Gripping account of police’s ‘golden hour’
We all know how detectives catch murderers in television drama. Their skill set may include instinct, genius and dogged obsession, while perhaps they struggle with private demons and an overbearing boss. Compare and contrast with the real deal as seen in An Hour to Catch a Killer (ITV).
This painstaking documentary told of the horrific murder in Gateshead last year of Alice Ruggles, 24, and the rapid progress made by Northumbria Police in charging her ex-boyfriend Lance Corporal Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon. While the outcome was never in doubt, the narrative exerted a horrible pull from the moment we heard the heart-rending recording of her flatmate’s 999 call: “Alice! Alice! Oh my God, she’s dead!”
Lapel-grabbing programme titles often go over the top but the claim in this case felt merited. It was demonstrated in how uncontaminated evidence collected from the crime scene in the so-called “golden hour” greatly contributed to Dhillon’s conviction, although procedural work undertaken over the hours he was in custody proved just as essential.
What felt genuinely enlightening was the level of detail we saw. A police bodycam took us into the bathroom where the victim’s body lay (though, of course, it was not shown). In the style of 24 Hours in Police Custody, other jigsaw pieces came from CCTV and interview-room footage. The TV crew penetrated the incident room to capture the joshing that keeps police on an even keel emotionally (“You look a bit sweaty, Alan”) but also the intense focus.
The star, if that’s the word, was DCI Lisa Theaker. “What’s the crack?” she asked on receiving a call about a possible homicide. She had soon taken possession of the case, talking of “my offender”, “my suspect”, “my forensic results”. The little details were intriguing too: she explained why she’d selected the two detectives to interview Dhillon: one because “he looks quite mean but is very good on detail”, the other because “she looks glamorous but is fierce”.
Trevor Mcdonald’s role was restricted to an explanatory voice-over and meeting Alice’s parents, for whom this brave media appearance felt a little bit too soon. There was plenty of haunting video and audio of Alice, including the tape in which she reported her concerns about Dhillon’s obsessive stalking to the police. But how shaming that Northumbria Police were much more efficient at solving her murder than preventing it.
An Hour to Catch a Killer