Sunderland Echo reporter Kevin Clark recounts the case of serial killer Steven Grieveson, who murdered four teenage boys in the early 1990s.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 This is the story of a series of murders which shocked the city, devastated the lives of
00:04 four families and left an innocent man living under the shadow of suspicion for more than
00:08 a decade.
00:09 This is the story of Stephen Grieveson.
00:12 This is the story of the Sunderland Strangler.
00:15 It is Friday 18th May 1990.
00:18 Fourteen year old Simon Martin leaves his home here in Amy Street, Southwick for the
00:23 last time.
00:24 He has never run away before.
00:25 On Saturday May 26th, eight days after Simon left home.
00:29 His body is discovered by two boys in the disused Guildside House in Rokeham.
00:32 A post mortem examination reveals he has died from brain injuries as a result of blows to
00:36 the head from a blunt object.
00:37 Police say they believe Simon has been dead for no more than two days and have ruled out
00:41 any sexual motive for the act.
00:43 Both conclusions are deeply flawed.
00:46 Two days later, Chief Inspector Ronnie Wright poses with Simon's distinctive baseball jacket
00:50 on the front page of the Echo as the teenage's devastated father Robert appeals for help
00:55 to trace his son's killer.
00:56 In June comes news of a breakthrough as police reveal they have arrested a suspect and have
01:00 been interviewing him for two days.
01:02 He is, it will later emerge, 16 year old Alvin White.
01:05 His fingerprint has been found close to where Simon's body was discovered, in what detectives
01:09 believe to be the youngster's blood.
01:11 The teenage suspect has admitted being in Guildside House just once, but later changed
01:15 his story, saying he had gone to the empty property about a year earlier and had sex
01:19 with his then girlfriend in the alcove where Simon's body was discovered.
01:23 A version of events she denies.
01:25 On June 22nd 1990, the as yet unnamed Alvin White appears here at Sutherland Magistrates
01:31 Court charged with the murder of Simon Martin and pleads with his girlfriend to confirm
01:35 his story.
01:36 In a highly unusual move, solicitor Cecil Emerson requests that reporting restrictions
01:40 be lifted in order to make a direct appeal to the girl and her family and tells the court
01:45 it is essential that the truth be told.
01:48 The charges are finally dropped after the young lady corroborates Alvin White's account
01:52 and shows detectives where the pair had made love.
01:53 It will be ten years later, in November 2000, that full details emerge of the evidence against
01:58 Alvin White and the events within three months, when he sues Northumbria Police for wrongful
02:02 arrest and unlawful imprisonment.
02:04 The 2000 court case will also hear that the second plank of the case against him, the
02:08 fingerprint, has also fallen through.
02:11 A chemical used to enhance the print has destroyed any forensic material which could be tested.
02:16 Detectives are unable to prove the print has been made in blood at all, let alone that
02:19 it is Simon's.
02:20 Alvin White has spent five months in custody.
02:23 He is beaten up by a group of youths who are shouting "murderer" on his release.
02:26 So desperate is he to establish innocence that he offers to stand trial when he turns
02:29 18 in a bid to clear his name.
02:31 It will be another ten years before he finally gets a chance to do so.
02:35 By then, Simon Martin's killer will have struck another three times.
02:39 On November 26th 1993, firefighters responding to a routine call to allotments at the rear
02:45 of Monk Wearmouth Hospital in Newcastle Road find a body.
02:49 It is so badly burned that a post-mortem examination is required, seemingly to establish it is
02:52 that of a white male.
02:55 Three days later, police confirm the body is that of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly from Monk
02:59 Wearmouth and say they have ruled out foul play.
03:03 A spokesman tells reporters "there is no evidence of other people being involved.
03:07 There is nothing to suggest the cause of death is suspicious."
03:11 A local man, Stephen Grieveson, has been seen with Thomas on the night of his death.
03:16 He is interviewed and admits to a chance encounter but says the pair parted "on good terms".
03:21 February 9th 1994, firefighters find another body of a teenage boy in a house here on Rucker
03:27 Seafront.
03:28 Empty liquid fluid containers are found nearby and the cause of death is established as asphyxia
03:33 and carbon monoxide poisoning.
03:36 The next day, police identify the victim as 15-year-old David Hanson, who has been reported
03:40 missing from his home in St. Petersburg, Monk Wearmouth.
03:44 Investigators confirm they believe he may have been experimenting with solvent sniffing.
03:48 David's parents will later refute claims he could have been glue sniffing.
03:52 Among the wreaths at David's funeral is one signed by schoolmate David Grief.
