• 2 months ago
Social Media Murders S03E02 The Murder of Abi Fisher (4th July 2024)
Abi and Matthew Fisher welcomed their IVF baby into the world, but 6 months later Abi was dead. Police bodycam and custody footage reveal how West Yorkshire police's investigation uncovered her killer's lies.
Transcript
00:00Clever baby. Look at her face.
00:05Shots police, what's your emergency?
00:08My wife gone missing.
00:10And she's not just like popped out?
00:12No, we've got her.
00:14In the neighbourhood or anything?
00:15And she's left her as well.
00:17And what's her name then?
00:18Abby Fisher.
00:19Can I take your name?
00:21Matthew Fisher.
00:22Okay, it's down for the next available unit to attend.
00:25Am I better off putting a Facebook post out?
00:28Yeah, you could do. Okay, thanks then, bye bye.
00:46Do you know where Abigail Fisher is?
00:48Has Abigail come to any help?
00:50We have now located the body of a female who we believe is Abigail Fisher.
00:59Abigail Fisher
01:12Police say they're extremely concerned for the welfare of a woman missing from Castleford.
01:1729-year-old teacher, Abby Fisher.
01:19Was last seen at her home just before midnight on Friday.
01:23How would you describe Abigail?
01:25She's a really nice person.
01:27She's always helping others.
01:29She's very smart.
01:30She went to university and she's a teacher.
01:32I love her.
01:34What's your mummy doing to you, Sidney?
01:44There's no way I can describe her.
01:46The baby is a third round IVF.
01:48She's been trying for five years now.
01:50She's a third round IVF.
01:51She's been trying for five years for her baby.
01:53There's no way she would ever leave her.
02:01What do we think might have happened then?
02:03I don't know. I'm just wondering if she's got postnatal depression.
02:07Postnatal depression.
02:09Is her partner in?
02:10Yeah.
02:13Hiya, chap.
02:14Hiya, mate.
02:16Quick question, mate, does your ring doorbell work?
02:21What I think we'll do, we have to search the house
02:23just to make sure she's not somewhere.
02:25Do you want to show me around then, one of you?
02:27Is that all right? We just have to have a look around the property.
02:34I was just finishing work.
02:36I was actually driving out of the back of the station
02:38when I received a call from my detective chief superintendent at the time
02:42saying there's a really unusual-sounding missing person case.
02:45I need you to come back in and I need you to call all the team back in.
02:50So she's been in bed with you last night?
02:52Yeah.
02:53And from your perspective, what time was the last time you saw her in bed?
02:57Was it when you went to sleep or...?
02:59What time would that have been?
03:01About midnight.
03:02Right. And everything were fine?
03:06Or was there anything...?
03:08We'd finished feeding.
03:10We'd brought her back down to bed.
03:12I got in bed and she went and took Bill down.
03:16And then she came back to me, I think, and that was it.
03:21One of the first things that we do is to make sure
03:23those premises are searched and searched to a high degree.
03:26At the time, the officers were dealing with
03:28what was classed as a high-risk missing person investigation.
03:31To your knowledge, has she expressed any sort of, like,
03:34suicidal tendencies or...?
03:38What's the relationship like with the lad downstairs?
03:41Very good. Very good.
03:43Do you have any issues at all with...? No.
03:45No.
03:46How are you coping? We're not really asked whether you are all right.
03:49I don't know.
03:51I just can't stop there.
03:54We need to do a bit more of a thorough search from top to bottom
03:57and then after that we need to do a bit of paperwork with you
04:00just to show her as being missing, if that makes sense.
04:03All right, mate?
04:04She'd had no contact with the police before.
04:07There'd been no history of domestic abuse between her and her partner.
04:11It was immediately apparent that it was very out of character for Abi.
04:18Do you want to pop that lock for us and I'll have a look in there?
04:24Abi!
04:26People hide all sorts of places.
04:29SHE SOBS
04:31All I could think was, where the hell is she?
04:41I noticed that Matt had put a Facebook post on.
04:46Thousands of people liked that comment, hundreds of people commented on it,
04:49which I think shows you the level of anxiety in the local community.
04:54Trying to help, effectively, a man searching for his missing wife.
