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DNA Evidence Led to Shirley Leach Killer

 

30 November 2006

Following the conviction today of Ian O’Callaghan for the murder of Bury grandmother Shirley Leach more than a decade ago, Forensic Science Service scientist Jonathan Whitaker said:

"There have been huge advances in DNA technology by the Forensic Science Service over the last decade. We have continually worked with Greater Manchester Police to apply all of these cutting-edge advances in an effort to solve this case, and ultimately it was DNA profiling that led police to O'Callaghan. This is an exceptional case which illustrates the power of DNA profiling and the National DNA Database in helping resolve some of the oldest unsolved cases, as well as current ones."

For more information, call the FSS press office on 0121 329 5225.

Further detail from Greater Manchester Police press release:

A 38-year-old man has today, Thursday 30 November 2006, been found guilty of the brutal murder of a grandmother from Bury more than a decade ago.

Shirley Leach was murdered as she made her way home from visiting her daughter in Fairfield Hospital. Her body was found in a toilet cubicle at Bury Interchange in January 1994. A post mortem examination revealed that she had died as the result of strangulation.

Ian O'Callaghan (born 23/06/1968) of Wragby Close in Bury was found guilty of Shirley's murder at Manchester Crown Court after a four-day trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation to serve a minimum of 28 years.

O'Callaghan was charged with the murder after being stopped on 18 February 2006 in Moston. He gave a positive breath test and was arrested on suspicion of driving whilst under the influence of excess alcohol. In line with normal procedure, O'Callaghan was required to provide a DNA mouth swab and fingerprints to police. When O'Callaghan's DNA was loaded onto the National DNA database it matched the DNA found at the murder scene twelve years earlier.

Shirley Leach (born 05/12/27) was a 66-year-old widow who lived on Holme Avenue in Bury at the time of her death. Shirley's daughter, Beryl, had been admitted to Fairfield Hospital in Bury on New Years Eve 1993 following an illness. Shirley tried to visit Beryl as often as possible; usually each day.

On Thursday 6 January 1994 Shirley got a bus from her home to Bury Interchange, where she transferred onto a connecting bus to Fairfield Hospital. She arrived at the hospital at 6.50pm. Darren Linton, Beryl's son and Shirley's grandson, had been at the hospital for 1 hour and 20 minutes by the time Shirley arrived.

When visiting time finished, at approximately 8.20pm, Shirley and Darren left the hospital and went for a drink at the nearby George and Dragon Pub. They both left the pub at 8.55pm and got onto the 469 bus into Bury. Darren got off the bus before it reached the town centre, while Shirley remained onboard until the bus reached the Interchange, at approximately 9.10pm.

Shirley missed her connecting bus, which was just leaving the station as she arrived. Her next bus was due to arrive at 9.30pm and Shirley was seen walking across the Interchange towards the station kiosk at 9.15pm. This was the last time she was seen alive. The time of Shirley's death is unclear but it is believed that she met her attacker at some point between 9.15pm and 9.30pm that evening.

At 4.15am the following morning, Friday 7 January 1994, a 26-year-old woman went to use the ladies toilets at the bus station. She found that the main toilets were blocked off by a gate but that one cubicle had been left open for use throughout the night. The woman noticed that the door of the toilet was slightly ajar. She pushed the door open further and found Shirley's body lying in the toilet cubicle.

A post mortem examination revealed that Shirley had been sexually assaulted, strangled and then mutilated. Her right breast had been cut off and has never been recovered. It is likely that O'Callaghan used a broken bottle to try and sever the breast. It is estimated that the mutilation took place around half an hour after Shirley's death.

Interviews with witnesses following the discovery of Shirley's body revealed that a man had approached a young woman in the interchange at 8.30pm that evening, asking her what day it was and if he could have a cigarette. The man had made the woman feel uncomfortable and she changed her plans and got a taxi home instead of waiting for a bus. Detectives compiled an efit of a man, who became known as 'bobble hat man'. He was never traced, but following Callaghan's arrest a passport photograph of him at the time of the offence was compared to the efit. They bear more than a passing resemblance to one another.

