Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing
people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Today we're going to be
exploring the case of the murder of twenty three year old beat a brawl in
two thousand and six. Bata's murder was horrific in nature, and the violence
and the lengths that her killer went to cover up the crime were extensive.
Bata's murder is still unsolved and to this day her family won answers as to
what happened to her. This episode contains descriptions that some listeners may find distressing,
including references to human trafficking and modern slavery, so listener discretion is advised.
Hed de Lane is located in the village of Wooburn Greed in Buckinghamshire,
in the southeast of England. It situated close to the market town of high
Wickham, which itself is around twenty nine miles from the center of London.
Its rural, with many of the roads and lanes passing through wooded areas and
alongside fields heads. A lane was no exception, and it was on this
lane that John Deacon was passing at around twelve fifty one pm on July twenty
ninth, two thousand and six. He would later say that he stopped his
car on the lane that day to answer a call of nature. He pulled
over on the grass verge and got out of his car to go and have
a wie in the wooded area at the side of the road. He later
stated that he saw smoke in the trees a few feet into the woods.
He looked closer and noticed that the smoke was coming from someone on the floor.
This instantly became a nightmare situation when he spotted what would turn out to
be a body which had been set alight and was now smoldering. This body,
though, was reported as being unrecognizable, with the clothing burnt away and
the skin blistered and burnt. The person's skull also looked to have been smashed
in in several places. This was a traumatizing sight, and John Deacon immediately
reported what he had seen to police. This sparked an instant murder investigation,
with officers descending upon Woodburn Green. This usually quite sleepy village was now at
the heart of it. Police began to search the area around where the body
had been found, with forensic officers doing a fingertip search to look for any
evidence. The scene was shocking for everyone who heard about it, and there
was also the task of trying to identify who this person was. Office pathologists
traveled out to the scene and examined the remains. This analysis found that the
remains were that of a woman in her twenties and she had suffered multiple repeated
blows to the head. The body was mostly unrecognizable given the injuries that she
had suffered, and so any of the identifying marks were looked at closely.
The woman had a tattoo which could help with this, a pegasus tattoo on
her right upper arm. She also still had a ring on her left middle
finger which was shaped like a snake. The pathologist discovered that the woman's body
had been doused in an accelerant before being set alike, and so it was
clear that the intention was to try and remove as much evidence as possible.
Is reported in the books Free Press in twenty sixteen that a pillowcase and a
plastic bag had been used to cover her head. There was also a material
used to wrap the body in. Whatever had happened to this victim, she
was clearly the victim of foul play. However, strangely, in the days
following the discovery of her body, nobody came forward to state that they knew
her or to claim her as a relative. The police were struggling to identify
her, and without an identity, the investigation into her murder was slow.
Police decided to employ some scientific techniques to try and narrow down who she could
be, and it reported that they used an isotope screening process on the victim's
bones to try and establish her race, and also use facial mapping to create
an image of what she might have looked like. It would, however,
be dental records around four weeks after the discovery of the body, which would
eventually solve the mystery. The dental record showed the victim was twenty three year
old be at a brawl. Biata was born in Glavitza in southern Poland,
and at the time of her discovery she was twenty three years old. It's
known that she was born into a tight knit Catholic family, and her and
her mum, Maria, were very close. Her mum would later explain that
from quite a young age, Biata was interested in moving to the UK,
and she learnt fluent English before traveling there with her boyfriend in two thousand and
four. Initially, her family were excited for her and they believed that she
was having a good time. Maria said they spoke regularly and that she seemed
happy. She told The Guardian in two thousand and six she rang me all
the time. She seemed happy. She was working in the catering business and
doing some security work, and she even went with her boyfriend to France on
holiday. Maria said she would send food parcels to Biata, and Biarta would
send money back to her mother to help her as she was struggling financially.
Maria, however, noticed a shift in Beata's demeanor and she seemed very unhappy.
After being in the UK for only a year, Maria became worried about
Beata's mental health, and Biarta began to speak to her mother about how she
was concerned for her safety. Maria stated, after about a year things changed.
I realized something was very badly wrong. She told me she was being
molested and beaten. I suspect this older man may have been using her for
sex with other men. She would run away, but he would always find
her. She would ring me up, sounding terrified, saying she was being
threatened. This was, of course awful for Maria to hear, and she
knew that Bearta had moved to several different addresses in the London area. Maria
was that worried that she decided to contact the Polish consulate to see if they
could help her and help Biarta. She would later say, however, the
consulate told them that they couldn't do anything to help. Maria had real concerns
about Biarta and the fact that she may have been trafficked, given that she
had moved addresses so many times, and her mental health was beginning to severely
deteriorate. She stated that Barta even ended up in hospital due to her declining
mental health. In October of two thousand and five, she decided to return
home to Poland. She turned up at Maria's flat looking painfully thin and exhausted.
Biata stayed with her mother for a few months, but Maria stated that
she was, in her words, lured back to London. She said she
stayed a few months, but then this man began to call again, insisting
she must return to London, calling every day drawing her back. There was
no talking to her. Then she refused to listen and she returned to this
man and to London. Since Beata's return to London, Maria had been very
concerned about her safety. She told The Guardian in two thousand and six that
she spoke to her daughter for the last time on Thursday July twenty seventh,
two thousand and six. She explained that Beata had rang her up and she
was distressed. Maria said, I knew immediately something was wrong. She said
someone was threatening to kill her. She ordered me to return home and lock
the doors, saying they were threatening me too. She sounded terrified. It
was just two days later that Bearta's body was found in Woodburn Green. The
fact that her mother believed that there was a chance that Bearta was being trafficked
was of course an important part of the investigation, and given that Beata had
had said that she'd been kidnapped in the past and these people could also harm
her family, seemed to corroborate this. The UK government defines human trafficking as
the act of recruiting, transporting, or harboring people for the purposes of exploitation.
