The BBC says it is calling time on Crimewatch after 33 years.

Since it was first broadcast in 1984, the programme has carried hundreds of appeals for information - and reconstructed crimes with the aim of catching those responsible.

Here are some of the high-profile crimes in Cumbria which have featured on the show:

The death of a woman whose body was found in woodland.

Betty Brown, a 56-year-old grandmother, was found dead near Longtown, on January 18, 2011, triggering a murder investigation.
Betty Brown, captured on CCTV

She had been missing from her home in Edinburgh for about eight months before her body was seen by a man out walking his dog.

In February 2013, Robert Chapman, the deputy coroner for north and west Cumbria, reached an open verdict after a two-day inquest into her death.

He said he could not be sure she killed herself and he could not come to an official conclusion of unlawful killing because there was insufficient evidence.



Shafilea Ahmed A teenager found dead in south Cumbria.

Shafilea Ahmed, 17, from Warrington, was killed in 2003 and her body found near Kendal.

Her parents were found guilty of her murder in 2012 and jailed for life.


A convicted killer who went on the run for nine years while serving a life sentence.

William Bewley was jailed for life in 1979 for the murder of Ruth Musgrave, whom he shot in Cotehill, near Carlisle.
William Bewley.

Bewley absconded from Leyhill open prison, in Gloucestershire, in 2001 and was not tracked down to the Kent coast in Deal until almost a decade later.

Bewley was still a teenager when he murdered Ruth Musgrave.

He had already absconded from prison for more than a year in the 1980s - before escaping again in 2001.

He was named by Crimewatch as one of Britain’s most wanted men in 2008 before police eventually learned he was living on the Kent coast.


A double murderer who killed an elderly Lakes hotelier.

David Wynne Roberts murdered Bronwen Nixon, 66, the owner of Rothay Manor, Ambleside, on January 19, 1986.

It was only after an appeal on one of the first ever Crimewatch programmes that he gave himself up.



Stuart Hyde Former chief constable said show was "formula that works"

A former police chief has described the decision to axe Crimewatch as "a sad day for policing".

Stuart Hyde, who held the role of Cumbria's chief constable, said the show had been a good tool for investigators.

"The partnership between Crimewatch and the police service generally has been really good over the years," he said.

"It's a formula that works. It's a good partnership between the BBC and police forces.

"It reminds people there are real crimes going on out their with real people."

On the decision to axe it, he added: "It's a sad day. I'm sure there are reasons for it.

"It does mean that for a lot of investigations there is no longer a place to go to to get that highly professional help from TV.

"Their reconstructions are amazing."

Simon Kempton, the Police Federation's head of operational policing, said: "For those wider appeals which needed national coverage it was great and there has been nothing else that has been able to give cases such a wide reach, but if there aren't the audience figures and people aren't watching it then you have to move with the times."


Spin off show will still be screened

Daytime spin-off Crimewatch Roadshow will continue to be screened, with more episodes, with the BBC saying that it would be the "best fit for the brand going forward".

The BBC added it was "incredibly proud" of Crimewatch, whose previous hosts include Kirsty Young and Fiona Bruce, and that the "move will also allow us to create room for new innovative programmes in peak time on BBC One".

Sue Cook and Nick Ross hosted the first Crimewatch in 1984, with Cook replaced by Jill Dando in 1995.
Jill Dando


National cases that featured on Crimewatch

– One of the more shocking crimes shown on the programme was the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger. Crimewatch broadcast the grainy CCTV footage of two 10-year-old boys with the toddler at a shopping centre in Bootle. After the show, two witnesses rang in and confirmed they had seen Robert Thompson and Jon Venables with James.

– A 45-year-old woman, her two daughters and dog were tied up and beaten with a hammer in a savage attack in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996. Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan both died. Nine-year-old Sophie miraculously recovered from the ordeal. The Crimewatch reconstruction featured a description of the attacker and they were identified as Michael Stone after a tip-off from a psychiatrist. Stone was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison.

– Estate agent Stephanie Slater was kidnapped in January 1992 after meeting a prospective house buyer in Great Barr, Birmingham. She was tied up and taken to a warehouse where her kidnapper demanded a ransom. She was later released, but the tape was played on Crimewatch and was recognised by a woman who used to be married to the culprit, Michael Sams.