All language subtitles for Britains Countryside Killers S02E01 720p HDTV H264-JFF[EZTVx.to]

November 2015.

A 15 -year -old girl from Leicestershire
stops replying to her parents at a

sleepover. Very tight, small community.

Not a lot happens in Meacham.

Rarely serious violent crime such as
homicide.

Kayleigh doesn't call in as she normally
would, so then her parents are starting

to get worried.

Then a phone call raises serious alarm
bells.

Kayleigh's friend calls and asks if
she's there.

The parents thought that Kayleigh was
with her.

Kayleigh's disappearance is reported to
the police, who look through her social

media for clues.

She's exchanged over 2 ,500 messages
with somebody.

She didn't know him. He was a stranger
to Kayleigh. He just popped up in her

inbox saying, hey, how's it going?

Didn't want Kayleigh to tell anybody
else. It was their secret.

So she didn't. She kept it to herself.

This just lured her into his trap.

Ibstock is a former coal mining village,
nestled in the countryside of northwest

Leicestershire.

Ibstock is a small village that grew
somewhat as a result of its

business in making tiles, making brick.

Ibstock is a nice place in Leicester.

It's semi -rural.

Small, scenic, it's got that rustic
charm to it. Lots of beautiful...

Wooded areas, lots of beautiful places
to walk.

And it still has only a population of 10
,000. So all of the amenities that you

would want, but with this rustic charm.

In towns similar to Wibstock, you will
get burglaries, you'll get shopliftings,

you'll get auto crime, stolen vehicles,
rarely serious violent crime such as

homicide.

Just a ten -minute drive from Ibstock is
the rural village of Meesham.

Meesham is another small community. It's
only a few miles away from Ibstock.

It's in the National Forest and it's
another rural community.

Very tight, small community, quite a
remote place. Very popular place to

Not a lot happens in Meesham.

It's not an area where there's a huge
amount of crime. It's quite a low crime

rate.

Living in Measham is 15 -year -old
Kayleigh Hayward.

Now, she came from a very large family.
She had six brothers and sisters, but it

was a very stable, very loving home.

She lived with her parents at the family
home. She often played a part looking

after the younger ones.

Family was really important to her.

She'd had a little bit of trauma early
on because she was bullied at school.

That made Kayleigh withdraw into
herself, and she spent a lot of time at

the social media sites, talking to
friends, but not personally with them.

see, but she sort of retreated to her
bedroom and passed her time with her

friends on the social media sites.

She did move to a new school, and that
was a new beginning for her, really. She

started to come out of her shell a
little bit and put the bullying behind

She was really thriving there. She'd
made friends and her family were just

delighted that she'd got out of this
situation of being bullied.

And she was really enjoying life.

Now, a lot of her time, if it wasn't
spent with her friends, it was spent

contacting her friends or sharing posts,
photographs, selfies, that kind of

thing, online.

As most 15 -year -olds are, she was very
much attached to her phone.

After Kayleigh had changed school and
things were getting better and she'd got

this group of social media friends, if
you will, she did tell her parents that

she was actually going to go and stay
with one of those friends.

She was a new friend. She was somebody
that... She had met at the new school

her mum and dad were pleased that she
was getting out a little bit and doing

what 15 -year -old girls do.

It showed to them that she was making
good solid friendships, that she

was... Out there in the world,
confident, going out, that they had no

and no suspicions because they really
had no reason to question it. Most 15

-year -olds will go and spend time with
their friends from school.

The plan is set.

Kayleigh and her friend are going to
have a sleepover on Friday 13th November

2015.

Kayleigh's dad gives her a lift out to
meet up with her friend. He drops her

at about 6 o 'clock.

She wanted to be dropped off at a
college in Ibstock and quite

given the fact Kayleigh had been bullied
at her first school and parents now

thought she was getting a real social
group of real people and actually

them in person as opposed to just
communicating over the internet.

Kayleigh's dad took her and dropped her
off at the school with a view to picking

her up after she'd stayed over with the
friend.

Quite happy that she's going off to her
house for the evening.

