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Secrets Of A Murder Detective - Season 2 - Episode 09: Killed For Cash
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00:03I'm Steve Keogh, a former Scotland Yard murder detective inspector.
00:08I'm going to take you deep inside murder investigations,
00:13opening my contacts book for the first time
00:17to reveal the secrets of what it really takes to be a murder detective,
00:21on the front line, exposing how we solve the most heinous of crimes.
00:31Welcome to Secrets of a Murder Detective.
00:40The murder of Rosina Coleman in May 2018
00:44was one of East London's most challenging cases.
00:47I'm going to be meeting a detective on the case to reveal what really happened,
00:51the pressures, the setbacks and the methods in the investigation
00:54that brought the killer to justice.
00:56My name is Clare Watts.
00:57I was a detective constable on a homicide team
01:00in the Metropolitan Police in 2018.
01:04At the time of this murder, I was new to the homicide team
01:08and it was quite challenging being the new detective constable
01:12on a fully established murder team.
01:15Hi, Clare. Lovely to meet you.
01:20Clare, the incident we're going to be talking about today was from May 2018.
01:25What were you doing back then? What was your role?
01:28I just joined the homicide team at Barking.
01:31It was my first week. We were on call.
01:35And my initial few days there was just helping out on older cases.
01:40So you'd literally just arrived on the murder teams
01:43Yes.
01:43And they would have 24-hour, seven-day-a-week responsibility
01:48to respond to any murders that came in.
01:50Yeah, that's correct.
01:51You'd been there on attachment a few months before.
01:55We received the call from the control room around lunchtime.
01:59So the information that I was aware of was that we had an elderly female
02:05deceased in her bungalow in a residential street
02:10far from Romford itself.
02:20They believed it was a murder because of the crime scene itself.
02:25So, as a result, we gathered our belongings.
02:27I was the driver.
02:30We drove to the venue in Ashmore Gardens.
02:34It was the school run.
02:36The traffic was heavy.
02:38Yes, the HAT car is a marks vehicle,
02:41so it also can be rapidly deployed to the scene.
02:45I'm Gary Harriman.
02:46I was a detective sergeant of the Metropolitan Police
02:49involved in the investigation's murder of Rosina Coleman.
02:53The HAT car is a vehicle.
02:56It's a term that's used for the team that are on call for that week.
03:01There'll be numerous detectives, detective sergeants,
03:05and detective inspectors and police officers on that team
03:07who will deal with those serious incidents.
03:11We arrived safely and were met by local uniform officers,
03:17so the first on-scene officers, with local CID officers that had attended.
03:24There we had a verbal briefing, effectively on the street, outside the premises.
03:32And at that stage, nobody entered those premises,
03:34because we had to decide how to control cross-contamination.
03:39We didn't want to cause any problems with potential forensics.
03:43What are you confronted with when you get there?
03:45What do you see?
03:46There's cordons in place, as they should be, at the end of the street.
03:50A decision was made that only the DS and the exhibits officer
03:57with the crime scene manager would enter.
03:59They obviously kitted out in those lovely white overalls and overshoes,
04:04gloves, and went into the address, and I was left with the instructions
04:09to start doing the knocking on the doors and trying to get some information.
04:14One of the most important things as well is trying to understand
04:17if there were any witnesses around.
04:19What sort of things were you getting back when you were doing that?
04:22The street was a very quiet residential street.
04:25It did have a lot of elderly residents,
04:26so those people did answer the door and we were able to speak to them.
04:32But there was also returns that we had to conduct later on in the evening
04:36when most people get back from work.
04:39So whilst we're knocking on their doors,
04:41we are keeping an eye out for CCTV on-premises, ring doorbells,
04:47and looking at the dash areas of vehicles that are parked for any dash cameras.
04:52So we did that, and that was spent all day effectively into the evening.
05:00And then whilst I'm doing that with my colleagues,
05:04the crime scene is being forensicated.
05:07So when I attended the scene, local officers had already secured it,
05:11and forensics had gone into the venue.
05:14So the premises had been secured from the front and from the rear,
05:18because at that stage you don't know where the perpetrators have come into that venue.
05:23And forensics had gone in and put down blocks that I could walk on without disturbing the scene.
05:29And I was also aware from officers.
05:32The victim, Rosina Coleman, lived alone at that address.
05:36It was an 85-year-old woman.
