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My Lover, My Killer - Season 1 - Episode 05: Thelma Purchase
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00:02I want to report missing person.
00:04Ben LaCombe phoned us to report Sarah was missing.
00:08We all went to bed, and when me and the kids woke up in the morning, she wasn't there.
00:11I tried to call her, got no answers.
00:14I was trying as much as I could, phoning her, messaging her, but nothing.
00:19No sign of her, no idea where she's gone.
00:22I put a shout out saying, is anybody free?
00:25There's a missing lady. Fancy going and having a look for her.
00:28Did she go missing before?
00:30She hasn't gone missing before, but she's got a bit of a weird life, let's be that way.
00:34He was saying that Sarah was depressed, and he was worried that she may harm herself.
00:38That appeared to be very untrue information.
00:41We all had our suspicions beforehand.
00:44There was no financial footprint, there was no digital footprint, there was no sign of Sarah at all.
00:49At one stage, we had over a thousand people out looking for Sarah.
00:53Where is she? How could she be missing?
00:55And we had a real breakthrough.
00:57We found that just after 2am, Ben Lacombe's car was on the move, and he didn't return until half past
01:04four in the morning.
01:05When the car was first parked there, it was pristine.
01:07When it returned from wherever it had gone, it was covered in mud.
01:12I'm not clear at the moment, Ben, whether you're just trying to think of an answer, or whether you've decided
01:15not to answer the question.
01:16Why wasn't he helping us?
01:18Was he responsible for Sarah's disappearance?
01:24There's no end to it until one day she's actually found.
01:44Ken Police first got a phone call from Ben Lacombe on the morning of the 11th of October 2018.
01:51He phoned us to report Sarah was missing, but actually had gone missing a couple of days prior to that.
01:58Ben Lacombe, one-time lover of Sarah Wellgreen and father of their two children.
02:03How old is this person?
02:04I know her date of birth, 14, 12, 71.
02:08I see. And did she go missing before, or is this out of character?
02:12Sarah, he told us, had come home from work on the evening of the 9th of October.
02:17She'd come into the house, and she'd seen her children to bed, and then she'd gone to bed herself.
02:23When Ben Lacombe said he woke the following morning, around 7am, he'd gone to Sarah's room and found that she
02:30was missing.
02:46Ben Lacombe did live with Sarah Wellgreen.
02:49The former lovers had had their ups and downs, as one of Sarah's children discovered all too abruptly one day,
02:54when at school.
02:56My mum was kicked out of the house shortly, so was I.
03:01I remember the day well. I was in a class or doing something, and Ben turned up to my school
03:08with a suitcase filled with my belongings,
03:13and told the teachers at the time that I am not allowed to return to the home.
03:20The call from Ben Lacombe to Ken Police was escalated as high priority.
03:25Ben speculated Sarah was with a new boyfriend.
03:29Do you know Sarah's boyfriend's number and address?
03:31I do know his number, because he texted me last night.
03:34But I didn't know whether to really contact him, because Sarah's got a couple of phones that she left, like,
03:43we're in her room.
03:44And I found out that she's, like, seeing a few blokes, sort of thing.
03:50I'm fine.
03:50So it looks like she's cheating on him, sort of thing.
03:53So I didn't...
03:54Although he contacted me, I haven't replied to him.
03:56I just spoke to Lewis, and obviously I said to him, I'm going to be ringing the police today.
04:05Lewis, Lewis Burdett, Jack's brother.
04:08The boy is from Sarah's relationship some years before.
04:11He was in touch with the new man in Sarah's life.
04:15He couldn't get in contact with my mum.
04:17He'd been trying for, like, all day.
04:19Heard nothing.
04:20Last time he spoke to her was, like, the night before.
04:23So I thought, ah, that's right, she's probably just ignoring her, to be honest.
04:28So I tried, couldn't get nothing, and then contacted my nan.
04:33Brother, nobody else good.
04:35And then I contacted Ben myself.
04:37Ben was getting the police exercised.
04:40Is there a reason that she may have gone missing, anything going on about it might be upsetting,
04:43or any reason, you know, that she might go missing at all?
04:47Well, like I said, like, nothing, obviously I've found out about, like, I've seen quite a few blokes, I think.
04:58Um, I can only guess, really, like, I don't know, she was assaulted at the weekend.
05:05Who was she assaulted by?
05:07An employee at work.
05:09I'm sorry, it's just quite...
05:09No, that's all right, that's all right.
05:11I'm just trying to be, it's quite, she's got, she's got quite a complicated life, like, and, um, it's just
05:17a bit messy, really.
05:19Ben Lacombe had now given police a potential person of interest, if Sarah had come to harm.
05:26So that initial report came in on the 11th of October,
05:30and from there we then started our investigation as to where Sarah might be.
05:37I was trying as much as I could, phoning her, messaging her,
05:40trying to think of any different way to get hold of her whatsoever,
05:43phoning people she might have been with, seen, but nothing.
05:47I believe it was a couple of hours, almost, of that day.
05:51I firstly put it down to that she was just having a bad day and didn't want to talk to
05:57anyone.
05:59Later, on the day of the 11th, with Sarah Wellgreen having not been seen or spoken to for over 48
06:04hours,
06:04the brothers had become very concerned.
06:08I phoned Ben to begin to move from his mobile number,
06:10got nothing through, it's about 7 o'clock in the afternoon,
06:13and then managed to get the house phone number.
06:15One of the children answered the phone, and I got him to go and wake him up.
06:19He didn't really seem bothered by it at all, like, nothing.
06:26The Burdett boys were living in Hampshire.
