- 2 days ago
Britains Countryside Killers - Season 2 - Episode 02: A Monster in Plain Sight
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:02In the rural village of Brocham, Surrey, 14-year-old Roy Tuttle vanishes on his way home from school.
00:10One evening, though, when he's age 14, in April 1968, he doesn't come home.
00:16It was so unusual for somebody to go missing, especially a child who was hitchhiking home,
00:21and they just assumed he would return home.
00:23And then three days later, on the 26th of April, the unthinkable happened.
00:27A forestry worker found Roy's body.
00:31There's an absolute shockwave through the community.
00:34People were looking at each other in the street thinking, how could this happen here?
00:38Despite the tireless efforts of Surrey police, the investigation stalls and the case eventually goes cold.
00:45You've looked at all of the leads that you've got. They've all come to a dead end.
00:48Have to start shutting things down.
00:52Abilities in DNA and forensics had moved on.
00:55They were able to deliver a DNA profile and a breakthrough in this historic and unsolved case.
01:03Updateiin, try to think the next day.
01:05Bye!
01:10Bye!
01:27Bye!
01:38BROCKHAM
01:38Brockham is a village and civil parish
01:40in the Mole Valley district of Surrey in England.
01:44It's a very picturesque village.
01:46It has the River Mole running through it
01:48and it is a very idyllic place to live
01:50with about 2,500 people living there.
01:54It's a village which has its own identity
01:56and a great history of a church that dates back to the 13th century,
02:00one of the most photographed and picturesque cricket grounds in the country.
02:04It's right on the North Downs, very close to Box Hill,
02:08which is made famous by a scene in Jane Austen's novel Emma.
02:13In terms of crime, this is a very low crime area.
02:17You're looking at potentially a bike theft,
02:19occasional fight outside a pub, that kind of thing.
02:21This is an area to raise children happily and safely.
02:24This is an area that you'd probably retire from
02:26if you'd lived in London for many years.
02:28This is an area that's quite close to the big city,
02:31but it's definitely far enough away
02:32that it's quiet, peaceful and safe.
02:36In 1968, 14-year-old Roy Tuttle lives in Brockham with his family.
02:42Raising a family in that area are Hilary and Dennis Tuttle.
02:46They already have one older son, Colin,
02:49and in 1954 they have a younger son, Roy Tuttle.
02:55Roy Tuttle, a 14-year-old boy known as Tutts to his friends,
02:58he was the son of Dennis and Hilary Tuttle.
03:00He also had a brother, Colin,
03:02and they were a very close, very happy family.
03:06The Tuttles were a very close family of four.
03:10Roy was a little bit shy, a bit reserved.
03:12He didn't really go to the scouts or anything,
03:14any clubs or activities,
03:15but to those who did know him,
03:17he was your run-of-the-mill teenage lad.
03:19He was good to be around, happy girl, lucky,
03:21just mischievous as all teenage boys are.
03:25Roy had been going to Kingston Grammar School,
03:27which is a famous old school
03:28with a famous old school uniform.
03:31It's a bright red blazer with grey stripes.
03:34This is very unusual for a British school,
03:36and it's very, very distinctive in the area.
03:39The children go from many miles away.
03:40The Tuttles lived around 15 miles from this particular school,
03:44and anyone in the area immediately recognised children
03:46wearing this red and grey blazer as Kingston Grammar boys.
03:51So Roy and Colin both attended Kingston Grammar School.
03:55In order to get there, they would take a bus part of the route,
03:58but then they would hitch the rest of the way,
04:00and this was because Roy was saving for a bicycle,
04:04and him and his brother Colin were saving for a train set as well.
04:07So they'd use the money for their bus fare
04:09in order to save for these things that they wanted.
04:13For some context, back in the late 60s,
04:15hitchhiking wasn't as taboo as it perhaps is viewed now.
04:19Their parents at first weren't keen on the idea,
04:21but they did resign themselves to the fact
04:23that their boys would hitchhike home.
04:25Nothing had ever happened, so why wouldn't they trust it?
04:29The late 1960s was considered to be relatively safe.
04:33I remember doing it myself in the early 70s,
04:36and you wouldn't have given it a second thought.
04:38Now it's a different thing entirely.
04:43Tuesday, 23rd April 1968,
04:46Roy leaves school as normal at 3.30,
04:48and he gets the bus.
04:50He gets the bus for the first part of his journey,
04:53but determined to save up for this much sought-after bike,
04:55he decides to pocket the rest of the cash for himself,
04:58and he's seen on a lay-by near Chessington
05:01trying to thumb a lift.
05:04However, that evening, Roy doesn't return home.
05:08As the hours ticked by,
05:10Dennis and Hillary started becoming worried
05:12about where their youngest boy was.
05:14Perhaps he was out playing with his friends
05:15for the first few hours, that's what they thought,
05:17but as the evening grew later,
05:19they decided to phone the police
05:21and report Roy as missing.
05:23So, having called the police,
05:25they came round to take a missing person report
05:27from Roy's parents,
05:29but they did nothing further that evening,
05:31assuming that he was staying with friends
05:33and he would turn up the following morning.
05:35Back then, this was probably the sort of thing
05:36that police would have done,
05:37because it was so unusual for somebody to go missing,
05:40especially a child who was hitchhiking home,
05:42and they just assumed he would return home
05:44when he'd woken up in the morning at his friend's house.
05:48When Roy still hasn't come home by the next day,
05:51police are now very active in their search.
05:53They're taking descriptions of him
05:55to the local Chessington Zoo,
05:56where a young boy might have gone,
05:57or families who might have seen a young boy
05:59might have information.
06:01They take his description and his information
06:03to the local area of Toll,
06:05to see if anyone has seen him there.
06:06They speak to local bus drivers,
06:08but they don't get any critical information.
