All language subtitles for Pushed.to.Death.S01E09.When.Darkness.Falls.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

A fatal
fall from 80 feet

off a bridge
into an ice cold river

in the middle of the night.

We could see scuff
marks on the pipe,

as if someone had been trying
to cling on for their life

before falling to their death.

A young
student's life cut short.

You never
expect a child to go early.

It's like torture.

Was it simply
a bizarre accident--

What he witnessed
was John almost doing

a backflip over
the railings and

disappearing into the water.

- or murder?

Unless he was punched
with the force of someone

like Popeye, then he could
not go over accidentally.

Our son, John Chipp,
was born on the 11th of March,

1986, in Castletown, which
is an area in Sunderland.

He was a lovely baby.

He was bright.

He walked early at 10 months.

He was always fun.

He was very
thoughtful, very loving,

very friendly with everybody.

And he just loved life.

MARK CHIPP - Mine and John's
relationship was really good
one.

We were very close.

Our John was the older one.

He was two years older than me.

He was always there for us.

He would always
stick up for us.

He would always
fight my corner,

and we had some
great times together.

Like many
young people in Sunderland,

John loved soccer.

Even before
he could walk properly,

he was kicking the ball around.

He
loved to follow

Sunderland Football Club.

He was a season ticket holder.

We used to go out
and play football together,

and he was great at football.

So he just used to take
the ball past me all the time.

John also
shared his father's

love of racing pigeons.

He used to love coming
down, sitting with the birds,

helping his dad basket
the birds and train the birds.

It's
the delightful John Chipp.

He's been in the sea.

We enjoyed our family
holidays, and

we went to the Dominican
Republic as a family.

The holiday was great.

We had a right laugh.

I was 15 at the time.

He would have been 17.

And we just bonded.

It was great.

I'd class him
as a perfect brother.

I-- I don't think I could
have asked much more from him.

He was very loving,
very thoughtful.

Always tell you he loved you
and put his arms around you.

We couldn't have asked
for anything better.

Situated
in the Northeast of England,

John's home city of Sunderland
is famous for more

than its Football Club.

We've got
a fabulous coastline,

lots of historic things,
good shopping centers.

It's a really, really
nice area to live.

It's a city that
former Detective Superintendent

Ian Sharp policed for a decade
during his 30 years of service.

The city of Sunderland is a
typical busy city center built

around the River Wear,
the deep gorge river,

ideal for shipbuilding,
and one of the oldest

bridges crossing the river is
the Queen Alexandra Bridge.

It's 330 feet long
and 85 feet high.

By 2004, John
Chipp had finished school

and was preparing for his
next stage in life.

John was enrolled
in college to do

a BTEC in public services.

I think he
wanted to be either

a fireman or a police officer.

John turned
18 on March 11, 2004.

And a week later,
on Thursday, March 18,

another friend was
celebrating their big day.

When John finished
work, he called in to see

his dad at the pigeon loft.

And he just says, dad,
do you mind if I go out?

I said to them,
don't get too much

to drink, make sure
you stick together,

and make sure you
come home together.

Went out with a big
smile on his face

as he used excited to go and
have a drink with his friends.

I didn't get home until
after John had gone out.

We had our evening meal,
settled down for the evening,

went to bed,
and John wasn't in.

It wasn't until
the following morning

that we both realized
he hadn't come home,

and that's when alarm
bells start to ring.

It was not like him at all.

He hadn't even phoned
or left a message

to say he was all right.

I had to get to work
that Friday morning.

But I think during
the whole day, both of us

tried his mobile
phone numerous times.

He didn't answer.

The day have
passed, and we just

thought he might have been
partying at a friend's

house or whatever.

When I came back from
work on Friday evening,

that's when we reported
him missing to the police.

They wanted
a photograph of him.

John always played five a side
football at Nissan Car Factory

Sports Club on a Friday.

We went there,
and he wasn't there.

You get that feeling,
you know there's something

wrong, desperately wrong.

Just a gut feeling
that you know

it's going to turn out bad.

It was just like he
disappeared off the Earth.

Meanwhile, police were

rapidly escalating
their inquiries

into John's disappearance.

He was reported
missing Friday,

the 19th of March
to my colleague, Detective

Sergeant Chris Sobenga.

