This is far from the only babes in the wood case, but the murders of Susan Blatchford and Gary Hanlon remained unsolved for thirty years. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave at Epping Forest, North East of Central London.
Convicted paedophile Ronald Jebson was living in the area, but as a detective who worked on the reopened investigation explained here, in those days the police used a card system rather than today's sophisticated computers, and Jebson was one of many potential suspects. A predatory rather than an opportunistic paedophile with a history of sexual offences dating back to his teens, he had an alibi of sorts. He was also lodging with an old schoolfriend named Robert Papper. Four years later, Jebson would reward Papper for his friendship by murdering his former friend's 8 year old daughter, Rosemary.
The inquest on Susan Blatchford and Gary Hanlon returned an open verdict because the bodies were found ten weeks after the pair disappeared, and it was not possible to give a precise cause of death, but there was little doubt in the eyes of the parents that this was a crime rather than simply a tragedy, that they might for example have got lost and died from exposure.
Decades later, while serving his life sentence for the murder of Rosemary Papper, Jebson fed a prison officer a bizarre story about Robert Papper and his wife being responsible for the double murder. This led to the case being reopened; Mr and Mrs Papper were ruled out, which left Jebson. In 1998 he confessed to the crime, and in May 2000 he was duly convicted. Unlike his fairy story about the Pappers, his later confession provided material corroboration for the evil deed.
Among others, presenter Fred Dineage talks to the parents of Gary Hinton; altogether this is a fair documentary if you ignore the babble between him and his sidekick David Wilson.
Convicted paedophile Ronald Jebson was living in the area, but as a detective who worked on the reopened investigation explained here, in those days the police used a card system rather than today's sophisticated computers, and Jebson was one of many potential suspects. A predatory rather than an opportunistic paedophile with a history of sexual offences dating back to his teens, he had an alibi of sorts. He was also lodging with an old schoolfriend named Robert Papper. Four years later, Jebson would reward Papper for his friendship by murdering his former friend's 8 year old daughter, Rosemary.
The inquest on Susan Blatchford and Gary Hanlon returned an open verdict because the bodies were found ten weeks after the pair disappeared, and it was not possible to give a precise cause of death, but there was little doubt in the eyes of the parents that this was a crime rather than simply a tragedy, that they might for example have got lost and died from exposure.
Decades later, while serving his life sentence for the murder of Rosemary Papper, Jebson fed a prison officer a bizarre story about Robert Papper and his wife being responsible for the double murder. This led to the case being reopened; Mr and Mrs Papper were ruled out, which left Jebson. In 1998 he confessed to the crime, and in May 2000 he was duly convicted. Unlike his fairy story about the Pappers, his later confession provided material corroboration for the evil deed.
Among others, presenter Fred Dineage talks to the parents of Gary Hinton; altogether this is a fair documentary if you ignore the babble between him and his sidekick David Wilson.
