The detective who caught serial killer Peter Tobin has called on the BBC to bring Crimewatch back to primetime television to help solve major crimes.
Former Detective Superintendent David Swindle appeared on the show as he led the investigation into Tobin’s background. He said information received as a result of his appeals eventually saw the killer, who died last year aged 76, convicted of three murders.
The BBC axed Crimewatch in 2017 after 33 years on air amid declining viewer numbers. A daytime sister programme called Crimewatch Live is still broadcast but Swindle believes a primetime slot for the show would have a bigger impact.
Speaking on the UK True Crime podcast, the retired officer, who now works as a criminal case reviewer, said: “It’s good what they do during the day but the success rate of BBC Crimewatch was absolutely phenomenal. Crimewatch was how we populated Tobin’s timeline. I was on it five times. That was in 2007 – we got results and then it finished a few years later.
“Everyone in the police and the true crime world is saying, ‘Come on BBC, bring back Crimewatch’. Why are they not doing it? We need something like that. It didn’t breach anyone’s rights and with the technology we have now Crimewatch is what we need. What we don’t need is armchair sleuths commenting on live investigations. Crimewatch would help the police.”
When Tobin was jailed in 2007 for the murder of 23-year-old Angelika Kluk in Glasgow, Swindle set up Operation Anagram, which proved he had also killed Dinah McNicol, 18, and 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton. Swindle said his call for Crimewatch’s return received a positive response when he launched his one-man show in Manchester earlier this month.
He said: “We launched The Makings of a Murderer in the Lowry Theatre right across from the BBC studios. I showed a clip of me on the show and said ‘Bring back Crimewatch’. There were 1350 people there and everybody cheered.”
Crimewatch, which reconstructs unsolved crimes in an attempt to gather information from the public, was originally hosted by Nick Ross and Sue Cook. Other previous Crimewatch presenters included Jill Dando, who was murdered in 1999 – with her own case being featured on the show.
Famous cases the show has featured and helped solve include the James Bulger murder, the killings of Lin and Megan Russell and the murder of schoolgirl Sarah Payne. However, the BBC currently has no plans for it to return to a peak time slot.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Crimewatch Live averages an audience of 1.2million in its current timeslot and is available for audiences to catch up on iPlayer at any time of the day. The programme continues to provide support to police forces across the UK to help solve crimes.”
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