05:37She was a grandmother and loved by all the residents who knew her.
05:41Once the crime scene had been finished forensication, I was permitted entry to the property.
05:47It was a pristine bungalow, well cared for and loved, and that's where I saw Rosina.
05:55She was lying prone on her back in the threshold of her bedroom.
06:01And I think that she would have been on her back because the paramedics had been working on her.
06:07And she reminded me of my mum. My mum was only about five years younger than her.
06:13So, you know, it's an interesting scene to go to.
06:17And I felt that I wanted to take part in trying to solve the murder of Rose for her family.
06:28I call her Rose because that's what she was called.
06:32And I noticed that her head was closest to the door, to the bedroom, and that she was on her
06:39back.
06:40I noticed blood around her, on her neck area, on her skull.
06:46I also noticed that she was very well-groomed.
06:53She had, like, polished nails and manicured and pedicured.
06:58So that stuck out for me.
07:00And then after I finished, obviously, looking at Rose, I looked round the room.
07:05And you could just see cupboard doors open, bits of clothing hanging out of drawers and cupboards.
07:12So it was a chaotic, but you could tell a violent scene that occurred here.
07:19How did you feel when you were there in that house?
07:21You sort of give yourself a bit of a talking to.
07:24Try not to be emotional.
07:25It's difficult not to get emotional.
07:27But, you know, you get a lump in your throat.
07:29So, yeah.
07:30I investigated a lot of murders, but there are certain ones that do that where,
07:34for me it was children or vulnerable people.
07:37Rose was a vulnerable person.
07:38Seeing someone that has lost their life, whose last moments are in that violent ending,
07:46it does give you that extra drive, doesn't it?
07:48Yeah, it does, definitely.
07:53Any crime scene, if it's a residential area, you know,
07:58it's normal for the neighbours to either curtain twitch, as you say,
08:02or come out and have a chat.
08:04They want to find out what's going on.
08:06Erm, the issue with the murder, I think we cordoned off each end of the street.
08:13There was shock.
08:14Erm, obviously they heard that Rose had died.
08:18Erm, and there was a few people that were visibly upset.
08:23She had adult children and grandchildren.
08:27Erm, so, yes, it was a big shock for that family and her neighbours and friends.
08:35Were there any signs of forced entry into Rose's home?
08:38No, not at all.
08:40So, you'd be looking for things like broken doors, broken windows, broken locks,
08:45there was none of that.
08:45So, what did that tell you about, potentially, how this had happened?
08:50Well, we knew the patio doors were open.
08:52So, we knew that either someone obviously walked in,
08:57the opportunist has managed to walk in,
09:00but it also put in their minds that it could be someone that she knew
09:04and that that person was invited in,
09:08or they even had access to the property.
09:11In any murder investigation like this,
09:13Mm-hm.
09:14All the detectives that are working on it need to come together,
09:18erm, have team meetings,
09:19to discuss what each of you have been doing,
09:24making others aware of what information and evidence is available.
09:27And did you all come together to discuss what had gone on?
09:30We did.
09:30We sat round and discussed what we'd established.
09:35What we got is, erm, a residential bungalow.
09:38The patio doors were open.
09:40There was a messy search, untidy search in the bedroom.
09:45It looked like property had been stolen.
09:47So, the likely scenario was a burglary that had gone wrong.
09:52Your team are working on the basis
09:55that one of the most likely scenarios for Rose's death is a burglary.
10:00And burglaries can happen in different ways.
10:02It could be where someone's broken into somebody's house,
10:05or it could be what's referred to as artifice burglaries,
10:09where someone essentially tricks their way in.
10:12Older people tend to be the victims of these, don't they?
10:15They do, yes.
10:16Erm, I think they're a bit more trusting.
10:19And if they believe what the person's telling them,
10:22we'll grant them access to their premises.
10:25So, as a team, what were you doing to try and establish
10:27whether it was connected to one of these types of burglaries?
10:30So, we obviously had researchers
10:33that were looking into crime data patterns that were in that area,
10:39looking for any burglaries that had taken place with date parameters.
10:45Then they'd have to methodically go through and check
10:48to see what method was used, what items were stolen,
10:52whether there was any signs of actual breaking
10:55or whether it was, as you say,
10:58being tricked into gaining access to a premises.
11:09Artifice burglaries are where a suspect will trick their way
11:13into somebody's home in order to steal.