04:57We spoke to the police and we said,
05:00is there anything we can do to help?
05:03It required as many people to search the area as possible.
05:09We got a map and we worked out locations.
05:12Someone's looked there, someone's looked there, someone's looked there,
05:15what about here, what about there?
05:17And we tried to come up with a plan
05:19and we kept in touch with other friends who were searching.
05:22And updating each other all the time.
05:37The community response was absolutely fantastic.
05:40The whole family, friends, the community in the area came together,
05:45organised search parties for Abi.
05:49There was over 1,000 were looking for Abi.
05:52There were people everywhere looking for her.
05:54We were getting messages all the time.
06:05Social media can be very useful in a case like this,
06:08so that anybody who might see her would report back to them
06:11or report back to the police and let them know that she was safe and well.
06:14There were some really caring comments.
06:17Comments about Abi were fantastic.
06:28We cleared, like, 13 or 14 miles in walking.
06:31We'd done rivers, parks,
06:34places where you could easily go and hide away from the world for a little bit.
06:44Hundreds of people, lots of Abi's friends and family,
06:47searching places that were known to her.
06:50The estate was still in the process of being built,
06:53so there were a lot of half-built houses.
06:55I can remember pleading with the police to search them
06:59after this woman had said she'd seen Adam.
07:02Matthew was part of the search efforts
07:04and tried to coordinate them in some respects.
07:08And then suddenly there were loads of messages on
07:11from different people that they'd gone to school with.
07:26Police are continuing to investigate the disappearance of Abi Fisher.
07:30She was last seen at her Castleford home on Friday at around midnight.
07:35I found her wedding ring in her purse.
07:37Does she normally have it off, or...?
07:39Either way, is it? Does she?
07:41So she's took her purse out of her wedding ring off?
07:44I don't know if she's taken it off today, but it's definitely been off.
07:50He was seemingly afraid for his wife
07:54and gave the officers information, tried, it seemed to them at the time,
07:58to try and help them, to give them as much information as they could
08:01to find Abi.
08:03She's going to be found, isn't she?
08:05I hope so. We're going to do what we can to find her, yeah?
08:09I'm just hoping she's just...
08:12I've got to get out. I'm going for a walk.
08:14I'm going to sit down and fall asleep or something.
08:20This is Abi. Smile.
08:22It's a horrible one!
08:26Abi always makes me smile every time I see her.
08:29Abi always makes me smile every time I think of her.
08:32She's, like, the best friend you could ever ask for.
08:36She was a good girl, wasn't she? We never had any trouble with her.
08:39She loved life.
08:42She was very competitive with me.
08:44If I did something, she had to do it.
08:47I swam a mile, a week later she swam a mile.
08:50She had to do everything I did.
08:52Or better.
08:55She was a well-respected primary school teacher.
08:58There was no doubt that Abi was made to be a teacher.
09:01She just adored that job, and she loved it.
09:11Would you mind me having a look on her phone,
09:13just to see if there's anything that just might give us a start?
09:20Ask Petrie if you need her.
09:22Yeah, we'll get one of them. No problems.
09:24But you've got no issues with him?
09:26Not at all, not at all.
09:29I've had a sense of him, that 15-year-old.
09:32He lived at our house when he was 16.
09:34He lived at our house for five years.
09:44Matthew and Abi met in their final year at school.
09:47Yeah, she brought him home, didn't she?
09:49Yeah. For tea.
09:51And we were surprised.
09:54It wasn't what we were expecting.
09:56But he seemed nice, just very, very quiet.
09:59She loved Matthew.
10:04If you needed help with something, he'd help you.
10:09He's a very intelligent man.
10:11To say anything different would be unjust.
10:13He's a very intelligent man.
10:15He'd open the door for her.
10:17And always make sure she was OK.
10:21You want somebody to look after your daughter, don't you?
10:24And he seemed to do that, didn't he?
10:26He seemed to do it, yeah. You know?
10:28What's your mummy doing to you, Sydney?
10:32I would have trusted him with my life, in all honesty.
10:36I remember Abi messaging me and saying,
10:39saying, we've got engaged, look at my ring, isn't it beautiful?
