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Series 4: 1. The Murder of Sarah Payne: Fields of Evidence

True crime documentary series that reveals how expert witnesses helped solve some of the UK's most complex major crime cases. \n\nThis programme travels to Sussex to investigate the high-profile and utterly devastating case of eight-year-old Sarah Payne. On an idyllic summer's evening, she was abducted by someone in a white van while playing with her siblings. The local community joined police officers to scour the fields and woods around where the little girl went missing, all hoping for a miracle. Sixteen days later, her body was found buried in woodland, and police launched the hunt for her killer. \n \nA forensic ecologist, Professor Patricia Wiltshire, is tasked with the key job of linking the site of the shallow grave to the suspect. And by analysing pollen on some of his belongings, she is able to place him at the site where Sarah’s body was found. The man who snatched Sarah’s life away was convicted of her murder and jailed for life. With revealing interviews from Professor Wiltshire and investigating officer Martin Underhill. \n\nIn the summer of 2004 in Kingston upon Thames, a mother received a distressed message from her son Paul Dalton. Concerned about his welfare, she went to his house – which he shared with his wife and daughter – and made the horrific discovery of her daughter-in-law Tae Hui’s dismembered body in a chest freezer. Police immediately treated the home as a murder scene, but because the house had been thoroughly cleaned and stripped of furniture, finding clues proved challenging. They enlisted the help of blood spatter analyst Jo Millington in the hope that she could reveal the truth behind the shocking crime. The expert witness uncovered evidence that helped convict the victim’s husband of her murder.

Source: BBC 1