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
speaking about the murder of Derrick Grain in Bristol on Halloween morning nineteen eighty The
circumstances of Derek's murder baffled police at the time, and the brutal nature of
it caused newspaper headlines to exclaim that police were appalled by the murder. Derek's
murder is still unsolved today and there are still so many questions to be answered.
This episode contains descriptions that some listeners may find distressing, so listener discretion
is advised. Brandon Hill is located between the areas of Clifton and hot Wells,
close to Bristol City Center. On the top of the hill there is
a monument named Cabot's Tower and on the upper part of the hill there is
Brandon Hill Park, which contains both open grassland, a nature reserve and gardens.
Is a well known area of the city and one that is frequented by
many people daily. Located close to the University of Bristol, it became known
for its inclusion in the Channel four programs Skins when it was featured during filming
during the nineteen eighty It was also a prominent part of the city and was
an area that people would cut through during their commutes into the center. This
is what twenty four year old Sally Isaac was doing at around eight a m.
On the thirty first of October nineteen eighty. Sally worked as a nurse
at Saint Mary's Hospital and was heading through the park along brandon Hill Lane when
she noticed something on the path ahead of her. It was immediately obvious that
she had come across herrific sight. She spotted a man lying face down in
the middle of the path, and as she got closer, she realized that
not only was he not moving, but he was laying face down in what
looked to be his own blood. Sally Isaac knew that this was an emergency
situation, and she contacted police and emergency services, who came out to the
scene. It was at this point that they concluded that this man was deceased
and that he had been the victim of a brutal attack and murder. The
scene was bloody and there were objects strewn across the street. It was a
dynamic scene, and the police had to cordon off the area completely to try
and process all of the evidence that they had found. Not only did they
have the victim who had clearly been attacked by a violent perpetrator, they also
had other evidence at the scene which showed that this had been a vicious murder.
The man's jacket appeared to have been torn off his body, and he
had severe head wounds. The man's bank cards were found strewn around and on
his body, which suggested to the police that the motive for this murder may
have been robbery. An odd and unusual feature of the scene was a sand
filled traffic cone which was located around eighty yards away from the man's body.
It would later be established that this had most likely been the murder weapon which
had been used to beat this victim around the head with. This was an
alarming attack and was difficult to fathom. How and why had someone gone to
the lens to pick up a traffic cone and beat another person to death with
it. This was the question which was being asked by police in this investigation.
But to try and get to the bottom of why this had happened,
they had to figure out who the victim was. This did not take long
and they quickly knew that he was thirty nine year old Dryin Derrek Grain did
not live in Bristol. In fact, he was a visitor to the city.
Derek was completing a Sir common at British Aerospace in Filton, around five
miles from the city center. He had been working there for around two months
after moving from his home in Hertfordshire for the opportunity. While he was working
in Filton, he was living at the Unicorn Hotel in the city center.
Filton had been established as the headquarters of the British Aerospace Company since nineteen ten,
when it was first known as the British Aeroplane Company. Since that time,
the company had gone through many changes and became hugely important during the First
World War when over seven thousand aircrafts were manufactured there and they became a training
camp for soldiers and pilots. During the Second World War, the base was
home to over forty two thousand workers and it was deemed important in off to
the Germans that it was bombed, with over one hundred and thirty two workers
and civilians killed. After the Second World War, it became known for the
manufacture of the concord. During more recent times, the company amalgamated with air
Bus, which then later merged with BAE and Marconi Electronic Systems. Its history,
however, shows its relevance throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty first,
and so Derek Grain was also part of this diligent workforce. Police began
to investigate Derek's life since it arrived in Bristol two months before. Witnesses who
knew him during this time there told police that he was a bit of a
loner. However, he was always cheerful and kind. He was described as
no trouble and someone who would do anyone a good turn if they needed it.
Police learnt that Derek enjoyed a drink in the pub and the bars.
However, every everyone who did know him stated vehemently that he wasn't someone who
got into fights or brawls and normally just kept himself to himself. This did
not sound like someone who went out looking for trouble, so how did harm
come to him to the point that someone murdered him. This was the confusing
aspect of the crime. Police themselves were horrified by it and hoped that they
would quickly apprehend a suspect. When they investigated Derek's movements on the day before
his body was recovered, they found out that his car, a Ford Fiesta,
was still parked at the Unicorn Hotel where he had been staying, and
it had been there since four pm the day before the recovery of the body.
It was clear that Derek could return the car after finishing work for the
day, and they then learned that that night he'd gone out for some drinks
in the city. Derek was known for having a distinctive black beard, and
so they could easily track him as he was seen by people. That evening.
They discovered that Derek had been drinking heavily and had visited a bar named
Vicki's before going into another bar called Curves. He was in there late that
night and into the early morning. It was known that he left Curves at
around two a m. At this point, Derek took a very odd route.
He traveled in the direction of Brandon Hill rather than in the direction of
his hotel. Police were unclear and why he had taken this roue or had
headed in that direction at all, given there didn't appear to be anything there
for him. This was just another question in this already odd mystery. As
much as the police did have evidence in the case, they were stuck for
a suspect. It was evident that whoever had committed this was violent and the
motive may well have been robbery. The fact that this person was dangerous was
also highlighted by another fact that was established. Derek had been kicked in the
hair as he lay dying, suggesting a perpetrator with little careful life or for
violence. The theory began to emerge that perhaps someone had been watching Derek that
night at the bar and had noticed him with a large sum of money in
his wallet. Detective Superintendent Brian Theobald, a senior detective on the case,
said to the press at the time he had no money on him when he
was found, so robbery is most likely the motive. We have several witnesses
who saw him with a roll of notes while drinking. Police hoped that by
appealing to the public, someone would come forward with information related to the murder.