And over the course of the evening,
Kayleigh's posting pictures on Facebook,

she's taking selfies, and just, it all
looks like a standard teenage night out

with a friend. They're quite reassured,
really.

Her family, her parents, look at these
selfies, these posts, and think, well,

she's having a great time. She's having
a good time, there's no need to worry

about her.

Kayleigh calls in the following morning
and she says, I'm having a good time.

Can I stay over for an extra night?

And of course, there's no reason, no
reason at all to say anything other than

yes.

Kayleigh doesn't call in as she normally
would.

Now, the posts and the contact with her
family stop on that morning.

But there's no real reason to worry here
because you would just hope that she

was out there doing something that is
more fun than posting on social media.

again, another reason for Kayleigh's
family to really be quite happy with the

situation. It wouldn't have crossed
their mind that there was anything

But as it gets later in the day,
Kayleigh is not replying to her parents.

What is this all about? Normally would
have heard from her.

Benefit of the doubt, but then
Kayleigh's friend calls and asks if

Well, hang on a minute. The parents
thought that Kayleigh was with her. So

clearly, at this point, they realise
that Kayleigh hasn't been truthful about

where she's been staying and now alarm
bells are ringing.

And alarm bells start to ring even
louder when a builder finds Kayleigh's

It's smashed on the ground and he calls
the last number.

that she appears to have called in order
to try and reunite the phone with its

owner. At this point, Kayleigh's family
know that there's something very, very

amiss.

With Kayleigh's location unknown, and
now her phone found broken and

even more questions are being raised
about what really happened that night.

A stranger found Kayleigh's phone on the
street in Ibstock and got in touch with

her new friend.

She phones Stephanie to say, is Kayleigh
with you? Is she all right?

Somebody's found her phone.

Stephanie's surprised to receive this
call because as far as she's concerned,

they are together.

So she starts questioning her then. Is
she covering for her? What's the story

here? The two of them go backwards and
forwards just until it becomes apparent

that neither of them is any the wiser as
to where Kayleigh might be.

In amongst this conversation, she tells
Stephanie that she hasn't seen Kayleigh

since Thursday.

that there was never any plan for
Kayleigh to spend the night or the

her house and that she just hasn't been
there. This wasn't part of the plan.

So at that point, Stephanie starts
really getting quite worried and she

contacting the extended family to see
has anybody heard from her? Does anybody

know where she is and what's going on?

I think that any parent who has lost...

their child or doesn't know where their
child is, whether that is for five

minutes in a supermarket or, in this
case, doesn't know where she's been all

over the weekend, hasn't heard from her
now for 24 hours, they will understand

that feeling of panic and just...

Kayleigh's disappearance

is now

a high -risk missing persons case.

With police first trying to trace where
she went instead of the sleepover.

On Friday 13th November 2015

Fifteen -year -old Kayleigh Hayward is
dropped off by her parents in Ipstock,

Leicestershire, for a sleepover with a
friend. But by the following day, she

stops responding to messages.

And when her parents discover she never
went to the friend's house, they call

the police.

Kayleigh is only 15. She's a child. So
the police immediately started

investigating. And one of the first
people they spoke to was her friend,

she was supposed to be for the last
couple of nights.

The police are instantly concerned about
Kayleigh because this is out of

character for her. The fact that she's
not called in in the morning, as is her

habit to do. The fact that she's not
posting on social media anymore. And

clearly there's a mystery surrounding,
well, who has she been with? And why has

she lied to her parents? Because that's
just not typical of her.

And the worry starts to intensify when
they reach out to Kayleigh's friends and

one of her friends says, well, she has
been talking to somebody. She's been

talking to a boy over the internet. It's
someone that we don't know. She's only

been speaking to him for a matter of
weeks.

Now, at this point, the police are very,
very keen to find out who this person

is. And so they're given access to
Kayleigh's social media accounts by her

parents. So the police go straight to
Kayleigh's social media to try and find

out who it is that she's been meeting.