06:12Police would have asked everything about him,
06:14what he looked like, what his interests were,
06:16particularly what he was wearing at that time,
06:18his route home,
06:19where the likelihood he might be.
06:22They put up posters and started to talk to people
06:25about if they'd seen Roy at any point.
06:27They also checked the military pillboxes
06:29to see if by any chance he had fallen asleep in one
06:31or was hiding in one,
06:32but there was no sign of Roy.
06:36Police threw a whole net around that area of Surrey,
06:39stopping cars on the street,
06:41just questioning everybody,
06:42producing pictures to try and get some sort of lead
06:45or some sort of effort.
06:46Media, obviously, was an important outlet for him,
06:49local newspapers, even local TV news.
06:52Anything that could put the picture of Roy
06:54in front of the public
06:55to see if that produced any sort of response.
06:58But as the days went on,
06:59the pressure was on,
07:01a missing schoolboy,
07:02every day that goes by,
07:03people start fearing the worst.
07:06Once you start to publicise this,
07:08then people help join in,
07:11try to provide information wherever possible.
07:13It was Brocombe, Dorking,
07:15all around that area was very much a community
07:18and the police at that time could rely on that community
07:21to help them whatever way they could.
07:25With every passing hour,
07:27the Fowleys must have just thought,
07:29minds must have raced,
07:30the imagination gone wild.
07:31The worst, obviously,
07:33scenarios were playing over themselves.
07:35It just got worse and worse and worse,
07:37the pressure higher and higher and higher.
07:39What had happened to their lad?
07:40It's a horrible situation for anybody to be in.
07:44Three days later,
07:46everyone's worst fears are confirmed.
07:49So the search continues for the next three days.
07:52People are going more and more concerned
07:54about where Roy may be.
07:55And then three days later,
07:56on the 26th of April,
07:58the unthinkable happened.
07:59A forestry worker working on Lord Breaverbrook's estate
08:02found Roy's body.
08:05The boy's body is found in a wooded copse near Mickleham.
08:08Forestry workers spot the red jacket of the school uniform
08:12in the dense undergroves,
08:14then move towards it.
08:15They horribly discover this young boy
08:18found murdered underneath it.
08:21So, interestingly,
08:22the forest worker had been working
08:24in that area in the morning.
08:26He'd gone off to take a break
08:27and had come back later on in the day.
08:29And that's when he had found Roy,
08:31leading to the suggestion
08:32that Roy had been put there very recently.
08:35Police sealed off the area
08:36where the body had been discovered.
08:38Now, a missing person inquiring
08:40has suddenly escalated into a murder hunt.
08:42Examination of the body,
08:43the pathologist told them
08:44that not only had Roy been strangled,
08:47possibly with a ligature,
08:48the police believed it was, in fact,
08:50quite possibly his own school tie,
08:51but that he had been brutally sexually abused,
08:54in fact, raped.
08:58So, the police have a tough job,
08:59and any policeman will tell you
09:01one of the worst aspects of his job
09:03is having to go to a family,
09:05particularly parents,
09:06of someone who has died in tragic circumstances,
09:09and break the news.
09:10It is a very, very difficult job,
09:12and you can just imagine
09:13not only the reaction of the police
09:15who are having to sit down with the parents,
09:17but the parents themselves.
09:18Finally, they have the news
09:19they'd been dreading for so many days.
09:22Child murders were almost unheard of.
09:23When a child goes missing,
09:25let alone is found dead,
09:26there's an absolute shockwave
09:28through the community,
09:29through the wider community,
09:30even across the country.
09:32The ultimate murderer of Roy Tuthill
09:33was a real front-page news,
09:36and people were looking at each other
09:38in the street thinking,
09:38how could this happen here?
09:41Surrey police are under intense pressure
09:43to locate a child rapist and murderer
09:45and deliver justice for Roy's family.
09:48But will they succeed?
10:02On the 23rd of April, 1968,
10:0614-year-old Roy Tuthill
10:07disappears in the quiet village
10:09of Brockham in Surrey.
10:11Three days later,
10:12his body is found outside
10:13Cherkley Court in Mickleham.
10:15He has been sexually assaulted
10:17and strangled.
10:20Just three days after Roy first disappeared,
10:23his family get the most upsetting,
10:25most awful news that you can imagine.
10:27A young boy's body has been found.
10:30The parents of this murdered schoolboy,
10:33utterly distraught,
10:34their lives completely ruined.
10:36Roy's father, Dennis,
10:37was to die within a year or two.
10:39No doubt of a broken heart.
10:40I'm sure whatever reason he died
10:43would have been exasperated
10:44by what had happened.
10:45Hillary was to die 20, 30 years later.
10:48There's no comeback here.
10:49There's no way you can make this up.
10:51It's always part of your life.
10:54Officers secure the scene
10:56to preserve crucial evidence.
10:59This isn't an area where
11:00something like this
11:01has ever happened before.
11:02This is forest close to the estate
11:04of Lord Beaverbrook,
11:05the Canadian press baron
11:07who was part of
11:08Winston Churchill's war cabinet.
11:09So police at that time
11:11in the late 1960s
11:12don't have the DNA
11:13and forensic capabilities
11:15that we have today.
11:16But police work
11:17in terms of boots on the ground
11:18is very much the same.
11:19They cordon off the area,
11:21they see all the scene,
11:22they speak to anyone
11:23that's been through the area,
11:24and they're busy knocking on doors,
11:26asking,
11:26did you see anything?
11:28Have you seen this missing boy?
11:30It was a country lane
11:32for want of a better term.
11:34There was metal railings,
11:35metal fence either side,
11:38and the body was actually
11:39about a couple of yards
11:41just over the fence.
11:43Slightly concealed,
11:44but not overly concealed.
11:46So there was no great effort.