10:43Oh, my God, like, I can't believe it, like, you're getting married.
10:51It was a really, really happy day.
10:54It was lovely to see them so happy.
10:57They were really happy together.
11:01And that's all we wanted.
11:03All we've ever wanted is for our kids to be happy.
11:09So we're not quite right.
11:11You know how you said ring doorbell doesn't work? Yeah.
11:14I looked on the phone, it does work.
11:21SIREN WAILS
11:26West Yorkshire Police are concerned for the welfare
11:29of 29-year-old teacher Abi Fisher.
11:32Abi was last seen at her home just before midnight on Friday.
11:36Her family says her disappearance is completely out of character.
11:40We had friends that were searching a bit further afield.
11:45Glasgow and all round that area.
11:48PHONE CHIMES
11:59We had the schoolteachers all going round all, like, Featherstone
12:03and them sort of places, cos that's where Abi's school was.
12:07And it kind of just snowballed, didn't it? Yeah.
12:10You're walking out to our bank and saying,
12:12have you seen this girl? Oh, we're looking for her.
12:15Next to the neighbourhood, he did about four or five miles
12:18out to our bank in his scooter.
12:29You know how you said ring doorbell doesn't work? Yeah.
12:32I looked on the phone, it does work.
12:34It's captured. Milkman dropping stuff off.
12:37But I don't know what time. Last night, it's dark.
12:40There's nothing else until these guys come.
12:42Obviously, she can get out the back door.
12:44We're both adamant that she's gone through the front door.
12:48She doesn't seem right with what I can see on the ring.
12:52Sort of not quite right.
13:00It was apparent that the information that had been given
13:03by Matthew was incorrect.
13:06Your ring is working, mate.
13:08Yeah?
13:11When the police said that, it just went in one ear and out the other.
13:14I didn't connect any dots or anything. I didn't even think.
13:19So, when was the last time you saw her, mate?
13:31There were things that were glaringly wrong in the account
13:34that he'd given, which then led to the suspicion
13:36that Matthew had harmed Abi.
13:41The investigation, it developed very quickly.
13:44Forensic team was inside the house.
13:46They were looking for something else.
13:50Have you got a key for a car, mate?
13:52I'm from East.
13:54I've got keys for a black car, man.
13:56Both car keys are there.
13:58One of the key roles in an investigation of this nature
14:01is what we call a CCTV coordinator,
14:03to look at tracking those vehicles to see where they'd been.
14:07We watched him go towards my sister's car.
14:11We watched him go to his car.
14:14The vehicle that was registered to Matthew
14:16had left the Castleford area around 4.30 that morning,
14:21and none of this in any way fitted with the information
14:24that Matthew had given those attending officers.
14:27Sorry, she's walking with me, holding me hand.
14:32Friday evening, we were speaking to them on the phone, weren't we?
14:37Yeah.
14:38And having a laugh with them,
14:40and they were as relaxed as anything, you know?
14:45Sid was standing up and a little left-handed,
14:49and I was standing up.
14:51You know?
14:52Sid was standing up and her little legs were moving
14:56as if she was trying to walk,
14:58and I was really excited and got Matthew to video it, you know?
15:04I've got one hand on her chest cos she's kind of leaning forward
15:08and my other hand's in her mouth currently.
15:10She's moving her feet, so I'm slightly distracted.
15:13Did you not hear me shout,
15:16I'm fine.
15:18It's little feet going.
15:20What are you doing?
15:22What are you doing?
15:26So everything was all right that night, wasn't it?
15:29Yeah.
15:30Yeah.
15:42It was quite late on, about ten-ish.
15:45I'd checked in and said,
15:47oh, how's Sid and Matt doing?
15:49She says, oh, she says, Matt's got Covid now.
15:51And she said, Sid's still not right with it.
15:54So I said, right, OK, do you need anything?
15:56I can bring your stuff over.
15:58She went, no, no, it's fine.
16:00There were a couple of spelling mistakes, which wasn't like Abi.
16:04Looking back in my head now,
16:06it makes me question, is it her who's replying to me or him?
16:19The homicide team is called to a briefing.
