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Britains Countryside Killers - Season 2 - Episode 03
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00:01In Blackpool, Eddie Forrester is supposed to meet a friend for dinner, but he never shows.
00:07When he didn't turn up, Trevor knew there was a problem straight away.
00:11He knew Eddie's routine. This was a man who didn't deviate from it.
00:15Eddie was last seen on CCTV, returning from a walk with Cassie.
00:20Concerned, his friend visits Eddie's flat to check on him.
00:25Cassie was by herself. Eddie wouldn't have left Cassie.
00:28That was, again, just really out of sorts, really odd.
00:31And so Trevor was really getting concerned at this point.
00:35Worried family and friends file a missing persons report with the police.
00:40He was a friendly man, but there was a reservation with him, I think, on some level.
00:45He knew that he needed to protect himself.
00:47And there was something the police noticed that was deeply concerning.
00:51There was blood.
00:52And it was at this point that this went from a missing persons investigation
00:55to a possible murder investigation.
01:23To a possible murder investigation.
01:40Blackpool is a popular seaside town in the north of England.
01:45A summer holiday destination for many tourists.
01:50Blackpool is an historic seaside town in Lancashire, in the north-west of England.
01:55And it's famous for the Blackpool Tower, Pleasure Beach, the annual illuminations.
02:01This is a quintessentially English seaside town.
02:06And I think that's why people flock there.
02:08This is a town that people have been going to for decades.
02:13It used to be very busy and thrive with tourism.
02:16However, that petered off a bit after the introduction of package holidays abroad,
02:23whereby tourism sort of declined and crime rates went up a bit.
02:30Blackpool is somewhere that thrives off a seasonal industry.
02:33So out of season, there can be quite a lot of unemployment and poverty.
02:41Blackpool does have a higher than average crime rate when compared to other towns in the UK.
02:48And that's particularly in the more central regions where you'll find tourists and nightlife.
02:53And those problems, the crimes they have, are generally theft-related,
02:58drug-related offences and antisocial behaviour.
03:03When it happens in Blackpool, it's still big news.
03:06It will have an impact on the local community.
03:08Because, again, the sort of the issues that do go on, you don't expect murder to be as prevalent element.
03:14So, yes, there will be a shock to the community when murder occurs in that area.
03:20Living in Blackpool is 55-year-old Edward Forrester, known to family and friends as Eddie.
03:27Edward Forrester, or Eddie, as he preferred to be called, was 55 years old.
03:32He was a slight man, he was 5 feet 5 inches tall, and he had mobility issues.
03:39He used a stick to get around.
03:41He was described as a quiet man, peaceful man, reserved, likeable, friendly.
03:49And he was a regular sight around Blackpool with his beloved rescue dog, Cassie.
03:55He would take her out twice a day, at least, and she meant everything to him.
04:01Eddie Forrester suffered a brain injury in the mid-90s, and this left him with learning difficulties.
04:09He struggled to read or write, he had a speech impediment.
04:13And, yeah, I think it would be fair to describe him as vulnerable, and I think that was possibly why
04:17he was quite reserved.
04:19He was a friendly man, but there was a reservation with him, I think, on some level.
04:24He knew that he needed to protect himself, and to keep his circle small.
04:31Eddie's a Glasgow native.
04:33He moved there a number of years ago, moved to Blackpool.
04:35Not long after moving to Blackpool, he met his best friend, Trevor Lake.
04:41Eddie's best friend was a man called Trevor Lake.
04:44The two had met, not long after Eddie had moved to Blackpool.
04:48The pair had known each other for 22 years, and they supported each other.
04:53They relied upon each other, and this was a beautiful friendship.
04:57These two men would take it in turns to have dinner together, so every other night, they would eat together.
05:05Eddie would provide the ingredients, and Trevor Lake would cook for him.
05:10So they knew each other's routines.
05:12They would speak on the phone every day, and they would see each other every other day, too.
05:17Eddie lived on Seafield Road, just a few minutes' walk from the coastline.
05:22Eddie lived alone.
05:24He lived in an upstairs flat, in a two-in-a-block flat, at Seafield Road.
05:31From Seafield Road, you can almost see the coast from where they are, and it's almost run parallel with the
05:36coast.
05:36It's just lovely properties. Quite a few of the houses, a particular one that Eddie lived in, they're sort of
05:42terraced houses, sort of 30s built, but they're split into flats.
05:48Great views of the sea, and quite a tight, nice little community.
05:54Seafield is not one of those areas that's not been prone to violence before, because it's been known that there
06:00was a murder there, which a couple were killed.
06:02It was a serial killer, went by the name of Cul-de-sac Killer, who had killed an old people,
06:08and in fact, the killer targeted older people.
06:12And so Seafield has had some murder in the past.
