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The double jeopardy rule m
were tried and acquitted, you couldn't s
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charge again. However, when the double j
abolished in respect of murder, it becam
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The police sometimes
will periodically go back and look at co
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cases and they will review them to see
if there are any grounds for evidence to
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take them forward. In 2008, 9 years
after Maureen had gone missing, Colin go
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hold of the review and looked at it and
he was clearly not happy at what he saw.
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I mean this was a staggeri
his wife has gone missing 2 days before
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is offering a large sum of money to use
incinerator, the only use of those is to
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She disappeared
and no one knows what happened to
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her, there was a lot of circumstantial
evidence against the husband.
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I'd say he was shocked,
it was my opinion that he had no idea
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he was going to be arrested or the polic
were even reinvestigating the matter.
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The whole thing has cost him
his business, it's cost him everything.
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Every SIO, every murder sq
number of investigations that are unsolv
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opportunity with new evidence or somethi
it's worthwhile re-opening one of these
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There are a number of justifications for
re-opening a stalled case, quite often i
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when advancements in science means you c
get DNA from the exhibit you could not g
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back at the time or
another witness comes
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forward. In the case
of the disappearance of.
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Maureen Hale, it was slightly more unusu
circumstances, it was a change in the la
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At the time, her disappea
investigated one would hope thoroughly.
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Arrested as prime suspect in her disappe
it could never be established obviously
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been murdered without a body. There appe
hope of taking the case further. Her dis
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literally chalked up as a missing person
Hale and family continued their lives wi
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The double jeopardy rule m
tried and acquitted, you couldn't stand
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again. The fear for the Hale case was th
Martin were charged for her murder and a
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hadn't been found, at some point in the
be discovered and there might be good ev
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which will point to his guilt and it wou
take him to court again, that's why it h
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Colin and that team looke
at the circumstances here and decided th
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needed to go with it, that they needed t
the apple tree and see what dropped off.
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When we looked at the
circumstances and we were able to lay it
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and think about what happened to Maureen
Hale it became an amazingly compelling
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case and really it looked even at the
first review that we didn't even need
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any more evidence that what had been
discovered before, but we did find some.
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I joined Colin's major i
team during the Levi Bellfield case, so
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investigating team there and I worked al
a number of years after that on other in
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I hadn't worked with Kev M
been around the CID in South West London
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a lot of people on the team had worked w
available, they encouraged me to say we
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onto the team and not a single
second of regret that I did that
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because he was a very capable man,
he could be trusted through anything
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to a good standard and he did it all wit
too, so he was a real valuable addition
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In 2008, the Metropolita
cold case review on the disappearance of
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is when a fresh investigation was initia
trial of Levi Bellfield and obviously he
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but he made sure he spoke to me every mo
the case officer, and my job was the day
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the investigation so we would discuss wh
day and how we were going to move the in
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We had to do the two simul
we were going to really make some progre
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Hale's disappearance, so that was why it
another part of the team and principally
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Mcsharry and DI Amy Perrot had a look at
we were able then to finally disentangle
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the Bellfield investigation, then Mauree
disappearance became a kind of priority
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It was given to our team
to revisit all the witnesses, look at al
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the evidence and make decisions around w
direction that investigation would take.
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Maureen
Hale was born as Maureen Weatherly
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and she got married at a young age,
at about 19, she got
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married to a man named 'Agg', so she bec
they, together, had a son named Nathan a
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split up, she took Nathan,
he was still quite young then,
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she took him with her
and then she got together with Martin.
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Hale, Nathan was adopted into the family
on to have 4 more children, Nathan was v
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family and they
always thought of themselves as having 5
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children. Maureen
Hale really fell nicely into her role as
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sort of 'stock broker belt mother' she d
have to work, Martin's business was boom
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her time looking after the children and
were at school it would be coffee mornin
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and socialising with the other women in
in a similar position to her, and she ha
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Martin Hale was essentially a self-made
in many ways, he started off on the frui
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and vegetables at Kingston Market and by
the 90s he had built up a business worth
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over a million pounds based at Western
International Market, he was a wholesale
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and vegetables. It was a very lucrative
business for him, he employed 2-3 people
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and the profits from that meant they cou
afford to live in Ember Court Road in a
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5-bedroom detached house in the stock br
belt. Maureen Hale didn't have to work,
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she brought up the 5 children and became
part of the local mum's set going to cof
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mornings, making friends, to all externa
appearances she had an idyllic life.