16:22It wasn't until later on in the day
16:24that information started to come in,
16:26such as the location of Matthew's vehicle,
16:28the telecommunications data from his phone,
16:31that started to build a picture
16:33to help us to understand as an investigation team
16:35that Abi had come to serious harm.
16:41Hello. Hello.
16:43Hello.
16:44What, are we all right?
16:46Matthew, I'm DC Bacon from Homicide and Major Crime Team.
16:50Matthew, you're going to be arrested on suspicion of murder
16:53of Abigail Fisher, OK?
16:55So you don't have to say anything.
16:57It may harm your defence.
16:58You're not meant to question something
17:00which you later rely on in court.
17:02The only thing you do say may be given evidence, OK?
17:05So we are going to need you to come to the police station with us,
17:09where you'll be booked in and spoken to about it further, OK?
17:14We suspected that Matthew had seriously harmed Abi,
17:17but there was a potential that she was still alive somewhere.
17:20So one of the things that we can do within law
17:23is to carry out an urgent interview.
17:43His responses were very clear that he wasn't involved,
17:46didn't know where she was and didn't know if she'd come to harm,
17:49and he was then taken to the police station to be processed.
17:53I saw Matthew being escorted out of the house.
17:56In handcuffs? In handcuffs.
17:59And he was just shaking his head as if he didn't know
18:02what were happening and bewildered.
18:04I remember telling the police, if you put 100 couples in a room,
18:07they would be the last you would think would hurt each other.
18:10There was just a moment between us where we looked at each other
18:13and we both looked at each other and said,
18:15I don't know what's going on.
18:17I don't know what's going on.
18:19I don't know what's going on.
18:21There was a moment between us where we looked at each other
18:24and we both said at the same time, he's done something.
18:27We didn't know what, but we knew something,
18:30and we knew that Matthew was involved.
18:40A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder,
18:43but police are asking for witnesses, especially dashcam footage.
18:47I then went to bed.
18:48Abi went downstairs and took the milk down
18:50and came back and got into bed herself.
18:52And then the thing I remember was waking up and she was not there.
18:58Matthew was interviewed over a number of different interviews.
19:01It's quite common practice that an initial interview
19:04would be carried out by highly qualified officers.
19:09Let's move on to talk about Abigail.
19:11How would you describe Abigail?
19:13She's a really nice person.
19:16She's always helping others.
19:18She's very smart.
19:20I went to university and she's a teacher.
19:24I love her.
19:29That's about it.
19:30OK.
19:31And how would you describe your relationship?
19:35Generally happy.
19:36I mean, obviously, we have ups and downs.
19:39We've got really bad up and downs.
19:42We got really bad up when IVF weren't working.
19:45And you've said that things got quite bad during the IVF process.
19:50Tell me what you mean by that.
19:52Like, on occasion, Abi would wake up in the middle of the night
19:55and want to go walking down the river, like, two, three o'clock in the morning,
20:00while she'd just be extremely weepy
20:03and, like, saying, what's the point and that sort of thing.
20:07Hmm.
20:08Being really down.
20:09He was saying lies.
20:11She wouldn't do that.
20:12She didn't like the dark.
20:14So she's not going to throw herself in a canal?
20:16She would not leave her baby.
20:22Good girl, Sydney.
20:24Can you splish-splash?
20:26Splish-splash.
20:28I'd love a girl splish-splashing.
20:32I know Abi would desperately want in a family.
20:35She'd tried and tried
20:37and I think she'd come to the reality
20:39that she needed to go down the route of IVF to conceive.
20:43IVF isn't cheap.
20:45It was very expensive.
20:47The first lot failed straight off and they were heartbroken,
20:51but decided to do it again.
20:53It was a horrendous process for her.
20:57And every time that it failed, it was...
21:00Devastating. ..devastating for her.
21:03Finally, in this third cycle, she'd got Sid, which was amazing.
21:08She'd got a baby girl and she was over the moon.
21:17She was just perfect.
21:19Just absolutely perfect.
21:23Snow, Sydney, look.
21:26It's something she'd wanted for so long
21:29and she was such a good mum.
21:32It just came completely naturally to her, didn't it?
