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The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door S08E06
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00:00you can't control who moves in next door you've just attacked me you can never really know what
00:08your neighbors are capable of when disagreements get out of control
00:17didn't say that that is the most disgusting thing you can do things get ugly
00:29and threats turn violent i came in here i grabbed this knife he's going i'm gonna kill him i'm gonna
00:37kill him
00:44police watch your emergency
00:52struggling to open my eyes he told me that he wasn't leaving my house until we were both dead
00:59i felt dizzy i thought we were gonna die
01:12east yorkshire nestled in the quaint countryside is the sleepy hamlet of southburn
01:21and it's where laura subden went in search of a perfect family home i originally decided that to
01:28move to southburn because my daughter youngest daughter she was six months old at the time
01:33and the property that we were living in and we needed an extra bedroom
01:39i just liked the idea of you know being able to just go out my back door and you know
01:43be able to
01:44walk for miles like horse riding and just just being outdoors really and i knew that would be
01:48something that we could enjoy as a family i really liked the area it wasn't far from driftfield where
01:54most of my family you know my family are
01:58and it wasn't long before laura found a four-bedroom house that she thought could be her forever home
02:05characterful semi-detached property nestled in the heart of this rural hamlet
02:11i absolutely loved it i did feel really at home as soon as i walked through the door
02:15one of the things i loved about is i had an old fireplace in every room actually even the upstairs
02:20bedrooms
02:20and i just thought it'd be a nice poem for isabel to grow up and to top it all off
02:25laura's younger
02:26sister rachel lived just five minutes up the road it was just a nice peaceful setting and just a homely
02:31feeling just really quiet and nice it's going to be a permanent home and laura really was looking
02:38forward to that southburn itself is sleepy it's all of those stereotypical words you associate with rural
02:44country life in a village where there's hardly anything going on it's not the place where crime
02:50happens laura immediately snapped up this rental and no sooner had she and her young daughter moved in
02:57laura was approached by her neighbor tony lawrence so tony lived next door there was a fence in between
03:04to separate the two gardens and houses tony was quite stocky like short cropped hair a bit of a jack
03:11the
03:11lad covered in tattoos and just his mannerisms really and you know the way he spoke he didn't
03:16didn't mince his words but it was friendly enough over the next few months relations between laura and
03:22tony were good when laura's daughter turned one she returned to work and tony even started helping
03:28her out by walking her dogs when she was out they wanted to kind of make it known that he
03:34was there if
03:34i needed anything which given that i was living you know on my own with a small child it was
03:38comforting to
03:39know that really in terms of anthony lawrence he was a man who kept himself to himself the first thing
03:45we knew about the relationship so far was that it was a pretty normal neighbor relationship but despite
03:52his friendly demeanor laura began to become a touch concerned by her neighbor's behavior
03:58it was always quite apparent that he was it was quite happy to ask a number of questions to us
04:03but he
04:04he was never never happy to give anything away about himself or his life as time went on i noticed
04:09that he appeared to be a bit of a recluse didn't really leave the house very much and if he
04:14did it
04:14wasn't for a very long period of time he never appears to have anybody visit him at the property
04:20um occasionally a family member would come but you know that that wasn't often at all obviously i was
04:26you know doing my own thing and busy anyway so i didn't really pay much attention you know at the
04:31time
04:31so and if i'm obviously looking back and now i think that probably was you know that probably was
04:36a little bit a bit odd with relations between laura and her neighbor tony still a bit uncomfortable
04:47she met someone at work shane gilmer and what began as a friendship soon blossomed into a budding romance
04:57our relationship was like a whirlwind when i met shane i've never felt like that before
05:02it was crazy the amount of obviously like time that we spent together it was like she started enjoying
05:09life a hell of a lot more than she used to do and just all the little things just even
05:13like sitting
05:14down and like having a conversation together you could see she'd be beaming it was just like a male
05:18version of me you know we got on incredibly and you know given that it was so fantastic with isabel
05:25you know i couldn't wish for anybody better to have in a life you know just i don't think you
