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Britains Most Evil Killers - Season 10 - Episode 03: Paul Taylor
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00:07In March 1980, in rural Cambridgeshire,
00:11the body of Sally McGrath was discovered,
00:14a young woman who'd vanished eight months earlier.
00:20Her body had been discovered naked but for a pair of boots.
00:26Investigations quickly led to Paul Taylor,
00:30a local man with a string of allegations against him.
00:35He was brutal and he was dominant and he was willing to kill.
00:41With just a circumstantial case,
00:44the police were unable to bring charges.
00:47And for decades, Taylor lived his life deceiving those around him.
00:53I never thought he was capable of murdering anybody, never.
00:59But in 2009, a determined cold case team took on Sally McGrath's murder,
01:05winning justice not just for Sally, but for all the women he'd brutalised.
01:10Those women that secured those verdicts,
01:14they must have felt at last that somebody believed them.
01:21Justice was 33 years in the making,
01:24but Paul Taylor had finally been exposed
01:27as one of Britain's most evil killers.
01:52When Karim Khalil KC presented the Crown's case against Paul Taylor,
01:58at Chelmsford Crown Court in 2012,
02:00he was all too aware he was inviting them to enter a different world.
02:05One goes back in time, back to 1979, 1980,
02:10just features of how investigations were carried out,
02:15what people accepted as normal,
02:17which you then have to try and transport into a modern setting
02:21and explain to jurors that this is how it was.
02:25Part of the challenge was getting jurors to understand
02:28how Sally McGrath and Taylor's other victims
02:32had found themselves alone in his company.
02:37I think Peterborough in 1979 was very different to how it is today.
02:43Having grown up in the 70s,
02:44I also know that there was an element of trust that people had
02:48that we don't necessarily have now.
02:54The prosecution team also faced the challenge
02:58of explaining why so little had been done
03:01to stop Taylor in the 1970s and 80s.
03:05Other women had made complaints about Paul Taylor.
03:09We have to try and understand what the attitudes were
03:12and the social mores of the time.
03:17Disbelieved, dissuaded, or shamed into silence,
03:21some of Taylor's victims kept their counsel for decades.
03:25But with the investigation into Sally McGrath's murder,
03:29finally came justice.
03:34This killer story begins in the city of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.
03:42Born on the 9th of March, 1952,
03:45little is known about Paul Taylor's early years.
03:50What's clear is by the time he was a teenager,
03:52he was beginning to go off the rails.
03:54He got his first conviction for dishonesty at the age of 16.
03:58And it just went on from there.
04:01Perhaps in search of structure or discipline,
04:03Taylor spent a couple of years in the army as a young man.
04:09In 1974, Taylor got married and started a family
04:14living on the outskirts of Peterborough.
04:18With a population of around 100,000 people at the time,
04:23the Cambridgeshire city sometimes felt more like a town.
04:27It was a much smaller community.
04:29There was very few places for people to go to,
04:32so a lot of people knew each other really well
04:35or there was always a connection.
04:38Paul Taylor was working as a local builder,
04:41had a works van and access to other quite nice-looking cars.
04:47We'd have a river that runs through the centre of Peterborough
04:50called the Means, so Taylor had his own boat at the time
04:52and he would go out and about, you know, in the summer on his boat.
04:59Taylor's flashy vehicles were a tool he used for picking up women.
05:05Locally, he was regarded as a bit of a Jack the Lad figure,
05:11strongly built, quite a handsome man and very charming.
05:16He'd had a couple of children
05:18and seemed to be living a married life on the one hand,
05:23but also frequently womanising on the other.
05:26Taylor was described as a womaniser.
05:30Now, we use that term almost to say lovable rogue.
05:36Womaniser actually means manipulative predator,
05:40and that's what he was.
05:41Somebody like Taylor uses his charm to get what he wants.
05:45He's not a charming person.
05:48This is an act to get him what he wants.
05:53Taylor sought out casual sex with women and girls he met.
05:57In August 1974, one claimed that while alone with Taylor,
06:03he had turned nasty.
06:05She was 17 years old, had gone out for drinks with him,
06:09and he had drove her to an isolated location,
06:13became very abusive towards her,
06:15started calling her horrific names,
06:18started slapping her, and then went on to rape her.
06:21The teenager went to the police.
06:24It went to court, but he was acquitted,
06:26and part of that was around whether it was possible
06:29to commit a rape in an MG sports car.
06:32He later went on to brag that it actually was possible
06:35to commit a rape in a sports car,
06:37and that he'd just got away with it.
06:40For Paul Taylor, a pattern of behaviour had been set.
06:46Personally, I think because he'd got away with it in court,
06:48it gave him a greater belief
06:51that he could go on and commit crime,
06:53and he was beyond reproach in his world.
06:58A stone's throw from the centre of Peterborough
07:01lived a young woman called Sally Anne McGrath.
07:06In 1979, she was 22 years old and living with her parents.
07:11She lived in the Woodson area of the city.