We get many reports
of missing from homes.

This one was more unusual.

The family were
distraught and frantic.

Chris Sobenga contacted
the family immediately to seek

clues and help from them.

We began inquiries
around the mobile phone

to see if there was
any response from that.

And then began to review CCTV
footage from the town center

to see if they could
pick up John Chipp.

CCTV, in its early stages, was
very grainy and bad quality.

But they were able to pick
up John Chipp in the town

center at around 11:30.

He'd been out drinking,
and was very drunk,

and had been spoken
to by police officers

in the town center, who
told him to behave and

get himself on his way home.

Further CCTV footage
was reviewed,

and it was able to pick
up John running home quite

fast from the city
center along towards

the Queen Alexandra Bridge.

Another male was seen
about two minutes ahead

of him going onto
the bridge before John ran

onto the bridge.

The last movements of John
entering the bridge

from the south side was
just after midnight at about

quarter past midnight.

That takes us
into the early hours

of Friday the 19th of March.

So we know that he went onto
the Queen Alexandra Bridge

from the south side trying
to get home on the north side.

But he never came over
the other side of the bridge.

He wasn't seen again.

The worst case
scenario was that

he'd fallen from the bridge
somehow, an 80-foot drop.

A fall from the bridge
of 80 foot onto the water

would certainly knock you
out unconscious immediately.

It's similar
to hitting concrete.

The weather
at the time was rough

and a cold water temperature
from the north sea.

The chances of survival from
an 80-foot drop onto the river

are very slim indeed.

In the days after
John Chipp went missing on

March 18, 2004,
possibly having suffered

a fatal fall from the Queen
Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland,

police and family
grew increasingly

concerned for his safety.

You felt powerless.

You didn't know where
to start looking.

You don't know what to do.

It's awful, absolutely awful.

While
police pieced together

John's last known
movements, John's father,

George, continued
to do everything

he could to find his son.

I just couldn't sit back
and just sit-in the house.

I just had to be
out there, looking.

I'd went down to the river,
because we used to walk

the dog down the river.

I searched the allotments
where I've got the pigeons.

I never give up.

I went out looking every day.

I always had it in my head
that he was going to show up.

He's somewhere.

He's-- he's just
being an idiot.

Just come home, John.

Investigators,
led at this point

by Detective Sergeant
Chris Sobenga

were desperate
for more information.

Chris Sobenga was in close
contact with the family,

and he urged the family
to make a press

appeal for further
witnesses to come forward.

Sunderland
Football Club, they

were very happy to put an
appeal out at their home game

that weekend.

I was asked if I would do
a local radio interview.

Probably one of the most
traumatic ones

was doing the press
conference where

people's cameras are clicking
as you walk in a room.

There are a number

of reasons why the police
might choose to hold

a missing person appeal.

The first one might be
that they are looking out

for people who
might be witnesses,

without even realizing that
they witnessed anything.

There is the added
benefit in a way

that doing this appeal
is really highlighting

to the victim's
family that they

are doing as much as they can.

A missing person's appeal
can have the added bonus

of putting pressure on people
who either know information or

is aware of someone
else being involved,

because it can start
to feel like those walls are

closing in.

So it can encourage people who
know something to come forward.

Police
investigations at this point

are centered around
searching the riverbanks.

The Marine section
of Northumbria police

were involved,
underwater search

unit divers were involved.

But it is difficult
because of the fast flowing

tide and the deep silt.

But almost two
weeks since his disappearance,

there was still
no sign of John.

The police
are struggling

to find any clues or evidence.

The bridge has been
searched and analyzed.

There are no signs of any
struggle or assault or

any blood, so there is
no typical crime scene

to start a murder inquiry.

Meanwhile,
the local community rallied

to support John's family.

I had people
knocking on our door

with flowers, some people
I didn't even know.

I started to feel like we
lived in a flower shop.

But you almost feel like
your life's not your own

at that time, because you
just go through motions

other than your grief and your
frustration of not having any--

anything to do or any news.

You function, and that's all.

In late
March 2004, two

weeks after John went missing
from the Queen Alexandra

Bridge, police received
a call, which was quickly

brought to the attention
of Detective Superintendent

Ian sharp.

