TV documentary features shocking murder of schoolgirl
A TRAGIC Nuneaton killing - and its impact on the community - has featured in an episode of crime documentary series Murdertown.
Presented by Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly, the episode of the series on the Crime+Investigation channel features the murder of 15-year-old schoolgirl Naomi Smith.
With interviews from her half-brother David Freeman, a police officer who worked on the case and a journalist who reported on it, the episode pieced together how DNA evidence helped to bring the killer to justice.
The incident in 1995 rocked Nuneaton.
Naomi had just gone to post a letter for her mum at the post box at the end of the street - but she never returned. Her body was later found in a nearby children’s playground.
The documentary revealed how her murder led to a climate of fear in the town, with everyone wondering who was responsible for her death.
Police officers and reporters who worked on the case open up about how police struggled to find leads, as well as the breakthroughs that finally led to arrests.
Mr Freeman tells the documentary of the atmosphere in the town in the wake of the killing and the suspicion that fell on members of the community.
He said: “For weeks kids didn’t walk by themselves, they walked in twos or threes.
“Everybody over the age of 15 to 25, everybody was suspecting each other because that was the information that was released.
“People didn’t want to know, they just stayed in their houses.”
The episode aired on Crime+Investigation yesterday at 9pm but it is still available on catch up and on demand services.
What happened to Naomi Smith?
In 1995, Naomi, aged 15, went out to post a letter and never returned. Her father found her body in a children’s playground in Ansley Common, near Nuneaton, just yards from her home.
The schoolgirl had been sexually assaulted and her throat had been cut several times.
At the time, DNA technology was in its infancy and during the investigation swabs were taken from hundreds of men to see if their DNA matched samples from a bite mark on Naomi’s body.
A DNA match was found belonging to Edwin Hopkins, then aged 19. He was convicted of the murder of Naomi Smith in January 1997 and handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 18 years.
But the family’s heartache wasn’t over. In 2010, after serving just 13 years, Hopkins launched a bid at the High Court to reduce his minimum term.
The appeal was thrown out but earlier this year, another hearing at the High Court granted Hopkins the right to an oral hearing in a bid to downgrade his top security rating.
If that hearing is successful, Hopkins could be moved to an open jail - an essential step towards release.
The High Court was told his behaviour whilst in prison has been ‘exemplary’ and that he has participated in a number of risk reduction courses, including anger management, victim empathy and awareness classes.
In the 22 years since Naomi’s murder, Hopkins has always denied his guilt.