06:16Despite the fact that there is a high level of violence in Blackpool, murder is not one of the biggest
06:21elements of it. It doesn't show out so much.
06:24On the 1st of September, 2023, Eddie goes about his usual routine.
06:31Just after one in the afternoon on Friday, 1st of September, 2023, Eddie was last seen on CCTV, returning from
06:39a walk with Cassie.
06:41By that time, Eddie had made plans with his friend Trevor to have dinner with him, the following day being
06:48Saturday, the 2nd of September, 2023.
06:53And when he didn't turn up, Trevor knew there was a problem straight away.
06:57He knew Eddie's routine. This was a man who didn't deviate from it.
07:01So he was suspicious that there was a problem straight away.
07:05So it was really unusual for Eddie to not turn up as planned.
07:09It was really, really out of character for him.
07:11So when he didn't show up, Trevor was really concerned.
07:14So he did what you would expect, and he went round to Eddie's house.
07:18But there was no sign of Eddie.
07:20And Cassie was by herself.
07:22Eddie wouldn't have left Cassie.
07:24That was, again, just really out of sorts, really odd.
07:28And so Trevor was really getting concerned at this point.
07:32Trevor went downstairs.
07:33He went to the flat below Eddie to inquire as to his whereabouts.
07:38And that's where William Wilkinson lived.
07:40Wilkinson answered the door and said that he'd not seen or heard from Eddie.
07:46Eddie's neighbour, 65-year-old William Wilkinson, lived beneath him in their shared building.
07:52The two knew each other, and I think it would be fair to say that they didn't get on as
07:58neighbours.
08:00Wilkinson would complain about Eddie, and, you know, and then Eddie would say that Wilkinson had been bullying him.
08:05And there was back and forth between the two of them.
08:09Just a slightly awkward, troublesome neighbourly relationship between two fellas that lived in the same block.
08:16There had been a falling out between Eddie and William Wilkinson.
08:22And this falling out was around Wilkinson feeding birds.
08:26And this was attracting vermin, according to Eddie.
08:29And Eddie was concerned about this.
08:31So Eddie wrote to Blackpool Council, who in turn wrote to Wilkinson to inform him of the concerns.
08:39And I think it's fair to say that this was the start of a feud between the two.
08:45Following Trevor speaking with William Wilkinson, he then attended a hospital in Blackpool to see if Eddie had been admitted
08:55there.
08:56Which would provide an explanation of why he wasn't within his flat at that time.
09:00He was concerned that he may have come to some harm, so he just wanted to double-check that he
09:04hadn't been admitted.
09:06It caused Trevor and Eddie's friends and family that much concern that he was reported as a missing person to
09:12the police.
09:13And a missing person investigation was conducted.
09:17When police went out to inquire as to Eddie's whereabouts, they went to Eddie's flat first.
09:23Of course there was no sign of him.
09:25They went to Wilkinson's flat below.
09:28And Wilkinson wasn't there either.
09:31And there was something that the police noticed that was deeply concerning.
09:35There was blood around the front door frame.
09:38And it was at this point that this went from a missing persons investigation to a possible murder investigation.
10:01Eddie Forrester of Seafield Road, Blackpool disappears on the 1st of September, 2023.
10:08When concerned friends and family file a report, the police begin their investigation in Eddie's home, where they notice blood
10:16on his neighbour, William Wilkinson's door.
10:21HACE is the police and criminal evidence act that came in 1984.
10:25HACE would have been used in this circumstance to force entry, believing that someone may be hurt inside the premises
10:33because of the fact that they found blood splatters in the communal hallway.
10:37So they're now checking both addresses using this, you know, that power.
10:49It developed very quickly from a missing persons investigation to a murder inquiry.
10:57The suspicions were raised almost immediately upon police attendance.
11:01William Wilkinson lives directly below Eddie.
11:05And one of the first signs of suspicion that Wilkinson wasn't home at the time of police attendance, there was
11:11blood found within the communal hallway.
11:14Police thereafter gained entry to Wilkinson's flat and they detected a strong smell of cleaning fluid, which was given indications
11:24that there had recently been a massive cleanup within the flat.
11:31This smells strongly of like cleaning, like a TCP type fluid, fluid, something anyway.
11:41They can just faintly see blood splatters in the property and then the strong smell of cleaning fluid, where it
11:49suggests that someone's tried to attempt to clean up and hide, destroy evidence that may potentially be within that premises.
11:57And that's what we don't want.
11:59So as police officers, we'll try and secure that as best we can.
12:03Even with an attempt to clean up, you will still be able to, using certain lights, the forensics team will
12:09be able to see where there's any staining and blood behind even some of the cleaning.
12:14So that's, you know, there's potential evidence retrieval in that respect.