11:48No houses nearby,
11:49no witnesses nearby.
11:51And it looked as though
11:52it was a sort of hurried dump,
11:54if that made sense.
11:54You know,
11:55no great effort was taken
11:56to conceal the body.
11:58The police were working
12:00on the theory
12:00that this had to be someone
12:01who had a previous MO
12:03for picking up boys
12:04and sexually abusing them
12:05and then disposing of them.
12:07They didn't think
12:08this was a single one-off,
12:10opportunist crime,
12:11that this was someone
12:12who had a pathway
12:13and knew how to do this.
12:16The fear, of course,
12:17that the community
12:17was a child killer on the loose.
12:19All the pressure
12:20that they were under
12:21didn't change the fact
12:22that they had so little to go on.
12:23It was not impossible
12:24for someone to have
12:25picked up this boy,
12:26sexually abused him,
12:28killed him,
12:28left the county,
12:29left the area,
12:31could have gone
12:32to any other part
12:32of Britain
12:33and just disappeared
12:34way out beyond
12:36the reach of Surrey Police.
12:39Investigators begin
12:39their inquiries
12:40within the local community.
12:43Surrey Police brought in
12:44officers from over the county
12:46who were engaged
12:47in house-to-house inquiries
12:49trying to identify
12:50Roy's last movements, etc.
12:52The SIO at that time,
12:53Paddy Doyle,
12:54I know that this was
12:55very personal to Paddy
12:56because Paddy had a son
12:57of the same age
12:58and it really was a case
12:59of trying to trace witnesses,
13:02identify Roy's
13:03potential last movements
13:04and appeal for people
13:05to come forward.
13:07Police have now got
13:08150 officers on the scene
13:10and they are now
13:11interviewing people
13:12at mass scale.
13:13They complete
13:1410,300 interviews
13:16in a very short amount
13:18of time.
13:18These interviews,
13:19there could be anything
13:20from sort of 20,
13:2130 minutes
13:22to several hours.
13:23They interviewed pretty much
13:24anybody that might have
13:25seen anything
13:26in that area.
13:28So police had very little
13:29to go on at this point
13:30so they put up posters
13:32in the area
13:33to ask if anybody
13:34had seen anything suspicious
13:35and a bus driver
13:36and a bus driver came forward
13:37to say that it had been
13:38an Austin Westminster
13:39parked in the lay-by
13:40where he should have been
13:41able to pull his bus into
13:42at the relevant time
13:43that Roy disappeared.
13:45A boy matching
13:46Roy's description
13:47was seen leaning
13:48into that window.
13:49The driver
13:50was leaning across
13:51speaking back to him.
13:53This man was described
13:54as being short,
13:55stocky,
13:56with white,
13:56greyish hair.
13:57The same car
13:58had been reported
13:59seen near
14:00where the body
14:00was dumped.
14:04One of the most
14:05significant details
14:06about this car,
14:06not only is it
14:07a grey,
14:08silver Austin
14:08Westminster,
14:09which is quite
14:09a distinctive vehicle,
14:10but it has also got
14:11new registration
14:12plates on it.
14:13In the late 60s,
14:14the British government
14:15decided to have
14:16yellow registration
14:17plates on the back
14:18of a car
14:18and white registration
14:20plates on the front
14:21of a car.
14:21This car has those
14:22white and yellow
14:23registration plates.
14:26So following the posters
14:27being put up
14:27for information,
14:29a lady came forward
14:29to say that at about
14:30half past four
14:31on the relevant day,
14:32she had seen a boy
14:33matching Roy's description,
14:35hitchhiking,
14:36and she had said to him,
14:37being concerned,
14:38she had said,
14:38there are plenty of buses
14:39passing here,
14:40you don't have to hitchhike.
14:41But Roy,
14:42being unconcerned,
14:43said, oh,
14:43I'll be absolutely fine.
14:44So she left
14:45and she went to do
14:46some grocery shopping,
14:47and when she came back
14:48about 20 minutes later,
14:49Roy was gone,
14:50suggesting that in that
14:51time span,
14:52he had got into a vehicle.
14:55So police carry out
14:56an exhaustive search
14:57of anybody that owns
14:58an Austin Westminster,
15:00and in those days,
15:01this is a manual search
15:03in every sense of the word.
15:04You've got to get
15:05the phone book out,
15:06you've got to have
15:06paper records,
15:07you've got to go through,
15:08find somebody's phone number,
15:09phone them,
15:10speak to them,
15:11go around to their address,
15:12record it all on
15:13separate bits of paper,
15:14and then it all goes back
15:15into case files.
15:16This is an exhaustive search,
15:17and in the end,
15:18it proved a fruitless one.
15:20With the car search
15:22yielding no results,
15:23police turned to a
15:24newly emerging field
15:25of investigation.
15:28Forensic science
15:29was still in its infancy,
15:31really,
15:31when it comes to
15:31helping police detectives
15:33in the late 60s,
15:35and all the forensic
15:36examination of the scene
15:38and the body was able
15:39to show was a blood stain
15:41on Roy's trousers.
15:42Problem was that
15:43the blood stain
15:44could only narrow it
15:45down to either
15:46blood group A
15:47or blood group O.
15:49Now, unfortunately,
15:50those are the two
15:51most common blood groups
15:52in the world,
15:53so the police
15:54were not given
15:54any help, really,
15:56certainly when you judge it
15:57by modern times,
15:58by what they found
15:59at the scene.
16:01They would have spoken
16:02to anyone
16:02who they considered
16:03as a potential suspect
16:05and eliminated them.
16:06Did they have
16:07any firm idea
16:08as to who was responsible?
16:10Absolutely not.
16:11You know,
16:11they had no fingerprints
16:13or anything else like that
16:14that could have
16:14identified the suspect from.
