Alan Wood Murder - Press Pack.pdf - Lincolnshire Police

OperationMagnesium – TheInvestigation intothe Death of AlanWoodFollowing a further pledge fromSainsbury’s, Alan’s formeremployers, along with £10,000 fromCrimestoppers, the reward forinformation leading to an arrest andconviction is now £60,000This media pack includes:1. Previously unreleased detailon the level of violenceinvolved in the crime and theinjuries Alan sustained.2. Previously unreleasedinformation on forensicenquiries on the footwear ofthe killer and the materialsused to restrain Alan Wood.

3. Previously unreleased detailon a DNA mass screen.4. Details on a new £60,000reward.5. Previously unreleasedevidential pictures from thecrime scene.The CrimeAlan Wood was found dead in hishome in Lound, near Bourne, onSaturday October 24.He had been subjected to extremelevels of violence, torture and postmortem mutilation.Alan’s hands were bound withSellotape.The 50-year-old was then stabbedrepeatedly in the head.Detectives believe these woundswere inflicted to torture Alan,possibly for the pin numbers to thecards the offenders later used.

Alan’s throat was then cut, leadinghim to bleed to death.After his death the offender inflictedpost mortem mutilation.The killer(s) also inflicted a woundto the back of Alan’s neck, which webelieve was the start of an attemptat decapitation.The Scene and Lines of Enquiry• One of Alan’s killers has injuredhimself (possibly to his handalthough this is not certain) andhas left blood at the scene. Thishas enabled officers to capture afull male DNA profile. This hasbeen run through the NationalDNA Database and there are nomatches. The profile has alsobeen sent to all other countriesaround the world which runnational DNA databases. This is alengthy process and the resultsare slowly coming back. So farthere has not been a match.

• Lincolnshire Police has launchedan intelligence-led DNA massscreen that will involve a largenumber of people being swabbedacross Britain and possibly inother countries around theworld.• Officers also have a footprintfrom a Converse trainer, whichthey believe belonged to one ofthe offenders. Extensiveresearch, aided by Converse andmarket experts has narrowed thetype of trainer down to oneparticular upper, which isavailable in two different stylesand is predominantly sold inEurope and North America.• Alan’s hands were bound withsellotape. Small fragments ofpaper were found embedded inthe tape. Analysis revealed theywere fragments of a Delaine busticket – a local transport firmthat runs buses in the Bournearea. Extensive enquiries havebeen carried out around thisticket. Drivers and passengers

have been questioned CCTV frombuses has been scrutinised.Based on these enquiries, theinvestigation team has come tothe conclusion that Alan Woodwas not likely to have been theowner of the ticket. There is noevidence he was a bus user andstaff and regular users do notseem to know him. It is thereforepossible that one or moreoffenders had used a Delaine busclose to the time of the crime andthat the ticket had fallen out oftheir pocket during the attackand become embedded in thetape. This is an important appealpoint for us.Profile of Offender• 5ft 9in to 5ft 11in tall• He seems to be dressedin a “smart casual”manner. From the CCTVimages we have heappears to be wearing

a distinctive stripedscarf• Previously unreleasedCCTV footage appearsto show the offendersmoking.• We believe he uses, orhas used Delaine buses.• We believe he wearsConverse trainers.• He has local knowledge– demonstrated byseemingly deliberateavoidance of the CCTVsystems in Bourne andStamford. Use ofDelaine buses alsoincreases the likelihoodof being local or havinglocal knowledge.• He has an unusualwalk. Experts outsidethe force have analysedCCTV footage and cometo the conclusion thatthat he limps due to hisright leg being slightlylonger than his left leg.

The offender may ormay not be aware ofthis condition.• The offender wouldhave been injured afterthe crime as his bloodwas found at the scene.That injury could be tohis hand.• Around the time of thecrime the offender mayhave had a fewhundred pounds morethan normal.Det Supt Stuart Morrison said: “Weare releasing this extra informationon the case as part of ourdetermined effort to make sure wehave exhausted every single avenuein terms of raising awareness of theinvestigation and appealing forpeople with information to comeforward.“I want everyone to be clear howhorrific and shocking a crime this is.

“This level of violence is unheard ofin Lincolnshire. We now want thepublic to reassess what they knowin light of this extra information.“Think particularly about the profileof the offender we have built up. Weare convinced that someone living inthis county, or potentially inCambridgeshire or otherneighbouring counties, knows whothis man is.“Evidence suggesting his localknowledge is strong.“Although Alan Wood’s family areclear as to our commitment anddetermination in catching the killer,the wider public may not be.“Giving the press and therefore thepublic a detailed insight into thisinvestigation is a way for us tostress the huge amount of work thatis ongoing.

“We are extremely confident thatwe will arrest the peopleresponsible for this terrible crime.“I am convinced someone knows theidentity of the people who havedone this. Every piece of informationis important to us.”• As well as extensive press work,a large number of leaflet drops,the use of Bluetooth and tirelesscommunity engagement byneighbourhood policing teams, aseries of road shows have alsotaken place. These have seenCCTV footage being shown on bigscreens in Stamford, Bourne,Spalding, Boston, Peterboroughand Northampton.• An enormous amount of workhas also been done to connectwith the migrant workercommunity in the hope that extrawitnesses might be found. Thishas included:

1. Leaflets and posters beingtranslated into Polish,Lituanian, Russian andPortuguese. These have beendistributed at key locationsand at all of the roadshows.2. Factories where migrantworks are employed havebeen visited by multi-lingualofficers to talk to staff.Translated materials havealso been handed out here.3. The BBC has translated itsCrime watch programme intoseveral languages. This is alsobeing shown in workplaces.The programme’s websitealso now carries translatedversions that our officers candirect people to. Follow thelinks below:http://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/appeals/2010/01/alanwood_murder.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/appeals/2010/01/alanwood_murder_russian.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/appeals/2010/01/alanwood_murder_lithuanian.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/appeals/2010/01/alanwood_murder_polish.shtml4. Gang masters have beenapproached and translatedappeal leaflets have beenattached to payslips.All of this work is ongoing and willbe continued in the coming months.ENDS