06:29Their mother's home in New Ash Green, Kent, was an hour away.
06:32Amongst their worries, their half-brothers and sister,
06:35who were living with Mum and Ben LaCumber.
06:38We just wanted to make sure that the younger children were all OK,
06:41and we all drove up to Kent in order to get a better understanding of what was going on,
06:46because at the time, it was all hearsay,
06:50and it's not until you get to the village,
06:56see and understand what's going on,
06:59that it all sinks in an awful lot more.
07:05This was a very modern family.
07:08Sarah's grown-up boys and her three children with her ex-lover.
07:12Ben LaCumber no longer in a relationship with Sarah,
07:15but living in the attic bedroom of the same house.
07:18And Sarah, missing.
07:21The chapter of her life with Ben LaCumber had begun 14 years earlier.
07:26She was single then, having divorced.
07:28Sarah and Ben LaCumber actually met online in 2004.
07:34She had two sons.
07:36She met Ben when I was about eight years old, nine years old, maybe.
07:41And I believe they met through an online dating website.
07:45And to begin with, it was nice, just seemed like a nice bloke.
07:48In the beginning, it was fairly normal, you know,
07:52nothing other than the fact, you know,
07:56my mum is introducing someone, so it's a big step.
08:01You know, it meant a lot to her.
08:03And in the beginning, it was just, it was just nice.
08:07Sarah moved out to Spain, where Ben LaCumber was living,
08:10and they spent some time there together.
08:13Ben had proposed the move to Spain.
08:15He recommended that she quit her job and join them,
08:18as he trained as a pilot.
08:19So determined was she to make this work,
08:22that not only had she gone to those, back then,
08:25unusual lengths to meet this person,
08:27she was then willing to leave the country
08:31to build the relationship.
08:34It was pitched to my mum as a new life,
08:37somewhere fresh to go and start,
08:39a place where they could have their own home together,
08:42different country, everything would go well,
08:43he'd provide for her, all things like that.
08:46It meant giving up her career.
08:47She was a branch manager at Lloyd's.
08:50She really loved that job.
08:52She was very independent before she met Ben,
08:55and I think anyone who would meet someone
08:59and then told that they'll take care of you,
09:02we can go move to another country,
09:04and you can spend more time with your children,
09:07appeals to anyone.
09:11From the start, the move suited Ben more than Sarah.
09:15He was full of promises,
09:17but Ben's aspirations were seldom met.
09:21I believe he was training to be a pilot
09:22for commercial airlines, things like that.
09:25Done all the training for it, and it never took off.
09:28All he did was just work at the airport.
09:30He was going to be a pilot
09:32and earn this amount of money,
09:35we'll be fine financially.
09:37But my mum being a banker,
09:39I don't think it took her long to realise
09:42that was never going to happen.
09:44So as time went on,
09:45things were obviously rocky.
09:47Then her and Ben had their first child,
09:49and it was a couple of months after
09:52is when we returned back to the UK.
09:56The lovers were now parents of their own child.
09:59Their twins followed soon after their return to England.
10:02It made a massive impact
10:04because where he had his own children,
10:07me and Jack would be sort of,
10:08in a way, pushed to one side
10:10because he's got his own little family now.
10:13He doesn't really need us anymore.
10:16The man Sarah thought was headed for a career as a pilot,
10:19with a home in the sun,
10:21while she spent time with the children,
10:23now offered a different proposition.
10:26After we came back from Spain,
10:28we lived in a caravan for a little bit,
10:30for a couple of months.
10:31Sarah first returned to her old job in the bank
10:34and then retrained as a beautician
10:36with a plan to open her own business.
10:38None of that had been part of her plan
10:40when she began her relationship with Ben,
10:42and that relationship became fractured.
10:45It was after we came back to England
10:47and we started moving around,
10:49because things were not all that they seemed.
10:52You know, you can always tell
10:53when something's wrong in a relationship
10:56when you're a child.
10:57Despite having had three of their own children,
11:00Ben and Sarah were far from content
11:01in the relationship.
11:02There were daily arguments.
11:05Nobody wants to see their mum argue
11:07and be in a relationship like that,
11:09and I think that did go on for a while.
11:12The arguments became more frequent.
11:14The situation was deteriorating.
11:16The way they speak to each other
11:17and it just all changes.
11:19Whatever life they've tried to build for themselves,
11:22whatever life they've been striving for,
11:24hasn't really worked out.
11:26As things got on through the years,
11:29things change.
11:29You notice things a little bit more.
11:30You notice all the arguments
11:31and things like that that keep happening.
11:33In a way, you just want to get away from it.
11:35So, yeah, you'd like to get out as soon as possible.
11:37And that's what Lewis did.
11:40Ben encouraged him to leave.
11:42Not long after,
11:43things came to a head between Sarah and Ben.
11:46So that was the day
11:47when everything probably hit its worst point.
11:50He then decided to throw out the house one day,
11:53changed all the locks.
11:54Our relationship began with hopes
11:56of the high life in Spain had fallen apart
11:59and would soon spiral further towards murder.
12:04The information that we were getting from Ben Lacombe
12:07was that Sarah was depressed,
12:08that she would take herself away
12:10and he was worried that she may harm herself.
12:12And as we later found out,
12:13that appeared to be very untrue information.
12:26Things had not worked out
12:27between Sarah Wellgreen and Ben Lacombe,
12:29but for legal and financial reasons,
12:31Ben Lacombe had to allow her back in
12:33to what had been the family home.
12:35She had nowhere else to go,
12:37nowhere to turn to apart from Ben.
12:40That was the only place she could really go back to.