07:14I think they were quite a close-knit family.
07:17Sally was at that point in life
07:19where she didn't have any ties as such.
07:22She did have a wide circle of friends.
07:24Some of those had described her as, you know,
07:26like the life and soul of the party.
07:28Someone who you'd probably want to have on a night out,
07:30you know, good company.
07:33She used to travel with other girlfriends
07:35in a bus that went up to the local RAF base
07:39for the US Air Forcemen,
07:41partied there,
07:42and was known pretty widely and much liked.
07:47But on Wednesday, the 11th of July, 1979,
07:52Sally McGrath seemingly vanished into thin air.
07:57Sally didn't return home that evening,
07:59and I think her mum, Christine, initially was concerned.
08:02It wasn't unusual for Sally to go out
08:04and perhaps have a late night,
08:06but she'd always come back.
08:09Sally's mum started asking around
08:12to see whether any of her friends knew where she was,
08:14and then eventually reported Sally missing to the police.
08:17In the first few days after Sally vanished,
08:21her parents searched local cafes,
08:23nightclubs and football grounds for her,
08:26as well as walking the streets,
08:28showing her photograph to strangers.
08:35On Saturday the 14th of July,
08:39Peterborough police took over the search,
08:41building a picture of Sally's last known movements.
08:45Initially, an officer attended,
08:47took all the details.
08:48She went out on the 11th of July, 1979,
08:51with the intention of signing on
08:53to the local DSS office.
08:55As well as signing on,
08:57what we now know is she'd also gone into town
08:59to go for a drink with, as she said,
09:00with friends at the Bull Hotel in Peterborough,
09:02which still exists to this day.
09:04A friend who'd seen Sally that day
09:07told police that Sally had plans to meet a boyfriend
09:11later that evening at another pub,
09:14the Golden Fleece.
09:15She'd never shown up for the rendezvous.
09:19The missing from home inquiry became quite large,
09:22and there was a lot of effort put into trying to locate Sally.
09:26But after a number of months,
09:28in essence, the trail went cold.
09:30When somebody went missing back in 1979,
09:34it's a very, very different landscape to now.
09:37There was no such thing as mobile phones.
09:40CCTV was not as proliferated as it is now.
09:46Unless you really have got witnesses to say,
09:48oh, I saw Sally at this time, at this place,
09:52it's really difficult to put that jigsaw together.
09:56There was initial thoughts from part of the investigation team
10:00that she'd perhaps gone to a dance,
10:03gone off with a GI,
10:05and some people even said that, you know,
10:07potentially she'd moved abroad.
10:10But I think those who knew Sally
10:12knew that that wasn't the case.
10:15Sally's parents feared the worst,
10:17but they never stopped hoping for her safe return.
10:21On the 1st of March 1980,
10:24eight months after Sally's sudden disappearance,
10:27their worst fears were realised.
10:30There was a gamekeeper preparing for an organised shoot
10:34who was walking through a very remote area
10:36called Castor Hanglands,
10:37which is a rural area on the west side of Peterborough.
10:41He was just going through the undergrowth in Castor Hanglands.
10:44He came across a boot
10:46and obviously wasn't perhaps sure at first what he'd found.
10:51When he looked closer,
10:53the gamekeeper discovered
10:54it was not just a pair of women's boots in the dirt.
10:58He realised with horror
10:59they were attached
11:02to a human body.
11:13On the 1st of March 1980,
11:16eight months after the disappearance
11:18of 22-year-old Sally McGrath,
11:20the body of a woman was discovered
11:23in a remote Cambridgeshire woodland.
11:30The orange tape leads to the spot
11:32where the body was found
11:33and police say it could well have lain hidden
11:35for a hundred years
11:36had it not been for a passing gamekeeper
11:38who was out shooting rabbits
11:40when he found the body covered in branches.
11:42Hardly anyone comes to these woods
11:44apart from a pheasant shoot once a year.
11:46Police say the murderer may well have known that fact
11:48and that's why he chose this spot
11:50to dump the body.
11:53The body was found
11:55in a shallowly dug grave.
11:57There were few identifying features
12:00to the body.
12:01Given the passage of time,
12:03it would have been quite decomposed.
12:05She was naked
12:06bar the boots that she was wearing on her feet.
12:09With the area declared a crime scene,
12:12the first priority was to identify the remains.
12:16and very quickly,
12:1822-year-old Sally McGrath's name
12:20was on the lips of investigating officers.
12:23She'd gone missing the previous July.
12:27They would have had files of missing people
12:29and would have been able to quickly identify
12:31from her boots, for example,
12:34that it was probably going to be the remains of Sally.
12:37She was identified as a result of her possessions,
12:39her jewellery and dental records as well.
12:43Hours after Sally's heartbroken parents
12:46had been informed,
12:47a post-mortem was carried out
12:49which pointed to a violent death.
12:52Sally had some facial injuries.
12:55Her nose was broken
12:55and she had two blood force traumas to her skull.