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Martin Hale was a trader
in here for many, many years, he was
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one of the biggest wholesalers
in Western International, I used to work
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opposite Martin for a number of years,
he was a very quiet man and seemed
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just a decent sort of chap.
He had a very good catering business whi
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did restaurants and food service side th
wholesale, he had the wholesale unit, th
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which seemed to work very well. Very
hard working, very conscientious, did
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everything right as far as the stand goe
well run stand, good business.
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But it did have its pressu
trade that works in the early hours of t
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years he was getting up at 2
in the morning 6 days a week and althoug
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he was home by lunchtime that sort
of lifestyle puts pressure on anybody.
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The hours are a bit off,
it's got earlier an earlier, it used to
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a 5 o'clock start, we're now here by 1
o'clock, some of the guys are even here
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midnight. There's two different sets to
business there's the wholesale business
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then there's the food service, the food
services are 24 hours they supply restau
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He would come home,
grab some sleep and then be back again
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early hours of the morning, it
had its rewards, but it was a tough life
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To the outside world they
happy married couple living a comfortabl
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reality, Martin and Maureen had a fracti
there had been suggestions he had assaul
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Martin Hale working all th
Maureen has her life with children, taki
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mornings with the other mums and that so
toll on their marriage and it started ar
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Maureen, despite all the wonderful surro
and the children and everything, thought
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than this and started thinking about bei
that was what led her into starting affa
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Maureen being unhappy in her marriage,
feeling she wasn't getting the companion
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she wanted from Martin, started to look
elsewhere the first person she turned
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to, was a man called John Potter who
was a local plumber who did work for the
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That didn't work out for her they went
out for a drink and they'd had a quick
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kiss in the car, but, what happened was
that for some reason Martin had suspecte
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something was going on between the two
and he put a recording device in Maureen
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car, and he had a recording of her with
John Potter and was able to confront
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her with it and she had to admit it and
it caused further conflict between them.
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It's perhaps worth thinking that you kno
most people don't feel the need
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to put listening devices into their
partner's cars, there was obviously
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something going on that put some sort
of suspicion in Martin Hale's mind that.
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Maureen was up to something or might
be up to something otherwise he wouldn't
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have gone to those lengths to record
her in the car when she went out. Clearl
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Martin Hale had a lot to lose, if
Maureen walked out the door and divorced
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him, there were 5 children, there
was an expensive house and a thriving
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business, she potentially had claims
on all of those things if they divorced.
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So, the next time she was more careful
and struck up a relationship with a
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man called Andrew Horton, Horton was
a gardener and worked at the military
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cemetery at Brookwood. Maureen Hale
had been visiting with friends to look a
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the gardens and grounds, got into a
conversation with him and they exchanged
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phone numbers. It's quite fair to say
Andrew Horton was something you'd descri
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as a ladies man, he was not backward
at trying to make new relationships
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with women he encountered during his
job. Maureen, although she was absolutel
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devoted to her children, became
disillusioned with the marriage and ther
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were one or two episodes of severe
arguments between her and Martin, some
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domestic violence but not enough to
cause serious injuries. Maureen decided
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1999 that the marriage wasn't going
anywhere, and she needed to be out of it
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and filed for divorce. This all came to
a head on the 22nd of June 1999, the
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very day that Maureen had divorce papers
served on Martin Hale and about 10pm
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that night they had a terrible row,
it was a blazing noisy row that all the
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children heard. Martin Hale's version
of events for it was that at the end
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of that row, Maureen took up, left the
house and was never to be seen again.
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MIKE SULLIVAN The police sometimes
will periodically go back and look at co
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cases and they will review them to see
if there are any grounds for evidence to
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take them forward. In 2008, 9 years
after Maureen had gone missing, Colin go
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hold of the review and looked at it and
he clearly wasn't happy with what he saw
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Maureen was still
outstanding while the case never came to
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conclusion. The Metropolitan Police
decided there would be a cold case revie
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When we started to re-open
Maureen Hale's disappearance, the first
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was repeat all those inquiries that had
a decade before when she went missing, s
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at her bank account and at her doctors,
records, all her friends and family that
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trace and we got the same answers, nothi
trace of her, no brush with officialdom
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She disappeared and no on
there was a lot of circumstantial eviden
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On the evening she was
last seen, she certainly had an argument
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with Martin Hale and the children in the
house gave evidence of this, they heard
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noisy argument between the parents.