The phone call
comes in from a member

of the public, who happens
to be a family friend of a man

named Christopher Weldon.

The witness told
us that he'd been

out drinking with Christopher
Weldon and the wives.

There'd been a lot
of alcohol consumed.

Weldon's wife took
the car keys from Weldon

and told him he was
not capable of driving.

Weldon objected to that.

There was an argument,
and he stormed off in a huff,

stating he was going to go
to the Queen Alexandra Bridge

and throw himself off.

The witness told us
that he'd been talking

to Christopher Weldon,
and-- and he said,

you'd never guess
what's happened.

I went to the Queen
Alexandra Bridge,

and as I was standing there, a
young lad came running across,

and he's gone over
the side of the bridge.

The witness urged Weldon
to go to the police,

but Weldon refused.

So that witness
came to the police

and gave us that information.

And at that point,
myself and Steve Barron

became involved
in a homicide inquiry.

The witness had
quite a tale to tell,

and I think we were all very
surprised when he came forward.

Weldon had said, this young
lad come running towards us,

and he started
to fight with us.

And during that fight,
that young lad has

somehow gone over the bridge.

Weldon hadn't done anything.

He hadn't left
the bridge and contacted

the emergency services.

In actual fact, he'd left
the bridge, phoned a friend,

and got a lift home.

The witness was willing
to give that evidence in court.

So now we have what we
would refer to as a key and

significant witness.

And now we are very much
leaning towards the fact

that what's happened
on the bridge

is John has come across
Christopher Weldon.

There's been some
form of altercation.

And as a result of that,
John's ended up in the river.

Investigators
were grateful

that the witness had found the
strength to come forward and

report one of his own friends.

He knows that if
this turns out to be a murder

and his friends found guilty
of it, that he's going

to go to jail for a long time.

I'm sure he thought
long and hard about it,

but I'm also sure
that he was hugely

influenced by those appeals
from John's parents.

Armed with
this new information,

Detective Superintendent
Ian Sharp moved

quickly to detain his suspect.

Christopher Weldon
was arrested and

placed in the cells overnight.

He was originally arrested
for an assault case

because he'd already
confessed to being

in a fight on the bridge
with a younger man.

So the arrest for assault
was appropriate because we

did not have a dead body.

With Christopher
Weldon in detention

awaiting interview
at Sunderland police station,

astonishing new information
about their suspect

quickly came to light
regarding an incident

that happened just 10 days
before John Chipp disappeared.

We found out that
Christopher Weldon had

been a passenger on a ferry.

That ferry traveled from
Amsterdam to North Shields.

And what we knew was that
Weldon was on that boat

with a number of friends.

We also knew that there was
a 35-year-old German man called

Frank Conrad on the ferry.

We know on that
ferry trip, there

had been an argument between
Weldon and Frank Conrad.

And when the ferry
docked in North shields,

Mr. Conrad was not on board.

Mr. Conrad, at some point
during that journey,

had gone overboard
and into the North Sea.

We know that Weldon
was interviewed

by police about a week before
John Chipp went missing.

So when Weldon was
arrested in relation

to John's disappearance,
he's already

a part of an investigation
in relation

to Frank Conrad's missing
episode from the ferry.

Frank Conrad's
body was never found.

And although Weldon
was never charged,

police were struck by the
similarities between the cases.

We have two reports
of men going into water

under circumstances
that are not

understood and not explained.

And both investigations now
involve Christopher Weldon.

It's important
to note that Weldon

never had any criminal
charge associated

with the ferry incident.

However, that
incident will have

meant that Weldon was aware
that someone went overboard,

was missing, and no criminal
charges were brought.

And that does then
pose the question

that, did that give
Weldon a kind of sense

of self-assurance,
a confidence that he then

felt he didn't need
to go to the police

when he knew that John
had gone over the bridge?

Because he knew that
no information had

been found in relation
to the ferry incident,

so why would this
be any Different

For Detective
Superintendent Ian Sharp,

this was a unique
and challenging case.

As a Detective
Superintendent and

senior investigating officer, I
had investigated many murders,

which normally begin with
a crime scene, a dead body,

forensic scientists,
pathologists,

blood splash patterns,
and lots of clues

to help you get started.

This was a unique case
because we had none of that.