12:59So the assessment was that she met her death
13:01as a consequence of being violently assaulted to her head.
13:06The discovery spelled horror
13:08not only for Sally's family
13:10but also for the community of this small city.
13:14When Sally's body was found
13:17and she was nearly naked,
13:19clear signs that this was possibly sexual offending
13:24and possibly an abduction.
13:26It would have been incredibly shocking,
13:30terrifying to realise that nightmare
13:31was there in that community.
13:34And of course, with everybody realising
13:38that that person was still at large.
13:44What was initiated
13:45was the biggest murder investigation
13:48that Cambridgeshire Police
13:49had ever engaged in at that stage.
13:52There's no question
13:53that police dedicated an enormous amount of effort,
13:56I think 3,000 interviews.
14:01Detectives' first move
14:02was to return to the records of the inquiries made
14:05when Sally had vanished eight months earlier.
14:09There had been 17 sightings of Sally that day,
14:13the last a little after lunchtime.
14:15She was seen by a lady,
14:17a female witness at 2.40
14:19outside the Bull Public House
14:21and she was seen with a male.
14:25She'd also been seen earlier
14:27by witnesses inside the pub
14:30with the same young man.
14:32They could see that they appeared to be close
14:35in terms of how they were talking.
14:37Quite a good-looking, striking young man
14:39who, again, not someone who blended into the background,
14:42someone who you kind of would notice.
14:45The people who had seen them together in the Bull
14:47were able to get an artist's impression drawn of him.
14:51The drawing had a striking resemblance
14:53to another well-known local, Paul Taylor.
14:58The 27-year-old had recently been sentenced
15:01to three years in prison
15:03for a series of burglaries
15:05and assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
15:09Friends of Taylor's confirmed
15:11he'd been in the Bull that afternoon
15:13and witnesses saw Sally and Taylor together.
15:17As the last person seen with Sally
15:19police tried to track Taylor's movements
15:22for the rest of that day.
15:24On the day of Sally McGrath's disappearance,
15:28Paul Taylor was due to sign on
15:29because he was on bail for matters.
15:32And he'd been signing on absolutely properly
15:36for a period of time,
15:37but this proved to be the one day
15:39in his bail period
15:41which he'd failed to sign on at all.
15:44Because he'd failed to sign on,
15:46on time,
15:47and because he was on curfew,
15:49they sent police officers around to his address
15:52at 10.30 that evening
15:54to do a curfew check
15:56and he wasn't there.
15:57His vehicle wasn't there.
15:59And his wife answered the door
16:01and said he wasn't there.
16:04In addition to that,
16:06on the night that Sally went missing,
16:07a witness also reported a van
16:09which fitted the description
16:10of a van that Taylor had
16:12in the vicinity of Castanglans as well.
16:19Going back through their records,
16:21detectives began to suspect
16:23that Sally's murder
16:24was something the jobbing builder
16:26could well be capable of.
16:28The police were aware
16:30of a number of allegations
16:31of rape and attempted rape
16:33by Taylor on other women,
16:35but in each case,
16:36there was insufficient evidence
16:38to prosecute Taylor
16:39for those offences.
16:41Some of those complaints
16:42were really rather brushed off.
16:44Some of them were taken seriously,
16:47but then,
16:48in the absence of what they called
16:49corroboration evidence,
16:51it couldn't be pursued
16:52to trial.
16:53And so women were effectively told,
16:56look, I hear your complaint,
16:58but there's really not much
16:59we can do about it.
17:02But because of the allegations,
17:05there was real concern
17:06that Taylor was
17:08an active predatory rapist
17:10and that might have been
17:12his motivation
17:12for ultimately killing Sally.
17:14It was enough
17:16to prompt officers
17:17to visit Taylor,
17:18who by now
17:19was serving time in prison.
17:21Paul Taylor was interviewed
17:23by the detectives
17:24on the murder inquiry
17:25as a key suspect,
17:26a person of interest.
17:28The default position of Taylor
17:31was a straight denial
17:33of almost everything,
17:35and he denied knowing
17:36Sally McGrath
17:36ever having met her.
17:43In a bizarre twist,
17:46an article about Taylor's
17:48latest conviction
17:49had appeared side by side
17:51with an article
17:52about Sally's murder
17:53five days after her body
17:55was found.
17:57Now,
17:58had that been engineered
17:59by the police,
18:00or was it simply coincidence?
18:01We simply don't know.
18:03What we do know
18:04is that the police
18:05were convinced
18:06for a very long time
18:07that Taylor was guilty
18:09of her murder.
18:11If the police hoped
18:12news articles like this
18:14would prompt new witnesses
18:16to come forward,
18:17they were disappointed.
18:19Paul Taylor remained
18:21the prime and only suspect
18:22in Sally's murder,
18:24but he was still not charged.
18:26The police put all
18:27the evidence together.