Former Detective Superintendent Bill Roberts, who investigated the murder in 1994, said: "This was an horrendously brutal murder of an elderly woman who posed no threat to anyone. Shirley was of petite build and wouldn't have been able to put up much of a fight against her attacker. The murder sent shock waves through the community in Bury and the surrounding areas.

"At the time Shirley was last seen alive the Interchange was very busy. It is no exaggeration to say that several hundred people would have been in or around the area at that time, with trams arriving and leaving every twelve minutes, a large taxi rank nearby and the Buckingham Bingo Hall on Haymarket Street emptying at 9.30pm.

"Our investigation initially focussed on tracing everyone using Bury bus station that night. We held press conferences and went on Crimewatch to appeal for these people to come forward. We had an excellent response and subsequently interviewed literally hundreds of people to try and piece together Shirley's last moments.

"Our forensic investigation of the scene revealed a drop of blood on the front of the toilet cubicle door. We quickly established that it didn't belong to Shirley. The blood was later found to match the DNA profile of saliva found on Shirley's body. From this point on, we always believed that this DNA belonged to Shirley's killer.

"In 1994 the National DNA Database didn't exist in its current form. We could only compare a DNA sample to a known suspect. In February 1994 we began a mass screening of men in Bury, taking blood samples and fingerprints from them. We eliminated more than 800 men via this screening process, but we didn't find a match.

"Shirley's murder was the only homicide that I ever worked on that remained unsolved when I retired in 2000 and it has played on my mind ever since. Every time I have seen a murder or an incident in Bury I have thought about Shirley and her family.

"To commit an horrendous offence like this and then not re-offend for more than a decade is extremely unusual. I honestly believed that Shirley's murderer was dead or had left the country. When I got the call to tell me that O'Callaghan had been arrested I was very, very surprised. I know that Shirley's family will have found the grieving process extremely difficult, knowing that her killer had not been caught. I hope that today's conviction has given them some of the closure that they require to move on with their lives. "

Former Chief Superintendent Ian Maskery, SIO at the time of the murder, said: "This investigation was extremely difficult but I was surrounded by an excellent team. I want to pay particular tribute to the scene-of-crime officers and staff from the Chorley laboratory of the Forensic Science Service who painstakingly examined that toilet cubicle in cold, damp, miserable conditions. Had they not carried out their work so thoroughly we would not have had the DNA that eventually traced O'Callaghan all these years later.

"I have always remained confident that Shirley's killer would be caught through the DNA that was discovered. The enhancements in DNA technology over the past twelve years have been incredible. It has really come on leaps and bounds since 1994.

"I really hope that Shirley's family can take some comfort from knowing that the man responsible for her murder has been taken off the streets of Bury."

Detective Inspector Jeff Arnold from the Cold Case Review Unit said: "This case is an example of how DNA technology has improved over the past decade. Even if O'Callaghan had been arrested on suspicion of a more minor offence back in the nineties a DNA sample would not have been taken; as it was not normal procedure to do this. Even if it had, it would not have generated an automatic match with the DNA found at the murder scene because it wasn't possible to search through a national database.

"O'Callaghan has, throughout interview, continually denied that he was ever in the ladies toilets at Bury Bus Station and has always maintained that he cannot remember where he was on the night of the murder. He cannot account for how his saliva was found on Shirley's body or why his blood was found on the front of the toilet door.

"It is shocking to think that someone can commit such a brutal murder and then get on with his life, as normal, for the next 12 years without his conscience ever kicking in.

"Shirley's case was never closed and the Cold Case Review Unit staff were actively re-investigating the murder at the time of O'Callaghan's arrest. Following further investigative work we had compiled a revised and updated list of suspects. One of O'Callaghan's relatives appeared on that list, so I think it is fair to say that even if he hadn't been arrested for the motoring offence in February, his days of freedom were numbered.

"I hope that O'Callaghan's trial has provided Shirley's family with some of the answers that they have been searching for the last twelve years and that his conviction will help them to gain some closure and move on with their lives as best they can."

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