And we were pinning our hopes
on an interview strategy

to see what clues we could pick
up from Christopher Weldon.

So it was important
to talk to him

and find out exactly what
happened on the bridge.

With 18-year-old
John Chipp still missing after

an altercation on Queen
Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland,

police needed to establish
whether he had

accidentally fallen
into the river below

or if he had been pushed.

While their number
one suspect was

in the cells
awaiting interview,

police informed
John Chipp's family

of Christopher Weldon's arrest.

We had a visit from the CID.

But the information,
what we got,

we didn't really want to hear,
because it was all bad.

It was pure shock.

We still didn't have John.

We still didn't know the true
facts behind what had gone on.

You just want to know
where he is and why.

As well
as prompting

Christopher Weldon's
arrest, the call

made by his friend also led
Detective Superintendent Ian

Sharp to re-examine the scene
of John Chipp's suspected

fatal fall.

When we got information that
an altercation had taken place

between Weldon and John
Chipp on the bridge,

we examined closely
a pipe that ran

alongside the barrier
of the bridge,

and we could see scuff
marks on the pipe,

like finger marks
being dragged down

the pipe as if someone
was trying

to hold on before falling.

It was gut wrenching.

It was terrible
to think that someone

had been trying to cling
on for their life

before falling to their death.

Seeing those finger
marks on that pipe

certainly tied in with Weldon's
first confession to his friend,

that an altercation
that took place,

and a boy had gone over
the side of the bridge.

What we now had
to try and understand

was, was that an accident
or was he deliberately

thrown over the bridge?

Ian
and his team knew

that interviewing
Christopher Weldon

would be key
to understanding what

really happened on the bridge.

Weldon's version
of events is that he

is there because he
is contemplating

taking his own life.

He says that he sees a young
man running towards him,

and that that young man
begins to assault him.

Weldon describes that
he somehow stumbles

and his arms flail upwards.

And in doing so, he
catches John somehow,

and John is propelled
backwards over the railings

and into the water.

Video interviews now
are very commonplace.

But back then, they weren't.

It was difficult
to picture in your mind

exactly what you were
seeing and to establish,

was this an accident or not.

I knew at that point the Crown
Prosecution Service would think

there was reasonable doubt.

So I decided on a new tactic
to go to the gymnasium

and set up a volleyball net at
the same height of the bridge

barrier, and to get Weldon
to reconstruct and tell

us exactly what
had happened, only

this time video record it
to see if what he was saying

was indeed possible.

We said it
at the height of 4 feet

2 inches, which is
exactly the same height

as the bridge barrier.

And we essentially
said to Weldon,

can you show us what
this looked like?

And what he described was being
knocked back during this attack

and lost his balance.

His arm flew in the air,
made contact with John.

And what he witnessed
was John almost doing

a backflip over
the railings and

disappearing into the water.

That's the version
he was sticking to.

He was defending himself.

He was the victim,
and this young boy

had somehow gone over headfirst
over the side of the bridge

and had fallen to his death.

I'm thinking to myself from
a common sense perspective,

I don't know
if that's possible.

The difficulty
now was convincing

the CPS to charge a murder
charge given that we

did not have a dead body.

To help convince
the Crown Prosecution Service

to charge Weldon
with murder, they

decided to enlist the help
of pathologist Jim Sunter

and explained to him
the circumstances

of the altercation.

We said, if this
young man has gone off

the bridge in these
circumstances,

what's the likelihood
of him surviving

an impact with the water?

And what that
person said was, I'm

convinced that that
young man would

not have survived that fall.

You simply haven't yet
recovered his body.

The next thing we
asked him about

was, what did he think
about the account

that Christopher
Weldon had provided?

He immediately said,
no, that's impossible,

because your center of gravity
is down where your hips are.

The barrier rail is set
at 4 foot 2 shoulder

height for a safety reason.

And unless he was punched
with the force of someone

like Popeye, then he could
not go over accidentally.

We got a very early statement
from the pathologist

at that point
to support the theory

that John Chipp had
been deliberately

pushed over the bridge.

And this was murder,
not an accident.

Even
without a body,

the evidence gathered
by Ian and Steve

was enough to convince
the Crown Prosecution Service.