03:56 He does not attend the service however.
03:58 He has been murdered the night before.
04:02 February 25th 1994, fire crews are again called to Allotments and Newcastle Road where the
04:09 body of Thomas Kelly had been found just 12 weeks earlier.
04:13 They find the body which was later identified as that of 15-year-old David Grief.
04:17 This time the police response is very different.
04:20 A murder style enquiry is launched immediately.
04:23 Forensic experts are drafted in and an incident room is established.
04:27 On Saturday February 26th, Chief Superintendent Barry Stewart confirms for the first time
04:31 that police are linking the latest three deaths, but are still not convinced the teenagers
04:36 have been murdered.
04:37 I am not saying that the three deaths are homicides in the conventional sense but are
04:41 suspicious enough to cause us concern, he tells reporters.
04:45 He confirms police are looking at possible links between drug and solvent abuse and experimentation
04:49 with fire.
04:50 Two days later, as it emerges that all three victims have been pupils at Monk Wearmouth
04:55 School, Head Jim Farney urges pupils to come forward with any information that might help.
05:01 Police say they are still ruling out foul play but are extremely concerned about the
05:04 circumstances surrounding the deaths.
05:06 Stephen Grieveson has also been sighted with David shortly before his death.
05:10 He is interviewed again and denies meeting David or buying drugs for him.
05:13 On March 1st, David Hanson's parents Sheila and John voice their fears that their son
05:17 might have fallen victim to a serial killer.
05:20 John Hanson says local youngsters are living in fear.
05:23 Their friends think someone is taking them from the streets and doing this, he says.
05:26 They are petrified.
05:27 None of them are sniffing glue and all of them will be terrified of going to the places
05:31 where the bodies were found.
05:33 His wife adds, "There is something far more sinister about these deaths.
05:37 If I lived to be a thousand, I will never believe anything else."
05:41 In fact, she'll have to wait just two years, almost to the day, to see her son's killer
05:46 put behind bars for life.
05:49 On Friday March 11th, Grieveson, a petty criminal with a form of offences including theft, robbery,
05:54 taking without consent and arson, is arrested and interviewed on suspicion of manslaughter.
06:00 He is interrogated again the next day.
06:01 His clothes are seized after it emerges that a fingerprint has been found at the house
06:04 where David Hanson was killed.
06:06 Grieveson claims it is from a different burglary, but aware he is now under suspicion for three
06:10 deaths, changes his story and admits buying cannabis for David Grief.
06:15 On remanding during prison on an unrelated matter, Grieveson admits to his cellmate that
06:19 he had sex with the boy he subsequently killed, a reference believed to be to David Grief.
06:24 As the families of three boys continually express their suspicions, Dr Nigel Cooper,
06:27 who had performed the first and third exams, grows increasingly concerned and shares his
06:32 fears with a colleague who performed a second examination.
06:34 In August 1994, Dr Ian West from Guy's Hospital and Professor Peter Vannisius from Glasgow
06:39 University examine photos and evidence.
06:41 They conclude all three boys have died of ligature strangulation and in all likelihood
06:45 at the hands of the same person.
06:48 The following month, Detective Inspector Dave Wilson takes over the case.
06:52 He has a reputation as a tenacious copper and works 13 hour days in a bid to find the
06:56 killer.
06:58 Police now believe they have been wrong to rule out a sexual motive for the offences.
07:01 DNA tests are carried out on samples obtained from David Grief's body.
07:06 On Friday November 4th, Grieveson is arrested again and confronted with the DNA evidence.
07:12 He is charged with the murders of Thomas Kelly, David Hanson, David Grief on Sunday November
07:16 6th and appears before City Magistrates the following day.
07:21 In February 1996, Stephen Grieveson is convicted on all three counts of murder after lengthy
07:25 trial at Leeds Crown Court.
07:27 He is jailed for life with the recommendation he serve at least 35 years before being eligible
07:32 for parole.
07:33 John Mulford QC, Prosecuting, has told the court Grieveson is a bisexual who was either
07:37 unable or unwilling to accept his sexuality and who had two motives for killing the boys.
07:42 The first was to prevent them from revealing that he had demonstrated a sexual preference
07:46 to them and the second was simply because he enjoyed killing them and firing their bodies.
07:51 Quizzed during the trial, Grieveson admits he hated his sexuality and his friends for
07:54 fear of being ostracised.
07:55 His inability to come to terms with the extraction of men is clear from letters he wrote to a
07:58 fellow inmate when they were both in Durham jail in 1993.