05:30know i was the happiest i've ever you know i'd ever been laura may have been on cloud nine but
05:36a few
05:37months later when shane moved into her house relations with tony next door quickly took a turn for the worse
05:43and led to events that would have catastrophic consequences
05:49i was leaving my house one day and i noticed that tony was in his uh front garden so i
05:54shouted
05:55morning to him like i usually would um and he didn't say anything back so i just carried got in
06:01my car and drove off um initially i just thought it was like he didn't hear me convinced tony's cold
06:08shoulder was unintentional laura went to work and didn't think any more of it until the
06:13two neighbors met once again a couple of days after that i saw him outside again i said hello to
06:19him and and again he he blanked me this time it became apparent that it clearly wasn't that he hadn't
06:28heard me because he made eye contact with me and i just that was a bit confused as to why
06:33he wasn't
06:34speaking to me but again didn't really think too much about it i can't ever recall a point where i
06:41thought
06:43he's and that anything changed in our relationship really i just put it down to the fact that um
06:50i wasn't at home as much anymore clearly it was something something had really rattled him to set
06:57him over the edge and set him on this path where he clearly potentially lost his mind a little bit
07:03and
07:04was determined to to get his own back on this couple who'd clearly wronged him in some way he thought
07:15after being ignored at the door laura hadn't heard a peep from her neighbor
07:21but the simmering silence came to a head with a bang
07:30it was about seven o'clock one night i was getting isabelle ready for bed and i heard what sounded
07:35like a party coming from next door couldn't hear anybody's but i just could hear really really loud
07:40music i was playing like heavy metal rock music at a loud volume initially i just thought well maybe
07:49is having a party or is having you know is listening to music initially i wasn't too concerned
07:55but as the night drew on what started as loud music exploded into a deafening barrage of beats
08:01making home life a living hell for laura shane and daughter isabel
08:07the music was that loud that you would think that it was being played in you know in the room
08:13that we
08:13were sat in the level of it was just absolutely ridiculous and it was booming just constant
08:18banging myself and shane was up for work the next day they'd like just get off to sleep and then
08:23you
08:24know you'd hear it again and you'd just be restless all night thinking you know when is it going to
08:27turn
08:27that down the music was still going when laura and shane got up for work the following morning
08:34lauren she had mentioned sort of like loud music or something like that it had the disruptions of the
08:40loud music but i think you have that sometimes everywhere even if somebody has a party it's one
08:45night but it wasn't just one night it was the same story the following night and the night after that
08:56the heavy music was stopping the couple from sleeping but what was really driving them crazy was the
09:02question why was tony doing this to them i felt straight away that this was deliberate
09:10even though i didn't vocalize that to shane at the time because i thought i didn't understand why
09:15he would be doing it deliberately but in my mind i knew 100 he was definitely doing it for a
09:20reaction
09:23by the third night with no sleep shane felt he had to do something to make the racket stop
09:30so shane went and knocked on the front of his front window and that's when tony shouted him to come
09:36around the back of the property so as directed shane went to the rear of the house hoping to reason
09:41with tony but it quickly became apparent to laura that things would not end well
09:49i heard a commercial and lots of shouting screaming um and swearing outside and so i decided to head
09:56outside and see what was going on when i came outside i saw shane was stood in our back garden
10:01and
10:01turn who was stood at his gate just like waving an axe around at shane i couldn't quite believe
10:08what i was seeing if i'm honest it was absolutely raging i've never i don't think i've ever seen
10:12somebody so angry you know he was red in the face spitting everywhere shouting his language was just
10:20unbelievable but there was far worse to come absolutely raging he was holding the axe in his hand
10:27and he just was shouting that if we went on his property that he was going to kill us
10:41in yorkshire after confronting their neighbour tony lawrence over loud music
10:45laura sugden and her partner shane gilmer had been threatened with an axe
10:52little did they know this was the start of something far more sinister absolutely raging
10:58he was holding the axe in his hand and he just was shouting that if we went on his property
11:02um that he was going to kill us
