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Hi, and welcome back to The
Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing

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people, unresolved cases, and UK
true crime. Today we're going to be

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speaking about the murder of Derrick Grain
in Bristol on Halloween morning nineteen eighty The

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circumstances of Derek's murder baffled police at
the time, and the brutal nature of

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it caused newspaper headlines to exclaim that
police were appalled by the murder. Derek's

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murder is still unsolved today and there
are still so many questions to be answered.

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This episode contains descriptions that some listeners
may find distressing, so listener discretion

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is advised. Brandon Hill is located
between the areas of Clifton and hot Wells,

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close to Bristol City Center. On
the top of the hill there is

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a monument named Cabot's Tower and on
the upper part of the hill there is

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Brandon Hill Park, which contains both
open grassland, a nature reserve and gardens.

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Is a well known area of the
city and one that is frequented by

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many people daily. Located close to
the University of Bristol, it became known

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for its inclusion in the Channel four
programs Skins when it was featured during filming

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during the nineteen eighty It was also
a prominent part of the city and was

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an area that people would cut through
during their commutes into the center. This

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is what twenty four year old Sally
Isaac was doing at around eight a m.

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On the thirty first of October nineteen
eighty. Sally worked as a nurse

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at Saint Mary's Hospital and was heading
through the park along brandon Hill Lane when

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she noticed something on the path ahead
of her. It was immediately obvious that

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she had come across herrific sight.
She spotted a man lying face down in

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the middle of the path, and
as she got closer, she realized that

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not only was he not moving,
but he was laying face down in what

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looked to be his own blood.
Sally Isaac knew that this was an emergency

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situation, and she contacted police and
emergency services, who came out to the

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scene. It was at this point
that they concluded that this man was deceased

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and that he had been the victim
of a brutal attack and murder. The

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scene was bloody and there were objects
strewn across the street. It was a

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dynamic scene, and the police had
to cordon off the area completely to try

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and process all of the evidence that
they had found. Not only did they

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have the victim who had clearly been
attacked by a violent perpetrator, they also

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had other evidence at the scene which
showed that this had been a vicious murder.

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The man's jacket appeared to have been
torn off his body, and he

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had severe head wounds. The man's
bank cards were found strewn around and on

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his body, which suggested to the
police that the motive for this murder may

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have been robbery. An odd and
unusual feature of the scene was a sand

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filled traffic cone which was located around
eighty yards away from the man's body.

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It would later be established that this
had most likely been the murder weapon which

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had been used to beat this victim
around the head with. This was an

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alarming attack and was difficult to fathom. How and why had someone gone to

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the lens to pick up a traffic
cone and beat another person to death with

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it. This was the question which
was being asked by police in this investigation.

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But to try and get to the
bottom of why this had happened,

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they had to figure out who the
victim was. This did not take long

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and they quickly knew that he was
thirty nine year old Dryin Derrek Grain did

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not live in Bristol. In fact, he was a visitor to the city.

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Derek was completing a Sir common at
British Aerospace in Filton, around five

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miles from the city center. He
had been working there for around two months

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after moving from his home in Hertfordshire
for the opportunity. While he was working

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in Filton, he was living at
the Unicorn Hotel in the city center.

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Filton had been established as the headquarters
of the British Aerospace Company since nineteen ten,

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when it was first known as the
British Aeroplane Company. Since that time,

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the company had gone through many changes
and became hugely important during the First

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World War when over seven thousand aircrafts
were manufactured there and they became a training

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camp for soldiers and pilots. During
the Second World War, the base was

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home to over forty two thousand workers
and it was deemed important in off to

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the Germans that it was bombed,
with over one hundred and thirty two workers

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and civilians killed. After the Second
World War, it became known for the

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manufacture of the concord. During more
recent times, the company amalgamated with air

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Bus, which then later merged with
BAE and Marconi Electronic Systems. Its history,

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however, shows its relevance throughout the
twentieth century and into the twenty first,

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and so Derek Grain was also part
of this diligent workforce. Police began

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to investigate Derek's life since it arrived
in Bristol two months before. Witnesses who

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knew him during this time there told
police that he was a bit of a

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loner. However, he was always
cheerful and kind. He was described as

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no trouble and someone who would do
anyone a good turn if they needed it.