11:16And more often than not, they will target elderly victims
11:21because they are more likely, in their eyes, to fall for their ruse.
11:25But this presents problems.
11:28By the very nature of the victims being older,
11:32they can quite often get confused
11:34and the information they give to police isn't always accurate.
11:39Plus, those that carry out these types of crimes
11:42are well-practised in what they do
11:44and they use methods to prevent themselves being caught.
11:53Rosina Coleman would have been pronounced deceased at the scene
11:56and she would have been taken away to a mortuary awaiting a post-mortem.
12:00So, from the post-mortem,
12:02it was established that Rose suffered blunt,
12:06false trauma to her skull and her neck.
12:10And she would have been hit 11 times.
12:15So, in the top of her skull, about here from behind and to her neck.
12:20We didn't know what the weapon was at that time,
12:23but it would have been a blunt, false weapon of some description.
12:28Just for me, when you describe that,
12:31that goes way beyond what is necessary to incapacitate, disable,
12:38whatever you want to do, an elderly lady,
12:42to hit them that many times, that's just...
12:47I mean, I can't even begin to start to describe how awful that is.
12:52No, it's dreadful.
12:53We knew that Rose had had a telephone conversation with her daughter
12:57and that would have been around 7.30 in the morning.
13:01And that was the last information we had of her being alive.
13:12So, Rose had a gardener, a stroke handyman,
13:16and he had gone round to the address to collect some work boots.
13:22And he initially got no reply and assumed she was in the bath,
13:29so went away and did a job.
13:31I think it was in Chadwell Heath.
13:32And then came back a bit later on.
13:36He's discovered her, um, covered in blood.
13:39He then calls 999.
13:42His name was Paul Prowse.
13:44And he, um, knew our victim, or Racina Coleman,
13:50for five to six years,
13:52and apparently treated like a member of the family,
13:56a frequent visitor at that address,
13:59so would have known her layout of her home very well.
14:04So, you essentially had this window
14:05between which Rose had been murdered.
14:08You had the...
14:08From the end of the telephone call with her daughter...
14:11Mm-hm.
14:11..and Paul discovering her body.
14:13Were you able to build up anything in between there,
14:16maybe from what she was doing during the day?
14:19No, we found that quite challenging,
14:20because had it been a younger victim
14:23who may have been on their phone
14:25or playing computer games or on social media,
14:28we didn't have that as, um, open to us
14:31as an option for a lead because of her...
14:34I assume because of her age,
14:36because I certainly know from my mum
14:38wouldn't be on the phone texting someone.
14:40It is quite difficult to track, uh, people of the age of Rosina.
14:46That is 85,
14:48as they very rarely use social media,
14:52uh, quite often not even using smartphones or computers,
14:56and therefore there is very little of a footprint
15:00for them to be found.
15:02My name is Chris Watts.
15:03I'm a digital forensic investigator,
15:06a job that I've carried out for the last 31 years.
15:09In the early stages of a murder investigation,
15:12the murder team will be looking to trace the victims' movements.
15:17And to do that, they will be looking for CCTV,
15:21a mobile phone that may, uh, show where they've been,
15:25who they've been calling, who's been calling them.
15:31Rosie's home was treated as a crime scene.
15:34Was there anything significant found?
15:36There was, actually.
15:37There was a ripped part of a, uh, rubber glove or Gore-Tex glove
15:43that had been trapped in, like, a door of the cupboard.
15:48So we suspected the suspect had obviously left it there in...in a panic.
15:54That suggests someone who's forensically aware...
15:57Yeah. ..who doesn't want their fingerprints or DNA found.
16:00And that's gonna...
16:01If you're dealing with a suspect like that,
16:04it's gonna make solving a crime more difficult, isn't it?
16:07It does,
16:07because they obviously put some thought behind it
16:09before they've gone and committed that crime.
16:13So that was a bit of a red flag.
16:20So your team have put in a lot of work
16:22into trying to identify any burglars in the area.
16:25Were there any other lines of inquiry that you took as a team?
16:29Well, we have to keep an open mind,
16:30so we would be looking at the person that found her,
16:34the person that, uh, called 999.
16:38Most witnesses, when they come to police,
16:39they'll make a statement on a piece of paper
16:41and they'll get to sign it.