Coincidentally perhaps, it was the day t
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Martin received the divorce papers throu
the post saying his wife wanted a divorc
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It wasn't until the 25th of June,
some 3 days after Maureen Hale had
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disappeared, that her husband Martin
Hale came here to Kingston Police statio
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to report her missing. The missing
person report, as they all are, were
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assessed by supervising officers
to see if anything else needed to be don
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No hide or hair was ever heard from
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her again,
she didn't attend dental appointments,
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no money was taken from her account, she
take her son to a medical appointment wh
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was very strange, and she missed out goi
concert which she had tickets for and ha
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eagerly looking forward to going. For al
and purposes, she disappeared into thin
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And then finally in the mi
about 2-3 weeks after the report was mad
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here in Kingston decided to arrest Marti
of murder. They didn't have the evidence
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charge him unless he admitted it once he
But it did give them the opportunity to
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him, get his side of the story, his acco
also to search both his home and his wor
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The gist of the
allegation was that Maureen had wanted a
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divorce from her husband and he
didn't want to settle an expensive divor
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claim and lose his house and lose his
children potentially and the argument
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was that he decided to kill
her rather than go through the divorce.
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So, if Martin Hale were to
believed and she just upped and left aft
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the argument,
she did so without any of the
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basic necessities,
clothing, means of support,
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money, means of communication and transp
No trace of Maureen Hale existed officia
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after that moment, she hadn't spoken to
doctor or dentist, hadn't used her bank
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or phone. Everything was just dead there
was no trace of her in any way. She hadn
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contacted any of her friends or family a
crucially she hadn't contacted any one o
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children. Everyone said that was complet
out of character, even if it had all got
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much for her and she disappeared, she wo
have maintained contact with those child
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There were a number of things that
were out of the ordinary in relation to.
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Martin Hale's business here on the night
Maureen went missing. First he called
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his manager and told him he was unwell
and wouldn't be in work that night, but
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the manager drove past Martin Hale's
house at 2am as he did every day as they
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used to check each other had woken up,
and he noticed Martin Hale's BMW car was
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missing and he found this a bit odd,
and his boss had phoned him to say, 'I'm
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not well I'm not coming to work' but
when he went past the house in the early
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hours of the morning the car wasn't
there implying that he was out somewhere
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You could say that was su
further circumstances which would have c
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When the manager got to
work they found there was a spade missin
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they had a spade for clearing up bits
of rubbish and old fruit and veg and the
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had to find another way of doing it for
a few days and then Martin Hale brought
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the spade back to work and no one asked
him about it, he was the boss he could
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do what he liked but it was an odd thing
that he would want to use the spade at
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home in that period after Maureen had
gone missing. Lastly both Martin Hale as
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the owner of his business and his manage
had company cars but they were very
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different, Martin's was a 7 Series BMW w
the manager had a little Ford Fiesta.
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An employee of Mr Hale st
that on the night in question when Maure
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vanished, Martin, Mr Hale had rung him a
that he wanted to use his Ford Fiesta ca
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He said, 'Well I just fanc
allowed to change my mind, they are both
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to my business and I'm entitled to drive
just fancied driving something different
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During the course of the
a briefcase was recovered and within tha
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In his briefcase were
the divorce papers Maureen had sent
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to him but also with them was a pad
and on that pad, in Martin Hale's own
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handwriting, to which he admitted to
writing himself, there was a numbered
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'at sea, landfill,
by acid, by fire' and when he was asked
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why he had written that he said 'I've
been having some dark thoughts' and
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he thought if he was to kill his wife,
how he was to dispose of her body. He
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had written that down as his
brainstorming session with himself, but
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said he wouldn't have gone through
with it and never did go through with it
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He told the investigatin
officers that he was going through
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a black time at that stage and that he u
to make notes about absolutely anything.
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He said, 'Yes, I did write
that's what they are, I was in a particu
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dark place, but it doesn't mean that I d
it, I was just writing down dark thought
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Who knows why someone
wanted to write those things down, but
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00:21:01,532 --> 00:21:07,932
it could be argued that it may
be in the instance of disposing of a bod
202
00:21:08,067 --> 00:21:12,767
When the double jeopardy
rule was changed and it became possible
203
00:21:12,900 --> 00:21:19,299
try people twice for the same murder, th
that really was the removal of the barri
204
00:21:19,432 --> 00:21:26,403
to prosecuting him, so that was why in 2
we decided to re-open the investigation
205
00:21:26,532 --> 00:21:32,333
thinking that even if we couldn't find t
body, we still had a chance of prosecuti
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00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:39,730
It's so difficult to search in this part
there's so many woods and forest and ope
207
00:21:41,532 --> 00:21:47,633
that in the Millie Dowler investigation
police searched their county virtually c
208
00:21:47,767 --> 00:21:54,797
months and still hadn't competed it, the
could do a speculative search like that.