12:44In 2013,
12:46although they were living in the same house,
12:47over the next few years,
12:50we learned that their relationship
12:51was starting to deteriorate.
12:53You have to focus on just getting through the week
12:57and doing what you can to help.
12:59That seems to be a very, very toxic four-year period.
13:04Throughout this toxic time,
13:05Sarah, with nowhere else to live,
13:07faced a Ben Lacombe,
13:08who was refusing to move out.
13:11There were short periods where Sarah did move out
13:14and stayed with other people,
13:16but she needed and wanted to be with her children,
13:18so actually she moved back into the home address.
13:21Not a popular decision with her sons.
13:23I didn't agree with her whatsoever.
13:26I don't believe anybody,
13:27my side of the family,
13:28agreed with her moving back in there.
13:29Everyone told her it was a bad idea,
13:32but the more I spoke to her about it,
13:35it was just simply so she could see her children.
13:38But then, obviously,
13:39come round, it was her decision she made,
13:41and that came at a very personal cost for her.
13:45She didn't like Ben at the time.
13:49Back as primary carer of her children,
13:51but stuck living with the man she no longer wanted.
13:55During that four-year period,
13:56when this dispute is ongoing,
13:58they are still living together.
14:00They're not sleeping together,
14:01they're in separate parts of the house.
14:03They're not in a financial position to move on from that.
14:05I mean, there's only one reason
14:07that you stay in a house
14:09with somebody you don't want to be with anymore,
14:11and that's because you don't have any choice.
14:14She was willing to make that sacrifice for her children.
14:19But that four years that's forced upon them,
14:21the four years in which,
14:23whilst effectively legally at each other's throats,
14:26they are also cohabiting,
14:29that cannot have been a happy time or a healthy time.
14:35Inside this house, tensions were constantly running high.
14:39Ben Lacombe became an all-seeing ex-lover living in the attic.
14:43Watching his former lover come and go.
14:46He has CCTV fitted all around the house,
14:49but why does he need to know
14:51exactly what's going on in every room of the house?
14:54Why does he need to have this sort of omniscient,
14:58overlord-looking-down approach to his domestic life?
15:03And when you look at that combined with repeated failures,
15:07you think that maybe this is a ticking time bomb.
15:18By 2018, Sarah's professional life had progressed.
15:21She now had her own clients working as a beautician,
15:24and she had been offered further work in that line
15:26to give her a permanent salary.
15:29Lacombe, meanwhile, had few friends,
15:30no female partners, and he was riding a taxi,
15:34having abandoned his ambition of becoming a pilot.
15:37To fill the time, he could watch Sarah come and go
15:40via the security cameras.
15:41And that's what he did.
15:43It was quite an elaborate set-up.
15:45He had cameras at the front, the side, and the rear of his house,
15:48all controlled by a system which was actually kept in his bedroom,
15:52which was in the attic conversion of their house.
15:54She knows she's being watched.
15:57She knows that her every action is being recorded.
15:59She's well aware, because it's impossible not to be,
16:03that there's CCTV all around this house.
16:06Surely Ben Lacombe could have seen Sarah leave the house
16:09one particular evening, but he would claim he did not.
16:13In October 2018, three days before the birthday of her son,
16:19Sarah disappeared.
16:20No sign of her.
16:22No idea where she's gone.
16:24Remember, they're still living in the same house,
16:26so he is aware of this immediately.
16:29He knows on that very, very first morning of her being missing
16:32that she is not around.
16:34He knows the following morning she's still not home.
16:38Sarah's mother and boyfriend were concerned
16:41and alerted Jack and Lewis.
16:43Sarah's boys were already getting worried
16:45and not hearing from their mum.
16:46They called Ben.
16:47He didn't really seem bothered by it at all.
16:50Nothing.
16:51I got a call from Lewis saying that no-one's heard from my mum
16:54in, I believe it was a couple of hours or most of that day.
16:58There's lots of thoughts in the beginning of it.
17:00There's lots of things that go through your mind
17:01when it's all happening.
17:02The boys urged Lacombe, call the police.
17:05That he finally calls the police,
17:07and he only does so at the instigation of other family members.
17:11Good morning, can please switchboard?
17:13Hello, I want to report missing person.
17:16After Ben Lacombe called us, we went straight to the house
17:19and we started our investigation into trying to find Sarah.
17:23Ben Lacombe didn't seem to be that concerned.
17:26The way he was presenting to us was described to me by my officers as quite odd.
17:31He didn't really want to engage with us.
17:33He didn't really want us at the house,
17:36which for somebody that had reported Sarah missing,
17:38he didn't seem to act in that way.
17:40In fact, we learnt later on that it was Sarah's family
17:43had put pressure on Ben Lacombe to phone us to report her missing.
17:49From the very start, officers were worried.
17:52We searched the home address.
17:53We found that Sarah's car was still there.
17:56We found that her handbag was still there
17:58with her purse and her cash and her cards.
18:01In fact, on speaking to Sarah's family and to Ben Lacombe,
18:05apart from her personal mobile phone,
18:07everything else was still at the house.
18:09So that raised some alarm bells straight away
18:12that Sarah may not have just gone out.
18:15Actually, what had happened to Sarah?
18:17On the first day that I was called,
18:20I didn't think much of it.
18:22I mean, I tried to call her, got no answers.
18:25Sarah doted on her children
18:26and she would never have been missing on one of her son's birthdays.
18:30She actually had plans for his birthday
18:32and she wasn't there.
18:34So our worry about Sarah was very high.
18:38It was a difficult night that night
18:40because obviously you have everything going through your brain.
