Police have slammed a brand-new ITV true crime documentary which re-examines the death of four elderly people in a quiet English town.
ITV’s new true crime documentary Hunting the Silver Killer looks into claims that two elderly couples both died in a pair of murder suicides that took place in the late 1990s, with a theory suggesting that they instead were murdered by a serial killer known as the ‘Silver Killer’.
The documentary looks at the deaths of Harold and Bea Ainsworth in April 1996 and Donald and Auriel Ward in November 1999.
Both pairs of deaths took place in the UK town of Wilmslow and were ruled to be murder-suicides in which Harold and Donald killed their wives and then themselves as totally separate crimes.
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Reports have long questioned this however as neither man had a reported history of violent behaviour, and their marriages were supposedly happy.
In 2020 Stephanie Davies, a former senior coroner’s officer for Cheshire Police, produced a 197-page document suggesting that both pairs of deaths were not actually murder-suicides, but the work of a serial killer.
Davies suggested in her 2020 report that the two crimes were part of a wider spree of killings, pointing to several murder suicides in the North-West.
Now though, Cheshire Police have released a blistering statement in which they hit out at the documentary and indirectly took aim at Davies’ claims.
The statement opens by hitting out at ITV's Hunting the Silver Killer, suggesting it is ‘based on spurious claims by a former member of police staff that called into question the findings of detectives in relation to a number of historic homicide cases.’
They stated that the claims were later ‘completely disproved by experts, and the member of staff responsible was later found guilty of seven counts of gross misconduct’.
It went on to say: “The panel ruled that she would have been dismissed had she not already resigned.
“She was also added to the College of Policing barred list meaning that she is prohibited from working in roles in policing.”
Chief Constable Mark Roberts QPM, added: “From the outset we have been clear that there is absolutely no evidence that the Ainsworth and Ward cases were double murders, and that there is no serial killer at large in connection with these historic deaths.
“Following the spurious claims made by a former member of staff both cases were meticulously investigated by experienced detectives, along with specialist forensic scientists and officers from the National Crime Agency. All of whom concluded that there was absolutely no evidence to support further investigation into these matters.”
Roberts followed this up by addressing the families of those effected directly, saying: “My heart goes out to both the Ainsworth and Ward families who have been deeply impacted by these harmful claims, and both have stated throughout that they were against any documentary and did not wish to have any involvement in the show.
“Yet despite this, both families feel that they have been harassed by the production company over the past two years, when it should instead have been focussed on conducting due diligence on the credibility of the sources they relied on.”
The Chief Constable finished by stating that, whilst Cheshire Police are clear that staff have the right to raise concerns, he claims that Davies ‘did not follow these procedures and her actions resulted in significant unnecessary concern and distress for the families of all those involved’.
The documentary sees Dr. Angela Gallop, a British forensics expert, calling for an investigation into the killings to be re-opened, with Stephanie Davies saying: "I still believe there is a serial offender out there that hasn't been caught."
Stephanie Davies responded to Cheshire Police's criticism of the documentary in an exclusive statement to LADbible, saying: "Cheshire Police have been in possession of my concerns about these cases since 2018, and to date they have repeatedly refused to give me any feedback on my substantiated reports.
"My forensic findings demonstrated how the bloodstain patterns, the wound patterns, the crime scene appearances and the positions of the bodies were all consistent with double murders being staged to look like murder-suicides; likely committed by a single offender. Therefore, my findings completely contradicted the narratives chosen by Cheshire Police, and my reports highlighted multiple errors that had been made by Cheshire detectives at the time."
Davies claims that Cheshire Police allowed her to seek formal opinion from 'international forensic experts' in the United States, claiming that these experts backed up the conclusions made in her reports. She stated that her report was only 'taken seriously' after it was 'leaked by a third party without her knowledge' in 2020.
She went on to add: "Instead of investigating my genuine concerns about these cases, Cheshire Police decided to investigate me. They subjected me to a prolonged, disproportionate and unethical criminal and gross misconduct investigation, and they ignored all exculpatory evidence meaning that their findings about me were heavily biased and misconstrued. Of note, at the time I raised my concerns, Cheshire Police failed to have any form of whistleblowing policy in place – so there was no set process for me to follow.
She finally said: "I am disappointed with this response by Cheshire’s Chief Constable, who has consistently failed to review any of my forensic concerns about these cases, and I am yet to hear what evidence they do have, that rebuts my conclusions. It is also disappointing to see that Cheshire Police are once again using bereaved families as shields to hide behind.
"There now needs to be an independent inquiry into the conduct of Cheshire Police, and their inability to effectively deal with complex death investigations within their jurisdiction."
ITV said in a statement to LADbible: "ITV acted with transparency and integrity in the making of this film, respected the family's wishes not to take part and gave a right of reply to Cheshire Police, adhering to Ofcom's Code of Conduct. The film is a fair and balanced look at the events surrounding these murders including the views of two of the country's most eminent forensic scientists, following a great deal of public speculation."
Hunting the Silver Killer airs tonight, 30 March on ITV1 at 9pm.
Topics: True Crime, ITV, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries, Crime, UK News
Michael Slavin