16:15So even if they had
16:17a suspect,
16:18trying to tie that suspect
16:19down to the scene
16:21and to the murder,
16:22unless their witnesses
16:23may have been
16:24an uphill struggle.
16:25Fibres at that time
16:27wasn't a science.
16:28You know,
16:29you're talking about 1968,
16:30you're talking about
16:31fingerprints
16:32and the fact
16:33that you had a blood type.
16:34They were the most
16:35important aspects
16:36of forensic recovery
16:38that they had.
16:39Fibres wasn't
16:39one of the considerations.
16:43In 1968,
16:45nobody had ever thought
16:46of a sex offenders register.
16:47This wasn't to come in
16:48for many decades.
16:49So there was no actual list
16:51of known sexual deviants.
16:53If the police
16:54were then trying to trace
16:55around the country
16:56those who had committed
16:58sexual offences,
16:59they would have to make
16:59individual inquiries
17:01to each individual
17:02police force,
17:03which of course
17:03would take forever
17:04and of course
17:05many police forces
17:06couldn't be bothered
17:07to cooperate with
17:07over a crime
17:08that wasn't committed
17:09in their area.
17:10It was a very
17:11haphazard approach
17:12to dealing
17:13with sex crimes,
17:14partially because
17:16these sort of
17:17sex crimes
17:18wouldn't say unheard of
17:19but they were rare
17:20and police were more
17:21concerned with more
17:22routine crimes
17:23which kept on recurring.
17:25TV reconstructions
17:26of high profile cases
17:27are a familiar thing
17:29for TV viewers today
17:30and a familiar thing
17:31on social media
17:32and TV news.
17:33However,
17:33at that time
17:33they hadn't been done
17:34and desperate to get
17:36a breakthrough in this case,
17:37Philip Doyle,
17:38the lead inspector
17:39on this case
17:40creates the first
17:41TV reconstruction
17:42of this boy's
17:44final moment.
17:45He recruits his own son
17:47to walk up and down
17:48similar to Roy Tuttle
17:50in the same uniform
17:51along the same road
17:53in a bid to try
17:54and jog the memory
17:55of anybody
17:56who might watch
17:57that broadcast
17:57and anybody
17:58who might have seen
17:59something on that
18:00fateful day.
18:02Yes, the police
18:03were now under
18:04serious pressure.
18:05They'd never
18:06lost a child
18:07in these sort
18:07of circumstances
18:08but they had no leads.
18:10The bloodstain
18:10wouldn't have helped
18:11them a great deal.
18:12The sightings
18:13that had come up
18:14had really amounted
18:15to nothing
18:15between the
18:17possible connection
18:18with the driver
18:19of an Austin
18:20Westminster Mark II
18:21which was like
18:23looking like a needle
18:24in a haystack
18:24across the country
18:25and the fact
18:26that he was hitchhiking
18:27home.
18:28They had nothing else
18:29to go on.
18:31Detectives pursue
18:31other lines of inquiry
18:33learning of a potential
18:34suspect whose profile
18:36bears similarities
18:37to this case.
18:39They then start
18:40to look at similar
18:41crimes and similar
18:42offenders.
18:43They know that this
18:44individual has a
18:45predilection for young
18:46boys and has a
18:47sexual interest
18:47in school boys
18:48and so they head
18:50to the north of
18:50Scotland, Aberdeen
18:52where police have
18:53apprehended a man
18:54who has been
18:55sexually assaulting
18:56a young boy there
18:57in custody that day
18:58is Brian Lunn Field.
19:01Field himself said
19:03he had nothing to do
19:04with the Surrey incident,
19:05nothing to do
19:06with Tuttle's disappearance.
19:07Despite the obvious
19:08similarities of the
19:09two attacks,
19:10there was nothing
19:11that a Surrey
19:11police could take
19:12from this connection
19:13at all.
19:15With no evidence
19:16linking him to the
19:17murder of Roy Tuttle,
19:18Brian Field is dropped
19:20as a suspect.
19:21So the investigation
19:23went on for years
19:24with very little leads.
19:26Scotland Yard were
19:27called in to assist.
19:28They couldn't find
19:29anything to further
19:30the investigation.
19:31Every now and then
19:31they would put out
19:32an appeal for information
19:34and somebody would
19:35come forward with
19:35something fresh,
19:36but it never led
19:37anywhere.
19:37Although it remained
19:38high profile,
19:39they never got anywhere
19:40with finding out
19:41who had killed Roy.
19:43There does come a period
19:44in time where you've
19:46exhausted all of your
19:47inquiries that you can
19:48conduct.
19:48You've looked at all
19:49of the leads that you've
19:50got.
19:50They've all come to a
19:51dead end.
19:52Then you have to start
19:53shutting things down.
19:54Because you start
19:55shutting things down
19:56doesn't mean to say
19:57it comes to an end.
19:58And of course,
19:58over the years,
20:00if they had other
20:01pieces of information
20:02coming in,
20:02they would take the
20:03files off the shelves
20:04and they would pursue
20:05these pieces of
20:06information to see
20:07if they could identify
20:08who was responsible.
20:10Sadly,
20:10they were unlucky,
20:12unfortunate,
20:12and just couldn't
20:13identify a suspect.
20:16By 1996,
20:17almost 30 years
20:18after schoolboy
20:19Roy Tuttle's
20:20unsolved murder,
20:21his parents had
20:22now passed on
20:23without knowing
20:23who was responsible
20:24for their son's
20:25death.
20:25His brother had
20:26moved to America
20:27to start a new
20:28life and police
20:29were still working
20:30away trying to
20:31catch this killer.
20:32Abilities in DNA
20:34and forensics
20:34had moved on.
20:36Studying again
20:37the trousers Roy
20:38wore on the day
20:38he was murdered,
20:39they were able to
20:40deliver a DNA
20:42profile and a
20:43breakthrough in
20:44this historic
20:45and unsolved case.
