Missing stone-washed jeans could be secret of murdered girl who was found floating in river after walking home from pub
JANET Murgatroyd was enjoying the perfect Saturday and she had plenty to celebrate.
The sun was shining, England had just won in a Euros clash against Scotland and the student was about to leave for a backpacking trip around Europe with her best friend.
But less than an hour after leaving a local pub – a route that countless people taken before her – Janet, 20, was dead.
Her beaten and battered naked body was found floating in a nearby river by a dog walker the following day.
Yet her killer remains at large.
Repeated appeals for information, two trials and an inquest on, and the culprit still hasn’t been brought to justice for the heinous crime which left Janet with 59 injuries prior to her eventual death.
Now, could one item of Janet’s clothing – a pair of jeans which she was wearing that fatal day but later vanished – be the key to solving the mystery?
“Nothing was going to stop us”
On that fatal June 15th day Euros fever had gripped the country and Preston, Lancs., was no different. England had just beaten Scotland 2-0 after a scrappy, nervous first half.
Fiona Watson, who was out with Janet and had been due to join her on the ten-weeks backpacking trip later said: “We couldn’t have been happier.
“We were both on top of the world that day, we thought nothing was going to stop us from here on in.”
As excitement built prior to kick off and like lots of other girls her age, Janet, who lived in the nearby town of Penwortham, had spent the early part of the afternoon shopping.
And she went on to enjoy her last night in the city centre pubs with Fiona who added:
“We had been in the pub quite a lot of the afternoon and it was going to be our last night out before we went on our holidays, so we were making it a good night.”
Fiona, and Janet – a part-time Police clerk and the only child of Mary Murgatroyd and ex-chairman of Chorley Football Club, David Murgatroyd – had planned to fly to the Greek island of Rhodes.
Next, they were to make their way over to Italy where they would celebrate Janet’s 21st birthday in the September before heading home in time for Janet to continue her studies at The University of Central Lancashire.
The friends spent time at the Wall Street bar in Preston before they headed for the popular student pubs along Friargate in the city.
“Don’t protect the b*****d that killed her, let the police know. Because someone is protecting him, someone knows.
Janet's mum Mary
Janet phoned home to tell her mum she would be staying out late, and at 12:30am Janet was seen leaving The Adelphi pub with a man before separating from him and making the decision to walk the couple of miles back home alone.
Bridge chase and a muffled, high-pitched wail
It was 1:10am by the time she reached the corner of Broadgate with Penwortham Bridge which was when a cab driver reported seeing a man chasing after a woman down the middle of the road across the bridge.
At 1:30am two brothers crossing the bridge heard a muffled, high-pitched wail in the bushes close to the southern banks of the Ribble River.
When they turned to see where the noise was coming from, they heard the sound of the snapping of twigs and saw a figure crouching down about 15m away but were unable to get a good look because of the dark night.
The last thing they saw was a man wearing a light-coloured, baggy shirt clamber unsteadily down the bank of the river.
Finger-shaped facial bruises
At lunchtime the following day, a dog walker spotted what he thought looked like a body with long blonde hair floating face down in the water.
He called to a speed boat driver who was pulling a water skier along the Ribble for help and, tragically, Janet’s body was pulled from the river – just yards from where she had last been seen alive less than 12 hours earlier.
A post-mortem revealed she had been beaten and kicked in the head, knocked unconscious and stamped on before her body was dumped.
Her injuries, mainly to her head and face, including a fractured jaw and a broken nose.
Finger shaped bruise marks on her face indicated the killer had clasped his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming.
Her body was also covered in scratches caused by being dragged naked through the riverside undergrowth and police suspected she was victim of a sexual assault.
A TIMELINE OF EVENTS
15 June 1996: Student Janet had been shopping with a friend in Preston, before drinking in several pubs later that day.
1:10am, 16 June 1996: Janet is seen fleeing from a man across Penwortham Bridge by a taxi driver in the early hours.
1:30am, 16 June 1996: Two brothers crossing the bridge hear a muffled, high-pitched wail in the bushes close to the southern banks of the Ribble River.
Midday approx, 16 June 1996: A dog walker spots Janet’s body, which is pulled out of the river just yards from where she had last been seen alive.
16 June 1996 onwards: A 50-strong team of officers is put together to handle the case, and a £5,000 Crimestoppers reward is offered.
August 1996: Janet’s mother, Mary, speaks out in an emotional plea for information just before her daughter’s funeral – which is held two months after she was killed.
August 1999: The case went cold, until now – when Andrew Greenwood confessed to police he was responsible for Janet’s murder.
October 2002: He was not charged until three years later, and the first trial was discharged after a jury failed to reach a verdict.