12:18Police started thinking, well, hang on, something's happened here.
12:21And the majority of the blood was in the flat downstairs, in Wilkinson's flat.
12:26They're now searching the flat and they find what appears to be a potential murder weapon, which was a broken
12:34piece of wood with a metal cap on it with a nail sticking out, which is often referred to as
12:39a bung, hidden in a bag with blood.
12:42It's a little bit more than just a missing person.
12:45There's some foul play has taken place.
12:48So you would now start looking at calling the forensic team down to start examining the scene, look for fingerprints.
12:56There was a fingerprint in blood, one of the doors there, and there was blood in the hallway, in the
13:02communal hallway.
13:03So all of that would need to be sort of retrieved and then identified.
13:09Given the mounting evidence, Wilkinson becomes the chief suspect in Eddie's disappearance and possible murder.
13:18So they look at the CCTV, they track Wilkinson over a number of days, and there's a lot of CCTV
13:25in Blackpool because of the type of town it is.
13:28And so they were able to really get a good trace of how he'd been occupying himself over those days.
13:34He'd been doing all his usual things.
13:36He'd been going to the shops.
13:37He'd gone to put a bet on.
13:38He'd been to the barbers and changed his hairstyle.
13:41He usually had, like, long, straggly hair and a beard, but he'd completely changed his appearance so that he had
13:49his clean, cropped hair and was clean shaven.
13:52But he'd also been seen carrying chopping bags around with him while he'd been doing it and depositing things in
13:58bins.
13:59It was, on the one level, very day-to-day activity.
14:03In another sense, a little odd.
14:09On the basis that there's possibly incriminating evidence in those bins, you need to identify where all the bins are,
14:17identify the collection route.
14:19So you'd have to go through the local council to do that and identify the waste management unit that do
14:25that.
14:26And then work out the schedule and the sequence and when they're likely to have been taken to the waste
14:32management site and dumped.
14:33And that gives you some time scale.
14:36But even then, it could be difficult to identify where those items are going to be, especially if it's quite
14:42a large deposit site.
14:45You know, in those circumstances, being the area, it probably will be the same local authority with the same waste
14:52management department.
14:53And they'll probably have one site that they might put all of that rubbish.
14:57Even though we recycle, so there's bins for recycling, there's, you know, normal general rubbish, it's still difficult to work
15:05out where these items are going to be.
15:06So if you're covering, let's say, in these circumstances, the worst-case scenario where you've got body parts in different
15:12bags in different locations around Blackpool,
15:15then it's going to be very difficult to identify in a waste site where they are.
15:22CCTV footage also reveals Wilkinson's white Peugeot Boxer travelling towards Cumbria.
15:30Wilkinson had been kitting out a camper van and over the next few days he went on a trip in
15:35the van.
15:36It was a Peugeot Boxer van and he could sleep in it.
15:39It was all kitted out for, you know, weekends away and that sort of thing.
15:42And he was spotted travelling north up the M6, heading up towards the Lake District.
15:48On one stop off on the motorway, he changed his clothes.
15:53He stopped nearby a quarry that was just off the M6.
15:57He stopped in Kendal.
15:58And all the time he was just making these little stops off in these remote locations on the way up
16:05to Cumbria.
16:09There's a manhunt underway and they're trying to track down Wilkinson now.
16:12He's, by this point, he's the prime suspect with everything that they've found.
16:16And when they chase him, he's sleeping in his van in a pub car park in Kirkstone in the Lake
16:21District.
16:24Police tracked down William Wilkinson.
16:27He was asleep in his van when they came knocking and they arrested him straight away.
16:32I'm going to give you a quick search, right?
16:33So you've got a bag. Have you got any needles or anything like that for you?
16:38Wilkinson is arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to the police station for questioning.
16:45You've been arrested this morning for murder.
16:48The circumstances around that is that Edward Forrester has been reported missing.
16:52Apparent blood has been found at your home address and you've been missing at the time of Edward's disappearance.
16:58And he initially denied any knowledge of Eddie's disappearance or any knowledge of any kind of dispute and said that
17:07it was just a coincidence that he was not at home and that he'd fled to Cumbria.
17:12He was just, according to him, enjoying some downtime in the countryside.
17:19Is Eddie still alive? Is he somewhere? If he is dead, you need to know where he is, will you?
17:26Tell us where he is.
17:30What clothing have you had with you when you've been travelling?
17:33Have you changed your clothes through that period?
17:38There's been some clothing seized from you.
17:41Blue hooded top, flat track suit bottoms, blue sleevers, t-shirt.
17:44What can you tell me about that clothing?
17:47Now, those two blood marks have been analysed and a DNA profile has been obtained, which relates to the victim.
17:55How can you explain that?