The bar Curves also tried to support this by putting up a reward of
five hundred pounds to try and drum up information. The response, however,
was not what the police had hoped for. In fact, in one of
the articles about the case at the time, the police said that they were
appalled by the response from the public. They had hoped for more. They
did, however, get some people providing tips about things that they had seen.
A caller rang in to say that they had noticed what was described as
a swarthy looking man running away from the area along Queen's Road and in front
of a woman's car. The woman said that she had difficulty avoiding him and
that was why she remembered the incident and the man. It was unclear if
this had anything to do with the murder, but it was of interest.
More anonymous callers also rang in tips about Derek's murder, including someone who phoned
in a tip about a maroon colored Jaguar car with the registration ku R seven
G. This seemed like a very specific tip and was one that was followed
up with rigorously by police. What they found, however, surprised them.
The car belonged to a man who they discovered was nowhere near Bristol at the
time of the murder. Noted, however, that the car was registered in
Hitchin, which was where Derek came from police stated that the car could have
been driven with false plates that night, with police spokesman Inspector Dave Sellers saying
if the number and description of the Jaguar seen in Clifton was giving to us
correctly, it follows that the car we are looking for was being driven on
false plates. Other anonymous callers stated that they knew of a brawl that took
place outside Avarrof's restaurant in the city center around the time of the murder and
wondered whether this could have anything to do with it. Another caller also stated
that they had spotted four or five youths walking down Park Street at around two
thirty am, wearing witches hats and capes. Police were able to trace these
people, however, they were of no assistance to the investigation. Other callers
had much more serious things to report. One call stated that they saw three
or four men attacking someone near Clifton Triangle at around three am that morning,
and that other witnesses could confirm this. Other information that came in was that
they had actually seen Derek being hit with the traffic cone that morning. These
anonymous callers, however, could not be traced, and one of them rang
off the call before they could get any more information. The police appealed for
these callers to come forward and help them with any more detailed information, with
Superintendent Lou Clark leading the investigation, saying that he would talk to this caller
on any terms that they would dictate. It was evident that police were desperate
for information about Derek's murder, and despite it happening in a busy place in
a busy city, there was very little concrete evidence to go on. They
poured posters in the local nightclubs, bars and restaurants, which all had Derek's
face on, in the hope that it would jog someone's memories. However,
they got quite a poor public response and did not get the breakthrough that they
wanted. Despite the notoriety of this case in the area and the shark that
it gave the local community, this is the way that the case stayed,
with little movement being reported. There were many theories, such as the fact
that Derek was the victim of robbery. However, even police at the time
struggled to come to any definitive conclusions. Detective Inspector Brian Theobald said at the
time there is a possibility that more than one person was involved in this.
I'm having a second examination of the scene and pretty confident the assailants were spattered
with blood. At the very least, I'm pretty satisfied that the motive was
robbery. They used an awful lot of violence. It was a particularly vicious,
brutal murder. This, though, did not do much to narrow down
the suspect list. In the years that followed, Derek's case was subject to
reviews in the hope that they would uncover any previously known information. As technology
improved as the decades passed, police hoped that they would make a breakthrough with
some of the evidence that they had collected from the scene. They analyzed the
traffic cone, which had been found at the scene and was thought to be
the murder weapon. This, however, did not yield the results they'd hoped
for and did not point to a suspect. In two thousand and nine,
they also hoped that the insides of Derek's pockets on his jacket may help the
investigation. It was thought that this might have crucial evidence, such as skin
cells, given that the perpetrator was believed to have rifled through Derek's pockets to
steal his money that morning. Unfortunately, this was not the case and they
didn't find anything of value. It has been reported that the only piece of
evidence that linked the killer in any way to the crime was a footprint which
had been found on the back of Derrek's blood soaked shirt. This footprint,
however, has not been linked to anyone up until this present day, and
there has been nothing to point to the killer related to any of the other
evidence found. There has also been little publicity for the case since the twenty
sixteen Bristol Post article documenting Derek's murder. It has now been forty three years
to this week that Derek was murdered, and he has still received no justice
for what happened to him. It's evident that Derek's murder may have been committed
by a random stranger or strangers, given that he was a loner and a
visitor to the city. He was not part of an established community there,
and people didn't seem to know him that well. I think the police theory
that this was a random robbery probably is correct, but this makes it even
more difficult for them to solve. A random act of violence is tricky to
solve without witnesses or evidence. Neither of these were forthcoming in nineteen eighty and
would be even more difficult to find in twenty twenty three. We are left
with the disturbing conclusion that Derek was killed for the fifty or sixty pounds that
were in his pockets and nothing more than an opportunity that presented itself when Derek
ended up alone in a secluded spot. The worrying thing is is that this
person carried on walking along and being part of this community. The police at
the time tried to reach out to the criminal underworld to see if any informants
knew who did it, but no one came forward to say that they knew.
Does someone know today who killed Derek Grain and would they be willing to
come forward with what they know? This is the key question and could be
one of the only ways that this murder will be solved today. If you
know anything about the murder of Derreck Grain on the morning of Halloween nineteen eighty
in Bristol, please contact the police on one oh one. Thank you for
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this has been unseen b