209
00:21:55,366 --> 00:22:02,166
To search somewhere it was going to have
intelligence, with a good idea we were g
210
00:22:02,799 --> 00:22:06,670
So, when it came to
the searches that we were going to do fo
211
00:22:06,799 --> 00:22:11,069
Maureen Hale's body,
we had to be a little bit selective and
212
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:18,200
the only place that we had any source of
that it was a good place to look, was of
213
00:22:19,567 --> 00:22:25,596
They had a large garden and we searched
the house and the entire building but th
214
00:22:25,732 --> 00:22:31,833
grounds and that even meant going as far
recently erected shed and looking undern
215
00:22:31,967 --> 00:22:38,997
had ground penetrating radar there to se
land had been disturbed and the whole th
216
00:22:41,799 --> 00:22:48,829
days and was quite a large operation and
came to nothing and we found no trace of
217
00:22:54,166 --> 00:23:00,027
I assisted the exhibits
officer when the back garden was re-exam
218
00:23:00,166 --> 00:23:04,297
and that was dug up to see if they could
find a trace of her there which they did
219
00:23:04,700 --> 00:23:08,029
We dug up the patio
and we dug up areas of interest in the
220
00:23:08,166 --> 00:23:14,326
garden, but we never found any
body or any bones or anything like that.
221
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,930
I don't think they realis
had an expectation of finding Maureen,
222
00:23:21,067 --> 00:23:27,666
wherein lay the great problem with this
because without her body and the potenti
223
00:23:27,799 --> 00:23:34,799
forensic opportunities that might have
thrown up. It neither rules Martin in as
224
00:23:35,232 --> 00:23:42,002
definite suspect nor rules him out as be
innocent, at least in the eyes of the po
225
00:23:42,633 --> 00:23:44,972
During the course
of the investigation, we were contacted
226
00:23:45,099 --> 00:23:48,630
a man by the name of Timothy Gilbert,
he was the manager of the Silvermere.
227
00:23:48,767 --> 00:23:53,596
Pet Crematorium, he told us and said
that around the time that Maureen had
228
00:23:53,732 --> 00:23:58,903
gone missing, that a member of the
public had asked to hire the crematorium
229
00:23:59,032 --> 00:24:06,133
There was another remarkab
piece of evidence. Martin Hale had a hab
230
00:24:06,567 --> 00:24:13,596
drinking at a sports club effectively in
middle of Sandown Park race course, ther
231
00:24:14,232 --> 00:24:21,272
and he used to go in there and drink a l
just a day or two after Maureen went mis
232
00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:29,529
he is at the bar and he meets a man he w
school with who he hadn't seen in 30-40
233
00:24:33,900 --> 00:24:40,069
And he's chatting to him and this man te
him that he's now the manager of a pet
234
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:45,930
cemetery and golf course down in Cobham
Silvermere. So, Martin says, 'that sound
235
00:24:46,067 --> 00:24:52,197
interesting I might pop down and have a
and the man who he was speaking to thoug
236
00:24:52,333 --> 00:24:56,173
that he meant the golf course and he was
interested in playing golf, but Martin t
237
00:24:56,299 --> 00:25:01,869
up the very next day and it wasn't the g
course he was interested in it was the
238
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:09,029
crematorium. He asked the manager if he
rented out the incinerators at the crema
239
00:25:10,866 --> 00:25:16,426
and he looked at him aghast and said no
and Martin Hale then said, 'what if I we
240
00:25:16,567 --> 00:25:23,596
to offer you 20 thousand pounds, would y
let me borrow one for the weekend then?'
241
00:25:24,133 --> 00:25:26,432
We found this quite
interesting because it wasn't the norm
242
00:25:26,567 --> 00:25:29,327
and we asked Mr Gilbert, 'was
it the norm' and he said it was very, ve
243
00:25:29,432 --> 00:25:34,272
unusual for individuals to approach
and ask to hire it, not to cremate an
244
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:39,700
animal, so he found it very interesting,
and we also found it very interesting.
