Crimewatch Special: Cromford Station Murder

[WestCoast]

I was watching the Crimewatch Special earlier (it will be on iPlayer) this evening about difficult murder cases which have been solved, it examined the stories and tactics employed in catching these elaborate criminals.

Towards the end of the programme an interesting (yet horrific and tragic) case came up which involved the railways. It was the motiveless murder back in 2009 of an innocent taxi driver at rural Cromford station on the Derby - Matlock line. The orginal thread at the time was closed.

Story reported here and here.

Now the murderer was obviously a complete and utter disgraceful lunatic and it seems a "one-off" case but nevertheless, it does raise certain questions of safety at unstaffed railway stations without CCTV. The murderer picked this location because of it's deserted, unwatched nature. Anyone who found themselves in that location could have become his victim.

The other thing is that it is a very positive reflection upon the skill and employment of technology in the police detective units to catch this elusive criminal. Experts believed that he would have gone on to kill further if not caught. However, that will sadly not bring enough comfort to the family of the victim.

Any comments?

 

[OxtedL]

I don't think it is possible to comment on this other than to say that the culprit was clearly an evil, evil man.

 

[WestCoast]

I don't think it is possible to comment on this other than to say that the culprit was clearly an evil, evil man.

Yes, I completely agree. It's something which obviously shocked the local community very much as well.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

It was a premeditated meticulously planned murder. There was no way it could have been prevented, and due to his careful planning, no way staff or CCTV could have prevented it - he would have simply done it elsewhere.

 

[185]

Having been to Cromford a lot, there really is nothing there. This has got to be a local job and local people must know something.

 

[WestCoast]

Having been to Cromford a lot, there really is nothing there. This has got to be a local job and local people must know something.

Well it was explained all on the show, and very surprisingly for the police it wasn't a local job. The evil gun fanatic (from Ripley) who murdered the taxi driver (without motive) studied his locations very carefully, which were all rural train stations, and planned possible attacks at quiet periods after studying many different timetables - which were found in his house as evidence.

 

[Clip]

Well it was explained all on the show, and very surprisingly for the police it wasn't a local job. The evil gun fanatic (from Ripley) who murdered the taxi driver (without motive) studied his locations very carefully, which were all rural train stations, and planned possible attacks at quiet periods after studying many different timetables - which were found in his house as evidence.

I doubt having CCTV there wouldve made much difference in preventing his murders though if he was that cold and calculating.

 

[WestCoast]

I doubt having CCTV there wouldve made much difference in preventing his murders though if he was that cold and calculating.

I see what you're saying but he did deliberately pick locations without CCTV - to try and cover every possible eventuality I presume.

 

[Clip]

I see what you're saying but he did deliberately pick locations without CCTV - to try and cover every possible eventuality I presume.

Yeh but even if the stations had them he would've gone elsewhere to commit the murders. Once a crazy is hooked into something there will be no stopping them as you never can tell.