21:42Police are continuing to question a 29-year-old man
21:45in relation to the disappearance of schoolteacher Abi Fisher.
21:50Friends of Abi are seeking volunteers to help in the search.
21:55We picked out areas a bit further afield
21:58than what we'd done on the Saturday
22:01and said, right, we've got to find her.
22:04The only thing that we could do was go look.
22:07We expanded where we were looking
22:09and we ended up going more or less all the way to Leeds,
22:12down the side of the canal.
22:17I think I cleared close to 30 miles one day,
22:21and walking.
22:24Somebody said, oh, we think she's been seen.
22:27She was crying.
22:29And this woman had said, I stopped and I said, are you OK?
22:32And she said, yeah, I'm just upset and she'd run off.
22:35It gave us some hope.
22:37And we lived on hope, didn't we?
22:40This baby needs a mama.
22:49When Matthew was taken into custody and arrested,
22:52his mobile phone was recovered
22:54and it was downloaded and interrogated by a member of my team.
22:57Your mobile phone has not been at your house
23:02from approximately 4.30am until about 9.30am.
23:08Where were you during that time?
23:10I don't remember leaving.
23:12OK.
23:13How else would I know?
23:15Is there any reason why you don't remember leaving?
23:20I'd taken some cold, that cold blue thing.
23:23The night nurse?
23:25Well, I honestly don't remember leaving.
23:27I'm not saying I did then, but I honestly don't remember.
23:29OK.
23:31So that's quite a substantial period of time
23:34that you were out of the house for, five hours.
23:38Where were you during that time?
23:40I was on my way out, so I was probably in bed.
23:45There's all sorts of things that you can mine to look at
23:48to try and understand a picture of where someone might have gone.
23:52But that's helped, along with the movements of their vehicle,
23:55the movements of their phone,
23:56to give us an area in which we need to look.
23:59And in this particular case, the area was huge.
24:03So this is plotted on your phone, the route that's been taken.
24:13Castlewood, Wakefield area.
24:15Coming down here, M62, Riponden.
24:18Coming through here, hitting a lot of areas here in Manchester.
24:26Glossop.
24:28And then coming up around here.
24:34Cudworth, Hemsworth, South Hemsall.
24:39Any areas that are familiar to you?
24:43No.
24:49We got told on Sunday
24:52that Matt had been arrested the day before.
24:57We all had that same thought in our heads.
24:59She's either not going to be alive any more
25:02or she's going to be in a very, very bad way when we find her.
25:08We're no longer looking for... Somebody sat down.
25:11..somebody sitting on the floor.
25:13We're looking for...
25:15We're no longer looking for... Somebody sat down.
25:18..somebody sat down missing.
25:20We were looking for... Somebody is hidden.
25:22We were looking for Abi's body for us at that point.
25:27It changed.
25:35Since the last interview, we have now located a body
25:38who we believe is that of Abigail,
25:42located on Southmore Road, near to Great Halton.
25:47Can I speak to her since I don't...? You can, yeah.
26:01At 12, with the latest BBC News, I'm Clive Settle.
26:04A murder investigation is under way after a body,
26:06believed to be that of a missing Castleford woman, was found.
26:0929-year-old Abi Fisher hadn't been seen since Friday night.
26:12Her body was discovered in undergrowth at Browley, near Barnsley.
26:18I was saying, prior to the break,
26:20that we have now located a body of a female
26:23who we believe is Abigail Fisher.
26:26The body has been located on Southmore Road, near to Great Halton.
26:33What can you tell me about that?
26:40Nothing.
26:42As soon as Abi's body was recovered,
26:45we were able to then challenge Matthew in interview.
26:48And very quickly, upon being challenged of the finding of Abi's body,
26:52he stopped communicating with us, gave no comment in interview
26:55and essentially stopped engaging.
26:58This is your opportunity to tell us what's happened.
27:01This is your interview.
27:03No comment.
27:04No comment.
27:07What's happened that evening,
27:09between you going to bed and getting up in the morning?
27:12No comment.
27:14It's our job to build the picture up in the background
27:17so that it doesn't really matter
27:19whether that person tells us any information or not.
27:21We can prove what's happened to that person
27:23with the information that we've gathered.