June 2003: Greenwood found guilty of Janet’s manslaughter.
May 2004: Greenwood launches an appeal, and sees his conviction quashed.
June 2017: On the 21st anniversary of Janet’s death new CCTV is released in a further appeal to catch her killer.
2024: Despite repeated appeals for information, two trials and an inquest, sadly the culprit still hasn’t been brought to justice.
‘Don’t protect the b*****d’
Although unconscious and suffering from her injures would have likely proved fatal, it was determined Janet was alive when she entered the water and remained so for at least four hours.
Investigators believed she was probably lying on a sand bank below the high water mark and, when the tidal flow came, she was washed into the river where she drowned.
Janet’s mother, Mary, later spoke out before her daughter’s funeral two months after she was killed in an emotional plea for information.
She said: “Don’t protect the b*****d that killed her, let the police know. Because someone is protecting him, someone knows.
“One of his friends knows who did it and for some reason, whether it is fear of him or total disdain for the police, they are protecting him.
“Justice will be done, I’m absolutely certain of that.”
Justice must be served
Sadly, Janet’s family are still waiting for that justice 28 years later, an unimaginable anguish.
Why hasn’t anyone been caught?
In the aftermath of Janet’s brutal 1996 killing, the Detective Superintendent in charge put together a 50-strong team of officers to handle the case.
Janet’s photo from her police security pass was blown up on a poster and circulated – her curly blonde hair and chirpy smile becoming an enduring image – and a £5,000 Crimestoppers reward was offered.
A photographer taking pictures of the scene found Janet’s bloodstained blouse close to the area where the brothers heard a disturbance and her clothing and jewellery were also recovered.
Hairs from her top and one sock were tested and DNA profiles recorded.
Missing piece in the jigsaw
Only Janet’s stone-washed, Wrangler jeans were missing, despite a call from a group of children who claimed to have found them.
When officers went to the area, they had vanished.
Experts from nuclear giant BNFL produced a computer model to pinpoint where Janet’s body had entered the river.
Computer profiling was used to probe possible links with 200 other unsolved murders as experts drew up a profile of the likely killer.
More than 1,400 statements were taken, a reconstruction of Janet’s last movements was put together and officers travelled across the country investigating possible suspects.
A retracted confession
But all of that frantic work yielded nothing and Mary Murgatroyd was still mourning the loss of her daughter with no real answer as to what happened on Janet’s birthday a year later.
Mary said: “Janet was absolutely in my thoughts – she is every day.”
The case went cold until August 1999 when Andrew Greenwood confessed to police he was responsible for Janet’s murder.
He was not charged until three years later and a first trial, in October 2002, was discharged after a jury failed to reach a verdict.
At a retrial in June 2003, Liverpool Crown Court heard Greenwood, then 29, was a ‘lonely and desperate man’ who had murdered Janet after she spurned his advances.
The court heard Greenwood later retracted his admissions and told detectives information he had ‘personalised’ was from newspaper articles and Crimewatch; however, he was found guilty of Janet’s manslaughter.
At the time of the verdict, Janet’s dad, David Murgatroyd said: “I am obviously delighted for Janet so that she can now rest in peace after seven years.”
A family plunged into uncertainty
Despite this small reprieve, the family were plunged back into uncertainty in May 2004 when Greenwood launched an appeal that saw his conviction quashed.
It was revealed during the appeal that there were two other suspects arrested but not charged with Janet’s murder and evidence was presented by one suspect’s ex-wife and from an account by Janet of this suspect’s violence.
Janet’s blood was also found on this suspect’s boxer shorts recovered from his home.
At Greenwood’s trial, the defence wanted to introduce this evidence but it was ruled inadmissible by the judge.
The Court of Appeal held that the exclusion of evidence affected the safety of Greenwood’s conviction and the appeal was allowed and the conviction quashed.
Preying on a conscience
Years have since rolled into decades and, on the 21st anniversary of Janet’s death in 2017, new CCTV was released of her in a further appeal to catch her killer.
DCI Gary Brooks said at the time: “I am appealing for help from members of the public but also from the person responsible for Janet’s murder.
“You have lived with this for 21 years and it may have preyed on your conscience.
“We are here at Preston Police Station to hear from you and any members of the public who can help us find out who is responsible.”
A spokesperson from Lancashire Police today echoed these words with a fresh appeal, saying: “Despite the passage of time this case remains open and is one we desperately want to solve.
“I would appeal to anyone who has any information, even if you think it isn’t significant, to come forward and speak to us.”
Anyone with information can call police on 101.
Alternatively, you can contact independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 5555 111.