11:06how aggressive he was when he was saying it that he did mean it never seen somebody as raging as
11:12what
11:12he was um over something you know which seemed just like a such a normal request
11:19petrified of what their neighbour tony was capable of laura and shane tried their best to pacify him
11:26he was definitely trying to aggravate the situation by you know what i think you know the shouting and
11:30swearing that he was doing at us there was no reasoning with him you know he did get more
11:34aggressive that shane wasn't getting involved with and arguing with him certainly seemed that that is
11:39what he wanted or you know wanted some kind of violence to come from that situation sensing things
11:44could get very ugly laura and shane headed into the safety of their home
11:51as soon as we went into the back into our house the music stopped completely just went off
11:57so it just became very obvious quickly that he he was doing it for a reaction
12:04i wanted it reporting to the police immediately um and shane was of the opinion that you know it was
12:10his word against ours and they probably wouldn't do anything i was massively alarmed and i said to
12:15shane like and i didn't sleep at all that night i said it's really unusual why why he's come out
12:21with
12:22an axe why he's threatened to kill us both why he's shouting and swearing after a night of broken sleep
12:29laura was still trying to figure out just what could have triggered this strange behavior
12:34i thought in my head if we see him tomorrow and if he comes out and apologizes and says you
12:40know i
12:40had too much to drink blah blah then that's fine it's done with obviously the next morning when me
12:47and shane got up for work he left the house at the same time so he walked past our driveway
12:51as we were
12:51getting into the car and he didn't say anything and from that time that's you know i thought something's
13:02not right here at the time laura and shane reported it to humberside police it was logged as a potential
13:11crime but that was as far as it went it's at that point where i started thinking i don't want
13:16to be
13:17here i'd never felt like that in that house before in the village i was always happy there but from
13:22that
13:22night i thought i don't want to be living in this house and you know bringing my children up in
13:27somewhere
13:28where i feel that i can't even go out in my back garden just in case he you know he's
13:32having an
13:32off day or he's not happy about something i don't want him shouting like that but shane was of the
13:38opinion that we were happy in that house we liked the area we weren't moving he didn't he didn't think
13:44it was that much of a big deal things calm down laura and shane had no contact with tony since
13:57the
13:57night with the axe but behind closed doors tony was up to something there was always a smell in the
14:03house
14:04which i could never quite put my finger on what it was it was on the first floor where this
14:08strange
14:09smell was the worst when i come upstairs onto landing there was always something that i could
14:14smell um but it was particularly worse in my daughter isabel's bedroom the strongest smell
14:22came from the wall which was joined obviously to turn his spare bedroom that was where it was at its
14:27worst sometimes you know if you if i was cleaning in there or putting some clothes away it would give
14:34me a headache with the stench coming through her neighbor's walls getting worse and worse
14:38laura was convinced she knew the cause of the mystery smell this time went on i was convinced
14:44that the smell was cannabis i did always think that he um that he was involved in drugs in some
14:51way
14:51and you know i could smell cannabis sometimes when i was outside in my garden putting my washing out or
14:57and i knew he was smoking it but laura became concerned that the smell coming through her
15:02daughter's bedroom wall might be intentional i could never work out whether that was purpose the smell
15:09was purpose you know it was it was directly you know for us to smell it or whether he just
15:15wasn't
15:15doing a very good job of you know getting rid of the smell of it and then that's when the
15:20cannabis
15:21became a police matter after both shane and laura reported the smell to the police a complaint was logged
15:29but as the weeks passed and the smell grew stronger laura became more and more concerned
15:36isabel used to even say that you know what was the smell in the bedroom you know she could smell
15:40it
15:41it was so strong her daughter has asthma so they were worried it was exacerbating her asthma
15:49and it wasn't long before laura made a shocking realization that would force her to take drastic action
15:56the smell was that strong that it was becoming it was so obvious that's what it was it wasn't somebody
16:01smirking cannabis it was somebody growing cannabis i suppose i just thought that there must be a good
16:08number of plants for the smell to be as strong as what what it was obviously i didn't believe that
16:13there
