Murdertown is a 360-degree investigation into the impact of a murder on a local community, through the eyes of those most immediately affected (friends and relatives of the victims and, in some cases, the accused) as well as those further afield, such as local crime reporters, investigating police officers, and criminologists.
In each episode, actor and presenter Emilia Fox visits the towns where murders took place to re-tell these tragic stories through the testimony of investigating police officers, local journalists, friends, relatives, and business colleagues: the people whose lives have never been the same since.
In the fourth episode, Emilia revisits one of Peterborough’s biggest cases, the murder of Sally Ann McGrath. Sally was last seen in the city centre on 11th July 1979, and her disappearance sparked a huge inquiry that lasted into the 1980s. It saw over 3,000 people interviewed and over 10,000 statements taken by a murder squad based at Thorpe Wood police station.
With the police having assumed she had run away, Sally’s body was only discovered after nearly eight months, badly decomposed and hidden in dense woodland known as Wild Boar Spinney. Despite an extensive search of the area, police found no new clues and the case went cold.
We learn from the police officer who led the cold case review about how this investigation took over three decades, and that in 2011 they finally caught the dangerous individual who was on the loose and targeting young women. Paul Taylor was charged with the murder of Sally Ann McGrath along with seven other offences.
Episode four of Murdertown S4 airs exclusively on Crime + Investigation on Sunday, 2nd October at 9pm and is available to stream on Crime + Investigation PLAY from the 3rd October.
