinating case from a forensic science perspective because it happened in the 1930s when forensic tests as
26:23we know them today were simply not available in the investigation.
26:27And so we have a situation where an individual is found in a burned out car and the identification of
26:36that individual obviously is paramount to the investigation.
26:42Once an individual has been subject to a fire then it makes identification very difficult because the things that we
26:51might rely upon such as fingerprints or facial recognition are no longer available.
26:58And we have to rely upon the traditional identifying marks such as dental records and or any sort of surgical
27:10intervention that they may have sustained in life that leads the investigators to that individual.
27:17So we don't have the things that are available to us now such as DNA technology which we can apply
27:25to even samples that have been extremely degraded as a result of fire.
27:32So although the police called in forensics experts with regards to the motor car they were able to see that
27:38it had been tampered with and thereby a deliberate fire rather than an accident their attempts at identifying the victim
27:46were much less successful.
27:48They tried dental records with no luck because the gentleman who had been picked up in the pub by Rouse
27:55didn't have anything about him which could be identified.
28:00And Rouse had obviously planted some of his own clothing and his wallet on the man when he left him
28:06in the car so there was very very little police to go on.
28:08And in fact he was never identified at the time although they did take the precaution before he was buried
28:14at Hardingstone Cemetery of taking a tissue sample to go into the archive.
28:23But a post-mortem on the victim showed that there had been trauma to the head.
28:28It showed injuries which of course was caused by Alfred striking the victim with the wooden mallet on the head.
28:36And in fact the mallet was found nearby at the scene thrown on the ground.
28:43Within really a day both the press and the police thought that they needed to find Rouse because these two
28:52chaps that were walking back to Hardingstone were able to give a description that matched Rouse.
28:58So they thought he was likely still alive and needed to get an account from him as to what had
29:03happened and how someone had come to be dead in his car and how his car caught light.
29:12At that point in Rouse's mind does he still think he's got away with it?
29:18Yes, 100%.
29:19I think he has, in order to ensure that his plan is foolproof, he leaves his wallet.
29:28So to all intents and purposes the police have arrived, they've found this scene, they've found a body that isn't
29:35wholly identifiable but is a male clearly of a certain age.
29:39And in the pocket they find identification belonging to Alfred Rouse and they also have been able to trace the
29:47car back to him.
29:50So, the police then take the wallet to Lily, Lily Watkins, who is his first wife.
30:00Alfred Rouse's plan had been thwarted.
30:03He planned to go from Northampton on the train to Scotland but he realised had he been seen by two
30:07men and they'd caught a good description of him,
30:10he realised that his idea that it was his body in the car wouldn't be believed.
30:15So he fought up on the spot, almost, another plan that his car had been stolen and it was nothing
30:22to do with him, the fact it had ended up in Northamptonshire.
30:25This is something that criminologists recognise as a pattern.
30:32Routinely, killers who think they've committed the perfect murder sabotage their own plans by doing something foolish.
30:42He decided to make his way back to his home at London, going to Scotland, the people would realise it
30:48wasn't him that died in the car and they'd be looking for Alfred Rouse.
30:52So instead, he made his way back to London, he'd arrived back about six o'clock in the morning, he'd
30:57hitched a lift back there, he came in without saying a word to his wife, he was in the house
31:02for about half an hour and then he disappeared again.
31:04Lily was asked at one point to identify the body of the victim, but it was felt that it was
31:13in such poor condition because it was badly burnt and charred that that wouldn't be right to show her a
31:21dead person of that nature, which is understandable.
31:23But she was able to identify positively Alfred's wallet, which was in the pocket of the victim, and also describe
31:34the clothing worn by the victim as similar.
31:41Rouse, true to form, couldn't resist going and seeing one of his female interests.
31:49So he travelled to Wales to see Phyllis Jenkins, who was surprised that he'd turned up without his car.
31:56And he said, oh, it'd broken down and he'd come by the means to come and see Phyllis in Wales.
32:01She wasn't that happy with that story and then newspapers had started to report the fact that a male had
32:10been found burnt out in a car and Phyllis puts two and two together and challenges Rouse and says, I
32:18think that you've staged a murder.
32:21Rouse leaves Phyllis and he starts to head back to London and Phyllis goes to the police and says, this
32:28newspaper article here, I think, I think it's Alfred Rouse and I think he's alive and well.
32:33We're in 1930.
32:35Yes.
32:36You know, communications in 1930 weren't quite as they are now.
32:41And yet, by the time Rouse arrives in London, Scotland Yard's waiting for him.
32:47Yes.
32:48I mean, it's a staggeringly good piece of old school detective work.
