Case of Bathgate killer focus of ITV show
The case of a West Lothian man who killed his wife and hid her under the floorboards of their home is being put under the spotlight in a new documentary.
Harry Jarvis murdered his wife Carol and left her body in the cellar of their Bathgate home in 2009.
He had hidden lover, Jus-Rol pastry heiress Rita Heyster in his garden shed and she had helped him to conceal the body.
Investigators who worked on the case have now revealed in the Crime+Investigation channel documentary ‘Killer Britain’, presented by Dermot Murnaghan, that there were serious doubts about whether the case against Jarvis was strong enough due to a lack of evidence.
The cause of 47-year-old Carol’s death could not be determined due to decomposition to her body.
And Jarvis claimed she died of a fit before he buried her at home to be close to her.
The lead police officer and prosecution lawyer said the discovery of letters was crucial to convicting Jarvis of murder.
The notes revealed Jarvis planned to move Heyster - who inherited and squandered a £2.5 million fortune - into his home after he had killed his wife.
In one letter he wrote: “Drugs are doing job.
“Just took longer than I thought but going fast now. See you in Paradise soon.”
Former Detective Chief Inspector Phil
Gachagan, who led the murder probe, said: “He said he had placed her beneath the floorboards and occasionally would go down and lie beside her and speak to her because he found it very difficult to be without her.
“Obviously in my mind that was complete fantasy.
“I had meetings with the Crown solicitors and there was a real worry that there wasn’t enough evidence to even take the case to court.
“The one thing that really helped with the investigation was letters that Jarvis had written to Rita which indicated he was drugging Carol and was planning on killing her.”
Garry Allan QC, who led the prosecution case, said: “The notes suggested Carol’s death was imminent and Harry and Rita could move on to a life in ‘paradise’.
“It was a very dramatic picture which I was able to present to the jury and show this was not an unfortunate death which had resulted in panicked decisions being made.”
Mum-of-four Carol, who had several medical problems, was reported missing by her children.
They didn’t believe their father’s account that she had taken a trip to
Dundee or gone into respite care.
Former bus driver Jarvis was jailed for a minimum of 15 years in 2011 and died of heart failure aged 67 in 2017 while serving his sentence at Addiewell prison.
Heyster, from Coldstream in the Borders, inherited a £2.5million fortune from her adopted father, Jus-Rol founder Tommy Forsyth.
But she fell on hard times and blew the cash before starting an affair with Jarvis. She was jailed for four-and-a-half years for helping to conceal Carol’s body.
‘Killer Britain’ with Dermot Murnaghan will be shown on Crime+Investigation at 9pm on June 4.