And they find on Facebook, in her
messenger, that over the two weeks

she's exchanged over 2 ,500 messages
with somebody who went by the name of

Funtimes Harlow.

Police discover that Kayleigh had been
messaging a man named Luke Harlow.

constantly for the past two weeks.

So Luke Harlow is a 28 -year -old man
who lives locally.

He'd previously worked in bars and
warehouses, but at the time of

disappearance, he was unemployed.

He'd reached out to her on social media.
She didn't know him. He was a stranger

to Kayleigh. He'd just popped up in her
inbox saying, hey, how's it going?

And when Kayleigh's asked, does she know
him, he's introduced himself as a

friend of a friend and really...

Well, it's a charm offensive from the
start.

Initially, Kayleigh had told Harlow that
she was 19, but very quickly she

changed that to the truth and told him
that she was actually 15.

Now, that would normally, on any right
-minded person, stop any further

communication.

But with Harlow, he didn't. He just
wasn't bothered.

He just saw it as an opportunity.

The messages seemed light -hearted at
first, but soon turned flirtatious.

It was apparent that they then turned
into what we now would more obviously

grooming, telling Kayleigh she was
special and that she was beautiful.

Now, we can only imagine the impact that
that had on a child, a girl who'd been

bullied previously and who might have
wanted affection from somebody else.

She may have wrongly felt that here was
somebody who really understood her and

cared for her, when really their intent
was very malicious, as we now know.

What they find is...

Two and a half thousand messages that
have been exchanged over a period of

two weeks between Kayleigh and a man
called Luke Harlow.

Now, what these messages are...

or a masterclass, a masterclass in
grooming.

So that process of manipulation that an
offender will go through with their

victim in order to be able to isolate
them, gain access to them and ultimately

get away with offending against them.
Grooming can be threats, but more often

than not, it's compliments.

And what we see here is two and a half
thousand highly manipulative messages

that are lover boy technique. That's
what I would call it. Starts out quite

innocently with, hi, how are you?

And then it's, I'm a friend of a friend
and I just wanted to reach out to you

because, well.

You're so lovely. You're so attractive.

And then it moves on to, can we take
this somewhere more private?

So even more private than direct
messaging on Facebook, can we now text

other? And then from there, Kayleigh's
love bombed.

You're gorgeous. I want to see you. Oh,
by the way.

I'm a bit older than you, and so people
wouldn't necessarily understand our

relationship, so keep it to yourself.

Keep it private.

He didn't want Kayleigh to tell anybody
else. It was their secret.

So she didn't. She kept it to herself.
She thought she was going to meet

special, but didn't tell her parents.

And this just lured her into his trap.

Soon Harlow is pressuring Kayleigh to
meet him. He's offering her treats, he's

offering her a lovely evening.

putting that pressure on, but in a way
that might not be obvious to a child.

You can drink alcohol at my place
because I understand that even though

15, you are older in your maturity than
in your years.

Again, other people won't understand
that, so don't let them know.

But come over, we can eat chocolate
together, we can cuddle on the sofa

together, you can drink vodka at my
house.

That's no problem. And we'll just have a
really nice time. You're my princess.

You know, this could be the start of a
beautiful relationship.

Just a beautiful relationship that you
need to keep secret.

To Kayleigh, this is the older, more
sophisticated boyfriend who treats her

an adult and seems to be really, really
into her. That's intoxicating for a 15

-year -old.

The police immediately wanted to
question Harlow.

So the police made their way to Harlow's
house and put him under arrest.

Back at the police station, Luke Harlow
tells detectives his version of events.

He quite readily admitted that he'd been
with Kayleigh, he'd spent time with

her, that there'd been sexual activity
between the two of them, even though she

was 15.

The Friday night passes and Kayleigh
contacts her parents on the Saturday

to stay another night. But as the
Saturday rolls on and it gets into the

Saturday evening, they run out of
alcohol.

Harlow goes to speak to his neighbour,
Stephen Beadman, to see has he got any

alcohol, has he got any vodka or
anything else.

But he doesn't, so the two of them set
off together to go to the off licence.