32:54Detective work and luck.
32:56And luck in terms of, obviously, finding a really good witness in Phyllis, finding really good witnesses with the two
33:03males that find the car in the first place.
33:07So, yes, by the time Rouse gets back to London, detectives from Scotland Yard are waiting for him.
33:13Rouse is arrested.
33:14He is.
33:15And he tells the first of a number of tall stories.
33:23Now, initially, when Rouse was arrested, he stuck to his story that his car had been stolen.
33:29But then, on arrival at the police station, he gave a different statement.
33:33He changed his story.
33:34This time, he said he had been in the car.
33:37He must have realised there'd be evidence that would incriminate him of being inside the car.
33:41His wallet, for instance, was recognised as being in there.
33:44So, he then said, well, actually, he had been the driver.
33:48But it had been a complete accident.
33:50And he'd panicked in disappearing.
33:52He'd given a lift to a hitchhiker.
33:55He'd stopped in Hardinstone Lane in order to relieve himself.
34:00And as he left the car, he asked the hitchhiker that he'd picked up if he would refill the petrol
34:08in the car with a canful of petrol that was in the back.
34:12And he'd also given this chap a cigar to smoke.
34:16The car had burst into flames.
34:18It's too late to do anything.
34:20And in a panic, he'd just walked away from the scene of the crime.
34:22And he's stuck with this story that it is an accidental fire for the rest of his incarceration.
34:33Once again, what is surprising about this case is, given the timing of it, is how good the forensics were.
34:40So, the forensics obviously came through and said and suggested that actually the male had been beaten.
34:49So, he hadn't died standing outside the car, which was another, you know, tall tale of Rouse's.
34:56But actually, he'd been beaten.
34:59So, it was clear that the male had been beaten, which we know that Rouse had done with the mallet.
35:05And very sadly, that they could tell that the victim was alive when he set fire to the car.
35:13And it's possible to tell that, having worked jobs where exactly this scenario has happened.
35:20It's possible to know that they were alive at the time that the fire was set.
35:24Because smoke is inhaled, very hot smoke is inhaled.
35:29And it damages and blackens the windpipe and down to the lungs.
35:33So, that's how they know that somebody is alive when the fire has been set.
35:37There was another piece of forensic detection, which you've identified.
35:42Mm.
35:44Which undermined Rouse's tall story completely.
35:48Yes.
35:49So, the story about the vehicle accidentally catching light simply wasn't true.
35:54And the vehicle, even in its bad state, had been examined.
35:59And it was clear that the fuel pipe of the car had been tampered with.
36:04So, obviously, by Rouse hoping that it was going to help ignite and keep the fire burning long enough to
36:10destroy any evidence that a crime had taken place.
36:16Well, of course, by examining the vehicle, by the pathology, by the forensics, etc., by the evidence of the witnesses,
36:24the story was quickly dismantled.
36:26Absolute nonsense.
36:28And he was charged with the murder of a then unknown male person.
36:34Alfred Rouse may have tried to talk his way out of trouble, but he didn't succeed.
36:40He was charged with murder and put on remand to await his trial.
37:01Alfred Rouse's trial at Northampton Assizes in January 1931 lasted four days.
37:10Rouse insisted on giving evidence in his own defence.
37:14It's a mark of his arrogance that he believed, even then, he could talk his way out of trouble.
37:20The trial attracted quite a bit of media attention, not least because it was a trial with an unknown victim.
37:28I think that's why it became quite well documented in the local press and certainly also the national press.
37:36At the time he got to the trial, it was big newspaper coverage.
37:39There was a lot of big factors there, iconography of a blazing car, photographs of that car, an unknown victim.
37:47And despite Rouse being constantly quizzed as to the identity of the man, he stuck with his story that he
37:55was a hitchhiker, he never asked the name.
37:57I think the time he showed most nerves was when he was handed the actual carburettor from the car that
38:06the prosecution alleged had been tampered with in order to help start the fire.
38:11And with that in his hand, it didn't take very long for the jury to find him guilty, and he
38:18was sentenced to be hung.
38:21And when the judge pronounced the guilty verdict, he merely said, please, your honour, I am innocent, and my appeal
38:29will prove this.
38:33Once the execution at Bedford Jail was set, Rouse seems to have had a change of heart, and although he
38:39didn't make a statement confessing his guilt, he did write a letter to a newspaper, a daily sketch, in which
38:45he outlined the events, actual events that took place on the night of the 5th of November.
38:52Quite bizarrely, he admitted everything in the letter, he confessed all, explaining how he had planned the whole thing, planned
39:01to fake his death, claimed the £1,000 insurance, and that he had set fire to the vehicle using petrol,
39:08that he had loosened the pipe, and all these issues that were suspected at the time of his trial, he
39:13fully admitted.