27:26So, from Abigail's phone, there's been an internet search
27:30where Abigail is searched for,
27:32why does my husband hate me?
27:34Are you aware of that search?
27:36No comment.
27:37Do you know why she made that search?
27:39No comment.
27:42Do you hate Abigail?
27:44No comment.
27:45Why do you hate her?
27:46No comment.
27:50Our belief was that she'd probably be a murderer.
27:53Our belief was that she'd probably been killed sometime between
27:56shortly after making those searches
27:58and when Matthew left the address
28:00at around 4.30 the following morning.
28:04There was also a search saying,
28:06is marriage counselling available on the NHS?
28:09Have you discussed marriage counselling before?
28:12No comment.
28:13Why would Abigail be looking for marriage counselling?
28:16No comment.
28:17Are you having problems in your relationship?
28:20No comment.
28:22Oh, come on.
28:27My sister worked her way up and earned good money
28:30and he didn't.
28:33He worked a shift system
28:35and he was supposed to have got a full-time job.
28:39He never applied for the full-time job there
28:41because he didn't want it.
28:43He's just extremely lazy.
28:45Abigail told me we were having tantrums
28:47and I said, oh, maybe it's just...
28:50..it's tired.
28:51You've got a new baby.
28:53You know?
28:57So, this is at 8.26 on the 9th.
29:01That's your vehicle.
29:03I know that's quite quick.
29:05Do you recognise that vehicle?
29:07Were you in that vehicle?
29:11The vehicle's movements
29:13and the telecommunications information
29:15were able to give the police search advisor
29:18an understanding of the right places
29:20to try and look to find Abby.
29:22The officers went out to search those vast areas
29:25and with their skills and training
29:27were able to say,
29:28we think Abby's body is likely to be
29:31on a particular road in Hemsworth
29:33between two points
29:35because of the telecommunications information
29:37that we had available to us.
29:39So, there was a systematic search carried out
29:42and the officers were able to locate Abby's body
29:45just off a lay-by on Southmar Road in Hemsworth.
29:59Just down here is where Abigail was found,
30:02on this road.
30:04So, that shows that you've driven down there,
30:07been off camera for about 25 minutes
30:10and then driven back.
30:12During that 25 minutes,
30:14is that when you've taken Abigail out of the car?
30:16No comment.
30:18Abby died a result of a violent assault.
30:21Abby had suffered serious trauma.
30:25What's clear from the examination
30:27is that Abigail has suffered a beating
30:29prior to being strangled.
30:33Bruises to her face,
30:35bruises to the neck consistent with strangulation.
30:38And I've also described defence injuries on her arms.
30:43And we've kind of described her arms being up like this
30:47in a way to try to protect herself
30:49to get you off her.
30:52Is that right?
30:54No comment.
30:56Their reaction was one of utter disbelief.
30:59They just simply didn't believe that Matthew
31:01could have done anything like that.
31:03And all I can remember is the police came saying,
31:06I'm really sorry to tell you, but we've found her body.
31:11But I still didn't believe it was Abby.
31:16And he said, we've looked at the photographs
31:19and we've identified it as your daughter, Abby.
31:22And then I just heard this almighty noise.
31:32I remember me.
31:35I was screaming and our friends and family were sat outside
31:38and they said they heard me and they knew straight away.
31:44It broke my heart to watch people
31:48that have welcomed me as part of their family
31:51be in so much pain,
31:53as well as being in pain myself,
31:55is...
31:59..is awful.
32:05HE SIGHS
32:10They say to me, all I want to do is put me arms round her
32:13and have a cuddle.
32:16It was the reality, I think...
32:20..that finally hit you, that we knew that she'd gone.
32:25Cos we were holding on for that hope.
32:28That there was still a 1% chance
32:31that I should still be here, that she'd still be alive,
32:34by some miracle.
32:36But...
32:38..that was just shattered.
32:48Shall we put up a fight to stop you hurting her?
32:51I'll come home.
32:55My understanding, and what I thoroughly believe happened,
32:59is an argument had happened and my sister said she was leaving him.
33:03I think he thought of his entire life disappearing.