16:42But those that are considered significant,
16:45ones that could hold some really important information,
16:48are dealt with in a different way, aren't they?
16:49They're dealt with either on video or tape.
16:51Is that how Paul, who discovered the body, was dealt with?
16:55That's right, yes, he was.
16:57So his initial account when the first attending officers
17:01was on their body-worn camera recorded,
17:03and then later on when he gave his lengthy, um, account
17:09with our homicide detectives,
17:11then that would have been recorded as well.
17:14So part of the next steps of the investigation
17:17was obviously to look at people's accounts,
17:21obviously one of which was the handyman, Paul's,
17:24and that it had been noted that there was discrepancies.
17:28What were you seeing?
17:30We were seeing that, well, we noticed
17:31that he was getting muddled around his visits
17:36to the address and the timings.
17:38So, on one occasion, he said he was actually at Rose's premises,
17:44when, in fact, he was fixing a washing machine in Jabril Heath.
17:48So he couldn't have been where he said he was at that time.
17:51MUSIC
17:56Then they start to look at the CCTV.
18:00So, at this stage, you're trying to build a picture
18:02of what went on.
18:03So you're collecting CCTV, ring doorbell, home address CCTV.
18:08You're making a house-to-house inquiries with residents.
18:12You're prioritising your forensics
18:14to hopefully establish who may have committed this offence.
18:18We did identify a couple of addresses that had CCTV cameras,
18:25generally covering their drive,
18:26but it would also cover part of the street that Rose's address was in.
18:31So both cameras that had been identified were set up where we needed an engineer to come out
18:37to obviously do the download.
18:40Once that had happened and the engineers fed that CCTV back to you,
18:44was there anything significant on it?
18:45The team noticed on the footage from that street that there was this silver car passing by on a couple
18:55of occasions.
18:55MUSIC
19:02Whilst little evidence can be very compelling,
19:06it does not detract from the hard work of the murder detective
19:11who is out asking questions, knocking on doors,
19:15viewing hours and hours of CCTV footage to find that one little nugget of evidence
19:21that can really turn a case on its head.
19:25It was probably a Nissan driving up and down that road and around the area.
19:32Later on, we knew that Paul had a silver Nissan Micra
19:37and we obviously put two and two together and realised that we should be looking at Paul.
19:50We wasn't happy with the account given by the handyman.
19:55And to corroborate the events of the day, I took a statement from his partner.
20:01I went round and spoke to her.
20:02I took a statement of his movements to try and get some more evidence.
20:07I took a statement from a resident where the handyman had been earlier that day.
20:12He fired me with details of the clothing that the handyman had been wearing.
20:16So what sort of things were you doing around Paul?
20:19Looking at the ANPR cameras, which identified his car.
20:25So Paul had stopped at a DIY store and bought a packet of latex gloves.
20:32And he then returned to the premises at 09.23 hours or thereabouts.
20:42And then we know from the footage that his car is still in situ an hour and 40 minutes later.
20:50And he then returns back to his vehicle and drives away.
20:55Does it marry up with what he's saying in his witness accounts?
20:59No, not at all.
21:10Sometimes killers will try to stage a crime scene to make it appear as if something different has happened.
21:17Maybe an accident or suicide.
21:19And they will spend a lot of time to try and achieve that.
21:23But there are certain evidential avenues that they have no control over.
21:28Phone records, CCTV, ANPR and financial transactions.
21:34All evidential opportunities that they cannot influence at all.
21:39And invariably it will be these that will catch them out.
21:44From the forensic examination, photography, the team were able to establish that Rose was
21:54assorted, physically assorted in her bedroom.
21:58That she would have been killed that morning.
22:07Then as the investigation developed, we was looking at CCTV footage of movements, looking at Paul's movements.
22:18We established that he had been at a job fixing a washing machine in Chadwell Heath.
22:27He was actually about half-eight, then picked up on the camera in the DIY store, buying the Gore-Tex
22:33gloves at about five past nine.
22:35He's on camera again at 9.12 in Roses Street.
22:41So we can see him in his car, which was a Nissan Micra Silver,
22:46and was in her dress for that hour and 40 minutes.
22:51He gave an account that he had attended the address about half past eight.
22:57He says to collect his work boots that he needed for a job.
23:01But in fact, we knew that he was actually working on a washing machine at half past eight.
23:07So that was one of the first lies that we established.