245
00:25:40,900 --> 00:25:47,700
I mean this was a staggeri
his wife has gone missing two days befor
246
00:25:47,833 --> 00:25:54,873
is offering a large sum of money to use
incinerator, the only use of those is to
247
00:25:59,666 --> 00:26:05,297
He said, 'No, that didn't happen, I went
to the man in charge, who was an old fri
248
00:26:05,432 --> 00:26:12,432
primary school, but I went there to look
the golf course, not about the pet crema
249
00:26:12,833 --> 00:26:16,603
The legal position is when someone
has gone missing and there is no proof o
250
00:26:16,732 --> 00:26:20,673
life for over 7 years you can apply to
court to have them ruled and deemed as
251
00:26:20,799 --> 00:26:27,829
dead and leaves you free to marry again
and also claim on any insurances or
252
00:26:29,133 --> 00:26:32,432
any other things. The person is legally
treated as dead then even though there
253
00:26:32,567 --> 00:26:37,467
is no hard evidence of it. As I understa
it, it was very shortly after that
254
00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:41,529
7-year period was up that Martin Hale
made the application to the court and
255
00:26:41,666 --> 00:26:45,166
the court had no option but to declare
her dead because there was absolutely
256
00:26:45,299 --> 00:26:50,930
no trace of her being alive since that
day in 1999 when she was last seen.
257
00:26:51,067 --> 00:26:58,096
Our thought was 'if you put everything w
case to the jury, you have Hale trying t
258
00:27:00,532 --> 00:27:07,633
for a few days, borrowing a shovel from
piece of paper ways he might dispose of
259
00:27:09,967 --> 00:27:16,997
and then asking if you could pay a large
rent a pet crematorium for the afternoon
260
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:26,230
there to build a circumstantial case tha
time we went to the CPS and said, 'what
261
00:27:26,700 --> 00:27:30,170
A file was eventually
presented to the Crown Prosecution.
262
00:27:30,299 --> 00:27:34,829
Service and because he
never had previously been charged or tak
263
00:27:34,967 --> 00:27:41,997
to court and acquitted, there were no do
CPS gave the go ahead for him to be pros
264
00:27:46,166 --> 00:27:51,297
It didn't take the CPS lon
and say, 'yeah we've looked at this circ
265
00:27:51,432 --> 00:27:58,472
and we think there's a realistic prospec
based on the criteria they used, so 'go
266
00:27:58,866 --> 00:28:03,727
I was the arresting offi
Martin Hale, Colin Sutton decided that h
267
00:28:03,866 --> 00:28:10,467
arrested at his home address because we
bring any more pain to his family. So, h
268
00:28:10,599 --> 00:28:17,630
away from his address, when he came to a
engage with him and he would be arrested
269
00:28:18,532 --> 00:28:25,272
as we were following his car away, surve
sight of him, and we 'bomb-bursted' to a
270
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:32,430
of Surrey to try and find him. I parked
car park and was reviewing what was said
271
00:28:32,967 --> 00:28:39,997
He left home address with an orange carr
as I sat in the car on my own I thought
272
00:28:40,767 --> 00:28:45,967
so I drove to the nearest Halfords and h
parked up there. He came out of Halfords
273
00:28:46,099 --> 00:28:52,369
male, as he approached his car, I stoppe
myself, formally arrested him and cautio
274
00:28:52,967 --> 00:29:00,067
I had never met him so I'd not formed an
cold case review I met him on a number o
275
00:29:02,700 --> 00:29:09,730
be accessible, he would always talk. Pre
didn't dislike him, but I had a job to d
276
00:29:13,599 --> 00:29:18,170
When Martin Hale was arres
he was polite, he was a reasonable
277
00:29:18,299 --> 00:29:22,269
man, he was a man who ran a business
and knew how to interact with people.
