It really is heartwarming to hear that a long unsolved murder has been solved, thanks to the huge advances in forensic science, and the scumbag responsible has been locked away. In this case, the scumbag in question, Colin Campbell, 66, had already been locked up for another extremely savage murder. Now he should die behind bars. Good. No doubt the Prison Reform Trust and Liberty were shedding masses of tears for this evil bastard but none for the families of Claire & Deidre. This tragic story begins in August 1981, when an early morning commuter discovered the brutalised body of 17 year old Claire, on a promenade in Barry Avenue, by the Thames in Windsor. Police had no clues and only the fact that Claire had last been seen alive and well in Hanwell. Tape was used to hopefully get trace evidence from her body and stored for future testing. The case sadly ran cold for 30 years. But that was to change in 2011.
Peter Beirne was the Senior Investigating Officer for the Thames Valley Police's Major Crime Review Team and he submitted the stored evidence for further examination, and with advances in technology, they were to find traces of DNA on the tape. Matched to the national database, they were rewarded with a match to one Colin Campbell. He had been questioned by Police in the mid 80`s investigating the murder of deidre Sainsbury, but Campbell denied any involvement with Claire`s murder. Now they had the proof. The savage murder of Deidre occurred in December 1984, when she was hitchhiking on the South Circular Road in Roehampton. She accepted a lift from a travelling salesman. Campbell. He drove Deidre, from Greenham, to Hayes, where he strangled her and grossly mutilated her body. One young officer on this case was Peter Beirne.
Campbell claimed that he could not remember whether he killed Deidre, due to a history of Epilepsy. He was convicted of murder in 1985 and jailed for life, but this was downgraded to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, due to his Epilepsy. By 2011, he was being allowed out on licence 5 days a month, but now Peter Beirne arrested him and charged him with the murder of Claire. The deep feeling of satisfaction he would have felt at tying a killer into another murder. Campbell was jailed for a minimum of 24 years, and was told he will probably die in prison.
Did Campbell conveniently have an epileptic fit when he came into contact with the victims? Surely his condition did not hamper his work as a travelling salesman. After all, what do these people spend much of their time doing? Driving. And did he ever have a "blackout" behind the wheel whilst in traffic? This would have ended his job, as he would have been a risk to other road users. My view is that he was simply a sadistic bastard who used epilepsy as a defence when he was now finding himself in shit street. Throw the key away, I say.
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