39:16And also why he never revealed the identity of the victim, because he simply said, it never occurred to me
39:24to ask what his name was.
39:29There was one really sad little coda to this story.
39:36Yeah, and it's very sad, actually, when you think about it.
39:39So, um, the victim, so the man who said that, no, would he care if he lives or dies or
39:45goes missing, it seems that really is the case, and that he was never identified.
39:51There was a twist to this sad little tale, 80 years after Rouse went to the scaffold.
40:01DNA techniques had come in and had advanced.
40:04At that point, there was an attempt to try and find out who this unknown victim was.
40:14In 2012, a family of a man who'd gone missing in 1930 came forward, saying, this man might be our
40:23relative.
40:24They'd always been told, as they were growing up, that William Briggs was Rouse's victim, and they wanted to know
40:33if the police could do anything with advances in DNA technology to try and identify the victim and show once
40:43and for whether it was or wasn't William Briggs.
40:46By that time, I'd retired from the police, so Northamptonshire Police forwarded the inquiry to me at the University of
40:53Leicester.
40:55The thing about forensic science is that it can be applied to samples that have been taken today or decades
41:03ago.
41:04And so, in any case, if material is retained, then it is amenable and available for testing further down the
41:15line.
41:16This is an interesting case for forensic science, because we're working with DNA that was deposited nearly 100 years ago
41:27now.
41:27It's stretching what we can actually do with current DNA technology.
41:32In 1930, the post-mortem of the victim was carried out by a very eminent pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury.
41:40And the London Hospital Archive has a number of specimen microscope slides from Sir Bernard's post-mortems.
41:49And amongst those was a number of slides from his post-mortem of the victim of Rouse's murder.
41:56And what we want to do is extract from that cellular material in order to obtain a DNA profile.
42:06We've got a full male profile from the sample, and it was compared against the mitochondrial DNA of the descendants
42:15of William Briggs.
42:17But there was no match, so the relatives, unfortunately, were no longer able to think that William Briggs had been
42:28Rouse's victim and were left not knowing what happened to him back in 1930.
42:36Since then, there's been a total of eight families have come forward saying that their relative had gone missing around
42:42that time and offering DNA samples against this tissue.
42:46So although, to date, the man has never been identified and he lies in a grave recently rededicated in Hardingstone
42:55Cemetery, he is an unknown victim.
42:58But because this DNA sample exists in the archives, there's hope that he may one day be identified.
43:06I think it's only right and proper that that man who lays in an unknown grave at Hardingstone Cemetery near
43:16Northampton deserves to have his name put on the tombstone.
43:23So whether Rouse suffered from personality disorder or psychopathy is open to some debate.
43:29Certainly people who go on to kill other people have a certain level of ruthlessness that we might link with
43:37something like psychopathy.
43:39However, in my opinion, there's an underlying brain dysfunction, some physical situation that's led to him committing these crimes.
43:47And it's not necessarily just down to his personality.
43:53Here you have an excellent example of an individual, Alfred Rouse, planning this murder down to the last detail, taking
44:02his time to think it through, pick the right victim, pick the right time, pick the right location to carry
44:09out the murder.
44:11He's thought it all through the method, how he would do it.
44:14Up to the point of walking away from the vehicle, had it been completely destroyed and had he disappeared, possibly
44:22it would be, we could call it a perfect murder.
44:25People would have thought, his family would have thought, his friends, poor old Alfred has died accidentally in a fire
44:32in his car.
44:35In terms of the criminology of almost perfect murders, what does that tell you about how to commit a, quotes,
44:47perfect murder?
44:48Oh, goodness. Is there such thing as a perfect murder?
44:51Personally, I don't think there is, for several reasons.
44:56The likelihood of you being witnessed taking some form of action that can ultimately be linked back to an offence
45:03is very strong.
45:04I think the other reason is that quite often offenders who think that they've planned an almost perfect murder don't
45:12allow for the fact that police forces are vast.
45:16And in amongst them, they have people who have dealt with hundreds of murders and hundreds of cases and have
45:25the ability to take those expertise and come together as a unit to work out what has happened in an
45:34incident.
45:34And I think that gets underestimated by murderers on a regular basis.
45:42He concocted this plan to escape from all these pressures and he almost got away with it.
45:47If it hadn't been for the two young men that had been walking towards the blaze as he was going
45:51away and they recognised him,
45:53if it would have made his way to Northampton Station without being seen and got his way to Scotland to
45:58live out a life unidentified, it would have been the perfect murder.
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