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 mysterious and tragic case of the murder of Annie Walsh in Hume in
Manchester in nineteen seventy seven. Her murder was violent and seemingly without motive,
and the events which followed it, including the investigation, have been mad with
issues. An arrest and conviction was made, but this would not turn out
to be the breakthrough that anyone was expecting. This episode contains descriptions that some
listeners may find distressing, including two brief references to miscarriage, so listener discretion
is advised. Hume Crescents was a social housing development built in nineteen seventy two
in the district of Hume, just south of Manchester City Center. The development
was borne out of the need for better quality housing in the area and a
move away from the rows of terrace houses which were becoming unfit for their purpose.
When the development plan was being drawn up, a bold decision was made
Hume Crescents were not going to go down the high rise residential route as so
many other cities had done. The idea was to build a society in the
sky. There were going to be four U shaped blocks of flats, all
seven stories high, each story containing flats with between one to five bedrooms.
There would also be shops, parks, and even churches on each story so
that residents could live away from the hustle and bustle of the city life below.
The walkways were also wide enough so that residents could still get their milk
from the milk floats going by. This concept was completed and residents began filtering
into the Crescents, which had all been named after other distinguished architects, Robert
Adam, John Nash, William Kent, and Charles Barry. The Hume Crescents
became the largest public housing development in Europe, with three thousand, two hundred
and eighty four homes and the capacity to house thirteen thousand residents. In theory,
the Crescents solved many of the problems that overcrowded Hume were struggling with.
However, new issues quickly became apparent after residents moved and settled in. One
of the first things that became apparent was that the Crescents were not suitable for
children, despite being marketed as good for families. The buildings were made out
of thick concrete, including the balconies, and the design of these meant that
children were able to climb onto the thick ledges and were vulnerable to falling off.
This did happen to a five year old child in nineteen seventy four,
and it was at this point that it was clear that families with small children
could not be housed there. A petition signed by six hundred and forty three
families was presented a Manchester City Council agreed to rehouse them. As a result,
the Crescents would now only house adults. This would turn out to be
one of many issues with the buildings. The houses were subject to pest infestation,
cockroaches and rats were rife, and the residents couldn't afford to heat their
homes due to the then still experimental underfloor heating that had been installed. The
nineteen seventy three oil crisis meant that people could not afford the prices to heat
the homes, and damp began to creep into the residences. Due to the
size of the estate. Many issues arose, like the inability to get emergency
service help or police support to the upper levels, and a long term problem
that was faced was the sheer amount of asbestos which had been used during the
construction. This would cause many issues throughout the years that the Crescents existed.
Residents began to give the Crescents the nickname of the bull Ring, and this
negative connotation was a common opinion of people who lived there. Only a few
years after the Crescents had been built, many people were not enjoying living there,
and by the early nineteen eighties, Manchester City Council were no longer charging
the residents rent to live there. Many flats were vacant and many people were
using the flats for other activities, including club nights, which were ran by
factory Records before their fame. The Crescents were eventually demolished in nineteen ninety three
and all of the residents had been rehoused. In nineteen seventy seven, fifty
six year old Annie Walsh was living at six hundred and fifty two Charles Barry
Crescent. Annie was working in a local factory and lived alone at her flat
in the Crescents. Unfortunately, there is very little known about Annie as a
person. However, it was known that while she didn't have any children of
her own, she did have three siblings and nephews and nieces. It seemed
that Annie kept herself to herself, and while living in the Crescents wasn't the
most ideal of situations for anyone, she seemed to make it work. The
thirty first of January nineteen seventy seven was a very cold, freezing day,
and on that morning, an electricity worker was at the Crescents reading meters.
When he arrived at six hundred and fifty two Charles Barry Crescent, he was
able to gain entry to the flat and it was at this point that he
realized that something awful had happened in there. When he got into the living
room, there was an awful scene. Blood was splattered around the room,
all over the furniture, the walls, and some was even on the ceiling.
Sitting slumped in a chair was Annie Walsh. She had been bludgeoned around
the head sixteen times and it was clear that whatever had happened to her had
been a violent murder. Greater Manchester Police had a murder scene on their hands,
and it had taken place in the largest housing estate in Europe, where
thousands of people resided. This was immediately a huge concern, and trying to
locate any information about who had been with Annie or had seen her before she
was murdered was pivotal. Due to the fact that Annie generally kept herself to
herself, finding out her movements must have been difficult, particularly as Annie's body
had lain there for two to three days before it was discovered. These quickly
began gathering as much information as they could from her family members and other residents
in the surrounding area of her home. Trevor, one of Annie's nephews,
later recalled that he used to visit his aunt fortnightly in the time before she
was murdered. He stated, she lived on the sixth floor of the bull
Ring and it was pretty awful back then, but the inside was always tidy.