18:44When we got to Kent,
18:45there was nothing else to think about other than,
18:48where is she?
18:49How could she be missing?
18:51Why would she be missing?
18:54We began searches in the wider area of New Ash Green as well.
18:58It was quite a rural area where that estate is built.
19:03So we were looking in that area
19:05to see whether Sarah might have been located nearby.
19:08The authorities alerted the public
19:10there was a sense of purpose quickly about the search for Sarah.
19:13I checked Facebook before I went to bed,
19:16like I generally do,
19:17and there was on the village account,
19:21there was a shout-out from a young man called Lewis
19:24saying that his mum had gone missing
19:26and had anybody seen her.
19:28That played on my mind through the night.
19:30I woke up about five in the morning
19:32and she was still missing.
19:34So I put a shout-out in the morning saying,
19:37is anybody free?
19:39There's a missing lady.
19:40Fancy going and having a look for her.
19:43I ranged with the local pavilion that we could meet there
19:46and I was absolutely shocked how many people turned up.
19:49The village is a little bit like that.
19:51It kind of comes out if anything goes wrong.
19:54So we started to send people out in different directions
19:58and then more people came and more people came.
20:02For me, it became more serious
20:03when I'd see all the effort the whole community
20:07was putting in towards the searching and things like that.
20:09We kind of thought we were just going
20:11looking for somebody down and injured.
20:12That's what the police had said to me that morning.
20:15So we were looking at the roads,
20:17looking to anywhere somebody could have got themselves
20:19off of the road if they were injured.
20:23The boys, meanwhile, were getting very concerned
20:25about Ben Lacombe's behaviour.
20:28A couple days after she went missing,
20:30we wanted to try and see the children
20:32and we were blocked from it
20:33and I always thought that was a bit strange.
20:35Then I found out that he had taken the children
20:38to his mother's sister's house
20:41and that we weren't allowed to see them.
20:43So it was from that point
20:45where my suspicions grew a lot more.
20:48You can tell he's obviously hiding something.
20:50I think it only points you to one answer.
20:53An answer they did not want to hear.
20:56Every day you believe something will turn up,
20:59some sort of new evidence, anything at all,
21:01some sort of sighting or anything.
21:04The police looked into absolutely everything
21:06and still nothing was being turned up.
21:09Was Sarah Weld been dead?
21:11Had Ben Lacombe killed her?
21:13If so, where had he put the body?
21:23Kent police were alarmed from the moment
21:26that they had received the call
21:27about Sarah Weld's disappearance.
21:29It was quite suspicious
21:30that Sarah had left all of her property behind.
21:33Her family were telling us
21:34that she would never walk anywhere.
21:36She always used her car
21:37and that was still at the home.
21:39So we were very worried right at the beginning
21:41and we classed Sarah a high-risk missing person.
21:45Had she come to some harm?
21:46Had she harmed herself?
21:48Had she had an accident nearby?
21:50Had she left and couldn't return
21:52because she was being held somewhere?
21:55In very few days,
21:57we were told that, you know,
21:58it was not a missing person.
22:00It was being treated as a potential murder.
22:06So we carried out quite extensive searches
22:09in the local New Ash Green area.
22:11It's quite a rural area and a lot of woodland
22:13and we did a lot of what we'd describe
22:16as fingertip searching,
22:17trying to find any evidence
22:18of where Sarah might have gone.
22:21We did quite a lot of work
22:22around the local CCTV
22:24to see if we could find Sarah going out
22:26or anybody coming to the address.
22:28We did some work on Sarah's phone,
22:31her missing phone.
22:32And we were able to establish
22:33that that phone went offline
22:35at four minutes past four in the morning.
22:38And we did some financial work
22:40to see whether there was any transactions
22:41and we did a lot of work
22:43around her digital and social media footprint.
22:46There was no financial footprint
22:47and there was no digital footprint.
22:51Despite that, Ben Lacombe carried on his life as normal,
22:54his former lover,
22:55the mother of his children,
22:57missing.
22:57Yet he ran an event business as a sideline
23:00and he planned a party.
23:02He ran kids' war games
23:04with these foam guns
23:05and we were really baffled
23:08with Ben
23:08when about day three or four
23:11of our searching,
23:12he went into the village office
23:14to book the village hall
23:16and we thought
23:17that was completely bizarre.
23:19There's half the village
23:20looking for the mother of his children
23:22and he's trying to arrange
23:25a kid's game in the village.
23:28We did realise
23:30that we were dealing with somebody
23:32that didn't kind of think
23:33like the rest of us did.
23:34So we applied that really
23:36to our searches of,
23:38OK, what do we think he thinks?
23:40How do we think his thought pattern is?
23:45We're still pretty sure
23:46she's here and right under our nose.
23:50The search parties combed every inch
23:52of the woodlands and country lanes
23:53around the area.
23:56Most feared the worst had happened.
23:58They were probably looking for a body.
24:01As searches for Sarah continued
24:04and turned up nothing.
24:06Ben LaComba planned his children's party
24:08in the village hall.
24:09But with no body,
24:10there could be no arrest.
24:12Three days into the hunt for Sarah,
24:14police asked Ben LaComba for his phone.
24:16Could they check to see
24:18if information on it
24:19might reveal digital signals
24:21to show where Sarah's
24:22still missing phone was?
24:24Usually we get a lot of cooperation
24:26with people,
24:26especially when there's concern
24:27for a loved one.
24:28Actually, Ben LaComba
24:29was more interested
24:31in what we could retrieve
24:32from his phone
24:33and refused to give us
24:35his phone that evening.