While they're walking to the off
-licence, Harlow mentions to Beedman

got a bird back at his house, in his
words, and that once they've been to the

shop, he's more than welcome to come
back and carry on drinking with the two

them back at the flat.

And Beedman says that he'll come round
to have a look at this bird.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, this
was...

A sexual predator bragging about who
he'd managed to ensnare and Stephen

went round to his house in the knowledge
that Kayleigh shouldn't have been there

in the first place and fully with the
intent of having some form of sexual

contact with her. We don't know a great
deal about Stephen Biedman. Of course,

he was the next -door neighbour and
friend of Harlow.

He was a landscape gardener, and you
might think that he's fairly

Harlow's claim is that after Biedman
came back to the house and was drinking

with them, Harlow went to bed, woke up
in the morning, so this is now Sunday

morning, the house was empty. No sign of
either Biedman or Kayleigh.

Biedman's obviously somebody that the
police really need to speak to, so they

start looking for him, and they find him
at a relative's house in Colville and

bring him in for questioning.

Now police have both men in custody.

Will either of them reveal what's
happened to Kayleigh?

The police were immediately aware, just
from looking at Biedman, that something

wasn't right. He had visible injuries
all over his face. They were

concerned as to where they came from.

So Biedman, at first he says that he's
never met Kayleigh, and then later he

says that...

He had met her, he'd met her on the
night of the 14th after he'd been

back by Harlow, but he'd gone back and
that he'd joined them for a drink and

stayed for a few hours, but that he'd
gone home about midnight and left Harlow

and Kayleigh together.

So when the police interviewed Beedman,
what he did say was that when he drinks,

he becomes a different person, he
becomes very violent, and he was

putting that forward as some kind of
mitigation or defence that he might

to rely on later on.

We've got a case of, well, nothing to do
with me, there's nothing to see here,

because we've got, on one hand, Biedmann
says he left at midnight, all was well,

and Harlow says he was in bed by
midnight, he'd left Biedmann and Cayley

together, he'd heard nothing, saw
nothing, slept through it all, and as

he's concerned, nothing to do with him.

They're not quite pointing the finger at
one another, but each one of them has

got a story of how they are not
involved.

Now, it seems that midnight is a
significant time because we've got

saying that he left at midnight.

We've got Harlow saying that he was
sound asleep.

at midnight and neither of them know
what happened after that.

But prior to this, around 10 o 'clock at
night, neighbours had heard banging,

consistent, loud banging, as though
somebody was having some sort of fight

something was going on. So what happened
before midnight?

This magic time when seemingly both
parties say they were asleep or at their

home and everything was calm.

Harlow and Beedman's stories do not add
up, suggesting they are hiding what

really happened that night.

Police believe Kaylee has been harmed,
and their priority is to uncover the

truth so they can find her.

Luke Harlow and Stephen Biedman, both in
police custody, are linked to the

disappearance of 15 -year -old Kaylee
Hayward, who has not been heard of since

Saturday, November 14th. Their stories
conflict, and investigators suspect they

are withholding crucial information.

Their top priority is to uncover the
truth and locate Kaylee.

There's a huge search for Kayleigh, so
over 300 police were involved and a huge

number of the community turned out to
see if they could help because they were

just shocked by her disappearance.

And, of course, they were really
concerned about what was known at that

about where she'd spent her last night.

So everybody's looking for her. There's
drones all over the place.

One of the local community find a brass.

on a piece of land. It's not where you
would expect to find a bra. And, of

course, knowing about this case, they do
the sensible thing and they contact

police. When police show Kayleigh's mum
a photograph, it matches a bra.

It's the same size as the bra that
Kayleigh had and that's no longer in the

home. Well, I can't imagine what must
have been going through Kayleigh's mum's

mind. No doubt at that point she had
thought that...

Some sort of foul play has taken place.

So that is a horrific moment for
Kayleigh's family, but it's quite a

breakthrough in the investigation for
the police.

Police suspect Beatman's injuries could
have been sustained from defensive

wounds and follow that line of inquiry.