18:28That file was reviewed
18:29by counsel,
18:31and it was felt
18:32that whilst
18:32there was a lot
18:34of evidence
18:34that suggested
18:35Taylor was responsible,
18:36there just wasn't
18:37enough evidence
18:38for them to be sure
18:40that they would
18:41get a conviction
18:42at court.
18:43At the time,
18:45the evidence
18:46of the women
18:46who claimed Taylor
18:47had assaulted them
18:48couldn't form part
18:50of the prosecution
18:51for Sally's murder.
18:53Similar fact evidence
18:54wasn't admissible
18:55in the same way
18:56as it is now.
18:57So,
18:58ultimately,
18:59the case was filed
19:01as an undetected murder.
19:03With the case
19:04effectively cold,
19:05Sally's family
19:06were left with no answers,
19:08while Paul Taylor
19:09served out his sentence
19:11for theft and assault.
19:13When Taylor came out
19:15of jail,
19:15he decided he was
19:16going to relocate,
19:18and in fact,
19:19he moved to Hampshire,
19:20to Fairham,
19:21and he got married again.
19:25Did he change his spots?
19:27Was he a different man?
19:33Almost three decades later,
19:36in December 2010,
19:3858-year-old Paul Taylor's
19:40second wife,
19:41Janet,
19:42was awoken
19:42at their home
19:43in Hampshire
19:43by an early morning
19:45knock at the door.
19:47It was the police.
19:50They said,
19:51is Paul Taylor here?
19:52And I said,
19:53upstairs.
19:54And they said,
19:55right,
19:55we're going to arrest him.
19:57I had no idea
19:58what was going on,
19:59because there was
20:00police everywhere.
20:01Everywhere.
20:02They cordoned off the street,
20:04they were out
20:04the back of the house.
20:06They took me
20:07down the police station,
20:08they were asking me
20:08questions,
20:09but they weren't
20:10going to tell me
20:11exactly what they
20:12were charging him with.
20:13So they were asking me
20:14about him,
20:15and I just truthfully
20:16answered the questions,
20:17because he'd never
20:18been violent to me,
20:20ever.
20:22Janet knew little
20:23of the truth
20:24of her husband's past.
20:25In the late 1980s,
20:28after the couple
20:29first moved in together,
20:31they'd received
20:32some unsettling visits
20:33from local detectives.
20:36He moved in with me,
20:38and the police
20:39started knocking the door
20:40about local murders,
20:43local rapes,
20:43and stuff like that.
20:45By way of explanation,
20:47Taylor lied to Janet
20:49that he'd served time
20:50a few years earlier
20:51for GBH
20:52and assaulting
20:53a police officer,
20:54and so the police
20:56had it in for him.
20:58I remember him
20:59saying to me
21:00at the time,
21:00when I was in prison,
21:02they came to me
21:03to question me
21:04about a murder in there,
21:06but it was because
21:06the police
21:07were persecuting him.
21:11Taylor didn't mention
21:12the name Sally McGrath
21:14to his wife,
21:15and Janet had
21:16no reason to doubt
21:17her husband's
21:18version of events.
21:21The visits
21:22from the police
21:23stopped,
21:24until December 2010.
21:27After several days
21:28of questioning,
21:29Taylor was bailed.
21:31For months,
21:32nothing happened.
21:33He wouldn't really
21:34talk about it.
21:35I said to him,
21:35you don't seem worried
21:36about it.
21:37I would be panicking
21:38if someone was accusing me
21:39of doing something
21:40I hadn't done.
21:41So he said,
21:42I haven't done it.
21:43They'll never pin it on me.
21:45Why have I got to worry?
21:48He didn't lose sleep.
21:50He didn't stop eating.
21:51And he would say,
21:53you do believe me,
21:54don't you?
21:5858-year-old Paul Taylor
22:00was confident
22:01his past
22:02could not catch up
22:03with him.
22:04He hadn't reckoned
22:05on the tenacity
22:07of the police
22:08and the voices
22:09of his many victims
22:11coming back
22:13to haunt him.
22:24In 2009,
22:26three decades
22:27after the event,
22:28the unsolved murder
22:30of 22-year-old
22:31Sally McGrath
22:32had landed
22:33on the desk
22:34of Cambridgeshire
22:35police detective
22:36Geoff Hill.
22:38One of my DI's
22:40brought the case
22:42to me
22:42and said,
22:43look,
22:43you know,
22:43I think they were
22:44really close
22:44and probably
22:45identified the right guy.
22:46They just didn't
22:47have enough evidence.
22:48Much of the physical
22:49evidence
22:50from the 1980
22:51investigation
22:52had been destroyed
22:53years earlier
22:54in a flood,
22:55but the reams
22:56of paper records
22:58made for eye-opening
22:59reading.
23:00Jobbing builder
23:01Paul Taylor
23:02had done little
23:03to put police
23:04off the scent.