16:13was only you know a couple of plants i did think he was you know it was growing on some
16:17scale they reported
16:19it to humberside police who logged it but they also decided to speak to their letting agents to see
16:26whether there was anything they could do in terms of inspecting the property the letting agents agreed
16:32to carry out a routine inspection of both properties as it was coming up to that time of year anyway
16:39and they can evaluate the situation
16:46i was at home one afternoon and i was aware that the letting agent were doing a visit to attorney's
16:52property and not long after that there was a knock at my door so i opened the door and it
16:59was the
16:59letting agent she was really shook up when she came to my house and she explained how how she found
17:05how
17:05odd he was and obviously he was asking her things like um you know she liked spicy food and asking
17:10if she
17:11wanted to stay for tea um you know and then the next breath you know was quite curled with her
17:15and
17:16quite short with her but it wasn't just tony's bizarre behavior that gave the letting agent cause for
17:21concern she said that the bedrooms were empty they had no furniture in them whatsoever and it was an
17:28obvious smell of you know cleaning products that quite obviously newly being put down um but she said the
17:34smell was still present of cannabis um and she believed that it basically he had just moved them for them
17:40coming to do the visit i think the most alarming thing was tony had watched a walk from his property
17:47into mine and obviously it's at that point that i started to think that it may be aware that you
17:53know
17:53that inspection had happened due to obviously myself and shane reporting it convinced her neighbor knew
18:00she'd grassed him to the letting agent laura was now living in fear it really did impacted on me
18:06massively just that i never wanted to be at home you know during the day on my own and there
18:12was
18:12evenings that i finished work and shane wasn't at home and you know i would come home and i always
18:17got that i always felt really nervous about going in i was frightened over the next couple of weeks
18:23laura contacted the police on several other occasions as the smell of cannabis grew stronger
18:29she even saw tony carrying boxes out of his house which she believed were full of drugs but a few
18:35days later laura received some news i was told that it was going to be evicted they'd emailed me to
18:43say
18:43that you know they'd started the eviction process the couple should have been over the moon with the news
18:51but laura had reservations when i was told that he was going to be evicted and i told shane i
18:58remember
18:59him saying to me at the time well you know that that's a good thing but i didn't think it
19:03was you
19:03know i was really thinking um i couldn't imagine somebody that carried on as much as what they did
19:11over music you know for somebody knocking on the door about music was going to leave somewhere as quiet as
19:16that and i fully believed that he knew that we had reported him with laura living in fear the couple
19:26received some life-changing news and immediately headed over to laura's sister rachel laura and shane
19:33they both came around to the house and they were sat down with my partner and they would have been
19:36a bit
19:37odd but nothing out the ordinary and they sat down and laura just said oh we're having a baby and
19:42i was
19:42sort of like get out like that's not possible i was like it's so soon and she was like you
19:47know
19:47we're having a baby we're both really over the moon and we can't wait you know we're starting our
19:52own family that this is it for us now and so then i was so excited to have another niece
19:57or nephew and
19:58the couple were overjoyed the focus kind of changed you know the point i felt you know found out i
20:04was
20:04pregnant that we did have something to look forward to and so i kind of took my eye off you
20:10know took my eye
20:11off what was going on next door but little did she know tony was lurking in the shadows
20:17and it seems her neighbor knew who was behind the complaint and was intent on revenge
20:29one evening laura's sister rachel decided to pay her an impromptu visit i was visiting laura to go and
20:36see my niece and when i pulled up on the driveway i saw a pile of horse manure
20:42it was absolutely massive about four loads worth i would say and some it just looked odd how it had
20:50been positioned there it was out the ordinary to be honest
20:56i was just in the middle of washing the pots and when she came in she asked me why i
21:00had a large
21:01amount of horse manure in my garden i looked out the window and saw that obviously there was quite
21:06quite a large amount of horse manure just in a pile laura was convinced there was only one explanation
21:14for the manure the only conclusion that i could come to was the fact that it it was it was
21:19tony that
21:19i had put it there i was quite angry actually if i'm honest because obviously isabel played in the garden