23:12And then as it developed, he said he came back again a different time to what is shown on the
23:22CCTV.
23:23And that's obviously when he goes into the bungalow and discovers that she's dead.
23:27And when we compared that footage for when he first turned up at the address,
23:34and then his second returned to the address,
23:38he actually is in different clothing. He's changed his clothing.
23:43So obviously that's a red flag for us.
23:51So he completely missed out in both his interviews that he had gone to Rose's house,
23:57was there for an hour and 40 minutes,
23:59and on the way it stopped off and bought latex gloves.
24:04What were you thinking then when this information come through?
24:07The glove was the same colour as the ones from the packet in the DIY store.
24:12The officers that attended the DIY store would have got the receipt for that as well.
24:18I've been in that situation so many times
24:20where you're at the beginning of a murder investigation
24:23and you've got no idea where it's going to go.
24:26And if it is a burglary, that's going to be difficult to solve.
24:31But then something can happen in an inquiry,
24:34two or three bits of evidence fitting together,
24:37and it can change the whole direction of what you're doing.
24:40That's one of these moments, isn't it?
24:42Yep, it raised the status from a significant witness
24:46or person of interest to a suspect for a murder.
24:53So each morning we'd have a team meeting
24:55where we'd talk about the developments.
24:57I was a bit shocked as a day earlier,
24:59I'm taking a statement from the handyman's partner.
25:02I had met the handyman,
25:03and I didn't believe that he could do anything so brutal.
25:06After the breakthrough was discussed in the meeting,
25:09the decision to arrest the handyman
25:11was made by the senior investigating officer.
25:14I attended the address of the handyman
25:16and arrested him for the offence of murder of Rosina Coleman.
25:22His reaction, he didn't say anything on the part of caution.
25:27He looked a bit in shock.
25:32Paul was arrested three days after the murder at his home address.
25:37And I was assigned to be the lead interviewer for his suspect interviews.
25:42You were what's known as an advanced interviewer?
25:45Yes.
25:46So you would have had extra training than many of your colleagues.
25:49Correct, yep.
25:50One of your first tasks would be to draw up, write up,
25:55some what we call pre-interview briefing
25:58or pre-interview disclosure for the solicitor,
26:01for the legal representative of anyone being interviewed.
26:05That's correct.
26:05And a lot of thought goes into that, doesn't it,
26:07of what is it we're going to tell them before we interview them?
26:10And I decided that I would hold back on information
26:14because what I wanted to avoid
26:16was if you tell the whole evidential story to him,
26:22he can then fit a defence round it.
26:24I would only tell him what he knew the police knew.
26:28The fact that he called police,
26:31the fact that he knew Rose for a long time
26:35and the fact that he had been seen in the street with his car,
26:44that resulted in no-comment interview throughout.
26:48I still ask questions because it's my job to still ask those questions
26:52and was met with no comment, no comment.
26:55So the first one being the no-comment interview.
26:58Yep.
26:58Then we go into the second one.
27:00Yeah.
27:01Do you remember what more information you gave him on that second one?
27:03I gave him more information around that we knew
27:07that he'd been to the address on a couple of occasions.
27:12And he then, after his private consultation with his solicitor,
27:18decided he was going to speak freely
27:20and he gave a very detailed account of his movements,
27:25but obviously missed out the fact that he'd actually been in her address
27:29for over, what, an hour and 40 minutes.
27:31So he never disclosed that.
27:39Also held back on the imagery from the DIY store as well.
27:45And that was obviously disclosed to him during that interview.
27:48That was at the end of interview two.
27:50My colleague had a laptop,
27:52so I knew at what point I was going to turn the laptop around and show him.
27:56Well, that's you turning up.
27:58That's you leaving.
28:00That's you talking to the officer and he's captured you on body worn.
28:06And I could see you're in different clothing.
28:08So, and that's, at that point, it was like, shut down.
28:12I need to speak to my solicitor.
28:14During the interview process with Paul Prowse,
28:17I was aware that the rest of the team were engaged in other tasks,
28:21one of which was to search his home address
28:24where they would be looking for the murder weapon.
28:29clothing that maybe have traces of rose,
28:34whether it be blood or skin matter on his clothing.
28:39So your first interview was not giving him an awful lot, really,
28:43just telling him the basics that he would have known.
28:46Yeah.
28:46That the police know.
28:47Exactly.