23:06One of the lines
23:07of inquiry
23:07that the police
23:08at the time
23:08pursued
23:09was to interview
23:09other prisoners
23:10at Bedford Prison
23:11where Taylor
23:13had been sent
23:14following his conviction
23:15for the offences
23:16of burglary
23:16that he was on bail
23:17for when Sally
23:18went missing.
23:19Taylor couldn't resist
23:21boasting that he
23:22appeared to have got away
23:23with raping a girl
23:24in a car
23:24because the police
23:26didn't think
23:26it could have happened
23:27in such a small space
23:28and indicating
23:30that he had killed Sally
23:31but good luck
23:32to the police
23:33trying to prove it.
23:34The files
23:35also held letters
23:37Taylor had written
23:38from prison
23:38to his first wife
23:40urging her
23:41to burn
23:42his belongings.
23:43It was a number
23:44of letters
23:45he sent
23:45almost on
23:46consecutive days
23:47saying
23:48have you collected
23:49the clothes yet?
23:50Have you got my tools?
23:51Make sure you destroy them.
23:55More certain
23:56than ever
23:56they were looking
23:57at the right man
23:58Jeff Hill's
23:59first task
24:00was to visit
24:01Sally McGrath's
24:02parents
24:03who still lived
24:04in the home
24:05Sally had never
24:06returned to
24:0630 years earlier.
24:10I was shown
24:10into the parlour
24:12of this Victorian house.
24:14Sally's mum
24:15came out
24:15with a pot of tea
24:16on a tray
24:17and a cup
24:18and a saucer
24:18and her dad
24:19sat in an armchair
24:20who was elderly
24:21who was in his
24:21mid to late 80s.
24:23And I'll never forget
24:24this because
24:25I explained
24:26to Sally's mum
24:27that we were there
24:28because we were going
24:29to reinvestigate
24:30Sally's murder
24:31and Sally's mum
24:33said to me
24:34that she was
24:34a very spiritual person
24:36and for years
24:37after Sally's
24:38disappearance
24:38she dreamt about
24:40Sally every single
24:41evening
24:41and that she knew
24:43I was going to come
24:44today
24:44because Sally
24:46had told her
24:46in a dream
24:46the previous evening.
24:55Determined to find
24:56resolution
24:57for Sally's
24:58still grieving family
24:59Geoff and his team
25:01set about
25:02following the evidence.
25:04We were completely
25:05100% happy
25:06that the last person
25:07that Sally was seen with
25:08in the Bull Public House
25:10on the 11th of July
25:11was Paul Barry Taylor.
25:13And while Taylor
25:15had always denied
25:16ever knowing Sally
25:18detectives discovered
25:19this was far
25:21from the truth.
25:22During the original
25:23investigation
25:24a guy by the name
25:25of Paul
25:25who was a young
25:27lad
25:2716 at the time
25:28lived next door
25:30to Taylor.
25:31He was interviewed
25:31by the inquiry
25:32and he basically
25:34said that
25:35he had no information
25:36of any relevance
25:37whatsoever.
25:38He was employed
25:40by Taylor
25:41on a very casual basis
25:42as a builder's mate.
25:44There's no doubt
25:45in my mind
25:46that he was frightened
25:46of Taylor
25:47and I think he was
25:48probably frightened
25:48of the police as well.
25:5230 years later
25:54the scared
25:5516 year old boy
25:56was now
25:57a middle-aged man
25:58and Taylor's
25:59former employee
26:00told the cold case team
26:02what he knew
26:03about Paul Taylor
26:04meeting Sally
26:05weeks before
26:07she disappeared.
26:09He recalled
26:10them driving along
26:11in the works van
26:12Taylor seeing
26:14Sally sitting
26:14on a bench
26:15stopping
26:16engaging in
26:17conversation with her
26:18I think numbers
26:19were swapped.
26:21The former apprentice
26:22had another story
26:24to tell
26:24one that was
26:25far more disturbing.
26:27A few weeks
26:29before Sally
26:30McGrath vanished
26:31a teenage girl
26:32was walking
26:33near a local river
26:34when Paul Taylor
26:35approached her
26:36and struck up
26:38conversation.
26:39He was with
26:40his young apprentice.
26:43Because there was
26:44two of them
26:44she felt really safe
26:45and the one lad
26:46was very similar
26:47age to her
26:48so she said
26:49she felt very
26:49comfortable
26:50they were very
26:51charming
26:51and she went
26:52for a little
26:53boat ride.
26:53A short time later
26:55she saw them again
26:56and they said
26:57do you want to come
26:58out on a boat ride
26:58again?
26:59I think the line
27:00he used was that
27:00he needed to get a
27:01part for his boat
27:02or something
27:02so he's going out
27:03to somewhere in the
27:04country where
27:05he could get a
27:05part for his boat
27:06and he drove
27:07in his van
27:08to Castor.
27:09This particular
27:10girl
27:10because she was
27:11a girl at the
27:12time was then
27:12taken to
27:14Wild Boar Spinney.
27:16Wild Boar Spinney
27:17was in the same
27:18area of Castor
27:19Hanglands
27:20where Sally
27:21McGrath's body
27:22would be found.
