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.
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.
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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...