28:48Then he's been speaking for England in the second interview.
28:51So what's he going to tell us now?
28:53Now that we've delivered our evidence and shown him what we've got,
28:56we showed our hand,
28:57and I was excited to know, is he going to go back to no comment
29:01or is he going to actually talk again?
29:04He wants to stop.
29:05He wants to speak to his solicitor.
29:07He hadn't accounted for what that CCTV showed.
29:10You then also disclose to him after this...
29:15Mm-hmm.
29:16..the fact that he's been seen buying latex gloves.
29:21Yes.
29:21Gloves that match the part of the glove that's found at the scene
29:27that he's been doing in the wardrobe.
29:28Right.
29:29So the evidence is now building, building, building.
29:33He is in no doubt that it's not looking good for him.
29:41The role of the interviewing officer, Claire,
29:44was vital in this investigation.
29:48She is not known as an advanced interviewer.
29:50I mean, she would have spent weeks training
29:53in situations where actors would have come in,
29:56actors that would have provided a real challenge
29:59to test whether or not she has the ability to pass,
30:03because not everybody passes this course.
30:05It's a really difficult course.
30:07And I think the technique demonstrated by her in this case
30:13is a reflection of just how high-level these officers are.
30:24Which way did it go?
30:26He confessed.
30:28It totally blew my mind.
30:31So I obviously started the recording equipment,
30:34did the introductions.
30:36And then he just...
30:37I can't even remember his stance.
30:39He was like, hands here.
30:40And he said, Claire, I'm going to tell you everything.
30:46What did he say?
30:47What did he say happened?
30:47He said that he'd been around there for a cup of tea.
30:52They'd been chatting.
30:54Rose was walking him to the front door
30:55when she made some flippant comment along the lines of,
30:59I'll cheer up your silly sod or something like that.
31:03And he said something flipped.
31:05And he then hit her with this hammer that he had in his hand.
31:10And then he realised, I've got to finish this
31:14because I can't leave her alive.
31:17And so he continued to hit her a further ten times with that hammer.
31:24But what he'd also said was that this occurred in the hallway.
31:29So we know no violent struggle or attack occurred in the hallway.
31:36It all took place in that bedroom.
31:40He decides that he's got to make it look like a burglary.
31:43So he opens up all the wardrobes,
31:46pulls out stuff from drawers, cupboards.
31:50He clearly was wearing gloves at the time
31:53because obviously we've established that there was a glove
31:57or partial, like a finger part of a glove,
31:59attached to one of the cupboards
32:01near to her safe where she kept her jewellery.
32:05And he also disclosed that he did steal from her.
32:10He stole the diamond ring
32:13and also cosmetic jewellery.
32:18And he took some money, but he says not a lot,
32:22and then left.
32:25He then went home.
32:28What are you thinking as he's telling you this story?
32:31Part of me is obviously excited
32:34because we're getting a confession.
32:37His excuse was that he was in debt
32:41and that he gave this scenario
32:45where apparently Rose made this flippant comment
32:48about, you know, cheering up, and that's how he reacted.
32:52I suspect, as did some of the team,
32:54that he was actually in her bedroom
32:58when she walks in on him, going through her stuff.
33:01And I think that Rose was going to call the police
33:05and he had to stop her from calling the police.
33:07And he did that by hitting her with that hammer.
33:11When people confess, when they do it,
33:14they're not always being completely honest.
33:17Often they try and mitigate.
33:19He wanted to minimise potentially that, you know,
33:23in his eyes it wasn't premeditated,
33:25that it was just a thing that happened with his brain
33:29and just a comment by her triggered him to become violent.
33:32But I never believed that, as did my colleagues.
33:37One thing that kind of destroys that story are the gloves.
33:42Yeah.
33:44Why would he be wearing gloves
33:46if it was just a spare-of-moment thing he reacted?
33:51It doesn't make sense, does it?
33:52No, not at all.
33:54Again, another lie that was uncovered
33:56and, you know, sealed his fate, shall we say.
34:06Mr. Prowse had previous convictions
34:09dating back to 1966 and, I think, 1994.
34:15For...well, back in 1966,
34:17it would have come under the Larceny Act,
34:18which was theft offences
34:21and also a burglary offence.
34:24He was a gambler
34:25and owed lots of money,
34:28so was desperate for money.
34:30He wasn't earning lots of money
34:33working as a handyman.