27:25When they got
27:25there
27:26Paul Taylor
27:27opened the glove
27:27box and there
27:28were some condoms
27:29within the glove
27:30box.
27:31His young
27:32apprentice was
27:33told to take
27:33the van for a
27:34drive.
27:36I was told
27:37in no uncertain
27:38terms to get
27:39lost and he said
27:40I was just
27:40frightened and I
27:41drove away crying
27:42thinking that I
27:42should be doing
27:43something but I
27:43just wasn't brave
27:44enough to do it.
27:47He said his fear
27:48was if he left
27:49to get help he
27:50wouldn't be able
27:50to get his way
27:51back because he
27:52wouldn't know
27:52where to find them
27:53but he knew that
27:54what was going to
27:55happen wasn't
27:56going to be good.
27:57When the teenage
27:58boy returned to
28:00the clearing 20
28:01minutes later the
28:02girl was in
28:03obvious distress
28:04her t-shirt ripped
28:06from neck to
28:08waistband.
28:11Paul Taylor
28:12stood there with
28:13a condom still
28:14on which he
28:14took off and
28:15flung.
28:16So they all
28:17got back in the
28:17van and on the
28:18way back Paul
28:20Taylor stopped
28:20for ice cream.
28:22Taylor dropped
28:23the girl off in
28:24the centre of town
28:25giving her a couple
28:26of pounds to buy
28:27a new t-shirt so
28:29that her parents
28:30wouldn't know
28:31what had happened.
28:34Just two weeks
28:35later Sally
28:36McGrath vanished
28:37her body eventually
28:39turning up in the
28:40same remote location
28:42the girl had been
28:43attacked by Paul
28:44Taylor.
28:45As the cold case
28:46detectives went back
28:48over the files
28:49they saw a clear
28:50pattern emerging.
28:52When they then
28:54started looking at
28:54Paul Taylor
28:55and realised
28:56actually how many
28:57different victims
28:58had come forward
28:59not just the
29:01rape that he
29:02was acquitted for
29:03and I think
29:04they then thought
29:05we need to go back
29:06and we need to
29:07re-interview these
29:07women.
29:11D.C.
29:12Hayley Dias
29:13was one of the
29:14detectives tasked
29:15with tracking down
29:16the half a dozen
29:17women whose
29:18statements were in
29:19the files from
29:201979 and
29:221980.
29:23How did the
29:24victims react
29:25when you go
29:26and knock on
29:26the door?
29:2730 years later
29:28I think it's fair
29:29to say they're
29:29shocked but
29:31none of them
29:33were unwavering
29:34in their commitment
29:35to ensure that
29:37we got the
29:37case solved.
29:39By re-interviewing
29:41the victims
29:42detectives plotted
29:43a timeline of
29:44violent sexual
29:45attacks with
29:46strikingly similar
29:48features in the
29:49months before
29:50Sally's murder.
29:51The first was the
29:52prolonged ordeal he
29:54put a 19-year-old
29:56woman through in
29:57March 1979.
30:01She'd been picked
30:02up from the
30:02Bull Public House
30:03in Peterborough.
30:04He drove her to
30:04an isolated spot.
30:06She was a virgin.
30:08She was pleading
30:09with him.
30:10He was becoming
30:11more and more
30:11aggressive and he
30:12was trying to force
30:13her to drink whiskey
30:14which she didn't
30:15want to drink.
30:16Taylor raped the
30:17young woman in a
30:18particularly sustained
30:19and brutal attack.
30:21He took her to a
30:23local hotel and
30:24whilst at the hotel
30:25he repeatedly raped
30:26her during the
30:27course of the night.
30:29He went to sleep.
30:31She lay on bed
30:33all night terrified
30:34but in the morning
30:35he got up and he was
30:35a different person
30:36and it was almost
30:37like I'm your
30:38boyfriend, you're my
30:38girlfriend now.
30:40Very Jacqueline Hyde
30:41character, back to be
30:43Mr. Nice Guy and
30:45everything.
30:45He ate her at first,
30:47she didn't.
30:47But he drove her
30:49home.
30:5030 years later, the
30:52police were able to
30:53corroborate much of
30:55the woman's account.
30:56Three weeks after the
30:58attack, Taylor struck
30:59again.
31:02In the April, he went
31:05to a family christening
31:06and towards the end of
31:08that christening, a
31:09young woman wanted a
31:10lift home.
31:11He offered to take her
31:12as previously, didn't
31:14take her to the
31:15required or desired
31:17destination and he
31:18raped her in the
31:20motor car.
31:21The cold case
31:23detectives also managed
31:24to track down the
31:25teenage girl, the
31:27young apprentice had
31:28witnessed being
31:29attacked at Castor
31:30Hanglands.
31:31She described how in
31:33June 1979, it had
31:35dawned on her what
31:36Paul Taylor's
31:37intentions were as he
31:38sent his teenage
31:39workmate away.