24:36He told us that he would see us
24:37the next day.
24:38He told us he'd come
24:39to the police station
24:40and we could do it then,
24:41but he needed to do some things
24:43on his phone first.
24:44As we later found out,
24:46that evening after my officers
24:47had left,
24:48Ben LaComba
24:49drove from his home address
24:51to Greenhithe,
24:52which is a town nearby.
24:54He went to the River Thames there
24:55and he threw his phone
24:57in the river.
24:58The following day,
25:00we couldn't get hold of him
25:01until he'd been
25:02and bought another handset,
25:04an identical handset
25:06to the one he'd just disposed of,
25:07and he put his original
25:08SIM card in there.
25:10Ben LaComba seemed very keen
25:12to get rid of any evidence
25:13which might incriminate him.
25:14It was hoped the cameras
25:16which proliferated on the property
25:17would yield evidence.
25:19Oddly, no luck there,
25:20either.
25:21We found that his CCTV system
25:24was corrupted
25:25and he told us
25:26that that system
25:27hadn't been working
25:28for over a year,
25:29so there wasn't anything
25:31on his footage
25:31that we could find
25:33to help us find Sarah.
25:37As detectives tried
25:38to overcome
25:38the strange series
25:39of evidence gaps
25:40linked to Ben LaComba,
25:41the search went on.
25:43Nobody meant
25:44there was still hope.
25:46It does hurt.
25:47It's a strange feeling
25:47because you've got
25:49so many different emotions
25:50going through you
25:51at the time.
25:52Like, even,
25:53oh, they haven't found anything.
25:55Could she still possibly
25:55be alive?
25:57What's the answer
25:58to that question
25:59to be found somewhere
26:00in the fields
26:01and the ditches
26:02and the country lanes
26:03around New Ash Green?
26:04The community and the boys
26:06were not about to give up.
26:08One particular search
26:10will always stay in my mind
26:12of a potential area
26:13in the woods
26:14and Jack had come out
26:15on the search,
26:16which I don't actually think
26:18is necessarily
26:19the best thing,
26:20but we were digging
26:22and we realised that,
26:23no, this wasn't
26:24going anywhere,
26:25it wasn't,
26:26but we couldn't stop
26:27Jack digging.
26:28And it was the most
26:30heartbreaking thing
26:31to stand there
26:32and watch
26:33a young boy
26:35digging for his mother.
26:39By October 16th,
26:41a week since she was
26:42last sighted
26:43on security cameras
26:43and five days
26:45since Ben LaComba
26:46had reported her missing,
26:47detectives pounce.
26:48On the 16th of October,
26:51I had Ben LaComba
26:52arrested
26:53on suspicion
26:54of Sarah's murder.
26:55For Ben, it's a place.
26:57You are under the arrest
26:58on suspicion
26:59of murder of Sarah
26:59Will Green.
27:01Over the next two days,
27:03whilst he was in custody,
27:04we interviewed him
27:05a number of times.
27:06In fact,
27:07we had seven hours
27:08worth of interviews
27:09with Ben.
27:10Throughout all interviews,
27:12he remained silent.
27:13He refused
27:14to answer any questions.
27:15You're here
27:16on suspicion
27:17of murdering her.
27:20We believe
27:20she may be dead
27:21and that may be
27:22at your hand.
27:25So,
27:26did you kill her?
27:30And for somebody
27:31that was innocent,
27:32somebody that had
27:32nothing to do
27:33with Sarah's disappearance,
27:34somebody that had
27:35phoned us
27:36with concern
27:36that she'd gone missing,
27:37for him not to help us
27:39was really strange.
27:41So,
27:42I'm not clear
27:43at the moment, Ben,
27:44whether you're just
27:44trying to think
27:45of an answer
27:46or whether you've
27:47decided not to answer
27:48the question.
27:49And it was
27:50at very early stages.
27:51We were a week
27:52after Sarah
27:53had gone missing.
27:54There was still
27:55a lot of investigation
27:56that we needed to do.
27:57I had strong suspicions
27:59that Ben Lacombe
28:00was responsible.
28:01But at that stage,
28:03Ben Lacombe
28:03was released
28:04on bail
28:05and we continued
28:06our investigations.
28:07You can only assume
28:09that Ben
28:10is relying upon
28:12the lack of a body
28:13here
28:13to guarantee
28:15that he doesn't
28:16get arrested
28:16or charged.
28:19The first time
28:20he was arrested
28:20essentially told us
28:22all
28:22what we
28:23were all thinking.
28:24Then he was released.
28:26We weren't
28:27necessarily
28:27too sure why.
28:29A series of mysteries
28:31was now to be examined.
28:33Lacombe had said
28:34inexplicably
28:34his own CCTV
28:36had not been working.
28:38But his home
28:39was not the only one
28:40with cameras.
28:41What we did find
28:42is one of Ben Lacombe's
28:43neighbours
28:44had CCTV
28:45and that overlooked
28:46the front of their house
28:48into the main car park
28:49and behind that
28:50neighbour's house
28:51as well.
28:52It was to be
28:53a huge undertaking
28:54as they searched
28:56frame by frame
28:57through CCTV images
28:58capturing the comings
29:00and goings of cars
29:01around the home
29:02where Ben and Sarah lived.
29:03And there were revelations.
29:05From viewing
29:06the neighbours
29:07CCTV
29:08we found that
29:09pretty much every day
29:10Ben Lacombe
29:11would come home
29:12and he'd park his car
29:13in the car park
29:15right next to his house.
29:16I call that
29:17car park one.
