4 chilling cases Crimewatch helped to solve as show marks 40 years

dailyrecord.co.uk:

SINCE it first aired in 1984 Crimewatch has broadcast more than 700 programmes and helped bring hundreds of criminals to justice.High profile cases covered include the murder of Julie Dart in 1991, the killing of James Bulger in 1993, the death of Sarah Payne in 2000 and the murder of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield five years later.Here we take a look at the big cases Crimewatch helped to solve. JAMIE BULGER Two-year-old James Bulger was snatched from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, on 12 February 1993 whilst out with his mother.He was taken by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were just 10 years old themselves.CCTV showed the pair leading James away by his hand.

Soon after, they beat him with bricks and iron bars, before leaving his body on a railway line.It took two days before police discovered the toddler’s body.After the footage was shown on Crimewatch, the two boys were identified by viewers, and convicted of James’ murder in November 1993. SARAH PAYNE The disappearance of eight-year-old Sarah Payne on 1 July 2000 led to 16 days of frantic searching before her body was discovered.Sarah had been walking home from her grandparents’ house through a field in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex, when she went missing, and was never seen alive again.Crimewatch carried out two appeals and in both rounds, Roy Whiting was named as a prime suspect.Fibres from a patterned curtain were found on Sarah’s shoe and a viewer recognised the fabric, as she had left it in a van her boyfriend sold to Whiting.In 2001, Whiting was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison. THE M25 RAPIST The motorway surrounding the capital became the focus of a manhunt in 2001 and 2002 when a number of attacks were carried out on