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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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