Nobody disputes that Patricia Hall left her house in Pudsey, a nice market town between Leeds and Bradford, on 27 January 1992, never to return. That’s about all we know. Her husband, Keith, told police she had driven off in their car late that night, after a marital disagreement; the police strongly suspected Keith had killed her, but no trace of Pat Hall has ever been found. The case remains open, which means the two-part true-crime documentary The Confession (Prime Video) has a bewildering, frustrating tale to tell.
Episode one chalks up the circumstantial evidence. At first, the police assume that either a body or a sign that Pat is alive will turn up, with the former, grim explanation seen as more likely – especially when a witness reports having seen an unidentifiable figure hop out of the Halls’ car on the night in question, leap over a fence carrying an unidentifiable object and disappear into woodland. Then, interviews with neighbours and relatives start to paint a dark picture. Neighbours say the row between Keith and Pat was audibly vociferous, but then stopped suddenly, with the sound of the car speeding off following a little later. Pat’s friend claims that, three months earlier, she had rung to say Keith had lost his temper and placed his hands around her neck, before relenting.