21:24and i was quite appalled that he'd actually gone to that extreme to put something like as disgusting
21:29as that um in my garden laura did her best to put it to the back of her mind and
21:36hoped it was a one-off
21:37but she was wrong i came home from shopping one day and as i stepped down to my lawn i
21:44noticed that there
21:44was a another pile of horse manure had been put in my garden i'd say there was like you know
21:51about about
21:52that much really just in a pile that was quite obviously just being placed there just because
21:56it was all in one position you know there was nothing scattered around it it was just in all
22:00in one place but there was a a good amount placed there laura was now convinced tony was sending out
22:07a clear message he wants me to know that he knows that we have reported him to the police to
22:13the letting
22:13agent um and this is his way of letting me know without actually directly speaking to me but i knew
22:21from that that there was more to come
22:31determined to get on with their lives and not be affected by tony laura's daughter went to stay with
22:36her father so the couple could enjoy a rare date night out to celebrate the news that laura was
22:41expecting their baby on the friday we'd booked to go to gino de camper's restaurant in hull
22:48and i'd wanted to go there for since i knew it was opening but the couple could never envisage how
22:55this carefree evening would end as life was about to change forever
23:03so we came back from the restaurant about nine o'clock um nothing was out of the ordinary
23:08i just came into the house locked the door and went straight upstairs put the electric blanket on
23:15when i got uh onto my landing i noticed that there was quite a large um mark on my carpet
23:21just on on the
23:23floor and i knew that i would been that i'd been the last person upstairs um and nobody comes upstairs
23:30in
23:30my house with shoes on my heart was like pounding out my chest and just thought this has never happened
23:37before but i just got this overwhelming feeling that something wasn't right that's when i became
23:44uh quite concerned that there was somebody in the house
23:52i decided to go look in the spare bedroom see if there was anybody in there
23:57and there was there was nobody in the bedroom
24:01seeing nothing in the guest room laura moved into her daughter's bedroom i pushed the door open in
24:07her bedroom and attorney was stood in front of me hurled in a crossbow
24:24in east yorkshire laura sugden and her partner shane gilmer had just returned home from a date night
24:30to find neighbor tony lauren standing in her daughter's bedroom armed with a lethal crossbow
24:36it was really surreal actually you know when i first saw him i was absolutely terrified given that he was
24:41holding a weapon crossbow was probably about that big um and he was kind of holding it
24:48and pointing in the direction of me i asked him what he was doing with the crossbow and at that
24:54point
24:55is when he pushed me back onto my bed jane obviously heard that there was obviously some commercial
25:00upstairs and i heard shane coming up the stairs that's when i shouted to him laura pleaded with shane to
25:08leave the house but instead he entered the upstairs landing where he was met by tony
25:15so i heard a commercial shouting and swearing on the landing which was coming from tony and shane
25:22the next thing everything went quiet tony pushed shane into the bedroom he was knelt against the side of
25:28the bed could clearly see that he was bleeding profusely and he'd been shot in his um in his side
25:36i don't think i've ever seen that amount of blood ever um it was just it was just bleeding out
25:43i felt terrified i tried to reason with him and ask him you know why he was doing it was
25:48he going to
25:48kill us he told me that he wasn't leaving my house until we were both dead she said that he
25:54already knew
25:54that we'd reported him to humberside police and he knew that we'd reported him to the letting agent
25:59for growing cannabis and he said that we just wanted him out of that house there was definitely
26:04no reasoning with him and there was never going to be definitely not he'd set up he knew what he
26:11had
26:11gone into our house to do and he wasn't leaving until that's what he'd done with shane still lying on
26:18the floor losing blood laura was running out of options and i even explained to him you know that
26:25i was pregnant which he said that he already knew and he said he didn't care about me or the
26:30baby
26:31and basically he wasn't going to be leaving the house until we were both dead
26:37i was frightened of what was going to happen he just didn't show any emotion whatsoever
26:44just not he just wasn't wasn't bothered he wasn't angry he just just had just his attitude was
26:51we were going to die and it didn't matter what i said that that's what he wants
26:57with tony ignoring laura's pleas and with nowhere to run she was trapped