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Police learnt that Derek enjoyed a drink
in the pub and the bars.

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However, every everyone who did know
him stated vehemently that he wasn't someone who

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got into fights or brawls and normally
just kept himself to himself. This did

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not sound like someone who went out
looking for trouble, so how did harm

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come to him to the point that
someone murdered him. This was the confusing

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aspect of the crime. Police themselves
were horrified by it and hoped that they

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would quickly apprehend a suspect. When
they investigated Derek's movements on the day before

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his body was recovered, they found
out that his car, a Ford Fiesta,

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was still parked at the Unicorn Hotel
where he had been staying, and

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it had been there since four pm
the day before the recovery of the body.

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It was clear that Derek could return
the car after finishing work for the

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day, and they then learned that
that night he'd gone out for some drinks

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in the city. Derek was known
for having a distinctive black beard, and

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so they could easily track him as
he was seen by people. That evening.

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They discovered that Derek had been drinking
heavily and had visited a bar named

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Vicki's before going into another bar called
Curves. He was in there late that

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night and into the early morning.
It was known that he left Curves at

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around two a m. At this
point, Derek took a very odd route.

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He traveled in the direction of Brandon
Hill rather than in the direction of

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his hotel. Police were unclear and
why he had taken this roue or had

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headed in that direction at all,
given there didn't appear to be anything there

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for him. This was just another
question in this already odd mystery. As

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much as the police did have evidence
in the case, they were stuck for

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a suspect. It was evident that
whoever had committed this was violent and the

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motive may well have been robbery.
The fact that this person was dangerous was

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also highlighted by another fact that was
established. Derek had been kicked in the

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hair as he lay dying, suggesting
a perpetrator with little careful life or for

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violence. The theory began to emerge
that perhaps someone had been watching Derek that

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night at the bar and had noticed
him with a large sum of money in

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his wallet. Detective Superintendent Brian Theobald, a senior detective on the case,

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said to the press at the time
he had no money on him when he

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was found, so robbery is most
likely the motive. We have several witnesses

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who saw him with a roll of
notes while drinking. Police hoped that by

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appealing to the public, someone would
come forward with information related to the murder.

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The bar Curves also tried to support
this by putting up a reward of

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five hundred pounds to try and drum
up information. The response, however,

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was not what the police had hoped
for. In fact, in one of

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the articles about the case at the
time, the police said that they were

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appalled by the response from the public. They had hoped for more. They

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did, however, get some people
providing tips about things that they had seen.

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A caller rang in to say that
they had noticed what was described as

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a swarthy looking man running away from
the area along Queen's Road and in front

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of a woman's car. The woman
said that she had difficulty avoiding him and

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that was why she remembered the incident
and the man. It was unclear if

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this had anything to do with the
murder, but it was of interest.

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More anonymous callers also rang in tips
about Derek's murder, including someone who phoned

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in a tip about a maroon colored
Jaguar car with the registration ku R seven

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G. This seemed like a very
specific tip and was one that was followed

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up with rigorously by police. What
they found, however, surprised them.

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The car belonged to a man who
they discovered was nowhere near Bristol at the

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time of the murder. Noted,
however, that the car was registered in

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Hitchin, which was where Derek came
from police stated that the car could have

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been driven with false plates that night, with police spokesman Inspector Dave Sellers saying

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if the number and description of the
Jaguar seen in Clifton was giving to us

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correctly, it follows that the car
we are looking for was being driven on

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false plates. Other anonymous callers stated
that they knew of a brawl that took

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place outside Avarrof's restaurant in the city
center around the time of the murder and

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wondered whether this could have anything to
do with it. Another caller also stated

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that they had spotted four or five
youths walking down Park Street at around two

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thirty am, wearing witches hats and
capes. Police were able to trace these

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people, however, they were of
no assistance to the investigation. Other callers

