The dark depths of Sherwood Forest was the eerie setting for a manhunt that gripped Britain. It was the hiding place chosen by killer Robert Boyer and the setting for BBC drama Sherwood.
The Daily Mirror can reveal the woodland was also the place where Boyer test ran his evil plot three months earlier - and how he came up with a bizarre plan with a £10 note to make sure his Robin-Hood style forest hideaway would not be found.
He also made sure the den deep in the forest was stocked up on enough tins of food and water to survive on after the killing.
In July 2004 Boyer killed grandfather Keith “Froggy” Frogson on his doorstep in the village of Annesley Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. Keith had been shot with a crossbow and then slashed with a Samurai sword before Boyer fled into the forest.
A year later Boyer was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and given an indefinite hospital order.
In an exclusive interview, Russ Foster, the then 33-year-old DCI tasked with ensnaring Boyer told The Daily Mirror how Boyer meticulously planned the killing - and his secret lair.
"The sophisticated dugout" was discovered four weeks after the brutal slaying of his victim," reveals Russ Foster, now a Detective Chief Constable with West Yorkshire Police.
Boyer a 42-year-old ex-miner, who lived on the same street as his victim, revealed the shocking details of his calculating plan to police - when he was finally captured.
On Sunday evening, July 19, as Keith returned home from the pub, Boyer shot a bolt into his chest with a crossbow. As his victim was still miraculously standing, Boyer walked over and battered him with the weapon until it broke.
Then pulled out a Samurai sword, slashing the pensioner “until he was sure Mr Frogson had taken his last breath,” says DCC Foster. By then, Keith has sustained 30 separate wounds to his body.
Forensic evidence linked Boyer to a broken crossbow that was found down the road where Keith's body lay. Within a week of the killing, DCC Foster executed a warrant at Boyer's home address, but by then, he had fled.
Items recovered from Boyer's home confirmed he had bought a crossbow identical to the one found near the scene. Police also discovered he had bought several Samurai swords in the months leading up to the killing.
A behavioural psychologist determined that Boyer would most likely be hiding in Sherwood forest, but senior officers initially declined DCI Foster's request to search woodland as the area was so vast.
It was when Boyer came out of hiding two weeks later - to pour petrol through the letterbox of Keith Frogson's home - where his daughter Rachel Frogson and her partner were staying - that the order to search the forest was given.
DCI Foster had to find Boyer - and quickly.
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So started the biggest search of open countryside ever seen by Nottinghamshire Police with forces from all over the UK joining in the search by foot.
Officers from several forces across the UK were called in. The terrain was not fit for walking. Teams spent day and night hacking through miles of undergrowth, but there was no alternative.
“The forest’s tree canopy was so dense we could not search by helicopter, and heat-seeking equipment would not have been any use,” explains DCC Foster.
Two weeks after starting the forest search - and four weeks after Keith’s death - police found Boyer’s hideout by nearly tripping over it.
“The hide was situated deep within the woodland,” says DCC Foster. “It was so secluded one of the officers literally stumbled into it. It was a very camouflaged shelter covered with bracken.
Boyer was not inside, so police hid, waiting for him to return. Shortly afterwards, at 1am on Sunday, August 15, Boyer was tasered, arrested and taken to Mansfield Police station, where DCI Foster interviewed him.
Covered in dirt and deeply dishevelled, he was gaunt and scrawny after four weeks sleeping rough, living on tinned beans and bottled water.
In the police interview - he detailed every step of his calculating plan.
He told police he’d bought the Samurai swords and the crossbow with the specific intent to kill Keith Frogson - who he had developed an intense hatred for.
"Boyer said he practised with the weapons ensuring he could handle them correctly and that they were fit for purpose- to murder a man he hated deeply, ”says DCC Foster.
But as well as displaying an intent to kill, delusional Boyer believed he could get away with his brutal crime.
Boyer began plotting Keith Frogson's demise months beforehand after becoming obsessed with the ex-miner and falsely believing Keith wanted to harm him.
A loner, Boyer knew Sherwood Forest like the back of his hand, so he began planning this would be where he would create his hideout, described by DCC Foster as a “very sophisticated dug out”.
DCC Foster says: ”He’d been planning his hiding place three months before the killing. He dug out his den and checked it could go undetected by putting a £10 note in the dugout and leaving it there for a month to see whether anyone would find it in that time. It was absolutely premeditated."
Keith also monitored Keith for months to establish his routine and the best time to attack him.
On the night of the killing, Boyer waited for Keith, 62, to return home from the pub. According to police interviews, as soon as he heard "Keith's big booming voice," he shot him with a crossbow.
DCC Foster says: “I’ve never known anyone to be so explicit in terms of the recall of what happened and how he intended to kill Keith Frogson. He was full and frank about his hatred of Keith."
After the interview, Boyer took police officers to a Portakabin in Ashfield, where they recovered the bloody second murder weapon - the Samauri sword.
Boyer was charged with murder and arson with intent to endanger life - when he set alight Keith Frogson's home.
DCC Foster says: "There was a massive sense of relief when he was caught and charged, and I felt that it would help the local community to get back to a sense of normality. They were terrified for their lives while he was on the loose. "
While remanded in custody, Boyer, now 60, was subjected to two independent assessments by consulting forensic psychiatrists. Both concluded Boyer was suffering from severe delusions.
The Crown accepted Boyer’s plea of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility, and he was given an indeterminate sentence in Rampton High-Security Hospital.
DCC Foster says:" There will always be a sense of frustration that Boyer wasn't convicted of murder - albeit he made full and frank admissions to killing Keith Frogson on the grounds of diminished responsibility.”
He adds: “I respected the court's decision, but I felt so much for Keith’s daughters and son. In my mind, he not only planned to murder their father but also terrorised them afterwards.”
Just days after Keith Frogson's murder, Chanel Taylor was shot dead by her father Rodgers in the nearby village of Huthwaite. Rodgers had also fled into the forest and was captured a day after Boyer.
Rodgers went on hunger strike and died aged 57 - a week before his trial for murder.
Chanel’s mother and Rodgers’ second wife, Anne MacPherson, said: “He’s cheated, everybody. He’s taken the coward’s way out, and I hope he rots in hell.”
The BBC chose to heavily fictionalise Chanel’s story in the series out of respect to Anne not wanting to be involved.
Keith Frogson's brave family although not wishing to speak out themselves have supported the drama - inspired by the horrific events surrounding their father's death.
- Sherwood continues tonight at 9pm. All episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.