She was a spinster, she kept herself to herself and worked in a
factory. This, however, was all that he knew, and when he
found out that she had been murdered, he said that as he was only
seventeen, he was kept away from most of the details. His mother,
Kathleen, along with Annie's other siblings, Bob and Mabel, must have been
devastated that she'd been murdered in such a callous and demeaning way. There was
also the question of who would have wanted to kill Annie, who appeared to
be such an unassuming and innocent victim with no reason for someone to want to
harm her. Greater Manchester Police knew that conducting an investigation in a housing estate
as large as the Crescents was going to be difficult. The police set up
an incident van at the Crescents and began doing inquiries with as many residents as
possible. Through these interviews, they were able to gain a lead about someone
who Annie had been spotted with before her death. A witness had seen Annie
one day with a man who appeared to be helping her take her shopping up
to her flat. It was unclear if this man had anything to do with
Annie's murder, but it was one of the only leads that police had during
this investigation, and so they decided to create a photo fit of the man
and place it on the sides of the incident van so that other residents in
the Crescents could see it. This man was described as being in his thirties
and had a distinctive cleft lip, which police hope would be recognizable to someone.
This man was certainly a person of interest in an investigation where there was
little concrete evidence, and witness sightings were the best thing that they could go
on. Over the next few weeks and months, police continued to appeal for
witnesses from the crescents and try to find out as much as they could.
Police were concerned by the brutality and the frenzied nature of Annie's attack, and
were worried that this person had some severe mental health issues which could lead them
to attack again. As a result of this concern, they made inquiries at
mental health units in the area to check that no patience had escaped. During
this time, police were under pressure to make an arrest and to find the
person who had committed this murder, and four months after Annie's murder, news
began to circulate that they had made an arrest. This arrest took place in
the presence and on Charles Barry Crescent, the same location as Annie lived,
but a couple of floors lower down. The full circumstances of this arrest would
become known. Later on, however, police announced that an arrest had been
made of a man named Robert Brown. Robert was originally from Glasgow and had
moved down to Manchester at the age of sixteen as he had a love of
the footballer George Best and a passion for Manchester United. He wanted a fresh
start for himself and during his teenage years he had gotten into trouble with the
law. He had accrued several convictions for shoplifting and other minor offenses. He
didn't want that to be his life, however, and he met his girlfriend
Cathy, and the pair found out that they were expecting a baby. Robert
and Cathy initially moved into John Nash Crescent. However, they moved to Charles
Barry Crescent to live with friends when the woman they were living with at the
time moved back to Scotland. Robert and Cathy were a young couple but were
trying to get by in life, like many of the residents of the crescents.
The fact that in May of nineteen seventy seven that then nineteen year old
Robert was arrested for Annie's murder wouldn't have caused too many ripples within the community.
Given that Annie was a quiet person and Robert had a criminal record,
albeit a minor one, and he also lived close to Annie, Greater Manchester
police were adamant that they had their man, and only a few months after
his arrest, Robert Brown was taken to trial and convicted of the murder.
This Greater Manchester police believed was case closed and a murder solved, and it
may well have been. But given that we hear on the unseen cover only
unsolved cases, I'm sure you can tell this wasn't the end of the story.
Robert Brown maintained his innocence during his arrest, during his trial and afterwards,
he maintained that he didn't murder Annie, and actually that he had never
met her nor seen her in his life. He had a story of his
own to tell and it would completely upend both the investigation and his conviction.