On Thursday, April
1, 2004, they

authorized a charge of murder
against Christopher Weldon,

and he was remanded
in custody to appear

at Houghton Le spring
Magistrates' Court

the following morning.

Meanwhile, Ian and Steve
visited John's family

to tell them that Weldon
was now being charged

with their son's murder.

I don't recall exactly
what my reaction was,

because it's not happiness.

You never expect
a child to go early.

It's like torture.

We still didn't have John.

All I wanted was
to know where my--

my son was so I could
lay him to rest.

Often, we talk about the
significant impact on families

when a loved one
is murdered, but

it can be worse when there
is no body to grieve over.

Because there's this constant
back of the mind thought of,

what if they're just missing?

What if they turn up?

Because there's no
evidence physically

yet that that can't happen.

The underlying priority
for the family and for us,

was to recover
John Chipp's body

and give the family
some peace of mind.

And we made a promise
that we would

do everything humanly possible
to recover John's body.

While
police frogmen continued

to search the River
Wear, investigators

made another
breakthrough in the case.

A witness came forward,
and she described

entering the bridge
from the North side,

and she encountered
a big man, who we now

know as Christopher Weldon.

She walked past the big man.

And as she walked
towards the South side,

she saw what she
says is a young boy

running under the bridge.

It is important that
she places both of them

together on the bridge
at quarter past midnight.

That was the last
sighting of John Chipp.

As investigations continued,

so did the search
for John Chipp's body.

It's important because that
body will tell us a story.

For example, was John alive
when he hit the water,

or was he killed on the bridge
first and then thrown over?

John could have
had a suicide note

on his body, which
would indicate

that he had killed
himself rather than

being thrown from the bridge.

The officers from
the Northumbria Police Marine

Unit undertook hours
and hours of searching

in the-- the river.

We are in the most
arduous of circumstances.

We had a friend that
had a small, small boat.

For a couple of days, we
went up and down the river,

the same river as the police.

So they were on the south side.

We were on the north
side, but we had no joy.

It was nigh
on impossible, really.

On April
15, 2004, almost a month

after John Chipp had fallen
from the Queen Alexandra

bridge, and two weeks after
Christopher Weldon had

been charged with his murder,
the search for John's body

came to an end.

A dog Walker at Hilton,
a couple of miles up the river,

saw a body floating in the
river and contacted the police.

The Marine section recovered
the body from the river

and brought it back to the dock
at Sunderland, where myself

and Steve Barron were waiting.

John's mobile phone, and as I
recall, his wallet were--

were still in his pockets.

So that-- that indicated
that it was John,

and you could see
that it was-- it

was John, albeit he
was formally identified

through DNA enquiries.

John's
body was sent

to pathologist Jim
Sunter for a post-mortem,

while Detective Superintendent
Ian Sharp passed on the news

to John's family.

They just gave
us that information

and made sure we
were OK, but I think

they knew that we
needed to be on our own,

and I think we just
hugged and cried.

Part in sadness,
but also relief

that at least we
knew where he was,

and we could finally
have some closure.

I was in school, actually.

I was in a lesson,
and the two teachers come in

and took me out of the lesson.

I thought I was in trouble.

And they put us in the car,
but they didn't say a word.

It was just silence.

And then they took us home.

And that's when I got--

got told that the body
had been found.

And then when the teachers
had gone, I just burst--

burst into tears, and I
just jumped off the stairs

and just gave my mom
and dad a big cuddle.

While John's family
were left to process the news,

a post-mortem
gave investigators

more information about what
had happened to him the night

he fell from the bridge.

He had not been
stabbed before going over

from the side of the bridge.

John had water
in his lungs, which

means that when John
entered the river,

he was still breathing.

Pathologists said he
would have been knocked

unconscious immediately.

And when he went
under the water,

he took a gulp of breath,
and water entered his lungs.

The cause of death
was given as drowning.

The property was
still on the body,

so he wasn't robbed
on the bridge, and nothing else

to give us any indication that
something else had happened

on the bridge, other
than an altercation and

being bundled over
the side and into the river

whilst he was alive.

Trying to put together
a motive for John's murder,

I think it's clear that
Christopher Weldon's

standing on that bridge with
serious troubles on his mind.

He'd just been interviewed
about a ferry death.

He'd had an argument
with his wife.

He was drunk.

