Crimewatch reconstruction to help catch Valerie Kneale killer
Independent charity Crimestoppers announced a £20,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Valerie Kneale’s murder.
Valerie, 75, from Blackpool, died on the stroke unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on November 16, 2018.
As well as the announcement, BBC Crimewatch featured a reconstruction of the circumstances around Valerie’s death on BBC One.
If you provide information which leads to the conviction of an individual, you could receive a reward of £20,000.
Please call independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week or use a secure, anonymous online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
Valerie, 75, from Blackpool, died on the stroke unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on November 16, 2018.
As well as the announcement, BBC Crimewatch featured a reconstruction of the circumstances around Valerie’s death on BBC One.
If you provide information which leads to the conviction of an individual, you could receive a reward of £20,000.
Please call independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week or use a secure, anonymous online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
Transcript
00:00 When she went into hospital,
00:02 you believe that she's going to be safe,
00:04 going to be well looked after.
00:05 To think that somebody did that, it's horrible.
00:13 Auntie Val, she was just such a wonderful, lovely person.
00:25 She was fun.
00:27 She loved people.
00:30 She enjoyed life and she was kind of the hub of the family.
00:35 And she had this really, really lovely skill
00:38 of making you feel so special and so loved.
00:43 Her health, on the whole, was good.
00:49 She was active.
00:50 She'd worked hard all her life and she was just enjoying her later years.
00:55 On Monday 12th November 2018,
00:58 75-year-old Valerie Neal was at home with her husband, Bill.
01:03 During the evening meal, she suffered a stroke
01:10 and was admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
01:14 She was checked over and she was doing OK.
01:20 She was sat up and she was in a good mood.
01:23 She was communicating, she was talking.
01:26 Obviously, she was going to have challenges in her recovery,
01:30 but we were all very hopeful of a positive outcome.
01:33 Her children wanted to stay with her that evening,
01:36 but the hospital said, "Really, she's in the best place that she can be
01:41 "and there's no need. She's going to be absolutely fine."
01:43 But later, during her first night in hospital,
01:49 Valerie's condition took a turn for the worse.
01:52 And she suffered a second stroke.
01:54 The immediate family went to the hospital and they were told
02:10 that the prognosis or the outlook
02:14 wasn't going to be really very good at all.
02:19 So they made that decision to not have any further treatment
02:23 and obviously we were just waiting then for the inevitable.
02:27 We spent some time with her.
02:36 I remember telling her that the sun was shining and that...
02:41 SHE SOBS
02:43 ..the sky was blue.
02:47 And that...just to relax.
02:49 Valerie never regained consciousness.
02:55 Five days after being admitted to hospital,
02:58 she died, surrounded by her family.
03:01 Losing her left a huge gaping hole in the family
03:09 and it was hard because, you know, the week before,
03:13 she was fine and then the week later, she wasn't with us any more.
03:17 In the following days, a post-mortem examination was carried out
03:23 to try to establish what factors led to her death.
03:26 We weren't really looking for answers to anything.
03:30 I think we just expected the post-mortem to say that she died of a stroke.
03:36 But the results of the post-mortem were so alarming
03:41 that the pathologist contacted detectives at Lancashire Constabulary.
03:45 It's a conversation I'll never forget.
03:50 But the pathologist had established that, actually,
03:53 she had sustained a serious violent injury that had led to her death.
03:58 Valerie had been assaulted, possibly sexually,
04:02 which had led to fatal internal bleeding.
04:05 And the post-mortem established that the attack
04:09 had happened whilst Valerie was a patient at the hospital.
04:13 It took me a while to process it, really, and I couldn't believe
04:17 that somebody could have been assaulted in this way,
04:19 such a serious assault, whilst in hospital.
04:22 And I really was truly shocked.
04:25 One of the hardest things in this investigation
04:29 was telling Mrs Neill's family that their mother and grandmother,
04:33 who they thought had died of a stroke, had actually died.
04:37 Had actually died as a result of a serious violent attack.
04:40 To think that somebody did that to a lovely, lovely person
04:49 at a time when she was helpless,
04:53 at her most vulnerable...
04:56 ..where she couldn't shout out, she couldn't defend herself.
05:01 The police launched a murder investigation.
05:07 But evidence has been hard to come by.
05:10 This has been a particularly challenging investigation
05:12 due to the fact that we were only alerted to the incident
05:16 some weeks later, after Mrs Neill died.
05:19 The forensic opportunities on the ward were significantly reduced.
05:23 So our investigation has been very much focused around identifying
05:28 people who have been on to the stroke unit during the relevant times.
05:31 In order to do that, we have interviewed thousands of individuals
05:35 including staff members, other patients, visitors to those patients,
05:39 just to piece together the timeline of events.
05:42 But four years later, the attacker still hasn't been identified.
05:49 There's a real worry to the investigation and to the hospital
05:52 that this could be just one of a number of attacks.
05:55 This may be at the hands of somebody who is a predator
05:59 and who may have committed previous attacks of this nature
06:03 and may continue to do so.
06:05 We're left with a huge wound that can't even begin to heal...
06:18 ..until we find out who's responsible for doing that.
06:24 And...
06:26 ..so that we can get justice.
06:29 can get justice.