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On 13th October 1998, BBC1 broadcast the programme Crimewatch File. A 50-minute special examining the murder of Mrs Margaret Wilson and Derek Christian's conviction for this crime, this broadcast left much to be desired in terms of the independent reporting and presentation of the facts of the case, and in its portrayal of Derek Christian.

A written complaint to the makers of the programme by Derek Christian went unanswered. In January 1999, Kevin Christian and Tracey Noble wrote to Fraser Steel, the head of the BBC's own complaints unit, pointing out the programme's material inaccuracies and protesting at the manner in which the BBC had portrayed Derek Christian.


Initial complaint to the BBC


A courtesy copy was sent to the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC). The BBC replied almost immediately, and the matter was initially investigated by the BBC's own complaints unit. In June 1999 the BBC replied that it could not not uphold the complaint. A formal complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Commission has now been activated.


Reply from BBC, 03.06.99
Reply to BBC, 16.06.99


Only a few days after the broadcast of Crimewatch File in October 1998, Lynda Bryant was brutally murdered in Cornwall.
This murder and that of Kate Bushell in Devon - two days after the commencement of Derek Christian's trial in November 1997 - bear chilling similarities to the murder of Margaret Wilson:
  • All three murders took place in remote country areas.
  • In all three cases the victims’ throats were slashed.
  • There was no attempt to conceal the crimes.
  • It is believed that Mrs. Wilson’s murderer had probably initially intended to attack Marie Cundall 5 mins. prior to the murder of Mrs Wilson. Like Lynda Bryant, Marie Cundall was walking her dog.
  • A scarf which Mrs Wilson had been wearing is still missing. Lynda Bryant's spectacles have in the meantime been returned to the scene of the crime.
  • There is no apparent motive for any of the murders.
The murders of Lynda Bryant and Kate Bushell have now been linked to the killings of two other women - dog-owners - in a remote Norfolk village in January 1999.



Number of days Derek Christian
has now spent in prison


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