17:58Why is his blood inside your house?
18:03Is that because you've assaulted him, killed him and disposed of the evidence but left him behind?
18:14Wilkinson was taken away for an interview and he wasn't cooperative at all.
18:18He answered no comment to all questions, which isn't unusual.
18:22Sometimes people are advised to do that, but there was an arrogance about how he went about it as well.
18:28He was, as you would expect, he was put in a cell in custody and as the custody sergeant was
18:33taking him back to his cell, he just nodded at him and he said, good luck, mate.
18:37Very arrogant.
18:40With Wilkinson in custody, police continue searching for Eddie, knowing that without a body, securing a conviction will be difficult.
18:49The police are dealing with what they would call a no-body murder.
18:52They think that Eddie's been killed.
18:54They've arrested the person that they think has done it, but they've not got Eddie's body.
18:59They've not found him.
19:00He's still a missing person at this stage.
19:03You do have circumstances of no-body murder.
19:07It's very difficult to say what the scenario is until you sort of delve a little bit deeper and it
19:13would be looking at the volume of blood, for example, would be a sign.
19:18But if the person has been busy for some time, it does heighten your concerns and only becomes sort of
19:23a no-body murder, if you like, once you've probably identified the suspect and they've been arrested.
19:31And then you're using that opportunity to say, well, where are they?
19:34Are they alive?
19:36Have you hidden them somewhere?
19:37They've been kidnapped.
19:38So it's only when you do that that you identify whether or not they're a no-body murder.
19:45And because of the geography of it, obviously, Lancashire police were searching in Blackpool, looking for evidence.
19:51But then there was also the element of, was Eddie's body in Cumbria?
19:54Had he been taken?
19:55What was going on here?
19:56They had to work quite closely together, the two police forces, to try and piece together with nothing from Wilkinson
20:02to go off.
20:06Extensive inquiries involving multiple officers, detectives, search dogs, colleagues from Cumbria police.
20:14These inquiries were launched.
20:16Especially in that area of England, it is very, very vast.
20:20It's very widespread.
20:21There's a lot of woodland.
20:23There's a lot of uneven surfaces.
20:25So it was a near impossible task for Lancashire and Cumbria police to carry out a search of that scale.
20:36The operation went on for almost two weeks, and it was on September the 13th that Cumbria police managed to
20:42find a breakthrough.
20:43They contacted Lancashire police to tell them about a discovery that they'd made in Ashes Lane in Staveley.
20:48Sadly, they'd found a suitcase there containing human remains, and they believed that these were parts of Eddie's body.
20:56With the discovery of Eddie's remains, police can finally confirm his death.
21:02Now their focus becomes building the case against Wilkinson to uncover the motive and see justice served for this brutal
21:10killing.
21:26Blackpool, September 2023.
21:2965-year-old William Wilkinson is in custody in connection with the murder of his neighbor, 55-year-old Eddie
21:37Forrester.
21:38Police make a breakthrough in the search for Eddie's body, discovering a suitcase containing human remains.
21:44But unfortunately, it's not his full body.
21:49Other remains were found across Cumbria, Kendal and other locations, often just discarded in woodland.
21:59Because of the way that Eddie's body parts were found, it became apparent that after he'd been killed, his body
22:07had been dismembered.
22:09The evidence pointed to Wilkinson using a knife and possibly a saw, some kind of an electric saw, to actually
22:17dismember Eddie's body and place him into bags and dispose of.
22:21Following the dismemberment of Eddie's body, Wilkinson spent a number of days disposing of various body parts across multiple counties.
22:31So he disposed of Mr. Forrester's head in a quarry off the M6.
22:37He disposed of something else in a river in Kendal.
22:41He disposed of Eddie's arms and legs in Cumbria also.
22:46And this was a crude attempt to ensure that Eddie's body would never be found.
22:55The police are using everything that they've got.
22:57They've still not got anything from Wilkinson to help them.
23:00So they're using all the different types of evidence gathering that they can to try and piece together a timeline
23:06of what's happened.
23:07They look at the CCTV.
23:08From the first couple of days, they're looking and they see Wilkinson going about his business in Blackpool with carrier
23:14bags, dropping things off in public bins.
23:18This now is assumed to be body parts.
23:22And then in the days that followed, as he makes his way up to Cumbria, he's depositing things at those
23:29sites that he stopped at as well, at the quarry, in Ashes Lane, until eventually they find him in the
23:36pub car park.
23:40Investigators begin carefully re-examining all of the evidence.
23:45After the murder, Wilkinson systematically dismembered the body and he placed various body parts in plastic bags.
23:54These plastic bags were then moved into his white Peugeot boxer van.
23:58And so began a meticulous, methodical and systematic approach to disposing of Eddie's remains and anything that might link him
24:07to this crime.
