By chance I drove through the area east of Peterborough at the weekend. I always take interest in my surroundings when visiting an unfamiliar part of the country.
Bernadette’s case suddenly came to mind when I saw the familiar place name ‘Cowbit’ signposted. It gave me quite a jolt when I realised that poor young lady’s remains could be hidden anywhere in this vast area.
The terrain is very different from where I live, in N Yorkshire, 150 miles to the north. I was already finding the drive fascinating, marvelling at the flatness of the land, the degree of cultivation, lack of hedgerows, and network of deep drainage ditches……vast open spaces…very different to the type of farming I am familiar with.
In my head I was considering the declining population of the British hedgehog, when suddenly became aware I was in the precise area we suspect BW’s body may have been hidden.
Seeing it for myself, made me realise SW’s options were limited.
There is a lot of sparsely populated cultivated land & the roads, though quiet, are narrow, exposed & bordered by deep ditches. A car stopping on a road like this would certainly be noticed, if someone else happened to be in the area at the time.
The ditches (I presume) must be periodically dredged, so a body, in time, may be exposed. ( I suppose if sufficient time has elapsed between murder & recovery, there may be insufficient evidence to prove a crime has been committed. I don’t feel SW would have chosen this option unless acting on the spur of the moment without much thought)
In my mind, ‘disposal’ ( apologies for the word) is much more likely to have been in a heavily wooded area, not far off the road, where there is space to pull a car off the road.
Alternatively a derelict or infrequently used building, which afforded privacy for a period of time. I noticed that many of the farmhouses in this area were completely surrounded by a tall hedge/trees, presumably to provide a windbreak.
With both these options, one would presume SW knew exactly where he was heading & full disposal likely took place under the cover of darkness.
I am jumping off your post
@CSIAngus & know I’m not saying anything new to you all.
Just agreeing & sharing my thoughts on seeing the area for the first time myself.
I too am going to take another look at the timeline, a link to which is included on the first post of the thread.
( Sorry for lengthy post)