31:42She said, I'm so
31:43sorry if I've led you
31:44on in any way
31:45whatsoever, but I
31:47can't, you know, I
31:49can't have sex.
31:49I'm a virgin.
31:51My family are really
31:52strict.
31:53We're a strict
31:53Catholic family.
31:55I'm sorry if I've said
31:57anything or I've done
31:58anything that's made
31:58you think that I want
32:00to have sex, but I
32:01really don't.
32:01I just want to go
32:02home.
32:03He laughed and he
32:04grabbed her by the
32:04legs and he yanked her
32:05out of the van.
32:08So she struck her
32:09head on the way out
32:10to the van.
32:16The long-term
32:17consequences for this
32:19particular victim were
32:20catastrophic.
32:22Her family insisted she
32:24should track him down
32:25and try and cause him
32:25to marry her, despite
32:27what he'd just done to
32:29her.
32:30The terrified Catholic
32:32teen did as she was
32:33told, only to discover
32:35her attacker was
32:36married with a family.
32:39She was actually
32:40kicked out of home
32:41at the age of 17 by
32:43her parents for
32:43bringing dishonor on
32:44the family.
32:51Another woman, Hayley
32:52Dyers and the team
32:54re-interviewed in 2010,
32:56told of a savage attack
32:58that had taken place in
33:00August 1979, a month or
33:03so after Sally's murder
33:05murder, when the victim
33:06was just 16.
33:08It was an attempt
33:09rape in the back of
33:10the van.
33:12But it was an attempt
33:14rape that also
33:14amounted to GBH, where
33:17he'd hit her and
33:18beaten her quite
33:19severely in his
33:21attempt at raping
33:22her.
33:24When she resisted, he
33:26struck her, but then
33:28used a metal petrol can
33:29to strike her around the
33:31head several times.
33:34It was an horrific attack.
33:36She was laid up for a
33:37long time.
33:39And that, again, was
33:41of interest to us, given
33:42the fact that we know
33:43that Sally had died as a
33:45consequence of blunt force
33:46trauma.
33:47Detectives were building
33:48up a picture of a man who
33:50used charm to pick up
33:52women, offering them a
33:54lift or a ride out in his
33:56car, van or boat, before
33:59turning aggressive and
34:01forcing sexual acts upon
34:03them.
34:04Taylor didn't want
34:07consent.
34:08That's not the turn-on.
34:10They want you to fight.
34:12They want to look at your
34:14face and to know that you
34:17do not want what's
34:18happening to you.
34:19So he will do something to
34:22make sure that woman removes
34:24her consent.
34:26Maybe something like
34:28suddenly changing and
34:30becoming quite sinister and
34:32threatening and horrible
34:33and insulting.
34:35Maybe violent and
34:38aggressive.
34:39The woman gets frightened.
34:40She stops consenting.
34:42Now we're where he wanted
34:44to be.
34:49Having corroborated the
34:51details of so many violent
34:53attacks, by the autumn of
34:542011, cold case detectives
34:57were confident in their
34:58case.
34:59After getting away with a
35:01litany of violent attacks for
35:03three decades, Paul Taylor's
35:05days as a free man were
35:08numbered.
35:19By October 2011, investigators had
35:23enough not only to charge 59-year-old
35:26Paul Taylor for Sally McGrath's
35:28murder, but also with three counts
35:31of rape, a sexual assault, and an
35:34indecent assault.
35:37The news came as a terrible shock to
35:40Taylor's wife, Janet.
35:42I went with him while he was
35:44charged.
35:45I just had a bit of a panic attack,
35:46couldn't breathe.
35:47Everything just went blank.
35:48It was just really hard to listen to.
35:52I didn't want to hear that, but I knew
35:57he'd done it.
35:57Faced with what her husband was being
36:00accused of, misgivings from their
36:02relationship resurfaced for Janet.
36:05He didn't like women.
36:07If he ever spoke about a woman, he
36:08would always run them down, or he
36:10would be always very negative in what
36:12any of his friend's wives were like.
36:15He would always be, oh, she's fat, oh,
36:19she's ugly, or she's domineering.
36:22A friend told Janet of rumours about
36:25Taylor's predatory behaviour.
36:28He just cheated constantly through the
36:31whole marriage, and he was just
36:33obsessed with sex.
36:35Not with me.
36:37He wasn't like that for me.
36:40That was his safe space, I think.
36:42His safe space and his normal space, he
36:45could be at home and then disappear and
36:49be that monster that he is.
36:5660-year-old Paul Taylor's trial began at
36:59Chelmsford Crown Court in October 2012.
37:03Kareem Khalil KC presented the
37:06prosecution's case.
37:07Our contention as to why Sally had been
37:10murdered was that this was a sexual
37:12assault primarily.
37:14The pattern of his behaviour was of
37:16sexual assault and, if there was
37:18resistance, physical assault to get what
37:21he wanted.