24:07And this was his initial attempt at getting away with this.
24:14While the killing appears impulsive, it was followed by what seems like calculated concealment of evidence.
24:21Because of the way that some of the body parts were deposited in public bins and the timescales that they
24:26were working to,
24:27sadly, those bins had been emptied and collected and gone off to wherever public bins go to.
24:33And the body parts that were deposited have never been recovered.
24:38Despite extensive searches, police in both Cumbria and Lancashire were unable, ultimately, to locate all of Eddie's remains.
24:47And I think we have to accept that, given the nature of the locations where some of those remains were
24:55disposed,
24:56it's likely that animals had taken some of those off.
25:04It was subsequently identified that Wilkinson was trying to get access to a boat.
25:09That could be for a number of reasons.
25:11However, the most likely reason is that he was going to go quite far out and dispose of more remains.
25:17It doesn't bear thinking about what Wilkinson was going to do if he got a boat.
25:21It could still be the case that he was going to escape.
25:24He would have got very far, but his state of mind at the time wasn't entirely stable,
25:30backed up by the horrific act that he just committed.
25:34An investigation like this isn't common.
25:36It is only carried out in relation to the more serious of crimes,
25:41where there is a significant risk to a member of the public coming to harm,
25:45and that the perpetrator may dispose of crucial evidence.
25:52It's very rare to have a manhunt like Lancashire Police were left with following the murder of Eddie.
25:59The search and the manhunt spanned more than one county.
26:04There was more than one police force involved.
26:07There was various crime scenes because there was various body parts discovered through all different areas.
26:13So the manhunt for him at that time was huge.
26:17There would have been a number of specialist resources deployed,
26:20and a large number of resources on both the police forces were mobilised.
26:25With no additional remains discovered,
26:27the pathologist's further examination of Eddie's recovered body parts
26:31revealed that he had likely fought for his life.
26:36Eddie Forrester's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
26:39He had been hit over the head ten times with this crude murder weapon,
26:45and he'd suffered abrasions to his head and skull fractures.
26:52Blood pattern analysis shows the defendant struck forceful blows into wet blood,
26:58and it was determined that Eddie was both in an upright position and on the floor
27:05when these blows were rained down on him,
27:08and I think that's really disturbing because this is a vulnerable man
27:13who is on the floor, defenceless,
27:16and the blows continue to rain down on him.
27:20After death, Wilkinson inflicted incised wounds to the chin,
27:26the jaw, and to the right side of the mouth,
27:28and it was later determined that these were gratuitous.
27:32These weren't part of the later dismemberments.
27:37The post-mortem also showed,
27:40once they've identified various parts of Eddie's body,
27:43that he had defensive marks on his arms,
27:47which suggests that he was trying to protect himself whilst he was being hit,
27:52probably raised his arms up in defence against Wilkinson.
27:58One thing that was never recovered was Eddie's heart.
28:01When the police and the forensics looked at his body and his torso that had been found,
28:07it was really clear that the heart had been deliberately removed.
28:10That was described as an extra gratuitous act that had been done by Wilkinson.
28:17I understand that in order to dispose of Eddie and take him away from the area,
28:23that it would be easier to do it in smaller pieces.
28:26So dismembering, yes, but then, you know, to take the heart out,
28:31I can't understand that.
28:32And it seems quite strange,
28:33other than the fact that it was a sort of control element
28:37and a hatred element to be able to do that.
28:42It's hard to know what that might represent for Wilkinson.
28:45Was it some element of who Eddie was?
28:47Is that what he was removing?
28:49What did he think that Eddie had done
28:51that deserved such gruesome treatment?
28:56I would imagine that for Eddie,
29:00he was completely shocked by the attack,
29:03almost like a surprise attack.
29:05And I would imagine the attack probably took place shortly after he came in
29:09from the last time we saw him.
29:11He'd been up to his flat, put the dog in,
29:14and at some point he's attacked by Wilkinson shortly afterwards.
29:18So it's the element of surprise that's taken him back a bit.
29:22And then once he's been subdued on the floor,
29:25the fact that someone's trying to hit you
29:27with this metal object on the head,
29:31it must have been completely frightening for him.
29:34Very, very scary.
29:36And at some point he would have probably passed out
29:38and then, you know, he would have carried on.
29:41I mean, it's very difficult to say how many blows were,
29:45you know, he actually was the final blow.
29:47But, yeah, it's very frightening for him.
29:52It's hard to say what happened at the flat
29:54and what happened in Seafield Road.
29:56It's a strange situation that you've got two neighbours
29:59that don't get along.
30:01There's friction.
30:02It happens.
30:03You've got a man who's got no previous convictions for violence.
30:06A middle-aged man.