20:48Finally,
20:49police have a
20:49genetic profile of
20:50the killer,
20:51but will this
20:52breakthrough lead
20:53to an arrest?
21:0730 years after
21:09the murder of
21:0914-year-old Roy
21:10Tuttle,
21:11police have finally
21:12made a breakthrough
21:13with the use of
21:14forensic science.
21:15However,
21:16their work is still
21:17far from over.
21:19By 1996,
21:21both of Roy's
21:22parents had
21:22passed away.
21:23Colin had moved
21:24to America.
21:26His, at that point,
21:27was the longest
21:28unsolved child
21:29murder case in
21:30Britain.
21:31That wouldn't be
21:31the case for much
21:32longer, though.
21:33In that year,
21:34cold case reviews
21:35were being looked
21:36at again.
21:37This was after the
21:37introduction of the
21:38DNA database a year
21:39earlier in 1995.
21:41Forensic technology
21:42had advanced in the
21:43three decades since
21:44Roy's murder.
21:45The cold case review
21:46came at the perfect
21:47time.
21:48In December of 1996,
21:49a sample was
21:50recovered from Roy's
21:52trousers.
21:52It was semen.
21:53So now police had a
21:55DNA profile of Roy's
21:56killer.
21:57They just needed a
21:58name and a face to
21:59match.
22:00In the late 90s,
22:02suddenly DNA sourcing
22:04exploded.
22:05The science suddenly
22:06took huge leaps
22:07forward, particularly
22:08it helped in
22:09forensic police work.
22:10Suddenly, police
22:11didn't just have a
22:12blood group to go on.
22:13They had all the
22:14integral patterns of
22:15blood and semen to
22:17work on, which
22:18produced like a
22:19passport.
22:19It really could narrow
22:20doubt to just single
22:22people.
22:23Despite this progress,
22:25investigators are unable
22:27to match the DNA to a
22:28suspect.
22:29Then in 2000, a cold
22:31case unit re-examines
22:33the case.
22:34I first heard about
22:36Roy Tuto and the
22:37murder of Roy Tuto in
22:38August of 2000.
22:40I was basically the
22:42head of CID for
22:43Surrey.
22:43We were going through a
22:44quiet period and one
22:45of the DCIs popped his
22:47head into the office and
22:48said, do you mind if we
22:49start looking at the
22:50cold case?
22:51And the cold case was
22:52the one of Roy Tuto.
22:53We had time on our
22:54hands, so we gave the
22:56authority for him to
22:57pull out all the case
22:58file and start seeing
23:00what we could find, if
23:02there's anything further
23:02we could do.
23:03It was a small team
23:04because it was a cold
23:06case.
23:06And in fairness, I
23:08don't solve crimes.
23:09The team solved the
23:10crime.
23:11I'm just the head of
23:12the team.
23:13There was the DCI who
23:14was like a dog with a
23:16bone and they collected
23:18all the paperwork.
23:19And what they actually
23:20did was, there was a
23:21thing called the National
23:22Crime Faculty at that
23:23time in 2000.
23:24This was down at
23:25Brams Hill and they had
23:27started a section called
23:28the series Crimes
23:28Analysis section.
23:30And they had started
23:30doing an analysis of
23:32all sex crimes and
23:34suspects throughout the
23:36country, bringing all
23:37the information together.
23:39They put the files that
23:40we had, we put the
23:41information that we had
23:42in respect of Roy
23:43Tuttle into the screen
23:44series Crimes Analysis
23:45section.
23:46And they actually came
23:47out with a report and
23:48they had identified
23:49Brian Field as a
23:51potential suspect.
23:54Brian Field re-emerges
23:55as a lead suspect.
23:57Detectives look into his
23:58past to get a better
23:59understanding of the
24:00man.
24:03Brian Lundfield is
24:04born in 1936 in
24:06Market Raisin, a market
24:08town with its own race
24:09course in a largely rural
24:10area.
24:11He doesn't live with his
24:12parents, they put him
24:13into foster care and he's
24:15put into a home called
24:17Lynn Wode House.
24:19So Paul and Ruby Field
24:21were actually very well
24:22known.
24:22He had used all his money
24:23to buy a home that he
24:25could then adopt children
24:26into.
24:27So Brian had 14 siblings,
24:29there were 15 of them
24:30altogether living in this
24:31house.
24:31and it was like a bit of an
24:32experiment really, but
24:33seemed to the outside world
24:34to be absolutely perfect.
24:37Paul Field was such a
24:39familiar name in the media
24:40at that time.
24:41Not only was he awarded an
24:42OBE for his services to
24:44young children, but he was
24:45singled out to appear on
24:46This Is Your Life, which was
24:48an enormous program in the
24:4960s, presented by Eamon
24:50Andrews, primetime ITV.
24:53Anything between 13, 15
24:54million people would tune in
24:56to watch the story of this
24:57man's life.
24:58He was a familiar figure in
25:00the media and on television.
25:01Brian Field was doing
25:02national service, but he was
25:04given leave to attend the
25:05filming of this program,
25:06along with his 13, 14 other
25:08siblings to support his
25:10foster father and was there
25:12on television in his military
25:13uniform.
25:16On the outside, in the
25:18press, the home has a
25:19glowing reputation.
25:21On the inside, for many of
25:22the boys there, this is not
25:24the case.
25:24Other boys at the home
25:26accuse Brian of abusing
25:28them and say in later years
25:30Brian had an obsession, a
25:32predilection for sexual
25:34abuse.
25:35Age 15, Brian leaves the
25:36foster home and after a brief
25:38spell in the military, he goes
25:39to work for the milk
25:40marketing board.
25:41Faithfully, this is a job that
25:43allows him to move easily
25:45around different parts of the
25:46country.