27:04i was laid out on the bed and he was probably stood about this far away from me and uh
27:11that's when
27:12he shot me the arrow tony fired from his crossbow fractured laura's skull by some miracle she remained
27:20conscious i felt dizzy i couldn't see and there was just blood pouring down my face so i was struggling
27:26to open my eyes as well and quickly i thought i need to get this the ball out of my
27:31out of my head
27:31but tony wasn't finished tony pushed me back and sat on top of me
27:38he just had the like the arrow was we were both holding on to it kind of saw my life
27:44flash before
27:45my eyes i don't think i've ever seen somebody enjoy something so much especially me seeing shane how
27:53hurt he was he thoroughly enjoyed that um and i and i do believe that's why he didn't shoot me
28:01first because i think he wanted to help me in in that way to see somebody that i love you
28:07know
28:08somebody that i loved so much being in so much pain like he was with her unborn baby and her
28:14injured
28:14partner shane to protect laura wasn't going down without a fight i think i just got some strength
28:20from somewhere and managed to loosen his grip and i managed to overpower him and push him back push him
28:26back and i was shouting for shane's help um unfortunately he couldn't move um he was crying
28:34in pain and then tony got up and uh left left the room i got held of shane's hand and
28:43he told me that
28:44he wanted me to leave the house to keep me in the baby safe and said that he wouldn't forgive
28:48me if i
28:49didn't so i left and went down the stairs to get help i headed for the back door and i
28:57ran to the
28:58the neighbor's property i remember banging on the door and i just remember my hand kept slipping from
29:07the glass because my hand i had blood on my hand my neighbors answered the door and took me in
29:14and
29:14they applied pressure to my head and wasn't in a position to go back to to help shane and but
29:20they rang the emergency services as well and requested that they went to the house as laura
29:26left the house so had tony fleeing the village in his car the police arrived on the scene and immediately
29:33sealed off the area the crossbow bolt had gone through shane's arm damaging his kidneys and liver
29:40before embedding in his spine and he was rushed to hull infirmary we arrived at hospital and i kept saying
29:46what you know i wouldn't see him i wouldn't see him and they you know they said oh we're just
29:50we're
29:51just getting you out now and um when we went into resus i you obviously they started like treating me
29:59straight away and because of how i had last seen shane and i was i was told that he was
30:05talking in the
30:06ambulance by the paramedics in my ambulance i obviously thought that it wouldn't be long until
30:11i would have been able to see him with laura and shane both being treated in hospital
30:20it wasn't long before news of the horrific attack spread across the community
30:26the main feeling was definitely shock um understandably
30:31quite a few residents didn't want to speak at the time because i think they were trying to
30:35come to terms with what had happened it was saturday morning and i just started my early morning
30:44shift at the hall daily mail i got a call from my editor that police sparked a manhunt for anthony
30:50lawrence so i had no idea really what to expect when i got there there was a genuine feeling of
30:57uneasiness heading up there anticipation a little bit of fear as well
31:02and i realized that there was a guy on the loose who was potentially very dangerous
31:09when alex arrived in southburn he was thrust into what was now a full-scale manhunt
31:15the whole village was in lockdown there was no way in there was no way out police were maintaining a
31:22very tight cordon a very strict cordon to make sure they could keep people safe and to try and ultimately
31:27find anthony lawrence there was blue flashing lights everywhere it was pretty chaotic to be
31:32honest with you and through peeping through hedges we could see police were scouring fields for evidence
31:39they had dog teams here and there were so many police vans and cars i've never seen anything like it
31:45with a police investigation underway laura's sister rachel received a call it was early hours of the
31:51morning i was actually in bed with my partner and my phone rang it was my dad i could sense
31:57like the
31:58concern in his voice and he said to me like laura's in hospital rachel and her family immediately rushed
32:06to hospital to be by laura's side uncertain of what condition she would be in
32:13for me the realization sunk in when i first saw her just because there was that much blood around her
32:20her hair was actually matted and it was sort of black and her hair was blonde so the fact that
32:25i
32:25could barely recognize her because she was covered in that much blood you feel helpless
32:32despite her terrible injuries laura's family were hopeful that she would pull through
32:38three hours after he was shot by tony's crossbow everyone was desperate for news of shane