278
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:28,430
I'd say he was shocked,
no idea that he was going to be arrested
279
00:29:28,567 --> 00:29:34,166
reinvestigating the matter so when I for
the expression on his face I'd describe
280
00:29:34,567 --> 00:29:41,596
Martin Hale was arrested,
denied knowing anything more than he had
281
00:29:42,900 --> 00:29:49,269
disappearance of his wife, that he had n
at all. So, we were always unable to fin
282
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:56,430
nevertheless we went to court in 2008 an
confident that we had enough evidence th
283
00:30:01,299 --> 00:30:08,299
jury would look at the facts and conclud
murdered by him. The children didn't kno
284
00:30:10,833 --> 00:30:14,272
once we'd arrested
and charged him because they'd already
285
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,269
lost their mother,
they've lived with their father growing
286
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:25,029
into adults, most of them and you know i
for us to deal with them because they wa
287
00:30:25,166 --> 00:30:32,197
of their father and we sort of tried to
officers to them as we would do to the c
288
00:30:32,732 --> 00:30:39,732
murder victim. But of course, the diffic
was also very close to them, it's a real
289
00:30:40,900 --> 00:30:47,869
The children I'm sure wer
traumatised by losing their mother and I
290
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:53,670
supported their father throughout the wh
and didn't believe that he could have ki
291
00:30:53,799 --> 00:31:00,799
And perhaps even more so b
last 7-8 years thinking their mother des
292
00:31:01,467 --> 00:31:08,567
are living with their father so there is
conflict and conflicted ideas and views
293
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:16,000
to understand. It was something we was n
come to terms with satisfactorily, the r
294
00:31:17,900 --> 00:31:24,930
the children was always a little bit at
like a normal family liaison relationshi
295
00:31:26,067 --> 00:31:33,096
By the time the case came to trial in 20
Martin Hale had already had his wife,
296
00:31:33,666 --> 00:31:39,366
Maureen, declared legally dead by the co
so although we had to go through the
297
00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:44,029
process of proving that and make sure we
could find no trace of her being alive,
298
00:31:44,166 --> 00:31:49,267
really don't think that was an issue for
jury, their sole issue was who killed he
299
00:31:50,133 --> 00:31:56,673
The defence case was clearly that Martin
to do with it he couldn't answer for any
300
00:31:56,799 --> 00:32:01,700
hadn't answered already, and he didn't k
to his wife she just left. What they did
301
00:32:01,833 --> 00:32:08,932
kind of exploited the lover Andrew Horto
was eventually charged with his wife's m
302
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:19,829
trial here in Kingston Crown Court in Ja
2009. What happened was that Andrew Hort
303
00:32:19,967 --> 00:32:26,967
Maureen Hale's lover was called as a wit
a rather colourful account of his lifest
304
00:32:27,500 --> 00:32:34,529
philandering and misogyny I suppose. He
how he would often have several lovers o
305
00:32:36,299 --> 00:32:42,829
same time and I don't think he endeared
jury and the defence then called a coupl
306
00:32:42,967 --> 00:32:49,997
girlfriends and the jury heard how he wa
them and he threatened on one occasion t
307
00:32:51,833 --> 00:32:58,073
There was some potential
Martin Hale, otherwise the case would ha
308
00:32:58,267 --> 00:33:05,366
There was a note he'd written, he didn't
which he wrote about the various means o
309
00:33:06,067 --> 00:33:13,096
he'd gone to see someone about the poten
crematorium. There was the aspect of his
310
00:33:14,166 --> 00:33:21,196
with Maureen, there was some evidence th
presented to the jury in the sense that
311
00:33:22,599 --> 00:33:29,500
But Martin Hale had a reasonable
explanation for all of the evidence that
312
00:33:29,633 --> 00:33:33,603
was put against him. The fact
that his marriage broke down, that kind
313
00:33:33,732 --> 00:33:37,603
thing happens, it doesn't mean that
someone has killed someone or murdered
314
00:33:37,732 --> 00:33:43,972
someone, it doesn't necessarily
provide a motive for killing his wife.
315
00:33:44,333 --> 00:33:49,202
All that you need is
a reasonable doubt and all it needed was
316
00:33:49,333 --> 00:33:55,232
couple of members of that jury to think
this rather unsavoury character they see
317
00:33:55,366 --> 00:33:59,297
before them could be responsible for
this murder. It was a 3-week trial and a
318
00:33:59,432 --> 00:34:04,002
the end of the trial he was found not
guilty and allowed to leave a free man.