25:46He sells milk machinery around
25:48the West Country and for a
25:50spell in the late 60s, he
25:52also lives in Surrey.
25:55Brian Field had a long
25:57criminal record.
25:58It started in 1969 when he
26:00was in his 30s with a gross
26:02indecency charge.
26:04In 1972, that case in Aberdeen
26:06where he'd abducted a young
26:0814-year-old boy, sexually
26:10abused him.
26:11Boy managed to escape, but he
26:13was jailed for that.
26:15In 1986, he was jailed for four
26:17years after abducting two boys
26:19aged 13 and 16, though
26:21thankfully, they did manage to
26:23flee.
26:24He put them in the back of his
26:26car and as he's driving along,
26:28he took a tire iron out and
26:30said, right, you two, take your
26:31clothes off.
26:32The boys, scared witless, managed
26:35to fight and struggle and get out
26:37of the car as it was driving
26:39along the road.
26:40And then Field was later
26:41identified as the driver,
26:43arrested and convicted for that.
26:45Had these boys not managed to get
26:47out of the car, they would have
26:49been dead.
26:49Here's a man who lacked complete
26:51empathy and was bordering on the
26:53fact of being a psychopath.
26:56So with all these convictions, it
26:58meant that Brian was well known to
27:00police by this point.
27:02He was described as a bit of a
27:03Jekyll and Hyde, a hardworking
27:05man when he was sober, but give
27:07him a drink and he turned into
27:08somebody completely different.
27:10So this made him prime suspect,
27:12really, for the disappearance of
27:13Roy in 1968.
27:17Now in his 60s, Brian Field lives
27:19in the small town of Solihal,
27:21near Birmingham, where he's a
27:23respected member of the
27:24community.
27:26Brian Field was like many
27:27pedophiles, so much that he was
27:29intensely devious and had two sides
27:32to his character.
27:33Outwardly, he was charming to
27:34people, to his family and friends.
27:37He was seen as a hard worker, but
27:38his more sinister side would come
27:40out, particularly when he was
27:41drunk, and that was he had a
27:43vicious and violent temper.
27:45From the 80s and 90s, he was
27:47working as a gardener and outdoors
27:50as a laborer, and he built up
27:51quite a physique.
27:52So this was an extremely dangerous
27:54character in that he had a violent
27:56temper, he was very fit and strong,
27:58and he had paedophilic tendencies.
28:01This was a horrendous cocktail and
28:03put every schoolboy in danger.
28:06With the evidence aligning, the
28:08cold case unit is determined to
28:10link Brian to the murder of Roy
28:12Tuttle.
28:14Having identified him as a potential
28:15suspect was one thing.
28:17Being able to prove it was a different
28:19thing entirely.
28:20So we started making inquiries at Brian Field.
28:24We found out that he was living up in
28:25Solihull, near Birmingham.
28:27And then at the same time, we started to
28:29chase up if there was any forensics.
28:31We found that Roy's clothing had been put
28:34away at the forensic science laboratory up in
28:36Huntingdon, in the freezer.
28:38They dug the clothes out, we asked for an
28:40analysis to be made of the clothing.
28:42And much to our joy, much to our surprise, there
28:48was a DNA hit.
28:49And the DNA hit came back to Brian Lunn Field.
28:54In September 1999, Brian Field was arrested in
28:58Birmingham for drink driving.
29:00After the introduction of the database, it was
29:02mandatory to give a DNA sample after being
29:04arrested.
29:05In the year 2000, the DNA sample recovered from Roy's
29:09trousers matched Field's DNA sample taken when it
29:12was arrested.
29:14So we had this sort of parallel.
29:17Intelligence suggested it could have been.
29:19DNA said it was.
29:21And it's a case of then of a sharp intake of breath,
29:25because you're now looking at 30 years has passed, and you're
29:28now on the track of a killer.
29:31So we set up surveillance up in Birmingham.
29:33We started to watch, identify where Field was living.
29:37And we were watching him.
29:39I think he was a 64-year-old man who was very fit and
29:43agile.
29:43So it was then a case of getting all of our eggs in one
29:46basket, getting all the evidence together, and then
29:49deciding, right, we're going to go and arrest them.
29:53Police immediately elated by this sudden explosive new
29:56breakthrough.
29:57And they placed Field immediately under surveillance, just
30:01to try and get a feel of who he is, and then amass all the
30:04evidence that they have in order to finally go and arrest
30:07him.
30:09We lost sight of him for a brief period in time.
30:12And I remember jumping in one of the cars, and we hot-footed it
30:15up to Birmingham.
30:17And as we got to Solihull, they had identified that he was in
30:20his flat, and he was arrested there.
30:24Members of the community are stunned at his arrest for such a
30:27horrific crime.
30:29After he's been released from prison in the 80s, he settled into the
30:34Birmingham area.
30:35His marriage broke up.
30:36Three children no longer live with him.
30:37But he pursued his life as a gardener, as a laborer, often for cash in hand,
30:43which meant that he didn't have to pay tax or he virtually disappeared.
30:46But those who knew him, who lived around him, thought, what a great guy.
30:49He was down at the pub, buy a drink, amiable, outgoing, a perfect neighbor.
30:54Nobody who lived in his area, in his street, or knew him, had any idea
30:58whatsoever about this man's past.
31:02He exploited trust and normalcy as a way to mask his deviance and avoided
31:07detection for decades.
31:09His arrest created genuine shock among those who believed they knew him.
31:15He was taken to Solihull Police Station, where he was booked in, and then he was
31:20driven south down to Surrey.
31:22And we had each stage planned out.
31:26There was going to be no conversations in the car.
31:28Everything was going to be done exactly by the book.
31:31So we got him down to Surrey, and we had prepared an interview strategy with him.