29:19Actually the day
29:20that Ben Lacombe
29:21came home from work
29:22on the 9th of October
29:23he parked his car
29:25in what I call
29:26car park two
29:27and that's behind
29:28the neighbour's
29:29home address
29:30in an area
29:30that's not covered
29:31by CCTV.
29:32It's quite dark there
29:34and an area
29:35where Ben Lacombe
29:35could still get
29:36to his house
29:37but without being seen
29:38and I wondered
29:39why did he not park
29:41where he would normally
29:42park right by his house
29:43that was lit
29:44that was covered
29:45by CCTV
29:46in fact CCTV
29:47that he knew about
29:48because he'd asked
29:49his neighbour
29:50what the coverage
29:50was before.
29:51Why did he park
29:52somewhere else?
29:56On the 9th of October
29:57they see Sarah
29:58Welkin
29:58leaving the shared home.
30:00Later on the night
30:01Sarah returns.
30:03We know from CCTV
30:04that Sarah came home
30:05just before 8pm
30:07on the 9th of October.
30:08We can see Sarah
30:09parking her car
30:10next to her house
30:11and we see her
30:11going into her home address.
30:13That's the last time
30:14anyone saw Sarah
30:16apart from her children
30:18and Ben Lacombe.
30:19And at that stage
30:21we could only go on
30:22what Ben was telling us.
30:25He said that Sarah
30:26had come into the house
30:27she had gone to see
30:28her children
30:29and then she'd gone
30:30into her bedroom
30:31which was on the 2nd floor.
30:33Ben Lacombe slept
30:34in the attic room
30:35on the 3rd floor
30:36of the house.
30:38Minute analysis
30:38of the neighbour's
30:39CCTV footage
30:40exposed Ben's claims
30:41that his cameras
30:42had not been working
30:43as untrue.
30:45One of the things
30:46that that CCTV shows
30:48is Ben's
30:49CCTV cameras
30:51and their flickering light
30:53that says they're active
30:54and what it shows
30:55is that the night
30:57of Sarah's disappearance
30:58someone turned them off.
31:01The CCTV system itself
31:03was located
31:04in Ben Lacombe's bedroom
31:06so who else
31:06could have turned
31:07that camera off?
31:09In the extensive
31:10search for Sarah
31:11Ivan Beesley's team
31:13undertook the largest
31:14search operation
31:14can police have ever seen.
31:16They trawled
31:17through private CCTV footage
31:19in a 10-mile radius.
31:21When we had
31:22a real breakthrough
31:22we found that
31:24just after 2am
31:25that night
31:26Ben Lacombe's car
31:28was on the move
31:28and we captured it
31:30on a number of cameras
31:31at private addresses
31:32travelling around
31:33two miles away
31:34from the home address.
31:39So we knew
31:40Ben Lacombe had gone out
31:41and he didn't return
31:42and he didn't return
31:43until about
31:44half past four
31:44in the morning.
31:48So Ben Lacombe
31:49had told us
31:49that he'd been in bed
31:50all night
31:51and that when he woke
31:52in the morning
31:53Sarah was missing
31:54but we've now found
31:55his car on the move
31:57and it had been away
31:58from the home address
31:58for over two hours.
32:02Learning all the information
32:04and the CCTV footage
32:06of him leaving
32:08being gone
32:09for a few hours
32:10I've reminisced
32:11about that
32:12an awful lot.
32:13I know the route
32:14that he's taken
32:15I know the last point
32:17of camera
32:17that he was on
32:18I know it was
32:19he was gone
32:20for approximately
32:21two hours
32:22before he returned
32:23back to the point
32:24and took the same route home.
32:26What had Ben Lacombe
32:27been doing
32:28in the two hours
32:29in which he had found
32:29a place
32:30where there were
32:30no cameras
32:31no passers-by
32:32at three in the morning
32:34when he had told police
32:35he'd been asleep in bed
32:36he was a liar
32:37but was he a killer?
32:48October 10th
32:49dawned brightly in Kent
32:51already on the road
32:52Ben Lacombe
32:55the following morning
32:56after Sarah had disappeared
32:58his car had mud
33:00all around his wheels
33:01and all up the sides
33:02of both sides
33:03of his car
33:04so that car
33:05had been out overnight
33:06and it had been
33:07off the road
33:08so where had that car been?
33:13Within two hours
33:14of us seeing that car
33:15the following morning
33:17he'd got the car
33:18cleaned again
33:18and it was spotlessly
33:20clean as per usual
33:21so where had the car gone?
33:22why was it dirty
33:24and why was he cleaning
33:25it straight away afterwards?
33:28Although our evidence
33:30was building
33:30to show that
33:31in my opinion
33:32Ben Lacombe
33:33was responsible
33:34the real frustration
33:35was we couldn't
33:36find Sarah
33:39The entire community
33:40was asked for help
33:41could they find
33:42anything of Sarah's
33:43like her phone?
