Former detective reveals how police caught one of Wales’ worst serial killers
The case of the “Saturday Night Strangler”, the killer of three teenage girls in the 1970s in South Wales, will be the subject of ITV Cymru Wales’ new true crime series tonight - Crime Files.
The series, presented by Andrea Byrne, visits the murder scenes near Swansea where Geraldine Hughes, Pauline Floyd and Sandra Newton, all 16 years of age, were raped and murdered after a night out.
In 1973 a huge manhunt was launched, but the killer managed to evade the police.
But 30 years later developments in forensic science helped the police to solve the case. It proved to be the first case in criminal history where a certain forensic DNA method of “Familial DNA” was used to find the murderer.
The case in 2002 became one of the most successful “Cold Case” reviews for South Wales Police and was the first murder case in the UK where an exhumation was undertaken of the suspect’s body to prove his guilt.
As Paul Bethell, former Detective Chief Inspector with South Wales Police recalls: “Sadness and sorrow are the only words that can be said after the 30-year investigation. The murders were pure evil in its darkest form".
Crime Files with Andrea Byrne will be shown tonight at 9pm on ITV Cymru Wales.