37:22And so we surmised that he had taken Sally
37:26off, as he had others to a secluded spot, had
37:29insisted on sexually assaulting her.
37:31She must have resisted forcibly.
37:35It's quite possible that Sally put up more of a fight than he was used to.
37:44He knew when he changed the state of play, her screams wouldn't be heard.
37:50But she fought harder than he ever imagined.
37:54And I think that's why she got killed.
37:57We could actually demonstrate that he was not beyond striking a woman to the head and face to ensure that
38:05she became compliant to his needs.
38:08And then when we have the terrible skull injuries that were found on Sally McGrath's body, that really fitted the
38:15same sort of pattern.
38:22Each of the women who alleged assaults by Paul Taylor bravely took the stand to give evidence against him.
38:28Each of the women whose cases were prosecuted on the indictment wanted their allegations heard and determined.
38:39In court, it's not just reliving it, it's reliving it to somebody who's going to call you a liar, because
38:46that is what will happen.
38:48So that's awful.
38:51That's awful.
38:54They just wanted to be heard and for people to say, yes, this is wrong.
38:59Their lives, in many cases, had changed dramatically as a consequence of what had happened.
39:05Some had kept it a secret from their partners.
39:09Some hadn't been able to form any kind of lasting relationships.
39:14It was really difficult, and those poor women were incredibly courageous to revisit something which I suspect in a lot
39:25of cases they'd packaged up and put into a lockbox in their vines.
39:29The woman, whose allegations in 1974 had resulted in Paul Taylor being tried for rape, also agreed to give evidence
39:39in 2012.
39:41Due to double jeopardy, unless we could come up with some new and compelling evidence, then we were unable to
39:48lay charges again.
39:49She very bravely attended court, and she gave evidence, by character evidence, about what had happened to her.
40:02The man who'd been Taylor's teenage apprentice in 1979 also gave powerful testimony, not only about the attack he'd witnessed,
40:12but also telling the jury he'd seen Taylor burning clothes in the days after the attacks,
40:18and that Taylor had made the boy clean out his work van, the van featured again in another intriguing piece
40:26of police work.
40:28We trawled through the classified ads and found the day after Sally went missing, he advertised his vehicle for sale.
40:35Why would you sell your livelihood if it wasn't to get rid of evidence of Sally's disappearance and murder?
40:46The defence argument, which was also Taylor's argument, consistently, was that all the sex I had in the 70s and
40:56early 80s was entirely consensual.
41:03Paul Taylor did not choose to take the stand.
41:07After an eight-week trial, the jury retired to consider a case that had presented no DNA evidence and could
41:14be seen as being entirely circumstantial.
41:17We believed we'd presented about as strong a case as we possibly could,
41:22and we didn't have to wait terribly long for the verdicts to be returned.
41:28And indeed, they did come back, exactly as we had hoped.
41:33Paul Taylor was convicted of Sally McGrath's murder, as well as five counts of rape and sexual assault.
41:41I cried, because it means a lot.
41:44But it's fair to say there was a lot of screaming, crying, whooping with joy, you know, not being able
41:53to speak.
41:55We went across to the pub, just opposite the Crown Court of Chelmsford.
42:00We had a drink with Sally's mum and her brother.
42:04But at the end of the drink, Sally's brother turned round to us and said,
42:09Look, Geoff, you know, we can never repay you for what you've done.
42:12We'll always be incredibly grateful.
42:15But we never want to see you again now.
42:17And at the time, I thought, wow.
42:19But very, very quickly and in the moment, realised that's just the way in which they wanted to achieve some
42:25form of closure.
42:26I'm glad they did.
42:35For the women who faced their attacker in court after so much time, it was a watershed moment.
42:43For them, all of them, it has given them a closure.
42:46It's come at a cost.
42:47It's come with post-traumatic stress.
42:51But they see you, and these are their words, not ours, as their guardian angels, that you've come into their
42:57life.
42:57You've believed them.
43:00On the 5th of December 2012, Paul Taylor was sentenced to life with a minimum tariff of 18 years.
43:08A sentence reflecting guidelines for the era when the crimes were committed.
43:14Although it might seem a somewhat lenient sentence by the standards of today's terms,
43:22he's over 60 years old, not eligible to be released until he's almost 80.
43:32For Taylor's wife, Janet, the conviction was a brutal confirmation of what she'd come to accept about the person she'd
43:40married.
43:42I learnt that he was a vile, evil.
43:47He's not even a human being.
43:49He's just disgusting.
43:51What he did was just above and beyond horrendous.
43:57And not that many people would lie just to put him in prison.
44:01So it had to be true.
44:08With a number of more recent accusations against Taylor left to lie on file,
44:14it remains to be seen if he's ever considered safe for parole.
44:19In the meantime, Sally McGrath's family finally have answers,
44:24as do the many women he brutalised for his own twisted satisfaction.
44:29He got away with murder for more than 30 years.
44:33But Paul Taylor was finally unmasked as one of Britain's most evil killers.
45:10You
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