During the trial, it was heard that Robert Brown had confessed to the murder
of Annie Walsh and that this had largely been the basis of his conviction,
along with some bloody jeans which police stated Robert had been wearing when he had
murdered her. Robert was adamant that the genes weren't his and that he hadn't
murdered Annie. He maintained at trial that police had beaten him, punched him
in the abdomen, and stripped him naked. He also stated that while he
was naked, policeman whipped him with wet towels. He explained that the whole
ordeal began when police arrested him at his home, where he was in bed
when they arrived at seven am. He explained that he believed he was being
taken to the police station for non payment of a fine that he had received
for a burglary that he had committed, and didn't know that he was being
taken away for Annie's murder. His girlfriend, Cathy, who was pregnant at
the time, was asked to stand inside a cupboard, and Robert was taken
away in an ordinary looking car and not a police car. The whole scenario
was a little strange, and it was only when Robert got to plat Lane
police station that he realized that he, while he was being charged for non
payment of a fine in relation to the burglary, had actually been arrested on
charges of murder. He said that he was questioned about his whereabouts on the
day that Annie had been killed, and Robert wasn't completely sure about where he
was. He later stated that police he told him if he couldn't account for
where he was, then he could be convicted for the murder. Robert didn't
know how to answer and couldn't remember what he was doing that day. There
was nothing odd about that day, and so trying to account for it four
months later proved difficult. Robert later stated in the Manchester Evening News, they
told me if I didn't know where I was, I could be convicted of
murder. But I didn't know where I was. Four months had gone by
and I didn't keep a diary. I'd been laid off the Christmas before,
so I wasn't in work. This inability to explain where he was indicated to
police that Robert did have something to do with the murder, and they continued
to put more and more pressure on him to confess to it. Robert explained
that the interview turned more into an interrogation and then descended into violence. He
said that he was taken into a women's locker room at the police station and
they began to assault him, with one police as a playing good cop and
another officer playing bad cop. Robert stated he went from an interview to interrogation
tactics. They started punching me in the abdomen, took my clothes and began
whipping me with wet towels like children in the playground to humiliate me. I
was a vulnerable boy. He explained that this questioning went on like this for
two days, as police continually pushing him for more answers, which Robert said
he didn't have as he didn't commit the murder. Robert stated that this all
culminated in officers asking him to sign a blank piece of paper, which he
learned later. The officers then wrote a confession which Robert had allegedly made,
which he strongly denied. Robert maintained from his arrest that he always stated his
innocence and he couldn't see how officers could explain the fact that he was guilty
to the jury. He laid said that when the jury at the trial found
him guilty using the evidence presented, he was astonished. He stated, I
couldn't take it seriously. I was an uneducated boy. I didn't think they
could possibly find me guilty when I hadn't done anything. It was their word
against mine. The judge at the trial said to the jury, you can
either believe the high ranking and experienced police officers, or you can believe the
defendant. The victim's family was screaming at me as I was led away.
I was screaming back that I was innocent. It was a horrible experience.
I can't really put it into words. It's surreal, like an outer body
experience, talking to people who don't believe a word you say. Robert knew
that he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice and couldn't understand how
he had been convicted for something that he hadn't done. He began his sentence
for Annie's murder knowing that he had nothing to do with it. This must
have been an extremely harrowing experience. It was particularly hard given that he had
just been getting his life together at the time that he was arrested, and
that his girlfriend, Kathy was pregnant at the time. Sadly, Kathy miscarried
their baby before the trial began, and Robert was devastated by the whole series
of events. In the years that followed, Robert continued to maintain his innocence,
and he explained that he began to educate himself in prison. He stated,
I educated myself. I wanted to get a better insight into myself and
my experience. I read books about people in the same position as me too.
I knew I had to campaign for myself. The only person who was
going to get me out was me. Robert had a tough time in prison
and would later state that he was angry about what had happened to him and
that being inside made him a violent person. It reported that he would smash
up his cell and wasn't a model prisoner. He was moved more than seventy
times during his time in prison. Speaking about this, he said, prison
turned me into a violent character. You have to become hardened. You have
to become violent because otherwise people take liberties prisoners and prison staff. I was
unpredictable and violent towards prison staff. I wouldn't do anything I was told.
I was an obstructive little bastard. They wanted my respect, but that has
to be earned. They tried to break me, bend me, but they
couldn't do it. You can't break someone who's innocent. It gives you a
reservoir of strength that you don't know you have until something like this happens.
Robert was in a tough spot as he never admitted to being part of the
murder, as he was innocent, and so he was seen as though he
was just being obstructive and just didn't want to admit what he had done.