The police searched his flat to see had
Kayleigh been there and they found no

evidence that she had, but something
that was there.

A noticeable feature was that he had
some facial injuries, which he said he'd

sustained working on a farm in Belton.

The police went to look at this farm and
they found Biedmann's lock -up.

When they went and had a look inside,
they found some blood -stained clothing.

When they looked at the CCTV from the
off -licence, where Biedmann and Harlow

had been to buy more alcohol, they
realised that the clothing that was in

lock -up, the blood -stained clothing,
matched the clothing that he'd been

wearing when he went to the shop that
night.

And it is...

placed onto what appears to be a bonfire
that is just ready to be lit.

Now, when that clothing is analysed, the
blood comes back. It's not beadments,

it's not harlows, but it does match
Kayleigh's.

So when the police were searching the
lock -up, they found in their nearby

escape a purse, and then in bin bags
they found a cardigan and a bag.

They were later confirmed to be
Kayleigh's.

With that evidence there, Beedman
admitted that, yes, he had killed

he took the police to the place that
Kayleigh's body was.

So on the 18th of November, Beedman gave
the information about Kayleigh's body

and the police went and found her buried
in the undergrowth.

She only had a sock on. She was
otherwise naked.

This is a moment of closure to some
degree

for the family in that she's found,
she's no longer lost to them.

But she's not found alive.

And they have to deal with the fact that
this fear that they've held for the

last five days is actually, is real.
They're not going to see their daughter

again.

So after Beedman's admitted that he had
killed Kayleigh, he tells the police

that Kayleigh had tried to escape. She'd
tried to run off at the flat at about 3

o 'clock in the morning.

And he's run after her. At this point,
she's naked from the waist down, but he

runs after her to try and stop her from
getting away.

Biedman described a scuffle outside on
the street.

Now, what he didn't know was that
neighbours had observed this.

They'd actually seen this scuffle, but
because Biedman was wearing some sort of

high -vis clothing, you know, the yellow
that you might see on a policeman or a

workman, they thought that something
untoward wasn't going on and that it

have been a policeman arresting
somebody. So, unfortunately, they didn't

Around the same time, another witness
came forward and said that they'd heard

somebody screaming, Mummy, witch.

In hindsight, it was probably Kayleigh
in her last moments.

While they were still observing this
scuffle outside, the neighbours saw both

people stand up and walk off together.

So they quickly thought that actually
this might not be a police incident, but

it seemed to be two people who'd had a
bit of an argument and now everything

OK. So again, they didn't act.

What was actually happening there was
that Beedman was dragging Kayleigh off

where he raped her.

Kayleigh was... putting up a good fight,
she picked up a rock and she hit him

with it, which explained the injuries to
his face.

But enraged by this, Beedman then took
the rock and beat Kayleigh so

badly that he killed her. So after
killing Kayleigh, he took her to some

woodland by the side of the A447 and
disposed of Kayleigh's body.

She's so badly beaten.

around the face and neck, that she has
to be identified by dental records.

Kayleigh's family are warned that
Kayleigh doesn't look like Kayleigh.

She's been so badly beaten, she's got so
many facial and neck injuries, and of

course she's been dead for five days
now, that maybe they might not want to

and view her body, but they do decide
that they do want to do that.

And so they go and they spend their
final moments with Kayleigh holding her

hand. Those few moments are so precious.

They really are.

But the fact that all they could do is
hold her hand is so

tragic. So tragic.

After Kayleigh's body is found, it is
time for 29 -year -old Stephen Beatman

28 -year -old Luke Harlow to be
officially charged with their crimes.

I was telephoned by somebody from the
CPS, which is the Crime Prosecution

Service, about the case because they
wanted my advice on charging.

Now, that's not unusual, but some
charges had already been laid, and they

my advice in conference as to whether
there should be additional charges.

What you need to understand when you
have a serious case like this is what

offences might be disclosed on the
papers.

So we all know what a murder is. One
person kills another, they intend to do

or they intend to cause really serious
harm.

That's pretty much standard.

In this case, we didn't just have a
murder. We had a rape.