31:37Obviously, you've been arrested for the murder of a boy called Roy
31:43Lindsay Tuttle.
31:45Tuttle.
31:45Yep.
31:46Now, that boy was a Kingston Grammar School boy, and he went missing on his
31:51way home from school in April of 1968.
31:54Did you ever give any schoolboys a lift in your car at all?
31:59No.
31:59In 1968?
32:00No, no.
32:01Are you quite sure about that?
32:02Yeah, positive.
32:04Did you ever stop and talk to any schoolboys, engage them in any kind of
32:09conversation?
32:11Did you murder Roy Tuttle?
32:12No.
32:13I did not.
32:14I don't even know.
32:15I've never seen him.
32:17I'm going to show you a photograph of this boy, okay?
32:21Okay?
32:21And that's a copy of Roy when he went missing?
32:28No, no, I've never.
32:30I mean, he looks like a lot of lads, really.
32:34Yeah.
32:35No, I've never seen him before.
32:37You've never seen him?
32:38No.
32:38No.
32:38You're 100% sure you've never seen this boy before?
32:42Yeah.
32:43No.
32:44When he was sat down and faced with all the evidence the police had
32:47accrued, billion to one DNA evidence, his past record of identical attacks.
32:52I think the police immediately expected that Field would crumble.
32:55He was now in his mid-60s and could see that, surely, that there was no way out.
33:01In fact, Field accepted his past behavior, but said that that was all gone, nothing like
33:06that now.
33:07And what's more, he had no knowledge of who this Roy Tuttle was, had never been in that
33:12area at that particular time, all the way back in 1968.
33:16Forget it, I have nothing to do with it.
33:19Police have his DNA, but they want a confession.
33:22Will Brian Field admit to the sexual assault and murder of Roy Tuttle, back in 1968?
33:41More than 30 years after the murder of Roy Tuttle, police finally have DNA evidence that
33:47linking Brian Field to the crime.
33:50But when questioned, he denies all accountability.
33:54Police now have Field in custody and they put to him that they have a match, a DNA profile
34:00that links him to the murder of Roy Tuttle in 1968.
34:03Field announces, yes, I did have an interest in young boys.
34:08Yes, I've been convicted of multiple assaults on young boys and the kidnap of young boys.
34:13I don't know anything about this case.
34:15This was not me.
34:17The lack of response from Field may have taken police by surprise, but they immediately
34:22went off to magistrates to apply for an extension to the custody time limits, i.e. to keep him
34:27under arrest for longer before they had to make the decision whether to charge him or to release
34:32him.
34:32At the end of the second day of questioning, they told Field that tomorrow we're going to
34:36have to take fresh DNA evidence from you and match that up.
34:41The last thing we were going to do that night was get a DNA sample from him.
34:46So we requested a DNA sample from him, which he supplied, and then we let him stew overnight.
34:52And he obviously started to put two and two together.
34:56So therefore, the following day, when he was brought out for interview, he sat down,
35:00I've got to tell you something.
35:03He confessed in detail to the abduction, rape and murder of Roy Tuttle.
35:10I'm sorry, I've misled you all the time, but I didn't, you know, I've been to prison.
35:19I'm glad you were all tonight, I'm sorry.
35:24Bye, bye, look at me, come in your way.
35:31It's important now, for everyone concerned, that we finish this.
35:36Yeah, it's gone a long, long time.
35:39Yeah, yeah, okay.
35:42I was driving along the road, and I saw this guy come get off the bus, and there's something
35:54where he's going for a lick, I'm sure he's on the lick, he's still there.
35:58Then I stopped and he got in.
36:03And now, that's the way I was going.
36:08You're in the car?
36:10Yeah.
36:11What do you do?
36:13Right, I'm slightly cooking.
36:16Okay, how did you just do that?
36:21You went over the front seat, and I tried to do it on the front, and across the front seat,
36:31so I wanted to get thrust again.
36:35But then I've had an economic idea of doing it.
36:39It's a bit of a headache, and I went just, put the tie down, and let me just tighten it.
36:50Can you demonstrate where he hated it, and put it around his neck, and just tighten it
36:55right now?
36:56You just see the poo box that they put it past him for air, and I just carried out it,
37:04and
37:04suddenly he went like, and he hardly got out, and spent himself putting him in the boat, and
37:15then I'm coming.
37:19You've lived through this secret for 30-odd years, haven't you?
37:23Yeah.
37:26How are you feeling?
37:27Yeah.
37:31He proceeded to tell us exactly how he picked up Roy Tuto, how he got him in the car, how
37:38he tried to force him to perform more sex, and how he strangled him.
37:43It's actually quite chilling to watch how Brian Field describes how he strangled Roy Tuto,
37:53and then of course he put him in the boot of the car, and he kept him in the car
37:56for
37:57a few days.
37:58We've got the DNA, we've got his admissions, et cetera, but was it possible for him to put
38:02him in the boot of a Mini?
38:03So we got a Mini, we got someone about the size of Roy Tuto, we tried to get him in
38:07the
38:07Mini to make sure it was physically possible.
38:09So we started to follow up on the results of his interview to try and find some physical
38:16corroboration, as much as we had the DNA and his admissions, et cetera.
38:20So an awful part about this is that Brian admits that after dumping Roy's body, he then drives
38:26to the hospital to visit his wife, who has just given birth to their child.
38:31The fact that he's going to see his wife in the hospital, who's just given birth, and
38:35he picks a young boy up and kills him tends to suggest that lack of empathy, the lack of
38:40feeling, the fact that he's, you know, psychopathic tendencies, no emotion.
38:48Field's complete lack of emotion just highlighted the fact that here was a callous killer, completely
38:55no interest whatsoever in the knock-on effect of his sexual activity, and that her family
39:00had been completely destroyed, utterly destroyed.
