UK UK - Ann Heron, 44, found at home with throat cut, Darlington, 3 August 1990

[wibbleflea]

What is a parcel shelf

In the UK, a parcel shelf usually refers to the horizontal, shelf-like area behind the rear seats, visible from the outside, through the rear window. Often used as temporary storage for hats or small coats. It also hides luggage in the boot (trunk) of a hatchback car. Less commonly, some front dashboards have flat areas designed as parcel shelves.

 

[Jen Jarvie]

Good point. All I can find are links to the channel 5 documentary and one of Chris Clark's books!

To confuse matters further, one of the BBC articles about the forensics says Ann was murdered in the garden, and not the house.

Just for clarity Chris Clake didnt even speak with the family when writing his book. All the information was from the internet - so not a good source to compare facts.I read a copy of the chapter prior yo it going to print and there were a lot of factual mistakes and assumptions in the text.

 

[rvlvr]

I think the police had to discontinue the case against PH after some high level scientific discussions. AFAIK they had to accept that the forensic evidence involving PH could have been at the crime scene for innocent reasons.

You can imagine that this piece of DNA would’ve seemed incredibly interesting to police during the initial stages of investigating Ann’s murder, but when they finally managed to extract a profile from it all those years later and it turned out the DNA belonged to Peter Heron I’m confused as to what they think it showed.

I think they rather shot themselves in the foot by charging PH because they essentially played their hand - you’d have to think that if there was any evidence against him in the documents the family now possess then they would’ve been incredibly reluctant to keep publicising the case, as they have.

 

[tes1984]

I think PH has been top of the suspect list ever since the police realised he was lying about his whereabouts on the day of the murder.

His behaviour after the murder will have done nothing to dissuade them that he was in some way involved. In 1992 the police even sent a couple of officers to his wedding to let PH know they hadn't forgotten about him.

 

[rvlvr]

Sounds like an excellent use of public money!

 

[tes1984]

Sounds like an excellent use of public money!

I agree, but l think the police covered their backs by saying they attended in case of a public order incident.

 

[DonAntonio]

I have a few questions about this case;

Was the attacker left or right handed looking at the evidence of her sliced throat or is this unknown ?
Did they ever extract dna or evidence from Ann’s car regarding to the possible passengers seen in her car that afternoon ?
Prior to her murder could there be an altercation with a family member or someone she knew ?
Was the actual crime scene the garden or the place where she was found ?

I personally don’t think that PH did it because he would have possibly left evidence at the house somewhere.

Is the pc of PH and AH searched for evidence regarding to the murder ? Mails, visites web sites etc. ?

This crime can be related to one of the people she knew well. Somebody she turned down or she argued with. Do all of her family members have conclusive alibis ?

 

[rvlvr]

That’s a very good question re DNA in the car, I’m not sure how credible police thought the sighting of Ann in a car with others was though? And I’m not certain the witness said whether it was Ann’s car, or another vehicle?

 

[WiseOwl]

That’s a very good question re DNA in the car, I’m not sure how credible police thought the sighting of Ann in a car with others was though? And I’m not certain the witness said whether it was Ann’s car, or another vehicle?

I believe this is the witness you are referring to:

'I was the last person to see Ann alive'

Almost 20 years after the Heron murder, a witness tells the Echo what he saw. Chris LLoyd reports

www.thenorthernecho.co.uk

The witness, who does not wish to be named, was driving from Middleton St George to Darlington at about 4.15pm on August 3, 1990 - less than 45 minutes before Mrs Heron's estimated time of death. As he neared Aeolian House, the scene of the murder, he noticed a car coming towards him.

"I knew her because I was friendly with her daughter and I worked in haulage like her husband," said the witness. "I flashed my lights at her and she waved back at me. "I am adamant, 100 per cent certain, that it was her."

"As we passed, I said to my mate Ann must have friends or relatives down from Scotland for the weekend' because there were people in the car - one in the passenger seat with his hands on the dashboard, and the other in the back seat," said the witness, who was driving an HGV.

 

[rvlvr]

Yeah, that’s the one. We’ve got ‘a car’ and ‘the car’ but not ‘Ann’s car’? The article suggests that the witness saw Ann ‘driving the vehicle’ so perhaps the inference is that it was indeed Ann’s car, but it’s not very clear - at least not to me, anyway!

 

[wibbleflea]

one in the passenger seat with his hands on the dashboard

Could be significant. It’s unusual for a front-seat passenger to have their hands on the dashboard unless they’d been asked to keep them there, where they could be seen.

 

[CSIAngus]

If PH had a normal day on the day his wife was murdered, I would have doubts about his involvement, but he didn't have a normal day and he lied about it to Police. I'll not go over his semen again, or his extra marital affair. His own account, including the detour, has never added up in my mind. Eye witness accounts can't be taken on face value, especially after the passage of time. Sadly, this case will remain unsolved save for a confession. I know who I think murdered Ann and why but I'll have to accept running out of road on this one.

 

[sl77]

If PH had a normal day on the day his wife was murdered, I would have doubts about his involvement, but he didn't have a normal day and he lied about it to Police. I'll not go over his semen again, or his extra marital affair. His own account, including the detour, has never added up in my mind. Eye witness accounts can't be taken on face value, especially after the passage of time. Sadly, this case will remain unsolved save for a confession. I know who I think murdered Ann and why but I'll have to accept running out of road on this one.

If PH did it, why not just wait until night time, pretend there was a burglary and claim the burglar did it?

Why plan to do it during the middle of rush hour, where any person could see your car leaving the driveway?

If he did it, it must have been un-planned.

 

[tes1984]

If PH did it, why not just wait until night time, pretend there was a burglary and claim the burglar did it?

Why plan to do it during the middle of rush hour, where any person could see your car leaving the driveway?

If he did it, it must have been un-planned.

If it's at night time, then he wouldn't be able to try and place himself away from the crime scene. Plus he would have to describe the killer, account for his own lack of injuries, stage a break in etc etc.

If it's unplanned, then in theory it could be him passing the property and seeing Ann sunbathing where he's told her not to. Or he sees her parked up with a couple of men on the driveway. Or he heads back to have the last word about Ann going to her party with her younger friends. Who knows, but husbands do murder wives...

All pure speculation, but if it wasn't PH then I agree with him that the killer got very lucky. If it's a different killer, then the killer avoids leaving any DNA. He also happens to attack in the one spot downstairs where PH's semen is present.

The killer is also lucky enough to have PH as an exceptionally convenient second suspect. If it's a random maniac, then he's very lucky that the victim's husband is having an affair, and more importantly lies about his whereabouts for the first week of the investigation.

 

[CSIAngus]

If PH did it, why not just wait until night time, pretend there was a burglary and claim the burglar did it?

Why plan to do it during the middle of rush hour, where any person could see your car leaving the driveway?

If he did it, it must have been un-planned.

It was definitely unplanned. It was a situation that escalated from a sexual assault into a fight or vice versa and was then covered up. She had PH's sperm in her throat. We know what a hostile environment the digestive system is to sperm so it would not survive long. We're led to believe she took her last breath exactly on the spot of PH's semen on an historic stain on the carpet in a random area of the ground floor. What are the odds of that? If it doesn't make sense, it's not true. The sperm entered AH close to death. IMO