We had what we call grooming.

We had sexual activity with a child. But
we also had one of the perpetrators who

had done more than that.

And the question for me was, what else
should we charge him with and whether we

should charge the murderer with anything
additional to what he was already

charged with?

Harlow was the chap that groomed
Kayleigh online and got her to meet him.

Biedman was his neighbour, who was the
man that actually raped and killed her.

But although we thought that Biedman
would plead guilty to the murder, the

circumstances of what happened to
Kayleigh were quite important, and I was

keen that the...

The defendants, the two of them, didn't
concoct a scenario which benefited them

and wasn't telling the truth about what
really happened to Kayleigh. And that

was a very unusual thing to do, to look
at a murder case and say, well, are we

going to charge him with something else?

And if so, what and why?

And is it in the public interest to do
so?

And finally, what did the family think
about this?

Do they want to go through a trial where
we never know, where Kayleigh's name

could have been dragged through the mud?

Or do they just want to take, if you
like, the easy win and make it all go

So there's all sorts of considerations
which I have to take on board as lead

counsel.

The prosecutor considers how Harlow's
grooming set off the sequence of events

that led to her murder.

The grooming in this case was fast.

It went from, you're very pretty, have
you got a boyfriend? Oh, well, a girl

like you should have a boyfriend in the
first... couple of days to within a week

I want to take you to bed I want to get
you drunk I know you're only 15 but you

know all the things he wanted to do with
her and of course I've got to stand up

in court and read all this horrible
stuff out right up to him basically

before he met her as soon as she gets
through the door of his flat he's going

have all her clothes off and yeah I
don't need to explain what he said after

that pretty graphic I'm used to reading
that sort of thing out do this sort of

thing all the time, but you've got
jurors who are sitting there listening

what he was saying to a girl he knew was
underage.

His eventual story was that she was
happy to be with him, she wanted to meet

him, she was happy to engage in sexual
encounters with him, she was happy when

Biedmann came round, he bought some more
drinks, and she was all quite happy

with all of that.

And Harlow's account was all happy,
happy, happy, sexual encounter with her,

consensual. He then fell asleep and had
no idea what happened thereafter.

That was our line in the sand.

Prosecution case was that there came a
point where she wanted to go.

And the two of them kept her there.

And we had what we called ear witnesses.

They heard a kerfuffle going on in the
flat.

furniture being tipped over, that sort
of thing. And indeed, there were some

elements of a struggle still visible
when the police turned up.

Hollow's flat was found to be in a state
of disarray. Now, this is not to do

with his housekeeping skills.

This looks like there's clearly been a
struggle. There's been some sort of

fracas here.

Now, bearing in mind what the neighbours
have heard, there are speakers on the

floor which might account for the
banging and crashing.

There's been some almighty row here.

It appears that what is happening is
that Kayleigh is trying to get out of

house and she's been prevented from
doing that by not one, but two adult

men.

And our case was that she tried to make
a break for it.

The flat that she was staying in was a
sort of funny sort of up and down. It

a bathroom downstairs, but the main
living was upstairs.

And what we think happened, this was our
theory, was that she asked to go to the

loo. And when she went downstairs to go
to the loo, she bolted, she made a run

for it, not dressed properly. Bear in
mind, this is mid -November. It was wet

and it was horrible.

Bra, T -shirt, and she made a bolt for
it out of the flat and along the roadway

by the side of the flat.

The initial charges, as I've said, were
murder, rape.

and sexual offences for Biedmann and
sexual offences for Harlow.

When we had the large conference, by
then I'd been provided with the

of Biedmann's phone, Harlow's phone and
Kayleigh's laptop.

And what we discovered, myself and the
police, going through Harlow's

devices, was that Kayleigh wasn't the
only girl he had been grooming.

We found...

Two, possibly three more.

Certainly two of the quality of messages
that I would be able to use in

evidence.

One of them we actually charged him
with. The other one was what I would

preparatory. So it was the introducing
of himself, pretending to be younger, to

another young girl. But he didn't do
anything which we could hook on to an

offence.