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had much more serious things to report. One call stated that they saw three

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or four men attacking someone near Clifton
Triangle at around three am that morning,

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and that other witnesses could confirm this. Other information that came in was that

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they had actually seen Derek being hit
with the traffic cone that morning. These

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anonymous callers, however, could not
be traced, and one of them rang

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off the call before they could get
any more information. The police appealed for

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these callers to come forward and help
them with any more detailed information, with

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Superintendent Lou Clark leading the investigation,
saying that he would talk to this caller

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on any terms that they would dictate. It was evident that police were desperate

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for information about Derek's murder, and
despite it happening in a busy place in

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a busy city, there was very
little concrete evidence to go on. They

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poured posters in the local nightclubs,
bars and restaurants, which all had Derek's

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face on, in the hope that
it would jog someone's memories. However,

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they got quite a poor public response
and did not get the breakthrough that they

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wanted. Despite the notoriety of this
case in the area and the shark that

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it gave the local community, this
is the way that the case stayed,

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with little movement being reported. There
were many theories, such as the fact

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that Derek was the victim of robbery. However, even police at the time

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struggled to come to any definitive conclusions. Detective Inspector Brian Theobald said at the

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time there is a possibility that more
than one person was involved in this.

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I'm having a second examination of the
scene and pretty confident the assailants were spattered

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with blood. At the very least, I'm pretty satisfied that the motive was

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robbery. They used an awful lot
of violence. It was a particularly vicious,

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brutal murder. This, though,
did not do much to narrow down

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the suspect list. In the years
that followed, Derek's case was subject to

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reviews in the hope that they would
uncover any previously known information. As technology

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improved as the decades passed, police
hoped that they would make a breakthrough with

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some of the evidence that they had
collected from the scene. They analyzed the

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traffic cone, which had been found
at the scene and was thought to be

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the murder weapon. This, however, did not yield the results they'd hoped

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for and did not point to a
suspect. In two thousand and nine,

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they also hoped that the insides of
Derek's pockets on his jacket may help the

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investigation. It was thought that this
might have crucial evidence, such as skin

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cells, given that the perpetrator was
believed to have rifled through Derek's pockets to

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steal his money that morning. Unfortunately, this was not the case and they

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didn't find anything of value. It
has been reported that the only piece of

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evidence that linked the killer in any
way to the crime was a footprint which

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had been found on the back of
Derrek's blood soaked shirt. This footprint,

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however, has not been linked to
anyone up until this present day, and

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there has been nothing to point to
the killer related to any of the other

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evidence found. There has also been
little publicity for the case since the twenty

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sixteen Bristol Post article documenting Derek's murder. It has now been forty three years

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to this week that Derek was murdered, and he has still received no justice

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for what happened to him. It's
evident that Derek's murder may have been committed

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by a random stranger or strangers,
given that he was a loner and a

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visitor to the city. He was
not part of an established community there,

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and people didn't seem to know him
that well. I think the police theory

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that this was a random robbery probably
is correct, but this makes it even

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more difficult for them to solve.
A random act of violence is tricky to

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solve without witnesses or evidence. Neither
of these were forthcoming in nineteen eighty and

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would be even more difficult to find
in twenty twenty three. We are left

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with the disturbing conclusion that Derek was
killed for the fifty or sixty pounds that

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were in his pockets and nothing more
than an opportunity that presented itself when Derek

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ended up alone in a secluded spot. The worrying thing is is that this

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person carried on walking along and being
part of this community. The police at

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the time tried to reach out to
the criminal underworld to see if any informants

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knew who did it, but no
one came forward to say that they knew.

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Does someone know today who killed Derek
Grain and would they be willing to

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come forward with what they know?
This is the key question and could be

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one of the only ways that this
murder will be solved today. If you

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know anything about the murder of Derreck
Grain on the morning of Halloween nineteen eighty

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in Bristol, please contact the police
on one oh one. Thank you for

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listening to today's episode. If you'd
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media as our ways. I'm Caprice and

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this has been unseen b