319
00:34:08,833 --> 00:34:13,733
It took the jury 3 hours
him, hardly anything in a long murder tr
320
00:34:13,867 --> 00:34:20,496
as this was, or a longish murder trial,
must have been fairly certain that there
321
00:34:20,632 --> 00:34:27,103
not enough evidence to convict and that
therefore not guilty of the crime, the o
322
00:34:27,233 --> 00:34:34,273
way that could ever be changed now is wi
jeopardy laws and the discovery of a bod
323
00:34:37,432 --> 00:34:42,103
I was sitting at Kingston
Court waiting for the verdict and it cam
324
00:34:42,233 --> 00:34:46,902
rather more quickly than we might have e
And it's a fools game really to try and
325
00:34:47,032 --> 00:34:53,003
read into that because you can have guil
verdicts very quickly and you can have n
326
00:34:53,132 --> 00:35:00,172
guilty verdicts very quickly. But I gues
given the amount of evidence we had pres
327
00:35:00,532 --> 00:35:06,233
to the court, I kind of expected it to t
little bit longer for the jury to delibe
328
00:35:06,367 --> 00:35:12,867
through it and I was shocked, I really w
shocked because I thought we had present
329
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:19,769
a compelling case and we'd worked hard a
and it was difficult really to see if th
330
00:35:19,900 --> 00:35:26,900
jury accepted the evidence we'd discover
then I thought they were bound to convic
331
00:35:28,500 --> 00:35:31,269
The children gave evidenc
in court, saying there had been a row
332
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:35,300
between their parents on the night that
Maureen vanished, but their demeanour
333
00:35:35,432 --> 00:35:40,432
towards their father was the all-importa
thing for a jury, they would have
334
00:35:40,567 --> 00:35:45,126
been looking very carefully at that and
it wouldn't have failed to register with
335
00:35:45,266 --> 00:35:51,067
them that Martin's children were support
of him in what must have been his
336
00:35:51,199 --> 00:35:56,599
darkest hour at that point, facing trial
for the murder of his wife, their
337
00:35:56,733 --> 00:36:03,333
mother, a very difficult situation.
But the fact that the children didn't tu
338
00:36:03,467 --> 00:36:08,097
their back on him would certainly have
been a compelling factor in this case.
339
00:36:08,666 --> 00:36:13,666
It's always difficult when
got a good and solid case, you go to cou
340
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:20,800
acquit. In this case we had a mass of ci
all the evidence about Maureen not havin
341
00:36:24,467 --> 00:36:31,226
with her bank, doctors anything like tha
important family events, walking out and
342
00:36:31,367 --> 00:36:38,396
word again to 5 children. You also have
the night she went missing, Martin Hale
343
00:36:39,567 --> 00:36:45,527
he took from work from his place of work
take back for a few days. And bizarrely
344
00:36:45,666 --> 00:36:52,666
Series BMW with his manager's car, a For
swap that back until after he had been a
345
00:36:53,900 --> 00:37:00,900
and they'd searched the Fiesta. But the
is the prosecution that bring the case a
346
00:37:01,067 --> 00:37:06,166
prove it beyond any reasonable doubt, if
jury has a reasonable doubt they have to
347
00:37:06,300 --> 00:37:11,130
It's always slightly dis
you get a non-guilty verdict, but the ev
348
00:37:11,266 --> 00:37:18,297
before 12 men and women and they came ba
guilty conclusion, so we have to accept
349
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:23,969
I think in this case there
was a witness called Andrew Horton who w
350
00:37:24,099 --> 00:37:30,269
Maureen Hale's lover. What the defence t
did was brought two witnesses who were f
351
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:36,699
girlfriends of his who painted a picture
him as a misogynist who had been violent
352
00:37:36,833 --> 00:37:41,932
to them, threatened violence to them and
one case actually threatened to kill her
353
00:37:42,266 --> 00:37:45,827
I remember watching Andr
give evidence at Kingston Crown Court du
354
00:37:45,967 --> 00:37:52,626
course of the trial, he was very confide
he came across as very believable and th
355
00:37:52,766 --> 00:37:57,726
a case of swaying the jury with what he
tell. He had been involved in numerous a
356
00:37:57,867 --> 00:38:02,797
and he had assaulted numerous ex-girlfri
but he was quite happy to talk about tha
357
00:38:02,932 --> 00:38:08,733
I think it's easy to
understand how the jury didn't take to h
358
00:38:08,867 --> 00:38:14,726
and the suggestion it could have been
him and not Martin Hale that could have
359
00:38:14,867 --> 00:38:19,166
murdered Maureen Hale was enough in some
of those jurors' minds to provoke some
360
00:38:19,300 --> 00:38:22,900
reasonable doubt and that's all they nee
reasonable doubt and they must acquit.
361
00:38:23,666 --> 00:38:29,996
And I think it was the
main reason that the jury found a doubt.