It was insidious and it was nasty, and I
was prepared to tell the jury about it,

and the judge allowed me to tell the
jury about it, but it didn't meet that

standard of actually getting to
offending.

However, we contacted the girls and
their parents, and one of them

the other one still thought that he was
her boyfriend and wanted to support him,

and indeed came to court to support him.

And I had to have quite a difficult
conversation with her and her parent,

explaining that she would not be allowed
to speak to him, and he was in fact

somebody who had participated in a very
awful offence.

We had a big team meeting.

I had the consent of the parents to
charge anything that I felt was

We, as a team, decided that we would
charge the men with false imprisonment.

which is the offence of keeping somebody
where they don't want to be.

We couldn't prove that both sexually
assaulted her together in the flats, but

felt false imprisonment was made out by
the state of the flats, the ear

witnesses and the escape.

We felt that was solid.

That was the thing that we added to the
charge which they fought at court.

Luke Harlow is charged with grooming,
sexual activity with a child, and false

imprisonment. Stephen Biedman is charged
with rape, false imprisonment, and

murder. How will they plead?

In the early hours of Sunday 15th
November 2015, 15 -year -old Kayleigh

was raped and murdered before her body
was dumped in a woodland area near

Ipstock, Leicestershire.

Two men, Stephen Beadman and Luke
Harlow, face serious charges in relation

her death and appear in court to enter
their pleas in April 2016.

Harlow admitted that he'd had sexual
contact with Kayleigh.

when, of course, she's underage.

But what he wasn't prepared to admit to
was kidnap and holding her in his

home against her will.

When we got to court, Harlow admitted
the grooming and the sexual offences in

relation to Kayleigh.

Beedman admitted the murder and the
rape. They both disputed the false

imprisonment. And the barristers on the
other side, when we had our preliminary

hearing... said oh well you won't you
won't be going ahead with that will you

you've got enough and i basically said
to them no i have the full support of

family we will try you either you plead
or we try you and that's what we did it

was an emotional trial you can't get
away from that but you don't bring

into your job if you can possibly help
it so you simply tell the jury this is

our case this is how we present it this
is what we're going to prove to you we

presented the case in a very logical
progression. We told the story.

We have audiovisual aids these days. We
have maps. We have drone presentations,

moving clips, as much as we can. So try
and bring it alive to the jury.

Obviously, it was very much alive to me
because I had walked the walk that

Kayleigh had done with Biedmann. So I
knew what it was like. I knew how far it

was. I knew how cold it was.

I knew...

what the field was like. It was a
ploughed field. It was muddy. It was

So I was able to, if you like, tell the
story better because I'd been there.

The defendants were pretty deadpan.

I try not to look at them when I'm in
court. I don't think it does anybody any

good. Harlow was, I wouldn't say cocky,
but he was, I think he thought he'd get

off.

Biedmann was troubled, and then
eventually he refused to come

I would have been hugely surprised if
either of them had been acquitted.

The trial lasted a few weeks, during
which neither of the men showed signs of

remorse.

Throughout the trial for the false
imprisonment, the pair were just

There was no sign of any remorse or
anything from them.

Harlow, when he was convicted of false
imprisonment, glared at the jury in

a hard, hardened way.

Both defendants admitted their part in
what happened to Kayleigh.

Harlow admitted sexual activity with a
minor and grooming, and he denied but

convicted of false imprisonment as well
after a trial.

Beedman admitted that he'd murdered
Kayleigh.

They were both handed down custodial
sentences.

Hollow was sentenced to 12 years and
Beedman was sentenced to life with a

minimum of 35 years.

That means that Beedman would have to
spend 35 years in prison before eligible

for the parole board to consider his
case and he would only be reviewed if

were satisfied that the public were not
at risk from him.

However, Beedman didn't serve much of
that sentence because in 2021 he killed

himself in custody.

Beedman's account of what happened
indicates to me someone who's impulsive,

someone who can't manage their own anger
and has negative attitudes about women

and girls.

