Derek Christian
On
the afternoon of 9 February 1995 a sixty six year old woman named Margaret
Wilson was viciously murdered on a country lane near her home in Burton
Fleming, East Yorkshire. Wilson’s throat had been cut as she walked towards
her home at around 15:30.
The following year a local man named Derek Christian was arrested in
connection with her murder. The evidence against him was poor, leaving grave
doubts as to the safety of his conviction.
Christian emerged as a possible suspect because he owned a car similar to one
described by a witness who saw a man, believed to have been the killer,
driving away in. All owners of the model of car matching the description, in
the country, were routinely questioned.
Three days after the murder, Christian was questioned. The detectives noted
he had a "pronounced" goatee beard, yet witnesses to the man seen
fleeing the scene of the crime described the man presumed to be the murderer
as 'clean shaven'.
No forensic evidence was found in Christian's car, but if he was guilty he
would have driven in this vehicle, covered in blood.
When the police searched his home, in March 1996, they found a newspaper in
his room. It was the 9 February 1996 edition (printed on the first
anniversary of the murder) and contained an appeal for information. The
police argued that this indicated Christian had an exaggerated interest in
the crime. The article was not highlighted and it is not unusual for people
to have a newspaper for a month after it is printed. Have you ever had a
local newspaper in your home that is a month old that you have not got round
to throwing away? Its presence is not necessarily indicative of an interest
in the crime. There were lots of articles in the paper and Christian says the
only reason he had bought it was for the classified adverts.
The main evidence against him was textile fibres. Approximately seventy
fibres from clothing that could have belonged to Christian, was found on the
victim. It was shown in court, however, that the clothing was mass produced
and therefore large numbers of people could own such clothing. Furthermore,
the clothing concerned (a green sweatshirt, fleece jacket and trousers) were
made of textile fibres that can be found in other garments. For example, a
green rugby shirt had identical fibres to Christian's green sweatshirt.
Therefore the fact seventy fibres from these types of clothing were found on
the victim is not necessarily proof of guilt despite the prosecution saying
it formed "solid proof." There were a tiny number of fibres that
could have originated from the victim's clothing, on Christian's clothing.
The same argument can be presented. What is interesting is that despite
Christian having allegedly slit the victim's throat, there was no blood on
his clothing at all. So how can textile fibres find their way onto clothing
yet blood was not present? When a throat is cut a huge volume of blood is
lost.
Another piece of evidence used against Christian was the alteration of his
alibi. He gave the police a good alibi, which left only a tiny amount of time
unaccounted for. However, after speaking to his in-laws, he changed his
alibi. They had told him they were sure he had been helping them at the time
of the murder. As it happened they were wrong but by the time he realised
this he had made a statement. So when he later changed his account again it
looked suspicious.
It is known that on the day of the murder Christian left work at precisely
15:01 and that he made a transaction from a cash machine located twenty miles
away, in his home town, at 16:06. This information alone makes it difficult
to conceive that there was sufficient time for him to commit a bloody murder
at 15:30. However, the prosecution claim that he had enough time to carry out
the offence and therefore this issue must be fully explored.
It is known that the twenty mile journey from Christian’s place of work and
his home takes approximately thirty-five minutes. It would take perhaps
between fifteen and twenty minutes for Christian to drive to the scene of the
crime. Are we seriously to believe that he could have arrived at the scene of
the crime at 15:16 at the earliest, waited fifteen minutes for a suitable
victim, or perhaps located his target and followed her, committed the bloody
murder, fled to his home (which would have taken at least twenty minutes),
washed and changed and then travelled to the cash machine all within thirty
six minutes?
It was argued the murder weapon was the type of knife Christian used at work.
Christian worked in a factory that used such knives, but he worked in a
different section where knives were not used. However, it can be argued he
had access to the type of weapon used in the attack but the knife is used in
hundreds of factories and other types of business. It is mass produced and
available even in shops in Britain and abroad. One thousand eight hundred off
the knives were supplied to the factory where Christian worked, alone. Anyone
could have owned the type of knife used.
A number of identified footprints were found at the scene of the crime. A very
large number of textile fibres were found on the victim that have also not
been identified. Who did these belong to? It is strange that Christian did
not leave any footprints yet he was allegedly there, but someone did leave
prints. Who was that person and did they have any involvement in this murder?
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