34:35My thoughts at this time
34:36are with Rosina Coleman's family and friends,
34:40but also having met a partner of the handyman
34:43and her family,
34:45I felt upset for them
34:47knowing that a loved one
34:49could commit that brutal offence.
34:51Even though we had a confession,
34:53we need to make sure
34:54that we had all the evidence
34:55to prove the offence
34:57and confirm to a jury
35:00that Paul Prowse was the person
35:02who had killed Rosina Coleman.
35:04Once he started to confess,
35:08it was all fed back to the team then.
35:10And then, once that was done,
35:12we could concentrate on getting more detail.
35:14Obviously, we wanted to find out
35:16where the murder weapon was,
35:18what did he do with his clothing,
35:20what's happened to all the stolen property.
35:24So, that was what was going on in my mind.
35:26I had to steer myself back into getting that information.
35:29At any stage, Paul Prowse could have redrawn his confession,
35:36and we had to make sure
35:38we had all the evidence
35:40to secure our conviction.
35:49All murders are treated the same.
35:53You don't differentiate in the work you put in
35:56based on the type of victim.
35:59But, undoubtedly,
36:01you can become more emotionally invested in a case,
36:04particularly where there is a vulnerability around the victim.
36:08if they're a child or an elderly person.
36:12Now, that doesn't mean you put in more effort,
36:15but, undoubtedly,
36:16you can become more emotionally invested.
36:19And I think, when it comes to Rosina's murder,
36:23the team that investigated it,
36:25that would be the same.
36:32So, members of the investigation team,
36:35including the SIO,
36:37would have physically gone and had a face-to-face
36:39with Rose's family to tell them,
36:42you know, what has been disclosed in the interview.
36:45Clearly, they were distressed
36:46by what was disclosed by Mr. Prowse.
36:50They were shocked, angry.
36:52Every emotion you could ever imagine.
36:56So, the third interview was the confession.
36:59Yeah.
36:59But you had a fourth interview.
37:01What was that about?
37:02So, we wanted to find out what he'd done with Rose's items.
37:07We needed to find out what had happened to the murder weapon.
37:11And we wanted to find out what he'd done
37:13with the clothing he was wearing at the time of murdering Rose.
37:17So, we took in a map and asked him to point out
37:21where he'd discarded these items.
37:24And during that interview, he also disclosed
37:26that the ring that he kept, the diamond ring,
37:29he had hidden that, actually, at his home address,
37:32where he had, like, a brick-built shed
37:35at the end of his garden,
37:37and there was a loose brick that he hid the diamond ring behind.
37:40So, as a result of that information, that was relayed to our team,
37:45who then organised a specialist search team
37:48to come out and retrieve those items.
37:50I was aware the search of Paul Prowse's address
37:53had located a ring of Rosina Coleman's in his shed,
37:59and that I was then directed to a river nearby the house
38:03where a bag was found containing the murder weapon,
38:07some clothing and other items of Rosina Coleman.
38:13The Prowse's search team
38:15that conducted the specialist searching of the River Rom
38:18retrieved the murder weapon, which was a nylon hammer,
38:22and retrieved Paul's clothing
38:24that he was wearing at the time of the murder.
38:26They were, obviously, submitted to the forensic science lab
38:29and they were able, even though it had been in the water
38:32for some hours, they were able to prove that Rose's DNA
38:38was on that hammer and her DNA was on his clothing.
38:46The evidence against Paul Prowse was overwhelming.
38:50The forensic linked him to the scene.
38:52The forensics in the bag with a murder weapon
38:54ceased to be showing that he lied to police
38:57with his account of finding Rosina Coleman
39:00deceased in the address.
39:03These were all strong piece of evidence.
39:06So what you and the team have done
39:09is built up a substantial case against him.
39:16Overwhelming. Overwhelming.
39:18Which is going to then put him in a position,
39:20because he is now charged with Rose's murder.
39:23Yeah.
39:23He is going to go to court, and he's got two options.
39:27You either plead guilty or not guilty.
39:30Not guilty, you have a trial.
39:32Yeah.
39:32Guilty, obviously not.
39:40Paul Prowse plead guilty to the murder of Rosina Coleman,
39:45Elliot Bailey.
39:51And was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years imprisonment.
40:00So he pleaded guilty to murder.
40:02Mm-hm.