32:44i remember asking one of the nurses saying to her that i was going to get out of bed to
32:48go and see him
32:51and she said oh no you you can't go see him but they're not just coming to speak to you
32:56and i said i
32:56just want to know how he is and i think within seconds my room just seemed to be full of
33:02people
33:02um and the the doctor just said to me that um i just said to him he's he's died on
33:10t and he said yeah
33:14i just knew i could just and it's almost like it was in the room next to me was shane
33:19in resource
33:20and there was i could almost have pinpointed the time that he died just because there was just a
33:26silence and the pain that i got in like my heart was just i've never had a pain like it
33:32and i just
33:33i just knew but i just wanted somebody to tell me
33:40laura was 19 weeks pregnant and after the horrific news about shane she began to fear the worst
33:47to be honest i did prepare myself thinking that there would be a you know there would be a chance
33:52that
33:53the probably likelihood is that this baby was not going to survive that um and strangely when they
34:01checked for a heartbeat there was one um incredibly it was strange to have such heartbreaking news but
34:10then something that you know it did give me a tiny bit of happiness to think that i've lost shane
34:17but
34:17i've still got something you know that i need to you know look after and and that then became something
34:23that i really needed to make sure i did look after our baby
34:32police now had a murder investigation on their hands but their suspect tony lawrence was on the run
34:39on the sunday nearly 48 hours after this murder had taken place
34:44we got some intel through that police were searching a camper van in a place called hackness
34:51near scarborough this camper van had been abandoned in the bushes at the time there was no link that
34:59this was the camper van that anthony lawrence had been in or was associated with pretty quickly became
35:06very clear that this was him they they'd found him but alongside tony lawrence were empty packets of
35:15painkillers he'd taken his own life later revealed that he'd overdosed with a neighbor who killed shane
35:22now dead it left laura with unanswered questions and no sense of closure i'd been thinking in them days
35:29you know leading up to finding him that i would feel something when i when i knew that he was
35:33found
35:34but in actual fact i didn't feel anything in fact i felt worse that he ultimately then ended up killing
35:41him taking his own life um which did make me quite i felt quite angry about that it absolutely had
35:49ruined
35:49my life and then decided to take his own life it just it all just seemed so very pointless but
35:57tony had
35:57been living with a dark and devious secret which was about to be revealed it makes me feel sick to
36:03my
36:04stomach that you know it went that extreme to listen to private conversations to think that somebody
36:11would was sat you know listening and plotting how he was going to get away with it
36:27in east yorkshire laura sugden had survived being shot in the neck by a crossbow in a brutal attack
36:34which had taken the life of her partner shane gilmer now shane's killer neighbor tony lawrence had been
36:40found dead after a two-day manhunt leaving unanswered questions and a family torn apart
36:47my feeling towards tony is i can't even describe it as hate there isn't a strong enough word for me
36:54to be
36:55able to describe what he has taken from my life four months after the brutal killing laura gave birth to
37:04her and shane's daughter ella i remember when ella was born by cesarean and as soon as i saw her
37:12she
37:13looked so much like a dad and i always thought that would be heartbreaking but in actual fact as soon
37:18as
37:19she was born there was just a part of me that she just absolutely fixed part of my heart with
37:25tony
37:26lawrence dead there was no trial but the inquest into shane's death disclosed some horrific facts
37:32behind the crime including the shocking discovery that tony had accessed the couple's property prior to
37:39the killing it became clear that lawrence had planned this he'd bugged the house with listening devices
37:52so he was listening to shane and laura's conversations in the build-up to the murder which is just really
37:59calculating and cold they believe he'd been listening to them for up to a year prior to to shane's death
38:09it makes me feel sick to my stomach that you know he went that extreme to listen to private
38:16conversations you would never ever expect anybody to go to them lengths to listen to
38:22but yeah he did i just act it's it is it's absolutely violating to think that somebody would
38:28ever ever do something like that
38:32tony knew laura and shane had reported him to the police and the letting agent for growing cannabis
38:38but tony wasn't just spying an inquest heard that the police found evidence suggesting tony had spent a