He'd gone to the bridge,
and he told people

he was going to kill himself.

He didn't kill himself and
killed someone else instead.

After
weeks of turmoil,

John Chipp's parents were
finally able to begin

preparing for his funeral.

And his father,
George, was determined

that John finished the journey
he started the night he died.

I was told that there
wouldn't be bringing them home,

but I demanded he come home.

I says he was on his way home.

He wanted to get home.

I want you to bring him home.

They brought in that
house, and we--

we had John
in the house overnight,

obviously, in his coffin.

That was such a relief.

I felt much, much
better just having

him there for that night.

That was probably the best
sleep I had had for weeks.

Finally,
on May 12, 2004,

John Chipp was laid to rest.

The funeral
was absolutely massive.

Couldn't get everyone
in the church.

Outside the church,
the street was just packed.

It was-- it's the biggest
funeral I've ever--

I've ever seen.

It was unbelievable the amount
that turnout for him.

The street was lined by
hundreds of neighbors, friends.

It was very moving.

It was an amazing occasion,
but a-- but a very sad one.

You can't believe that an--

an 18-year-old that still lived
at home could have an effect

on so many people's lives.

On June 15,
2004, Christopher Weldon

appeared in court
at a plea hearing

for pushing John
Chipp to his death

from the Queen Alexandra
bridge in Sunderland.

It was the first
time John's parents

came face to face with the man
accused of killing their son.

I remember thinking,
bizarrely, he's not a monster.

I-- I don't know whether
you think somebody is--

that does such a horrific
thing to another human

being can look normal.

I just seen him as evil.

I couldn't see him
as anything else.

After
pleading not guilty,

Christopher Weldon was
remanded until November 2004,

when he went on trial
for the murder of John Chipp.

To disprove Weldon's
version of events,

the prosecution wanted
to show the jury

a visual interpretation
of what must

have happened on the bridge.

In the run up
to the trial, we

considered another
new tactic of doing

a computer reconstruction.

The defense didn't like it
because it was prejudicial

and because it wasn't
admitted in evidence.

That caused
the judge to instruct

the jury to attend the bridge.

It is very rare that
a jury will physically go and

visit a crime scene location.

The whole court
process is supposed

to be very secular, very
kept within closed walls.

Now, it can be really
helpful for the jury to help

contextualize the scene.

Specifically,
in this case, they

need to understand
the physicality,

the physical possibility
of Weldon's claim

that John has just
accidentally almost fallen

over the side of this bridge.

And so this visit
to the bridge is

going to have had to be
extremely well planned

and mapped out to be
able to go ahead.

Over
20 years later,

former Detective
Inspector Steve Barron

revisited the bridge
to retrace the jury's steps.

We wanted the jury
to see what this looked

like, a 4 foot 2 railing.

And to get over here, you're
going to have to climb over,

or you're going to have to be
manhandled and thrown over.

And we wanted the jury to
understand what an 85-foot drop

looks like, because that's
what we've got

from here under the river.

Coming here and seeing
this footpath

made the jury think about the
account that Weldon had given.

And ultimately, that
just demonstrated

that Weldon's account
was totally fanciful.

The defense
claimed that John's death

was an accident, and that
he had attacked Weldon.

Defense was making John out
to be an unpleasant individual,

that John was
looking for a fight,

and that's hard
to listen to as a mother

whose son had been murdered.

In his
defense, Weldon also came

up with an unexpected tactic.

Incredibly, as part
of the defense strategy,

they introduced evidence
about the ferry incident

the week before
John going missing.

Where Frank Conrad had
been reported missing,

presumed having gone overboard.

And the jury heard that
Weldon had been on the ferry

when this had happened,
that he'd been

interviewed by the police.

It seems extremely unusual
that Weldon's defense attorney

would decide to bring up a case
where Weldon's been questioned

in relation
to a potential crime

in very similar
circumstances to the one

that he's now on trial for.

There are a couple of reasons
that they might have

decided to do this, though.

This is a relatively
small local community.

People are going to have heard
about Weldon being questioned

in relation to this
prior case, so they maybe

thought it's better
to officially

introduce it to record
and control the narrative

in relation to it.

Additionally, they're trying
to use this to paint Weldon

as this victim who's
being falsely accused

and has had these run ins
a couple of times now.