It's clear that Barta had lost some of her independent. Since arriving in
the UK, she had moved around regularly and she felt under threat from someone.
This did suggest that something was happening to Barta that may have been out
of her control. The police, however, did not have any real evidence
as to what had happened to Bearta, and the other problem was that they
could not connect her to the area in which her body was found. As
far as anyone was aware, Biarta lived in London and didn't have any connections
to wood Burn Green or Buckinghamshire in general. How had she ended up where
she had and who had put her there. One thing that police were able
to find was CCTV footage of Biata the day before her body was discovered.
On the twenty eighth of July, around eleven twenty eight a m. Biata
was spotted at leyton Stone Tube station in northeast London. The footage shows her
wearing a red jacket, gray knee length trousers and white trainers. She was
also carrying a large white MK one carrier bag in her hands. Biata was
seen on the footage boarding a train at the station. This was not long
before police believed that whatever happened to her led to her death. This footage
was crucial as the police were able to narrow down a time frame for when
Beata was last seen, and this meant that whatever had happened to her had
happened in the around twenty four hours after she had last been spotted on CCTV.
It does not appear, however, the footage provided police with many other
leads. Aside from identifying where she was at that time, the police took
steps to try and trace the people who were also traveling or on the station
at the same time that Biarta was, even publishing images of the other people
that had been spotted on CCTV. This, however, did not produce many
leads or any that the police have commented on. In two thousand and seven,
there was an inquest ordered into Bearta's murder, which took place in front
of Coroner Richard Hullett. He explained that Barta had died as a result of
a murderous and ferocious attack. More detail was given by pathologist doctor Kenneth Shorrock,
who stated the body had twenty one lacerations on the scalp. These were
about two inches long and they all had a very distinctive pattern. They had
all been caused by an implement that had a threaded screw type pattern on it.
At a press conference after the murder, Thames Valley Police Detective Inspector Colin
Seaton said, in terms of an attack that has caused death, this certainly
is the most violent I have seen. Who would like to make a renewed
appeal to the public for any information and remind people there is a ten thousand
pound reward. It was hoped that this information about more specifics to the murder
would help jog someone's memory, or that the reward would encourage someone to come
forward. Its reported that following this, thirteen people were arrested for the murder.
However, they said they did not believe that the killer was among these
thirteen. Her case was eventually featured on Crime Watch and other programs on TV.
Despite this, Beata's murder began to go cold in the months and years
following. Unfortunate, despite the fact that Barta's mother was fighting to get answers
and the police had provided a ten thousand pound reward, there was very little
to go on in the years afterwards. There were appeals for support and information
in the news, and there was a large appeal made in twenty fourteen.
In this appeal, Detective Inspector Colin Seaton stated, our investigation into the murder
of Biata Brull is still ongoing eight years after her horrific and brutal death.
It's the most horrible crime I've ever seen to bludgeon someone so brutally with a
heavy object, and to do it as such ferocity and force does begar belief.
We are renewing our appeal for information on the anniversary of her death in
the hope that somebody somewhere knows something which could help us to track down her
killer. In particular, I would appeal to members of the Polish community who
may have known Biata are known of Biart to come forward with any information they
may have which could help us to track down the killer. Particularly important is
the cloth which had a distinctive pattern and was used to wrap Barta's body in
Also, there is an image of a bag similar to the one which was
being used by Biarta in her last moments. It's believe Beata's bag was either
beige, very light blue or light pink, and it's yet to be recovered.
The cloth had been shown on appeals previously, and it's reported on something
I saw online that it had been identified. However, the police was still
appealing for information about it in twenty fourteen, so I'm unsure if this is
correct. The cloth appears to have small love hearts on it and the police
were eager to find out more information. The police also stated Biarta's family is
still waiting for answers to what happened to their daughter to have peace of mind
knowing the killer has been caught. This is so important because her mother,
Maria was so determined to help her daughter and ensure that her death is remembered
and is kept in the public eye. It seems that police understand the severity
of this crime and did make many inquiries to try and solve it. However,
linking her murder to the scene or even to the area proved difficult.
Detective Inspector Seaton said, we have not managed to establish any sort of link
between Beata and Buckinghamshire. We hypothesize that Biata's body was taken from somewhere else
and that was the actual deposition site where her body was left. In the
years that followed, it appeared that there has been very little reported about progress
made in the case, and as of twenty twenty four, ten years after
the last big appeal, her murder is unsolved. Biata's murder appears in articles
about unsolved cases in the Buckinghamshire area. However, no updates have been documented
and no further statements by police. This case is such a tragic one as
Biata came to the UK with the hope that she would find a better life
and had such dreams for her future. She was young and aspirational and by
all accounts, loved the UK. For her life to end in such an
awful way must have been devastating for her mother and her family, who loved
her deeply. The possible connections to human trafficking also give the case an even
more sinister undertone. It does, however, highlight the fact that trafficking is
a very real thing that happens regularly in the UK, and modern slavery is
an important national priority in the country. In just three months from July to
September twenty twenty three, there were four one hundred and twenty three referrals to
the Government's National Referral Mechanism cential victims of modern slavery. This has been increasing
in recent years, and so even if Barta's murder had no links to this,
it's still such an important issue to highlight. I hope that Barta's murder
is solved in the future and that someone who knows something about it does come
forward. The possible links to a criminal underworld, however, may mean that
no one wants to provide information. I hope that her family eventually get the
answers that they are looking for. If you know anything about Bearta's murder in
two thousand and six, please contact police on one oh one. Our crime
stoppers are eight hundred five five five one one one. Thank you for listening
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follow us on social media as our ways. I'm Caprice and this has been unseen b