33:45On one occasion
33:47we found
33:47a mobile phone
33:48that fitted that description
33:50and
33:51we were
33:52I cannot describe
33:54the feeling
33:55we all sat in silence
33:56waiting for the police
33:57to say
33:58yes or no
33:59and it was a no
34:02the area
34:03the area around
34:03New Ash Queen
34:04and the community
34:05believed the body
34:06of Sarah Wellgreen
34:07was out there
34:09finding it
34:10might lead
34:10to the prosecution
34:11of her killer
34:12most
34:13presumed that
34:13to be Ben Lacombe
34:15one of the
34:16searches knew Ben
34:17and of the difficulty
34:19facing Sarah's neighbours
34:20Ben was
34:21taxi driver
34:24you know
34:25he's used to
34:26all the country lanes
34:27all these routes
34:28all times of day
34:30he knows when it's quiet
34:31he knows
34:32where there's cameras
34:33he knows
34:34you know
34:36landmarks
34:36what he's looking for
34:37maybe
34:38unfortunately
34:39what worked
34:40to his advantage
34:40was that the area
34:41has got so much
34:42vast and desolate
34:43woodland
34:44some of it
34:46isn't accessible
34:47to dog walkers
34:48or isn't a public
34:49walking spot
34:49so they're quite remote
34:51and he would have been
34:52able to find a suitable
34:53burial site
34:53in those locations
34:56we look for
34:57access points
34:57maybe a gate
34:58maybe a footpath
34:59anywhere
35:01Ben could stop
35:03maybe not get disturbed
35:04in the middle of the night
35:06he's then got
35:07easy access
35:08whether it be a field
35:09trees
35:09cover
35:10he's got everything
35:11we then
35:13were so far in
35:14we couldn't stop
35:16we couldn't
35:17just say
35:18oh well
35:18we've looked
35:19we've not found her
35:20we were invested
35:21with the family
35:22we'd got to know them
35:23we'd got to know
35:24the police
35:33so we kept going
35:35we got teams
35:36of cadaver dogs
35:37they came down
35:38from Yorkshire
35:39and as far as
35:41the west country
35:42and we went out
35:44with them
35:44in the woodland
35:45and everything
35:46surrounding the village
35:48nothing
35:49we had a few
35:50positives
35:51the police
35:51came out
35:52and it wasn't
35:53as villagers
35:54police and dog
35:55handlers
35:56searched the countryside
35:56for signs of
35:57Sarah Wellgreen
35:58Ben Lacombe
35:59was still going about
36:00his business
36:01as a taxi driver
36:02he also went
36:03to the family court
36:04within a few days
36:06of her disappearance
36:06Ben Lacombe
36:07had gone to the family
36:08court
36:09and was trying
36:10to convene
36:10an urgent hearing
36:11so that he could
36:12have prime custody
36:13of the children
36:14now I wonder
36:15what the urgency
36:16was
36:16why did he need
36:18to do that
36:19so quickly
36:19and the only answer
36:21I came up with
36:22was that
36:22he knew
36:23Sarah would never
36:24be coming home
36:25Kent police
36:26and the ground
36:26prosecution service
36:27decided to charge
36:28the Cumberwood murder
36:29it was the only
36:41answer to what
36:42had happened
36:42but would a jury
36:44agree
36:52it is unusual
36:54for somebody
36:55to be charged
36:56with murder
36:56and tried for murder
36:57when there's no body
36:58it's certainly
36:59not unheard of
36:59I've been involved
37:00in one of those
37:01cases myself
37:01it is not
37:03usual
37:06to get their man
37:07detectives needed
37:08an unusual
37:09investigative approach
37:10we had to carry out
37:11what our
37:12negative proof
37:13of life inquiries
37:14and that was
37:16really hard
37:17to do
37:18a jury was about
37:19to be asked
37:20to believe a negative
37:21if someone
37:22cannot be seen
37:23to be alive
37:24they must be dead
37:26the inquiries
37:27that we carried out
37:27to try and prove
37:29that Sarah
37:29was no longer alive
37:30were very complex
37:32and ongoing
37:33throughout all
37:34of our investigation
37:35up to the point
37:36of our trial
37:37I needed to show
37:38that there was
37:39no physical
37:40sightings
37:41of Sarah
37:42I also
37:43needed to show
37:44there was no
37:44financial
37:45digital footprint
37:46of Sarah
37:47we did ongoing
37:48work with her
37:49phones
37:49we did ongoing
37:50work with her
37:51social media
37:52and I would say
37:53it's very difficult
37:54in this day and age
37:56to be able to leave
37:57no footprint
37:58at all
37:59if the jury
38:01at Woolwich Crown Court
38:02accepted the
38:02prosecution argument
38:03then the next thing
38:04to be shown
38:05was that Ben
38:06Lacombe
38:07had been responsible
38:08for her death
38:09amongst the videos
38:10the jury was shown
38:11was the one
38:12revealing that
38:13Lacombe had driven
38:14seven miles
38:14from home
38:15three nights
38:16after Sarah
38:17disappeared
38:17to throw away
38:18his phone
38:19so when a question
38:20was put to Ben
38:21Lacombe
38:21about why he threw
38:22his mobile phone
38:23into the river
38:24he said that
38:25in the past
38:26he'd written
38:27some messages
38:27on his phone
38:28that he hadn't sent
38:29but it was a
38:30catharic way
38:31of him
38:32expressing his views
38:33and he decided
38:34that if those messages
38:35had ever been seen
38:36by the police
38:37they might be
38:37construed
38:38in a way
38:39that might
38:40raise suspicion
38:41about him
38:41being involved
38:42so that was
38:43his answer
38:44for why he decided
38:45to throw his phone
38:46in the river
38:46so the Crown
38:47had to prove
38:48that Ben
38:49had carried out
38:49a murder
38:50and they had to do
38:51that with the
38:52absence of a body
38:53so ordinarily
38:54that's not easy
38:55he made it
38:56very easy for them
38:59Lacombe was found