30:08Has he just lost his temper and hit out in a rage?
30:13What's happened?
30:14Eddie seems such a mild-mannered, innocent victim, really.
30:19Quite naive and vulnerable.
30:20It's really hard to try and gauge what's happened
30:24to become such a terrible and graphic, gratuitous case.
30:31We can only reflect on the fact that an argument may have occurred
30:37after Eddie came back from his walk
30:39and Wilkerson armed himself with this weapon to subdue Eddie
30:45and then, you know, kill him by multiple blood trauma injuries to his head.
30:52If you think about it as maybe an impulsive act,
30:55sort of a loss of control, a loss of temper, that sort of thing,
30:58you would imagine there to be some sort of horror at what he'd done,
31:02some kind of shock moment, and, oh, my God, you know,
31:05I need to port this, I need to tell somebody.
31:08To go on and to go about his day-to-day business,
31:11to go and get his hair cut and change his appearance,
31:14to dismember the body in the way that he did,
31:16I mean, that's really chilling.
31:19It's very, very concerning,
31:21the actions that Wilkerson took following this murder.
31:27The concerning part is that he seemed to know what he was doing
31:31by dismembering Eddie.
31:34So it begs the question, has he done this before?
31:37Because it is a big, big jump,
31:39if that is the first person he's murdered, to then dismember him.
31:42So it then causes great concern,
31:44what has he done in the past to cause him to go to that length again?
31:49I think Wilkerson actually thought he was relatively clever
31:53in his actions after the murder.
31:56I think he thought if he could dispose of Eddie's remains
31:59in their entirety across multiple locations,
32:02that he would never come under suspicion.
32:06But there was so much he overlooked,
32:08it didn't take long for the police
32:11to have him pinned as their number one suspect.
32:13Their first visit to his flat made them suspicious.
32:18There was blood around the doorframe.
32:19He'd disappeared.
32:20His story didn't stack up.
32:27Wilkerson didn't cooperate with the police
32:29in terms of locating further remains of Eddie's.
32:33And this showed a real lack of remorse on his part for what he'd done.
32:39Imagine Eddie's family's pain.
32:41Not only had Eddie been killed,
32:43but he was returning back to them in pieces.
32:46Eddie Forrester's family were denied
32:48the ability to grieve in the aftermath of Eddie's murder.
32:53There was a number of weeks, I think it was three weeks,
32:56where two police forces across two different counties
33:00were desperately attempting to locate Eddie's remains to grieve.
33:04They were in limbo, waiting for the next discovery to be made.
33:08And they actually later said,
33:10every discovery that was made was like reliving that news
33:14that Eddie had been murdered all over again.
33:21And this was a double blow for Eddie's family.
33:23They had lost a loved one in the most brutal circumstances.
33:27Not only did they have to contend with that,
33:29they also had to contend with the fact
33:31that his remains had been dispersed
33:33across multiple locations,
33:35across at least two counties.
33:37And they delayed his funeral.
33:39They waited until the 18th of December,
33:42two and a half months after his murder,
33:44to bury him because they were so hopeful.
33:47That all of his remains would be located.
33:49And it was so important to them
33:51that they could locate all of them
33:53and bury Eddie as one hole.
33:55But very sadly for them, that was not possible.
33:58So he can't rest in peace as far as they're concerned.
34:02The savage killing and drawn-out recovery of Eddie's body
34:05leave his family and friends heartbroken and traumatised
34:09as the murder trial looms.
34:26Lancashire police have charged 65-year-old William Wilkinson
34:30with the murder of his neighbour, 55-year-old Eddie Forrester.
34:34As both parties prepare for the murder trial,
34:37police re-evaluate their evidence against Wilkinson.
34:43The staggered recoveries
34:46in relation to Eddie's remains being found
34:50would effectively strengthen the case against Wilkinson,
34:55especially with the forensic analysis it's carried out
34:59in relation to where it's disposed, how it's disposed,
35:03because inquiries would have been undertaken
35:05to establish Wilkinson's movements.
35:11In the face of the upcoming murder trial,
35:14Wilkinson expresses little to no remorse.
35:18When Wilkinson walked into the dark,
35:21he just looked like a middle-aged bloke from Blackpool.
35:25But then when you hear the horror of what he'd done,
35:29it was hard to look at the man sitting in the dock
35:32and think about the events that he'd took in there.
35:37In the victim impact statements,
35:39Eddie's family said that when they learnt that he'd been murdered,
35:42they assumed it would be something like a single punch,
35:45something, maybe a momentary flashpoint that had got out of hand.
35:50But it was really shocking and horrific for them
35:52to learn the way that this had happened in such a calculated way.
36:00Wilkinson walked into the dock to be sentenced
36:02and he seemed very calm.