38:44long time planning what was in his mind the perfect way to kill his neighbors and get away with it
38:52the police found out who had entered the property with the ambulance service searched their property
38:59and found the loft hatch open on going into the attic they found that tony lawrence had taken all the
39:06bricks down in the adjoining wall and where he'd crawled through and to attack him that evening
39:14and what he'd also done is left where he'd removed the brickwork in our loft space
39:20he'd bought material to put the wall back together and obviously it's believed that that's what you
39:26know that's what he had planned to do had uh had obviously i'd not have left the property
39:32we learned that in the days leading up to the murder lawrence had paid to hire a motor home
39:37and he'd parked the motor home nearby for him to be able to to obviously get into it and escape
39:44the
39:45property that evening and in the days leading up to the murder he had been in north yorkshire using
39:52his credit cards obviously transactions um visiting places with cctv in hopes of provide some type of
39:59alibi and the day before lawrence was seen in driftfield with his sister withdrawing cash he told her
40:08that he was planning to go to thailand despite not finding any evidence of a plane ticket it's believed
40:16tony had planned to kill his neighbors laura and shane and then flee overseas but the burning question
40:23was why did tony want his neighbors dead i mean it it came to light that actually you know it
40:31did have
40:32a substantial amount of income it's believed that it was coming from the production of the cannabis
40:36you know and it's my opinion that it's that that you know was the motive that he felt threatened by
40:43that and that he was stood to lose that income um you know and potentially be in trouble again with
40:50the
40:50police there's nothing that makes me more sick than thinking about that you know it's it you know to
40:56think that somebody would was sat you know listening and plotting how you know how he was going to get
41:03into
41:03the property how he was going to get away with it um you know to kill two people over nothing
41:10um over
41:11you know reporting him for something that that is illegal um it's just you know it's something that
41:16i'll never ever understand it's something that people don't even have nightmares about because
41:23you don't think it can exist but in actual fact somebody was willing to do these things and
41:28and thought that it was okay the inquest concluded that shane gilmer was unlawfully killed by tony
41:34lawrence the evidence of the investigator was that had this gone to a criminal trial had tony lawrence
41:41not died there was enough evidence to put it before a court for murder in relation to shane and attempted
41:47murder in relation to laura three years on from the death of shane laura has made a vow to campaign
41:54for
41:55tighter restrictions on the sale of crossbows shane's law is a campaign that we launched on the last day
42:02of shane's inquest when the conclusion came in the evidence that came out of the inquest really
42:08demonstrated more how medieval this weapon is and how easy it is to go and purchase one as long as
42:16you're 18 you can buy a crossbow and that really worries me i'm not out to get the crossbows banned
42:23but what i would like to see in the future is that they are regulated just so that people like
42:29tony
42:30lawrence who have mental health problems and criminal record they don't fall into the hands of people like
42:37that because they would have to have checks medical checks to be able to obtain a weapon as lethal as
42:44what
42:44they are with the petition for the new legislation still ongoing laura is hopeful that one day she
42:50will have made a difference in shane's name and for the sake of the daughter he never met i would
42:56hate
42:57to see or to think another family could go through what what what mine have um you know to see
43:03another
43:04child grow up never knowing the father or mother it just i feel so incredibly strong about it i feel
43:10like
43:10i'm i'm not asking an awful lot i just want people to understand that these weapons are so dangerous
43:15you know there needs to be some legislation around them to ensure that people are buying them and
43:21they're using them correctly you know rather than just buying them for fun or you know buying them for
43:26the purpose of you know murdering somebody today life goes on for laura and her girls they often visit the
43:33memorial they've created in memory of shane gilmer father son and partner never forgotten
43:41it was a perfect you know perfect man treating me like an absolute princess you know there's nothing
43:47he wouldn't do for me um you know it's massive you know it's a massive is a massive loss to
43:54everybody
43:55you know to me his family um and his friends that is a lifetime impact not just on me but
44:05my children
44:06it's absolutely heartbreaking and that'll that'll never nothing will ever fix that
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