This is the catch twenty two which innocent prisoners are in in many miscarriage of
justice cases, and by not admitting it, it means they are less likely
to get parole and the chance to ever get out of prison, as they
had not been deemed as rehabilitated. Robert did have the chance to ask for
parole after around ten to fifteen years, but he refused to apply for it
as it meant that he had to admit what he had done, and of
course Robert wouldn't do that. He stated, there were only two ways I
was coming out of that prison, dead or innocent. He did eventually apply
for it, however, when he learned that his mother, Margaret, had
been diagnosed with cancer. However, this was turned down. Robert had been
unable to be with both his father and sister, and they had died while
he was in prison. His girlfriend, Cathy's life had also clearly been effected
in the next few decades, as she passed away from alcohol poisoning in nineteen
ninety two. The sadness and tragedy surrounding Robert's situation cannot be overlooked, and
it must have felt like his life couldn't change. There was some movement in
Robert's case, though, as he had the help of Robert Lazar's team of
solicitors, who were based in Moss Side in Manchester. Robert Lazar's solicitors had
been around since nineteen seventy eight and were known for their involvement in both high
profile and unusual cases. They had been working on Robert's case and a new
piece of evidence had come to light. A report had been uncovered which was
written by Superintendent Peter Topping in nineteen seventy nine, just a year after Robert's
conviction. Superintendent Topping had detailed a culture of corruption, specifically at plat Lane
Police Station, the same one in which Robert had been taken. The details
contained in this report had led to the prosecution of Jack Butler, one of
the investigators on Robert's case, and two other officers. This report was known
to Greater Manchester Police and to the Home Office, but he has never been
disclosed to Robert's legal team, meaning that this was new information to them.
This was crucial given that Robert had alleged abuse and assault, as well as
improper practices from the same police force and the same police station. And there
was more information that emerged. Robert's legal team found that there had been a
match from fibers that had been recovered from Annie's coat to another person. This
person had been a suspect at the time of the investigation, and the fibers
recovered matched one from a jumper that had been seized from him as a result
of inquiries. Not only that, but this alternate suspect had also been picked
out of an identity parade by a witness who saw him with Annie not long
before the murder. This evidence was not disclosed to the defense team at trial
and would have provided the jury with a possible alternate suspect to consider instead of
just Robert. More forensic evidence was also found. The bloody genes, which
it had been alleged belonged to Robert, contained neither Robert or Annie's blood,
and it was discovered that the blood belonged to a woman who had had a
miscarriage, as well as a now lack of forensic evidence pointing in the direction
of Robert. His confession was also being scrutinized more closely. Two forensic linguistics
experts had taken a look at it and decided that it could not have been
dictated to police as they had previously alleged, meaning that Roberts claimed that he
hadn't confessed to anything gained more weight. Robert later stated, they had no
evidence to connect me to Annie Walsh, no physical or forensic evidence. I
didn't know her, I was never in her home. There were no witnesses
to link me to it. As much as they tried to fabricate it after
my arrest, but they got away with it in nineteen seventy seven. I
was just there, an honorable boy who didn't know what day it was.
Over twenty years after Robert's conviction, the newly formed Criminal Cases Review Commission RCCRC,
which had formed in nineteen ninety seven, began to investigate Robert's case and
found many of these things that had been uncovered very troubling. In two thousand
and two, an appeal hearing was scheduled to discuss many of the aspects of
Robert's case and the new evidence that had been found. This appeal hearing took
just thirteen minutes. The Crown stated that they didn't want to contest the case,
and Laard Justice Rose found that the conviction was unsafe and that Roberts should
be released. He had been imprisoned for over twenty five years, and despite
this result, Robert felt that the wording of unsafe did not do justice to
the decades of his life he had spent in prison for something he hadn't done.
He told the m e n I'm still not happy with that. It's
not good enough. They make it sound like they just don't have enough evidence
to convict you. There's no innocent verdict in the criminal justice system, just
guilty or not guilty. This was, of course, what Robert had wanted
for many years, and he was able to be with his mother before she
passed away, which must have been some comfort. Robert, however, had
been forever altered by the experience and felt a lot of resentment towards the police
and the people had been responsible for him being convicted in the first place.
He explained that when he left prison, he was basically left to deal with
life by himself with little support, despite being out of touch with the outside
world for a quarter of a century. He was given forty five pounds and
a train ticket and told to go on his way. This, he feels
isn't good enough and trying to adjust to life again was extremely difficult for Robert.
He explained that he received two hundred and fifty thousand pounds in compensation for
his wrongful conviction, but due to the trauma that he had experienced and his
lack of both education and life experience before his conviction, he had no concept
of the idea of money. He also stated that the prison service asked for
a hundred thousand pounds of that back for his living expenses in the years that
he was in prison. It was never about money. I haven't got any
money now. I'm skin on benefits. I didn't have any real concept of
money. It was just paper. I wasted the two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds on drink, drugs, women, and holidays. I couldn't even tell
you I enjoyed spending it. I didn't want the money. It was blood
money. I had to number pain and the nightmares, and I went through
every night with drugs. Robert explains that he is severely damaged by his experience,
saying, I live every day of my life with this. It doesn't
go away. I never got my life back, never found peace of mind.