40:03Got a minimum sentence, a life sentence.
40:05Yeah.
40:05With a minimum of 22 years.
40:07Yeah.
40:08Meaning there will be that amount of time before he can apply for parole.
40:11Correct, yeah.
40:12How do you feel when you reflect on that sentence?
40:19Well, I would have preferred that he got longer, but...
40:24He gets credit for that.
40:25Credit, yeah.
40:25So the judge gave him credit for his plea of guilty.
40:30So it was satisfying that that family didn't have to go to trial
40:36and sit and listen to all the evidence that they would have to listen to.
40:41It would be very graphic and very distressing for them.
40:47I suppose importantly for Rose's family,
40:50what would have been the most significant thing
40:54would have been the engagement ring.
40:55Definitely, yeah.
40:57It transpires I think it was worth about £7,000 at that time.
41:05So my overall impression of Mr. Prowse as a person
41:09is someone that got himself into such a mess financially.
41:16Um, and I think he believed that Rose was wealthy
41:23and that he could use his position of trust
41:29to actually take items from her to raise money for his debts.
41:36We do know subsequently that, this is from Rose's family,
41:40that Rose had said to her family that things keep going missing
41:45in the house or in the bungalow.
41:48And they initially put it down to, well, she is in her 80s,
41:52she's just getting a bit forgetful.
41:54So they never regarded Paul then as someone
41:58that would do something like that.
42:00It's very rare for someone to confess to a murder,
42:04even though the evidence points to then committing the offence.
42:07The family of Rosina Coleman will never see her again.
42:11It's 22 years life imprisonment, justice for the family
42:15in regards to the time that Paul Prowse must serve.
42:20In this tragic case where Rosina was murdered in her home,
42:25digital forensics helped alongside other forensics,
42:29thinking about the latex glove and the CCTV.
42:34Rosina's family were able to get justice at the end of the day.
42:41When you reflect back on the investigation into Rose's murder,
42:45how do you feel about it?
42:46Of satisfaction and I suppose I'm quite proud of that confession
42:52and it's very important to the family mainly.
42:59Claire, you had a fantastic career which you finished on the murder teams.
43:03What was your journey getting there?
43:05I first joined as a uniform officer as a probationer for two years
43:10and then decided I wanted to be a detective and trained to be a detective.
43:15So I then went on to a robbery squad and then investigated anything
43:23from child protection matters, domestic violence matters,
43:27all the way up to and beyond stranger rapes.
43:30This gave me the skills that I wanted to accumulate
43:34before I ended up on the homicide team because that was my dream.
43:37So after those 28 years you made it onto a homicide team.
43:42Mm-hm.
43:44Which is majority men at all ranks, particularly at the more senior ranks.
43:49Correct, yeah.
43:50How was that experience as a female officer there?
43:55Well for me, I found it quite positive.
44:00I was quite confident and would put my name forward for various roles
44:06because I wanted the important roles.
44:08I was coming to the twilight years of my career
44:11and I wanted to take part in important roles
44:15and I knew that I had the skills and the confidence to deal with that.
44:19So essentially are you telling me that for you
44:22you didn't feel that being a female on the team had...
44:25I wasn't overlooked.
44:26I believe I had the same opportunities as my male colleagues.
44:31I was asked to do important roles.
44:34They were asked to do important roles.
44:36So a positive experience.
44:39For me, looking at Rose's murder,
44:43who died in the most horrific...
44:47Circumstances.
44:48Circumstances.
44:48Yeah.
44:50You, as an individual,
44:53managed to turn somebody who was going no comment in an interview...
45:00Yeah.
45:01..turn that into someone giving a false account.
45:05Mm-hm.
45:05..and turn that into, which is incredibly rare...
45:09Yeah.
45:10..a confession.
45:11Definitely.
45:12The work that you did, as an individual,
45:14undoubtedly contributed to justice for Rose's family.
45:21So just on their behalf, I'd like to thank you for the work you did,
45:25which I think is absolutely outstanding.
45:27Very satisfying.
45:28Absolutely outstanding.
45:29Well done.
45:40Crime dramas often give a false impression of police interviews,
45:44particularly in the case of murderers who rarely speak to you.
45:48The fact that Claire was able to get this suspect
45:51to not only speak to her, but then confess to the crime,
45:55was a reflection of what an outstanding detective she clearly was.
46:09music playing
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