08:01 The letters are deemed inadmissible by the trial judge on the basis they were purged
08:04 of the case by "revolting any persons whether they are homosexual or heterosexual".
08:09 Grieveson continued to write after the killings but letters tone changed considerably with
08:13 no mention of sex.
08:14 In December 1997, Northumbria Police apologised to the families of the three murdered school
08:18 boys for initially saying they'd had assault and abuse.
08:22 The parents put 62 concerns and questions about the investigation into their son's
08:25 deaths to the Police Complaints Authority and a report by the authority has concluded
08:29 police were insensitive in their dealings with the families.
08:32 Solicitor, Claire Routledge, says the investigation report and apology has now closed the whole
08:35 affair.
08:36 "They are relieved to have this unequivocal apology.
08:39 From the beginning, all they wanted to establish was these were everyday boys who did everyday
08:43 things, not criminals and not drug or solvent abusers," he says.
08:48 In October 2000, Alvin White launches his case against Northumbria Police here at Newcastle
08:53 Crown Court.
08:54 Lawyer, Matthew Casswell, tells the court "it is our case that this investigation was
08:58 carried out in a singly inept manner, a result of which the life of an innocent man was blighted."
09:03 Two days into the hearing comes the extraordinary revelation.
09:07 New DNA techniques, unavailable a decade earlier, have conclusively cleared Mr White.
09:12 Recent analysis of the substance from which the fingerprint was found have produced a
09:15 1 in 11 million match to his former girlfriend.
09:19 In November, Alvin White loosens his case against the police.
09:22 Judge David Wood scathing of the handling of the investigation, which he says could
09:25 be described as heavy-handed, as insensitive and even as incompetent.
09:31 But critically he says, in light of the fingerprint evidence and the lack of corroboration of Mr
09:35 White's alibi, there is nothing to suggest detectives were not acting in good faith when
09:38 the arrestant held him.
09:39 Even as a result of the case has been handed down, news breaks that Stephen Gleaveson has
09:43 been arrested and is being questioned on suspicion of Simon Martin's murder.
09:48 In the end, he is not charged.
09:50 In June 2004, Gleaveson finally admits responsibility for the deaths of Thomas Kelly, David Hanson
09:54 and David Greif in a letter to the Victim Liaison Service, but makes no mention of Simon
09:59 Martin.
10:00 It will be another 8 years before the truth finally comes out.
10:04 In January 2012, Gleaveson finally admits responsibility for Simon's death.
10:07 In an interview, he admits going to Gillesite House with Simon as the pair performed a sex
10:11 act, saying in an interview, "After I was finished, I got scared.
10:15 I started shouting and not telling anyone.
10:17 I just looked for a minute and I started stroking him.
10:19 I didn't let go and the next thing was on the bed.
10:22 I think there was a rock or something and I smashed his head in."
10:25 Gleaveson appears by video link in Newcastle Crown Court in February 2013, admits responsibility
10:29 for Simon's death, but denies murder.
10:31 During the trial that October, forensic psychologist Professor Derek Perkins says Gleaveson has
10:35 psychopathic traits which mixed with vulnerabilities make for a dangerous combination.
10:40 He tells the court, "His lack of emotion, callousness, lack of remorse are elements
10:45 that would have contributed to his ability to kill more than once."
10:48 Old social service records show that Gleaveson was taken into cage at 13.
10:52 Reports on the time speak of him as having no insight into his behaviour or the trouble
10:55 he causes and describe him as emotionless.
10:58 Gleaveson, now 42, is convicted of murder on October 24th 2013.
11:04 A jury of five women and seven men has taken just an hour to return its verdict.
11:08 He refuses to come to court for sentencing.
11:10 Judge Mr Justus Ramsey tells him, "You are a sexual predator.
11:14 You will murder young boys and men who do not comply with your wishes for sexual gratification."
11:17 Speaking about Simon's death he says, "Precisely what happened is known only to you.
11:22 There is powerful evidence you strangled him as part of a sexual act, then gratuitously
11:25 smashed his skull."
11:26 Robert Martin is in court to see his son's killer finally brought to justice.
11:29 In a statement he says, "Nothing in life prepares you for the loss of a teenage son,
11:33 especially under the circumstances I lost Simon.
11:37 My family has had over 20 years to come to terms with Simon's murder and it has not
11:39 been easy.
11:40 It has been traumatic and life changing for all the families."
11:44 For more information visit www.FEMA.gov or call 1-877-425-7111.
11:53 For more information visit www.FEMA.gov