Ultimately, though,
I think it backfires.

Because actually,
it just goes to show

that this is the type of person
who's at least been suspected

of being able to show this
level of extreme violence

before and not
even very long ago.

On Wednesday,
December 1, 2004,

the jury returned
their verdict.

The jury came
back with a majority of 10 to 2

that Weldon was guilty
of John's murder.

But you know
what, we don't win.

We don't have our son
back and never will do.

So yes, there is some happiness
and elation on one part.

But equally, that
sadness is still there.

Christopher
Weldon was given a life

sentence with
a recommendation of 15

years in prison minus
the eight months

he'd already spent on remand.

In my opinion,
it wasn't a fair--

it wasn't a fair sentence.

I pictured him
as coming out at 42.

He's still got a lot
of years to enjoy life,

and I just didn't think
the sentence was long enough.

From a professional
perspective,

sentencing and guidelines
are there for judges

to understand and implement.

And on that basis, 15 years
was entirely appropriate.

But had John been my boy
and somebody had murdered him,

I would want them to go to jail
for the rest of their life.

After
the jury's guilty verdict,

the judge acknowledged
Ian, Steve, and

Detective Sergeant Chris
Sobenga's roles in what had

been a tragic and unique case.

The judge formally
commended Ian,

and he commended Chris
and myself for our efforts

in supporting Ian leading
the investigation.

At the end of the trial,
Ruth gave me a thank you

card and a bottle of whisky.

Getting a hug from
Ruth was more important

than the commendation.

With Weldon serving
time in Northumberland Prison,

John's family faced
the challenge of life

without their beloved
son and brother.

You just
have to try and move on.

I don't think any of us
wanted to celebrate

Christmas that year, did we?

We-- we actually
felt guilty--

Enjoying ourselves.

for trying
to enjoy ourselves.

At the time,
I was very young

and I didn't realize how
much losing my brother

had affected us.

I think it changed my life
drastically for the worse,

really, because I grew
up without a brother,

I'll never be able to be
an uncle, stuff like that.

In the spring of 2019,

over 14 years after
Christopher Weldon was

sentenced for the murder
of John Chipp,

he became eligible for parole.

You are given
the choice whether you

want to deliver an impact
statement at that

the parole hearing,
and we decided

that's what we wanted to do.

But Weldon
refused to attend the family's

statement reading.

I thought
it was just a coward.

He took our son
away from us, and

he couldn't come and face us.

He didn't have the guts.

Despite not
being able to talk directly

to Weldon, Ruth read
the family's impact statement,

in which Ruth described
how losing John

had affected the family.

"John
was a much loved son,

brother, grandson, nephew,
cousin, and friend.

The anguish that we all
feel at his pointless death

is indescribable, and it is
very hard to put it into words.

Our son, Mark, was
only 15 years old

when John was murdered.

He often speaks of his
brother affectionately

and becomes upset and angry
that John is no longer with us.

My husband George and I are
still haunted by John's death.

No parent should
have to experience

the tragic death
of a child, especially

in such awful circumstances."

John's parents
requested the parole board keep

Weldon locked up,
but having served

his sentence, Weldon's
parole was granted,

and he was released under
license in December 2019.

I wish he
was still behind bars.

However, I won't
allow it to eat me

up and niggle away in my head.

And I need to fill it
with much nicer things

than thinking about him.

Over 20
years since John's death,

his memory lives on through
his family and friends.

We go out for his memory.

We sometimes get
together with the lads,

like all his close friends,
at the time or all my--

like, some of them are
my best friends now.

In memory of John, we decided
to raise money for the guide

dogs for the blind.

We have managed to raise
over 22,000 pounds.

We have named a dog after him.

We had a black
Labrador called Chippy.

My older son,
who was 13, he's

actually called John Chipp.

I named him after
my brother in memory of him.

John's old
comprehensive school,

we decided to set up a subject
award in art in his memory.

We would like John
to be remembered

as a young, ginger-headed
young man who loved life,

loved his sport.

Loved his animals.

Mhm.

I'd like John to be
remembered as a fun,

outgoing, very kind, polite,
lovely-- lovely person.

That's exactly who he was.

He was a much
loved child, and we

want his memory to continue.