36:04I suppose he's a man who's not really got a lot in the way of emotion
36:08to have been able to have done what he'd done,
36:10but he looked very much like the man who was pottering around Blackpool,
36:14going to the bookies, going to the barbers.
36:17His hair had grown back a little bit,
36:19but he didn't look like a man who was shocked at what he'd done
36:23and was facing the music.
36:25He almost looked like he was just there to accept his fate at this point.
36:32The discoveries in Cumbria and Lancashire by their respective police forces
36:37meant there was really no option, I think, for Wilkinson at this point
36:41but to plead guilty.
36:43And obviously that was done with a view to reducing his sentence.
36:47He knew that this was something he couldn't get out of now,
36:50but he knew that he could potentially reduce his sentence.
36:55With overwhelming evidence being presented to him,
36:58Wilkinson did plead guilty now to murder
37:01and to perverting the course of justice.
37:08Wilkinson was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment
37:11with a minimum term of 19 years and three months
37:14before he would be eligible for parole.
37:17And I think we have to accept at the age of 65
37:20as he was when sentenced.
37:23This effectively amounts to a whole life order for him.
37:27I think it's unlikely that he will ever be released from prison.
37:30I think he would die behind bars.
37:34I don't think this was premeditated
37:37and neither did the judge in sentencing
37:40and that would have been reflected in the sentencing.
37:43I think it was clear that there was an intention to kill
37:46on Wilkinson's part,
37:48but I don't think he had made plans to kill him that day.
37:54I think this is something that happened in a fit of rage.
37:56He grabbed the nearest implement,
37:58which just so happened to be
38:00a rather crude, broken wooden stick
38:03with a heavy metal bung.
38:04And before he knew what he'd done,
38:07he'd hit Eddie around the head ten times.
38:10I think when we look at the sentencing of William Wilkinson,
38:14I think it's fair.
38:15I think this is a near 20-year minimum term.
38:18This man is 65 years of age.
38:20And I think the judge has to take that into account
38:23upon sentencing.
38:25It is likely that he will die behind bars.
38:28This is town to mount to a whole life order.
38:31And I think had Wilkinson been younger
38:33and he'd committed this crime,
38:36we would have seen a more lengthy sentence.
38:40Eddie's loved ones make it known their feelings
38:42toward Wilkinson at the end of the sentencing.
38:46Some of Eddie's family came to court on the day of sentence
38:49and sat in the front row of the public gallery.
38:51It was obviously a very upsetting hearing for them
38:54to hear everything that had happened
38:57to this sweet member of the family.
38:59And they sat, listened through it all.
39:02It was a brave thing for them to do.
39:04Mostly they held on to their composure,
39:06but then when Wilkinson was led away
39:09to begin his sentence,
39:10they were shouting animal at him,
39:12which really sums up how they felt.
39:16Eddie's family were disgusted
39:17at the actions of Wilkinson.
39:20They have been unable to sleep since.
39:23They've suffered nightmares,
39:24especially when they found out
39:27what actions were taken after Eddie was murdered
39:29and he was dismembered.
39:31It's caused the family great distress,
39:34probably distress that they'll never recover from.
39:39The nature of Eddie Forrester's murder
39:42and the later dismemberment of his body
39:45dehumanised him to his family
39:47and they later remarked on that in a statement.
39:50It was difficult for them to properly lay him to rest
39:53when all of his remains were not there.
39:58The details of this case reveal Wilkinson
40:01to be a cold individual,
40:03capable of extreme and savage violence.
40:07Despite admitting to murder,
40:09Wilkinson didn't help the police.
40:10He refused to identify other locations
40:12where parts of the body might be
40:14and he did not provide any information
40:16that might help the family grieve their loved one.
40:19This suggests someone who's callous,
40:21wants to maintain control
40:22and doesn't want to address
40:24the gruesome things that they've done.
40:27I think what we're potentially looking at
40:30with somebody like Wilkinson
40:31is a psychopath.
40:33This is a man who is easily able
40:36to detach from what he's doing
40:39and what he's done
40:41and to not feel the consequences of that.
40:45And I think that's evident from what he does
40:47with the later dismemberment.
40:49And some of that was gratuitous.
40:50It was not for the purposes of disposing of the body.
40:53It was done for gratuitous reasons.
40:57He removed the heart.
40:59We don't know what the motivation was for that.
41:02But there was no need for him to do that.
41:05So there was a reason, an instinct within him
41:07that compelled him to do that.
41:09So I think we are looking at an animal.
41:11I think when Eddie Forrester's family
41:14shouted animal at Wilkinson
41:16on his sentencing,
41:18I think they'd hit the nail on the head.
41:22He has got to the age of 65
41:24and all of a sudden
41:25he has woken up one day
41:27and killed a man
41:29in the most brutal circumstances.