Through a combination of these factors
and poor emotion management and possibly

sexual arousal, he was able to overcome
any inhibitors to assaulting a child, a

vulnerable child, and murdering her. For
me, Beedman is a coward.

He's someone that monopolises the
vulnerability of...

A child is someone that can't control
his temper, probably doesn't like being

challenged. I would just describe him as
a despicable individual.

Harlow is a predatory, concerted
groomer. I think he's somebody

who had very little going on in his life
and he's somebody who had decided that

he was going to make friends with girls
maybe as young as 13.

Over the internet, he was going to bring
them over to his home where he would

ply them with alcohol so that they're
not able to resist him. And he was going

to sexually abuse them and keep them
there until he felt that he was

Though both men are behind bars, nothing
can ease the pain of Kayleigh's loss

and her community has forever changed.

When a crime of this magnitude occurs in
a really small town or a small village,

it has a significant impact on the sense
of safety of the community.

People behave differently.

They stop going about their normal
routines. Their lives change.

Possibly not forever, but certainly in
that interim, that short period of time,

people behave differently.

less willing to go out late at night.
They certainly keep an eye on the

children. They chaperone them more.

They're probably more guarded.

Everything changes when a murder happens
in a small place, and only time can

heal that, when they can get back to
some sense of normality.

I've been involved in law enforcement
for 36 years, and I've seen a steady

decline in willingness of people to get
involved in supporting...

police or even reporting incidents to
police that, on the face of it, are

out of the ordinary.

So whilst there are still people who
will get involved and will stand up and

become even witnesses in a trial,

it's getting increasingly so, and very
frustratingly so, that there are more

people that won't get involved and won't
pick the phone up. And I've seen that

growing over the years.

Kayleigh was a child.

She was a 15 -year -old girl.

And so there is absolutely no blame to
be placed

on Kayleigh. She did what I think many,
many 15 -year -old girls would

do. You could say that she's naive, but
that was probably part...

of her her charm and beauty she was a 15
year old girl who had been brought up

well and had no reason to believe that
such hideous predators

with such nefarious intentions should
exist in the

world she had everything to give and all
of that has been taken from her

because two men wanted to indulge their
sexual fantasy

and proclivities for having an underage
girl at their disposal.

With the support of Kayleigh's family,
Leicestershire police decide to use her

story to spread awareness.

The case really highlights how quickly
online grooming can escalate.

And Kayleigh's...

story was actually made into a short
film kaylee's love story to to really

people how things can go from a quick hi
how are you doing message to

within weeks things have gone very
intense and and tragically you've got a

year old girl who's lost her life the
very first time it was shown

In a school, two children went up to a
teacher afterwards and made reports

led to inquiries being started.

And that was just the first time, and I
know it's been shown countless times

since, and I just hope that with the
rollover of children, it continues to be

shown in secondary schools.

This case, unfortunately, is a really
sad reminder of the vulnerability that

young people have online, the people who
are trying to prey on them.

tells us more about violence against
women and girls. It takes a different

online, but ultimately results in
violence and significant harm.

This could happen to any child. Somebody
could approach them, try to get them to

meet, and they might have sexual or even
violent motivations, as in this case.

So it really reminds us, as parents, as
people who've got relatives, friends,

people who have young people in their
lives, we really need to look out for

and ensure that people are aware of the
dangers.

Talk to your children about which sites
they're on, what conversations they are

having, who with.

And generally that conversation can open
doors.

But it's really important to understand
what they're doing. Have that

communication with your child.

And you can read on the internet things
to look for. But for me, it's that

dialogue. Social media is taking over so
many young people's lives.

They don't do anything without posting
it on whichever site it might be. But

just try and understand what the
motivators are for your children and

advice.

It's really sad that a girl from a
loving family fell prey to somebody like

this. She wasn't an outsider.

She was a family girl with friends and a
life and a future.

And by...

listening to what somebody said who was
a liar and a paedophile.

She ended up in a situation that she
really tried to get herself out of, but

wasn't able to. And that's what's so sad
about this.

She really did try and escape.

But just be so careful with who you
speak to online.