362
00:38:30,132 --> 00:38:36,873
Because you had the question hanging
there, you had Maureen's lover at the
363
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:44,000
time is this man, who has a record of us
Is it possible, members of the jury, tha
364
00:38:47,766 --> 00:38:52,467
I was surprised that
the jury found him not guilty, but our
365
00:38:52,599 --> 00:38:57,969
justice system means there only has
to be a small amount of doubt to go
366
00:38:58,099 --> 00:39:01,800
for a not guilty verdict, so
I can only assume they thought there was
367
00:39:01,932 --> 00:39:06,572
some reasonable doubt that he had
murdered his wife. That's what happened.
368
00:39:07,132 --> 00:39:13,432
Ultimately professionally,
I did my job, I got a team together to g
369
00:39:13,567 --> 00:39:18,597
the most evidence we could and put it be
a court and then the rest of that proces
370
00:39:18,733 --> 00:39:24,972
takes over. Of course, during the trial,
fact that Martin Hale might have been in
371
00:39:25,099 --> 00:39:29,929
another relationship himself was never p
forward to the jury and indeed it was di
372
00:39:30,067 --> 00:39:36,427
for us to work out, we still don't reall
know how long his relationship had been
373
00:39:36,567 --> 00:39:40,797
on and whether that was prior to Maureen
disappearance or something that occurred
374
00:39:40,932 --> 00:39:47,572
afterwards. I think the depth and breadt
evidence that we presented to the court
375
00:39:47,699 --> 00:39:54,300
this case, exceeded that in other cases
I had where the defendant was found guil
376
00:39:54,833 --> 00:39:57,402
At the conclusion of
the trial, the Metropolitan Police made
377
00:39:57,532 --> 00:40:02,802
statement to say there was no further
leads for them to pursue at that moment
378
00:40:02,932 --> 00:40:05,342
time so unless it goes back to another c
case review, or someone approaches the
379
00:40:05,367 --> 00:40:10,126
investigation with some new information
at this stage it's not being re-opened.
380
00:40:10,266 --> 00:40:13,996
He seemed a very decent quie
chap, and still is
381
00:40:14,132 --> 00:40:19,873
a very level headed calm sort of person,
that's as much as we
382
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:27,000
know him. The whole thing has cost him h
him everything. Yes it's a very strange,
383
00:40:32,932 --> 00:40:39,972
MIKE SULLIVAN The law was served and pol
position have to expect that verdicts ar
384
00:40:44,900 --> 00:40:51,929
to go their way they may invest a lot of
of resources they may spend weeks and we
385
00:40:55,032 --> 00:41:02,103
administration that goes into mounting o
at the end of the day it's a jury of 12
386
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:17,030
whether a person is guilty or not quite
instance the world has to assume that Ma
387
00:41:18,867 --> 00:41:23,197
I'm overjoye
really, it put some sort of closure on t
388
00:41:23,333 --> 00:41:28,603
and really I'd just like to thank my leg
team, Richard Christie, that's worked ve
389
00:41:28,733 --> 00:41:35,373
hard to put the case together over the l
few months. There's not much really more
390
00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:42,530
say on the matter at the moment. I'm jus
to be out and there's some closure on it
391
00:41:43,632 --> 00:41:49,003
After Martin Hale's acquit
met police re-assessed the case and deci
392
00:41:49,132 --> 00:41:53,172
proceed with the inquiries any further,
the case effectively now is closed.
393
00:41:53,500 --> 00:42:00,570
One has to accept a cours
but perhaps were also entitled to look a
394
00:42:04,599 --> 00:42:11,630
in the first place against a suspect, th
what happened to Maureen, because her bo
395
00:42:12,833 --> 00:42:15,572
We took
every opportunity there was, we found ne
396
00:42:15,699 --> 00:42:20,800
evidence, we found compelling evidence,
the only clincher may have been had we'd
397
00:42:20,932 --> 00:42:25,672
been able to find Maureen's body, becaus
that may have given us more scientific
398
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:30,469
evidence, or its location might
have pointed towards guilt or otherwise.
399
00:42:30,599 --> 00:42:35,599
Martin Hale was found
not guilty for his wife's murder, so he
400
00:42:35,733 --> 00:42:40,632
free to continue the rest of his life an
in the meantime, Maureen remains missing
401
00:42:41,032 --> 00:42:48,072
It's increasingly difficul
without trace because everything has a r
402
00:42:50,367 --> 00:42:57,396
dentist, all sorts of things like that a
of Maureen Hale from the day she was las
403
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:06,170
It was the only case I did where there w
body, where we didn't find a body. It wa
404
00:43:06,300 --> 00:43:13,329
the only murder case that I ever had tha
before the court and the defendant was a
46461
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