41:30And I think that's something
41:32I struggle to reconcile.
41:34I struggle to understand
41:36what happened,
41:39what switching him
41:40flicked on that particular day,
41:42what made him see red
41:44and attack
41:45and unleash his rage.
41:52I've been involved in many cases
41:54where dismembering has taken place
41:56and it takes a certain mindset
41:59to get over the fact
42:00that you're now dealing
42:01with a human being
42:02and then think about,
42:04you know,
42:05where are you going to cut them,
42:06how are you going to cut them?
42:07It's very strange to think about,
42:09very horrific,
42:10almost sadistic in a way
42:11to be able to do something like that.
42:14So, yeah, it's horrible.
42:17The thing that really stood out to me
42:19about this case
42:19was the gratuitous violence,
42:22the level of violence,
42:24the way that Wilkinson
42:28coldly went about
42:29doing what he did.
42:31And yet,
42:33the only thing that
42:35really seems to have been an issue,
42:37the only kind of motive,
42:38is this little squabble
42:40about feeding the birds.
42:41It's shocking.
42:49I think Wilkinson
42:51can be best described
42:53as wholly remorseless.
42:57This is a man
42:57who refused to cooperate
42:59with the police.
43:00He held the key
43:01to the location
43:02of Eddie's remains
43:04and he refused
43:05to give that tiny bit
43:07back to the family
43:08to allow them
43:10to bury Eddie
43:11as one whole
43:12so that he could rest in peace.
43:13This is a cold,
43:15detached man
43:16who doesn't think of others.
43:22The horrifying details
43:24of this case
43:25leaves a lasting sense
43:26of fear and unease
43:28in the community.
43:30Whilst Blackpool
43:31has a higher-than-average
43:33crime rate,
43:34this is not a town
43:35that is synonymous
43:36with murder.
43:37This is a quintessentially
43:39English seaside destination.
43:41This is a tourist town.
43:43This kind of thing
43:44doesn't really happen there.
43:46So the residents
43:47of Blackpool
43:48were shocked
43:49at what had happened
43:50and they were left
43:52in a state of disbelief
43:53that this vulnerable,
43:56quiet man,
43:57he was small in stature,
43:58he was five feet,
43:59five inches tall,
44:00he had mobility issues,
44:01he would be seen out
44:02and about
44:03with his beloved
44:04rescue dog Cassie.
44:05All of a sudden
44:06he was gone
44:07in the most brutal
44:07circumstances.
44:09It was hard
44:09for them to take in.
44:17Blackpool was somewhere
44:19I used to go on holiday
44:20every year
44:20with my family
44:21and what struck me
44:25particularly about this case,
44:27especially a location
44:29that was a happy place
44:31to go for me
44:32and my family
44:33was the level of depravity
44:35that was involved
44:35in this,
44:37especially the lengths
44:39that Wilkinson went to
44:41following the murder
44:42and the dismemberment
44:45he carried out,
44:46the dissection
44:46he carried out
44:47with no clear reason
44:48whatsoever
44:50and the lengths
44:51that he went to
44:52to dispose
44:52of Eddie's remains
44:53and cover his tracks,
44:55especially in a town
44:56like Blackpool
44:58that's known
44:58for family fun,
45:00it's known
45:00as a tourist attraction,
45:02a really lively
45:02tourist attraction.
45:03It was a great place
45:04to go
45:05a number of years ago.
45:06I used to go
45:07all the time
45:07with my family
45:08every October
45:09for the eliminations
45:10and for that to happen
45:13in that particular area
45:14is a very dark spell
45:16for Blackpool.
45:20Eddie's best friend Trevor
45:22would take in
45:23his beloved dog Cassie
45:25after his death,
45:26both having tragically
45:27lost their closest companion.
45:31I can't imagine
45:32how this would have felt
45:33for Trevor Lake.
45:34He had been friends
45:35with Eddie Forrester
45:36for 22 years
45:37because the two
45:38were extremely close.
45:40They saw each other
45:41every other day
45:42and they spoke
45:43on the phone
45:43every single day.
45:45They relied upon each other.
45:46They were each other's
45:47family and support network.
45:49So I can only imagine
45:51the loss
45:53for Trevor Lake
45:54of not having
45:55Eddie in his life.
45:56And I know
45:57that Trevor
45:57took Eddie's beloved
45:59dog Cassie
46:01in
46:01and now looks
46:03after her.
46:04and Trevor
46:06has since said
46:07that without her
46:09he's not sure
46:10he would have been able
46:11to cope in the aftermath
46:12as much as he has
46:14been able to.
46:44If he took a moment
46:44in the aftermath
46:44of the film
46:44that was
46:55Transcription by CastingWords
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