Bradford Murders

A couple of years ago, we had a number of homicide cases that hit the national headlines.  First off, we had a brutal murder and attempted murder as a house in the outer Bradford area(One of my work colleagues lives six doors away from the murder scene) in which a masked gunman shot and murdered a man and then shot and seriously wounded another.  Despite the attempts of the gunman to create a false alibi, he was firmly convicted for murder and attempted murder.  It was revealed that 45 years previously he had murdered another man for which he served over twenty years in prison for.  The man was Ernest Wright, a career criminal, who despite his age, 68, was deemed too dangerous to ever be released.

    Next came a series of killings that brought the national media to Bradford.  I did not work in the area of the murders at the time, but had many times before.  First, two bodies were found in a small lane, and then the next day, a body was discovered in a burning bin, nearby.  After this, stories and claims of bodies popping up all over were rampant.  Diligent Police work brought all but one of the guilty parties to justice.  The two bodies were men beaten to death.  One was an intended target but the other happened to be there when violence broke out, and so it was decided to kill him as well.  The actual killer fled the country to Pakistan but the man who assisted was convicted on two counts of manslaughter.  A couple of other people, charged with clearing up the crime scene, were acquitted.

    The burning body murder turned out to be a man called Dwayne Coleman.  He had been stabbed to death and his body was put into a big green bin, transported to a field near to where the two bodies had been dumped, and set alight.  During a TV broadcast, Police raided a house and the reporter and film crew were ushered out of the way by Police, and you heard glass being broken as they forced their way into a house.  Jason Lowther went on trial for murder and was convicted, being given a minimum sentence of 16 or 18 years.  Another guy called Ibbotson went down for assisting in moving the body.