‘He’s very up and down, sometimes very angry, sometimes hyper. He has broken down and cried, especially when he’s talked to prisoners still inside. He’s had terrible stomach cramps because the food is so rich after a prison diet. He hasn’t slept in a bed yet, in fact he’s hardly slept at all and he’s asked me to remove the light in his room – he slept with a light on in his cell for ten years. He wouldn’t travel in a train carriage because it would be too claustrophobic after the cell and he says he gets lost in the house because there are so many rooms.’ That is how Ann Whelan, the mother of Michael Hickey, described her son three days after his release as one of the wrongfully convicted killers of the newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater.
The night of the men’s release was, understandably, one of euphoria. Nearly 19 years after their imprisonment the three surviving members of the ‘Bridgewater Four’ – Vincent and Michael Hickey and Jim Robinson – last week celebrated with their families and campaigners at the London Irish Centre in Camden Town. But even as the men began the renewal of relationships ended so abruptly with their arrests in 1978, there were reminders around them that their ordeal was not over. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) New Statesman article Seth Linder 28th February 1997, ‘From Jail to ... What? The fight for freedom is over, but the hard part is just beginning for the Bridgewater men’
‘My name is Bert Spencer: I don’t run and I don’t hide. And I do tend to say it as it is regardless. Many of you will remember my name in relation to the murder of Carl Bridgewater. I did not kill Carl Bridgewater and I am here to prove to you that I did not.’ Interview with a Murderer ***** Channel 4 2016
On 19th September 1978 13-year-old Carl Bridgewater left his home in Wordsley, West Midlands. Like thousands of other children across the country he was carrying out a paper round for pocket money. At 4 p.m. Carl was making one of his final deliveries of the day to Yewtree Farm – the owners an elderly couple were out. It seems Carl entered the farmhouse and disturbed a burglary. Carl was then shot in the face with a shotgun at point-blank range. The police’s suspicions were quickly aroused by a local ambulance officer - Bert Spencer. ibid.
The so-called Bridgewater 4 were jailed from between 12 and 25 years … They’d been set up by the police. ibid.
Exactly one month after the Bridgewater trial there was another brutal shotgun murder in the sleepy rural community of Stourbridge. It wasn’t just the uncanny similarity of the shootings or their proximity that made headlines, it was the name of the person who immediately confessed to the killing: that person was Bert Spencer. ibid.
He may be displaying some of the classic signs of psychopathy. ibid.
‘Is this not a fact that you did have guns? Is this not a fact you were an antique dealer? Is this not a fact you lived next door to the child and you refused to tell the police that? Is this not a fact that your car was seen turning into Yewtree Farm … Is this [not] a fact that you were the only man in uniform? … Ann Whelan, Carl’s mum to Bert Spencer, television interviews
The murder of Carl Bridgewater is one of the most infamous unsolved murders in British criminal history. Professor David Wilson, criminologist
A convicted killer sensationally put in the frame for schoolboy Carl Bridgewater’s murder by a TV documentary has been rushed to hospital hours after ringing the Birmingham Mail to say: ‘I’ve just had enough of being hounded.’
Bert Spencer, at the centre of a media frenzy following his appearance in Channel 4 documentary Interview with a Murderer, is currently at Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, Lincolnshire. Birmingham Mail online article 28th December 2016 ‘Exclusive: Bert Spencer has a stroke after being ‘hounded’ over Carl Bridgewater death’
17 years ago these men were jailed for a murder that horrified the nation. Lawyers say their conviction for the killing 13-year-old Carl Bridgewater will one day stand alongside miscarriages like Birmingham and Guildford. Rough Justice, Who Killed Carl Bridgewater? BBC 1996
Yewtree farm is now abandoned. Carl Bridgewater was murdered here as he delivered an evening paper at about 4.20 p.m. on 19th September 1978. He’d been found on a settee: he’d been shot at close range. The police believed he disturbed a robbery. ibid.
Molloy said Vincent Hickey, the man who got him arrested, Jimmy Robinson and Hickey’s young cousin Michael had been downstairs with Carl when he was shot … He protested the confession was false and had been forced out of him. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
107,360. If there’s a question mark over the police records, what about the confession itself? … The other three confessions are all in the same vein. ibid.
BRILEY, LINWOOD & JAMES: Born to Kill? TV -
In the late 70s the Briley brothers rocked the US city of Richmond with a string of vicious murders. Men, women and children would lose their lives seemingly at random. The siblings were a brutal gang … Were these blood brothers born to kill? Born to Kill? s5e6: Briley Brothers, Really 2017
Robbery, rape, murder – no-one seemed safe. ibid.
The brothers became bolder and more cruel. ibid.
The Briley gang’s six-month’s spree had cost the lives of at least ten victims. ibid.
BRITTON, BARBARA & MICHAEL WOLFE: True Crime with Aphrodite Jones TV - Mail online -
A young father with a beautiful ex. And the promise of a second chance. Suddenly vanishes into the night. A working cop joins forces with his family. True Crime with Aphrodite Jones s4e8: Never Too Late, ID 2013
There’s no proof that David [Jackson] is even dead. ibid.
She said, ‘How many bones do you have?’ ibid.
Her role was to be the lure ... The drive to the grave site was quick and quiet. ibid.
Barbara Britton Pleads Guilty to David Jackson’s Murder. ibid. online headline
A woman accused in the murder of her 24-year-old ex-husband in 1988 has entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge, 24 years after his death.
Barbara Britton, 46, pleaded guilty to accessory-after-the-fact to first degree murder in a Broward, Florida, courtroom Tuesday following the shooting death of David Jackson, 24.
Britton pled guilty to luring Jackson to a Dania Beach motel room where he was shot by her then-husband Michael Wolfe. Mail online article 19th April 2012 ‘Fury in courtroom as woman who lured ex-husband to his 1988 murder pleads guilty to lesser charge to escape jail’
BRIZZI, STEFANO: Britain’s Most Evil Killers TV -
Inside the flat was a scene of unimaginable horror. Stefano Brizzi had killed a police officer in a drug-fuelled sexual encounter. He then went on to dispose of the body in the most horrifying way, and became one of Britain’s most evil killers. Britain’s Most Evil Killers s2e9: Stefano Brizzi, Pick TV 2018
Brizzi fell into a dark world of his own creation … and would often go on chem-sex binges for days. ibid.
‘Satan told me to do it.’ ibid. Brizzi