39:00guilty of murder
39:00on November 2019
39:02he will serve
39:03a minimum of 27 years
39:05before he is eligible
39:06for parole
39:07he has still to reveal
39:08the whereabouts
39:09of the body
39:10of Sarah Wellgreen
39:11the investigation
39:12into who killed
39:14Sarah is closed
39:15Ben Lacombe
39:16has been found
39:16guilty of murdering
39:18Sarah
39:18and he's been sentenced
39:20the proactive
39:21search for Sarah
39:22has sadly
39:23had to come to an end
39:25but any further
39:26information
39:27that comes out
39:27that might help us
39:28find where Sarah is
39:30we are reviewing
39:31and reacting
39:32appropriately to
39:34Lacombe has left
39:35behind his own
39:36three children
39:37and two of his
39:38ex-lover's boys
39:39who will be forever
39:40haunted by not knowing
39:41where their mum
39:42is buried
39:43Lacombe
39:44is still keeping quiet
39:45the hardest part
39:47is that she's still
39:48to this day
39:49not been found
39:50that's probably
39:51the hardest thing
39:52to actually deal with
39:56as to why he's not
39:58done it
39:59I don't think anyone
40:00can know that
40:02other than him
40:05there's still
40:07that missing piece
40:09and it will always
40:10be like that
40:12we'll always have
40:13that missing piece
40:14because of what
40:15he's done
40:16it would be a lot
40:17easier
40:18if he was to say
40:19where she was
40:20but I believe
40:22he will keep
40:23on denying it
40:24so he has a
40:25hope
40:26that he can have
40:27a relationship
40:28with his children
40:29I believe he's
40:30withholding that
40:31because that's
40:31the only
40:32sort of power
40:33that he has left
40:34like
40:35as soon as he
40:36tells us that
40:37that's him
40:38admitting to doing it
40:39which he has
40:39never done
40:41but all the evidence
40:42pointed towards him
40:43whether he will
40:44admit that or not
40:44we can only hope
40:48whilst the police
40:49have had to stop
40:50the search for the
40:51body of Sarah
40:51Wellgreen
40:52those who first
40:53volunteered to look
40:54for her when she
40:54was officially
40:55missing
40:55continue
40:56the boys and
40:57they feel that
40:58the area of
40:59Kent
40:59Lacombe
41:00travelled to
41:00that night
41:01is not so big
41:02that they cannot
41:03find her
41:04the involvement
41:05in the search
41:06is
41:06I feel as though
41:08if I wasn't
41:10involved
41:12I wouldn't be
41:13doing anything
41:14else that would
41:15be useful
41:16the whole reason
41:18I came back
41:18to Kent
41:19was to find her
41:20I've been here
41:21ever since
41:24We intuitively
41:25think she's still
41:27right under her
41:28nose
41:28somewhere
41:32We've still got
41:33lots more work
41:34to do
41:34but they are
41:35a great support
41:36network
41:36That's the farm
41:38there's the access
41:39roads from here
41:41Without them
41:41I don't think
41:45I don't think
41:46I would be as
41:47capable
41:48and as strong
41:49as I am today
41:50to carry on
41:50with what we do
41:51So round there
41:53down, down, down, down
41:54round
41:54and then we've got
41:55the whole of this
41:56part view
41:57here
41:58I don't think
41:59it's difficult
41:59to remain hopeful
42:00this is something
42:01I've always
42:02talked about
42:03with the others
42:03and with Jack
42:04about
42:05we've always
42:05got to have hope
42:06and the more
42:07and more we search
42:08the closer we are
42:09to finding Sarah
42:10All I've been doing
42:12for the past year
42:13is working
42:13with some others
42:15who are involved
42:16going to
42:17points of interest
42:18marking out
42:19on maps
42:20and
42:21waiting
42:23for everyone
42:23to be able
42:24to get together
42:25so we can then
42:28kickstart it
42:28all up again
42:29Ground Level
42:30we'll be looking
42:31for any kind
42:33of area
42:34that looks like
42:34it's been disturbed
42:35possibly dug over
42:36we're three years
42:38into this now
42:38so we're going
42:39to be looking
42:40for really
42:42a mound of stones
42:43where the soil
42:44was sunk
42:44but the stones
42:45will not sink
42:46it's non-stop
42:47I never switch off
42:48from this
42:49even if I've got
42:51a spare hour
42:52I will be looking
42:52at maps
42:53trying to find
42:53some more points
42:54that we need
42:55to go and look at
42:56we press on
42:57we wouldn't let
42:58the boys down
42:59at this stage
43:00so we are now
43:02at the stage
43:02where we're looking
43:03at areas
43:04that we need
43:05to bring
43:06specialists in
43:09we know
43:09that we're not
43:11looking for
43:11a person anymore
43:13you know
43:14we are kind
43:14of fine bones
43:16that's quite hard
43:18to get into
43:19your head
43:21so it's
43:23it's tough
43:24it's tough one
43:25tough one
43:26not to find
43:27Sarah out here
43:28in the Kent
43:28countryside
43:28those living
43:30in the villages
43:30which experienced
43:31the sudden
43:31disappearance
43:32and murder
43:32of Sarah
43:33Wellgreen
43:33are determined
43:34to find her
43:35and they believe
43:36they will
43:37I can see
43:38those boys
43:39getting closure
43:41I can see
43:42them all
43:42getting closure
43:43and I just
43:44hope that we
43:45can be part
43:46of that
43:48it meant
43:49everything
43:49just to have
43:51a place
43:51where you
43:51could bury her
43:52and there's
43:53a place
43:54you can actually
43:54go to
43:56if you ever
43:56feel down
43:57about anything
43:58there's
43:58you've got
43:59that place
43:59you can go
44:00without it
44:01you've got
44:02nothing
44:02you've got
44:03no
44:05no
44:05no
44:35Transcription by CastingWords
44:45CastingWords
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