39:03In contrast to the grief that he had caused, Field's life just went on as normal.
39:08After compiling the full body of evidence, authorities moved to prosecute Brian Field for
39:14the murder of Roy Tuttall.
39:16What we had was a case file which was substantial because of all the information that had been
39:23gathered over the years. And of course, in the year 2000, 2001, there was a different way
39:28of presenting a case at court. You had a thing called disclosure, whereas we had to disclose
39:33any material that could potentially undermine a prosecution case. And of course, within these
39:39files, there was massive potential, and it had not been for the DNA and the admission, but
39:44nevertheless, you still got to go through this disclosure process. So we bought this scanner
39:49that did something like about a thousand pages a minute, and we scanned every single document
39:53into this scanner. So therefore, we had a composite file from the paper, what you put it, made it electronic.
39:59And that meant we were then able to disclose everything to the defence solicitor who was
40:04representing Brian Field.
40:07So eventually, the trial date arrives, and Brian is taken to the Old Bailey, where his case
40:12is heard. Brian pleads guilty to the murder of Roy Tuttall, but denies the sexual assault.
40:17And the reason for this is that he will know that he could be given extra time if he admitted
40:22to a sexual assault on top of the murder charge. So he only admits to the murder, and is found
40:26guilty
40:27of the murder of Roy Tuttall.
40:30He didn't plead guilty to the sexual assault. Had he pleaded guilty to the sexual assault,
40:35and he'd gone to prison as a sex offender like that, then of course, the regime within prison
40:40would have treated him differently. So being a murderer is one thing. Being a murderer with serious
40:45sexual assault on a young boy would have been something else.
40:49In November 2001, Brian Field is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 14-year-old
40:56Roy Tuttall. He would serve 22 years.
41:01The judge's open court remarks emphasised the importance of DNA technology, and how it was
41:06essential for bringing justice for Roy's family.
41:10Field's confession was the first time that the police realised that what Field was driving
41:16was a white Mini, not an Austin Westminster Mark II. All that period of time searching for
41:23Austin Westminster Mark II had been completely wasted. Police at the time obviously weren't
41:29to know that. That was the only need they had. But it's come as a blow to the pride of
41:33the
41:33police that they had been chasing a complete red henry for so long.
41:38There was a lot of relief the fact that Field was convicted. There was a lot of relief within
41:43the team that he was convicted. But there was also a lot of relief is that Field was a predator
41:48from the day that he lived in the foster home to the day that he died was a danger to
41:56society.
41:57So there was a great relief the fact that after the conviction, Field couldn't harm anyone else.
42:04This was a huge story for the media. Not only was it the longest running cold case success,
42:10and that it was finally a killer court after 33 years, but the throwback to those of us who were
42:17there
42:17in the 60s, the newspapers, the black and white pictures of Roy looking at this schoolboy,
42:22pictures of what happened in Chessington in 1968, remarkable how evocative those pictures can be.
42:31Field was a persistent, aggressive paedophile who'd proven that he was capable of taking schoolboys
42:36off the streets and abusing them. This was somebody that kidnapped two young boys after Roy Tuttle's death.
42:43Thankfully, they escaped and had abused another 14-year-old boy on another occasion.
42:47Police looked at his profile and were linking him to any number of assaults
42:51and any other number of missing children for cases that they hadn't found.
42:55But as yet, they don't currently have the DNA breakthrough to convict him on any other charges.
43:00Field is a practiced psychopathic offender. He is able to behave without any empathy,
43:05without any humanity. Even though he's able to keep up a veneer of respectability as a working man,
43:11a family man, he's somebody that was an ever-present danger to children.
43:16And somebody under drink or without drink was able to act on these inhuman,
43:21beastly impulses in the middle of the day. This is somebody that snatched the child off the road
43:26at the end of the school day. This is somebody that acted in broad daylight,
43:29that acted in public and acted even though he had multiple sentences for this kind of behaviour.
43:35This is somebody that was not going to be stopped.
43:38Field ultimately died behind bars at the age of 87 in 2024 at HMP Full Sutton from natural causes,
43:47a serenity he denied his victims.
43:51You meet with the brother and you meet with Paddy Doyle and you saw what it meant to them.
43:57And you then get this stark realisation that after 30 years, if this was solvable,
44:02then potentially any cold case is solvable. All you really have to do is look hard enough
44:08and look for the opportunities and look for the clues.
44:12And it gave me confidence in going forward that cold cases are actually worth investigating.
44:20Because had we not arrested Brian Field, then he would have continued to offend
44:25and potentially kill other people.
44:29Despite finally closing the case on his murder, there weren't many left alive who knew Roy
44:34to witness justice being served.
44:37So tragically, the parents of Roy never got to see justice done.
44:41They never got to learn who had killed their child.
44:44But the reaction to Brian being found guilty or even being accused of this crime was incredible.
44:50He had built a whole new life in Birmingham and people there thought he was just wonderful.
44:56He was a regular at the pub. They had a whip round for his 60th birthday,
45:01something which was unheard of. He was a really popular man.
45:04And when people heard of his arrest, they absolutely said the police had got the wrong person.
45:09Could not believe that he could be responsible for anything quite so heinous as this murder of a young boy.
45:17The Roy Tuttle story has stayed with me for countless years.
45:21When he was killed, he was 14 and I was 12.
45:25I had a bike, I had a train set, the two things he'd set his heart on as well.
45:29And I went to school in 1968 on a bus.
45:32And I look back on all those years, how lucky I was to lead a life that I have
45:38and how lucky I've been to live as many years as I have.
45:42And if only Roy had even a slice of the luck that I had,
45:45he would never have ended in such a gruesome, degrading, humiliating, terrifying murder that he had to undergo.
46:20And I'd be really surprised because the
46:30Transcription by CastingWords
Comments