33:08I believe she would have turned to walk away
33:11and that's when he would have attacked her.
33:16He kicked her in the face.
33:21He beat her up.
33:23She's got all...
33:25..defence marks.
33:27Defence marks.
33:31And then he strangled her.
33:36And then he hit her again.
33:38He looked like he'd beaten the shit out of her.
33:42She had two black eyes.
33:44I thought he'd broken her jaw.
33:48She looked unrecognisable.
33:50Like I say, it took me a few minutes to see my sister in her.
33:54Wrapped her in blankets off their bed.
33:59Put her in bin bags first.
34:01And then wrapped her in blankets.
34:03And then wrapped her in duct tape.
34:05He then drags her down, I believe, two flights of stairs,
34:10because they can't confirm in which room she actually died.
34:14Her bedroom was on the top floor,
34:17but I believe he dragged her down two flights of stairs.
34:20And at one o'clock, he turned his phone off.
34:22I think his phone won't be able to be tracked.
34:27And then at four o'clock, he put her into his car...
34:33..and took her out of the estate.
34:35He had Abi in the vehicle, didn't perhaps know what to do with her,
34:40didn't know where to put her.
34:43And then went up M62 towards Manchester
34:46and went into Tarks Sadleworth Mall.
34:52And then he went through the town,
34:54and he went through the town to the east of the city.
34:57And then he went to the east of the city,
34:59and then he went through the town to the west of the city
35:02And then he went through Oldham and Ashton-de-Lyne and through Glossop.
35:16He then ended up in Briarley near Barnsley, which is somewhere he grew up as a child and
35:22dumped her body on the roadside.
35:30We simply do not know where their daughter was at the time that he was disposing of Abi's
35:36body.
35:37There were only two options.
35:40She was either in the vehicle or potentially had been left at home.
35:45Both of those options are equally horrific.
35:50I never thought incapable of what he did.
35:54Where was your daughter when you were driving around for four hours?
35:59Did you take her with you?
36:00No.
36:01Did you leave her in the house all alone?
36:03No.
36:04Do you think you owe it to your daughter to give some explanation as to how you killed her mother?
36:10It's heartbreaking that such an innocent baby has been put in such a horrible situation.
36:28Abi, she said, look, I would love to have Sydney Queen baptised in your church.
36:34And I said, yes, will be a pleasure.
36:36The service itself was lovely.
36:39She looked absolutely beautiful to my daughter.
36:43I remember that it was a happy day.
36:46It was a big shock less than a week later to hear what happened to her, because they
36:53all looked to be a very happy family.
36:57It's so strange that you can go from something so nice to a week later and she's dead.
37:12You can see there, there's like a grey fleecy blanket.
37:15It's a bit here and there.
37:17It's a black cavity.
37:19Is that clear to you?
37:20Can you see that?
37:22There's a picture, yes.
37:24The finding of Abi, as horrific as it was, was very helpful to the investigation because
37:30it then gives us an opportunity to start gathering forensic evidence to connect the perpetrator
37:35to that scene, to the body, to the actual crime as well.
37:41So if you want to tell me about that gaffer tape, which has been recovered from your car.
37:48Examination has been done of those and your fingerprint is on that gaffer tape.
37:55Why is your fingerprint on that gaffer tape?
37:57I don't know.
37:59He actually unwrapped her while she was there, meaning he wanted her body to be exposed to
38:07the elements.
38:09Essentially, he's then driven back home to his house.
38:14He's had a couple of hours, he's sorted Sid and whatever.
38:19And then he's basically rung all of us and told us that she was missing.
38:30He made that post knowing what he'd done to Abi and where he'd left her.
38:37You have done a search for West Yorkshire Police.
38:42What were you searching for? What were you wanting to find?
38:48Were you searching to see whether anybody had found Abigail?
38:53Were you searching to see if they'd found the body?
38:57At 12.24, you've searched for South Yorkshire Police.
39:03You've searched the BBC Home News page, at Sheffield and South Yorkshire.
39:08Why have you made those searches?
39:12In the times of making those searches, that's when the police were with you, weren't they?
39:17So if you were searching to find any information out, why didn't you ask the police officers?