I don't flagellate myself with self pity. There are probably people worse off
than me. I just want my name cleared. They should have the decency,
the humanity, the morality to hold their hands up. I was fitted
up. I want a proclamation of innocence. Robert has stated that he's never
been given an apology from Greater Manchester Police for what happened to him, and
said he's not even sure if he would want one now after all this time.
He said, maybe it would mean everything, maybe it would mean nothing.
I don't know how it would feel until it happened, but I don't
think they're big enough to apologize after all this time. Robert has been extremely
open about his struggles after being released from prison and about his opinions about the
changes that need to happen to the justice system so that this doesn't happen again.
He told the Clydebank Post, I'm angry and dislike the system for what
it's done to me and done to other working class people. I didn't want
money. Money didn't give me justice. It doesn't give my mother her life
back. There are a lot of issues left unresolved. The real killer of
Annie Walsh has not been caught. I'm passionate about getting the system changed.
I think it's too late for me getting help and assistance for the damage done
to me. The public are quick to want to hang somebody without having any
real knowledge of the facts or evidence of the case. If there's no evidence
to connect someone to the crime, then there's no case to answer. The
word of one man or woman is not enough. I don't do this because
I want self pity. I want changes to the criminal justice system that shows
there's balance and equality for everybody. We need deep, radical change or you're
going to hear about cases like this for the next twenty five years. It
concerns me people are still getting convicted on hearsay evidence, character assassinations, and
more. You would think a criminal justice system would have to be evidence based.
I was convicted on the words of the police, and juries believe police.
Since I was released in two thousand and two, there has not been
any improvement in the justice system. I think police should be held responsible for
their crimes. It's as if police are a law unto themselves. These comments
will resonate with many people given the recent headlines about police forces and police officers
in the UK, and while issues like this exist, there isn't as much
focus on how wrongful convictions happen in this country. They do happen, and
unfortunately mistakes are made during investigations, and these investigations have huge ramifications for not
only the person convicted, but on the victims family. We have to remember
Annie Walsh in this whole story, as due to the actions of police officers
in this case, she sometimes becomes almost like a footnote in her own case.
Annie's family now do not know what happened to her, and they,
like Robert, have suffered their own trauma of having all of these wounds reopened
once again. There is now no healing for them. Annie's sister Kathleen met
with Robert after he was released and said she welcomed the news as it meant
that they could finally find out, one way or another, who did it.
This was a very forgiving and open way to look at the situation,
and it's sad that all of Annie's siblings died without fully knowing what happened to
their sister. Kathleen's son Trevor, was asked if he thought they would ever
find the culprit. Trevor said no, and that's what my mother thought too.
After so much time passed by, the chances of finding someone a very
slim. The likelihood of anyone even wanting to take up the case after this
long is pretty slim. This is the sad fact in this case. The
actions of the police and the way in which this case was conducted meant that
the perpetrator was never found and now may never be given the amount of time
that has passed. They did have a plausible alternate suspect, and forensics and
eyewitnesses seem to corroborate this. However, what has been done about this since,
or if this suspect is even still alive is unknown. After Robert had
been released, a senior West Yorkshire Police officer carried out an inquiry into the
way Greater Manchester Police handled the investigation. Then asked GMP about this and whether
they wanted to apologize to Robert Brown. They stated Greater Manchester Police accepts the
Court of Appeals judgment in the case of Robert Brown. Undetected murder cases are
never solved and are periodically reviewed and reinvestigated when new information comes to lie it.
There are so many things to learn from this case, and neither Annie
nor Robert have got justice. And we have to remember this. Annie's murderer
got away with it and Robert lost over twenty five years of his life and
suffers with the trauma every day. This case brings up many issues with our
criminal justice system, and in particular highlights what happens to people when they get
out of prison, regardless of their innocence or whether they have just served their
time. Is the proper support in place for people who've spent a while in
prison. Can they properly adapt to the outside world. Have they been in
any way rehabilitated while in prison. These are all questions which are brought up
in this case, as well as whether the conduct of police is properly inspected
and assessed. Robert Brown stated in a documentary for Real Crime that he was
just anyone and suggests that he could have been anyone and it could have happened
to anyone and I think this is the thing that I take away from it.
Wrongful convictions unfortunately did and still do happen, and while this is not
something often talked about here in the UK, we must be aware of them
and know our own rights. It saddens me to think that Annie and her
family could have had justice in this case had it been handled differently, and
the fact we still don't know who killed her is tragic. If you do
know anything about Annie Walsh's murdering Hume in nineteen seventy seven, then please contact
police on one oh one. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If
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that wherever you listen, and in the show notes, as always, I'm
Caprice and this has been unseen