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In this new documentary in ITV’S Crime & Punishment strand, Susanna Reid gains exclusive access to police interview tapes from the investigation into the murder of Sharon Birchwood, a 52-year-old woman with no apparent enemies or criminal connections.

After Sharon was found strangled at her home in the suburbs in 2007, it became apparent that Surrey Police were going to be faced with one of their most challenging murder investigations ever.

What they found would take the investigation from the country lanes of affluent Surrey to shocking answers hidden amongst the backstreets of Thailand.

Sharon’s body was discovered by her ex-husband, who quickly became the prime suspect. But when it was proved conclusively that he couldn’t have committed the murder, officers were back at square one until a fingerprint was found which identified a new suspect.

Reid interviews key members of the police investigation team, some speaking for the first time, to piece together just how they solved what seemed to be an impossible puzzle.

Every twist and turn of the case is revealed in hours of police recordings that show how police played a strategic game with their new prime suspect in order to make sense of this vicious, baffling crime.

Thursday, STV, 9pm