39:24Were you trying to get ahead of the game to see what everybody thinks and making the headlines?
39:33After that final interview was carried out, where the challenge material was put to him,
39:37my team and I then consulted with the Crown Prosecution Service to seek charging advice
39:41to charge him with murder.
39:53At a pre-trial hearing at Leeds Crown Court, 29-year-old Matthew Fisher pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife Abi.
40:02Matthew Fisher will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in November.
40:07He pleads guilty at court. That's not a confession.
40:11I think the plea is a joke.
40:14He doesn't confess. He's never confessed.
40:17That is a scam to get out of getting a full sentence.
40:25As the investigation team, there's still an awful lot of information that we've got to gather
40:28to understand the aggravating and mitigating features of that offence.
40:33We found out...
40:34That he stuck her along with a loan company in London, six weeks before they murdered her, for £14,000.
40:43My sister's such a careful person that we all knew she had life insurance.
40:48And it begs the question, did Matthew do this to cover his own debt?
40:52Because my sister would not have been in debt for anything.
40:56I think Abi probably has been keeping the extent of the difficulties from us.
41:03She wasn't really the sort of person who would ring you and go,
41:06oh my God, guess what he's done.
41:08She's very much with, she'll deal with it as best she can herself.
41:12At one point I was angry with Abi.
41:15And it's very difficult to be angry with your dead daughter.
41:19And I was arguing with her in my mind saying, why the hell didn't you tell us?
41:23You know, we could have helped you.
41:25We helped you with everything. We would have helped you with that.
41:29It was a very emotional day for the family and for us, as investigators as well.
41:34You know, you become very emotionally connected to investigations of this nature
41:39and to the families that are involved in them as well.
41:45When we finally got into court on the last day,
41:48and we all sat in the jury box waiting for him to come in.
41:51They brought Matthew in.
41:53And he looked at us all once and then just looked down.
41:57And he didn't look at us at all.
42:01Abi's mum stood up in court and gave a really impassioned victim personal statement.
42:11You killed my baby girl, Matthew. What gave you that right?
42:16I really hope you feel the same as I did on that Sunday.
42:19I really hope you feel the same as I did on that Sunday.
42:22Every day of your life from now on.
42:27Dear God, Matthew, how could you have hurt my daughter?
42:31Your wife had left her out in the woods in that heat.
42:34So she was so unlike herself that I, her own mother, couldn't recognise her.
42:41I miss my daughter so much it's surreal.
42:44I feel like it isn't happening.
42:46That this is all some sort of bad dream.
42:50The husband of a West Yorkshire primary school teacher
42:53who asked for help on social media to find his wife
42:56when, in fact, he had killed her, is starting a life sentence.
43:02We received a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years
43:05for the murder of Abi.
43:08I do hope that the justice given today will give them small comfort.
43:12I know it is very small comfort.
43:14They would like to be given the opportunity and privacy now to grieve for Abi
43:20and to also focus on looking after Abi's daughter
43:24and all of their other grandchildren.
43:28Not every domestic homicide comes from a history of domestic abuse,
43:34be that physical, emotional, financial.
43:37Those flags aren't always there and this is one of those cases.
43:41Domestic abuse is an extremely high priority for the police
43:44and we will try and do everything that we can to protect that vulnerable person.
43:59Come on, then, let's go put them down for Mummy.
44:02This is Mamam, isn't it?
44:04Mamam.
44:05Hi, Mamam.
44:06This is Mamam, isn't it?
44:08Mamam.
44:09Hi, Mamam.
44:12You know, it doesn't get any easier coming down, does it, at all?
44:15Not really.
44:18Go on, then, give it all a polish.
44:21Well done.
44:24Sid's going to grow up not really getting to know a mum.
44:30There we go.
44:32Who's on that photo with Mamam?
44:34It's Sid.
44:35It's Sid, yeah.
44:38Sid is our future, aren't you, Sid?
44:42Everything we do is to try and make sure she grows up like a mummy,
44:48because we're really proud of her mummy.
44:50And I think she will be like her.
44:56How do you tell a child that her dad killed her mum?
45:00She killed her mum.
45:09Up above the world so high, like a...

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