Robbie Coltrane's Critical Evidence

Cycling through the countryside on a clear December morning in 2002, an off-duty fireman smelled burning flesh. In the distance, he could see a body smoldering in a field.

When a Devonshire fisherman hauled in his nets on July 28 1996, he made a gruesome discovery: among that day's catch was a dead body.

In 1984 a parcel bomb was sent to a 53 year old grandmother living in a tranquil English village. She died of horrific injuries. No one understood why it had happened.

A 29 year old hairdresser was found brutally stabbed on her doorstep in a quiet suburban street of London. A recording of a threatening phone call seemed to suggest the motive, but every lead comes to a dead end.

In March 1984 Hilda Murrell, a 78-year-old distinguished rose-grower, was found dead in woodland near her home town of Shrewsbury.

On 12th May 2014 a human torso was discovered in a suitcase during routine maintenance work on a Birmingham canal. With no useable DNA and no other body parts, the case initially seemed impossible to crack.

In mid-November 1993, Derek Severs and his wife Eileen disappeared without a word. Their neighbours and friends soon became concerned and contacted the police.

In the summer of 1993 a serial killer stalked London. The Metropolitan Police investigated a bizarre murder in which a man was found naked on his bed with a dead cat draped over him.