CCTV released in Lindsay Birbeck murder inquiry
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
The CCTV shows a man walking along Burnley Road towards Accrington at about 2.30pm on August 17th
" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; padding-left: 10px; clear: both;">
WE have today (Tuesday, August 27th) released footage of a man we are treating as a suspect in the hunt for Lindsay Birbeck’s killer.
The CCTV shows a man walking along Burnley Road towards Accrington at about 2.30pm on August 17th - five days after Lindsay disappeared - pulling a blue wheelie bin.
After he passes this camera the man turns down Whitewell Road towards the cemetery.
A bin similar to the one in the footage was found near the scene where Lindsay was discovered at Accrington Cemetery.
Detective Supt Andy Cribbin, of the Force Major Investigation Team, is leading the murder inquiry.
He said: “The man in these images is now a suspect in our investigation and I am appealing for the public’s help to try and identify him. If anyone thinks they know who this person is I would urge them to come forward and contact us urgently.
“I am however conscious that there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this footage so if this is you in these images then I would ask you to come and speak to us so we can eliminate you from our inquiry.”
Earlier today we sadly confirmed that the body found at Accrington Cemetery at the weekend is that of missing teaching assistant Lindsay Birbeck.
Lindsay, 47, went missing from home on August 12th and after the discovery on Saturday evening (August 24th) of a woman’s body at Accrington Cemetery, Burnley Road detectives launched a murder inquiry. We have now officially identified the body as that of Lindsay.
Her family have been informed and continue to be supported by family liaison officers. Our thoughts remain with them at this time.
A post mortem examination has been conducted and shows that Lindsay died as a result of compression of the neck.
We are aware of rumours circulating on social media about what may have happened to Lindsay and for the family’s sake we once again would urge people not to speculate as this is causing her loved ones significant additional distress at what is clearly an extremely difficult time for them.
A large team of detectives, uniformed officers and staff are working on the enquiry to establish what happened to Lindsay after she went missing and to identify who was responsible for her death. No arrests have been made at this stage.
Detectives are carrying out a review of CCTV, doing house to house enquiries and trying to piece together Lindsay’s movements since she was captured on CCTV on Burnley Road at just after 4pm on Monday, August 12th.
Detective Supt Cribbin added: “I understand that people in the community will be concerned about what has happened and we are doing all we can to try to find out what has happened to Lindsay so we can reassure people and provide answers for her family.
“There are a large number of police in and around the Burnley Road area and if anyone has any concerns they should speak to an officer but I would urge people to go about the lives as usual.”
As a reminder Lindsay was last seen wearing a purple Rab bubble jacket, black leggings, a white shirt with blue pin stripes and black trainers with a white sole. Her Huawei mobile phone is also missing.
