can ayone remember the dore murders when the laitners were murder on there daughters wedding day it was in the 80s ,there daughter was the only surviour the man who murdered them was aurthur hutchinson ,can remember the police evreywere searching for him

I was intrigued by your post so quickly Googled Laitner + Sheffield and came up with this: (24th October 1983)

A massacre in Sheffield. 28-year-old Robert Laitner was stabbed to death in his bedroom in the Sheffield suburb of Dore. His father solicitor Basil Laitner went upstairs to investigate the noise and was also stabbed to death. Basil’s wife, Avril was downstairs and was stabbed twenty-six times. Returning upstairs the assailant then attacked the youngest of the Laitners’ daughters, Nicola. She was repeatedly raped by the intuder, recently released criminal Arthur Hutchinson. The previous afternoon the family had enjoyed the wedding reception of the other Laitner daughter, Suzanne. Hutchinson was sentenced to life imprisonment (http://www.chrishobbs.com/1983.htm)

It freaked me out a little bit as it happened exactly a year before I was born!!

I remember it well, as my mother and father in law lived nearby and we were visiting on the following morning (police everywhere)

I live near the house now and wonder if the owners know what happened that tragic night.

I did hear on the grapevine that he was due to be released soon, but then I have also heard that someone contacted the home office and asked when is he released and they said he will never be released.

More info here (http://www.shyscyberchamber.com/a_sceneofcrimeprocedures.asp)

On 24th October 1983, Arthur Hutchinson, already on the run after escaping from custody on a charge of violent rape, broke into the home of Sheffield solicitor Basil Laitner and his family. The Laitner's had just been celebrating the wedding of their eldest daughter and had seen off the last of the guests. Hutchinson, in an orgy of mindless destruction, knifed to death Mr Laitner, his wife and his son before subjecting the younger daughter to rape at knifepoint. Although at his subsequent trial at Durham Hutchinson denied ever being at the house, he was faced with overwhelming forensic evidence consisting of palm prints, a match of his rare blood group, and bite mark evidence left in a piece of cheese. On 7th September 1984, two colour TV sets were installed in the well of Durham Crown Court and a two minute extract from a police scene of crime video was shown to the court and jury.


The film opened with an outdoor shot of the victims house, followed by a brief view of a wooden staircase on which the body of Mr Laitner lay face down in his bloody pyjama's, detail was shown of blood staining on the stair carpet which was believed to be footprints. Four days later - after rejecting the prosecution councils wish to protect them from 'some of the nastier shots' - the jury asked to be shown the police video in its seven minute entirety, with details of the victim's injuries being explained by a Home Officer Pathologist. This was the first time that a scene of crime video had been shown to a jury in a British murder trial, and despite the judge's caution that they should not be influenced by 'horror and revulsion' at the film, it is unlikely to have been far from the jury's mind when they returned verdicts of guilty against Arthur Hutchinson.

I was a postman at the top end of Dore at the time and my colleague was interviewed by the police several times as he had delivered the mail that morning and hadn't notice the dead body just the other side of the letter box at the foot of the stairs. He was pretty freaked out too.

Huchinson was on the run for a while and I was pretty jumpy walking the streets a night at the time as i went to visit my Mother in Pitsmoor and police where all over.
I asked what was going on and a he had been reported seen in that area.

1 used to go to king ecgberts school ,i think i was in the 1st year when it happened ,can remember the police searching my friends garden near to dore station he had been seen their and there was traces of his blood not long after that he was caught ,but when your 11 its very frightning to know somthing like that could happen so close to home.

my cousin was one of the police team who delt with it,he said it was a terrible sight to see,i think they managed to pin the crime on the guy because he had eated from their fridge before he ran off and left his teeth print in some cheese!

apparently it was his palm print left on a champagne bottle that led to his arrest. he also had a violent history

The firm of solicitors "Laitner and Smythe" - Basil Laitner the father was one of the senior partners in the firm - had offices above the Dove and Rainbow in Hartshead. The firm was evetually taken over I think

I also believe but I can't be certain that the three family members who were murdered were interred alongside each other in the jewish section of Ecclesfied Cemetery. Some years after the burials, their graves and others in the section were daubed with neo-nazi graffitti. - I don't know the outcome of it.

According to a recent edition of The Guardian , Hutchinson is one of the few "lifers" that have had a whole life tarriff imposed on them - he will never be released from prison.

Originally posted by ceegee
Hutchinson is one of the few "lifers" that have had a whole life tarriff imposed on them - he will never be released from prison. Thats reassuring. So what about Sutcliffe, West, Neilson and Huntley are they a member of the life tarriff squad to.
Hope so.

What was his motive for killing the family? Or was it because he had severe mental problems and was clearly just out to kill someone.

Was he from Sheffield? If so where abouts was he from? Why choose Dore to kill people, why not closer to home (unless he was from that area).

Obviously he is clearly disturbed by killing 3 members of one family, then going straight on to repeatedly rape another at knifepoint only to then eat from the families fridge before leaving.

Would be interesting to know how this guy grew up, family history and what drove him to be so violent.

Originally posted by DaBouncer
What was his motive for killing the family? Or was it because he had severe mental problems and was clearly just out to kill someone.

Was he from Sheffield? If so where abouts was he from? Why choose Dore to kill people, why not closer to home (unless he was from that area).

Obviously he is clearly disturbed by killing 3 members of one family, then going straight on to repeatedly rape another at knifepoint only to then eat from the families fridge before leaving.

Would be interesting to know how this guy grew up, family history and what drove him to be so violent. As I remember he was from Hartlipool or Sunderland area and was on the run for rape.
He came across the Laitners by co-incidence with tragic circumstances.

Is this guy now locked up in Wakefield Max Security prison or somewhere similar?

Originally posted by Cycleracer
He came across the Laitners by co-incidence with tragic circumstances.

This is incorrect. He was known to the family as he was an ex boyfriend of the bride. I presume that is why he did what he did on that particular day. I remember it as a small child as my nan at the time lived in Dore. For years I was scared when we drove past the house on Dore Road. A few years back they built up a rockery/shrub garden in front of the house, as you used to be able to have a very good view of the house. Even now when I drive up Dore Road I always look over to my left at the house after all these years.

I remember the Police setting there investigation unit in the car park of the Hare and Hounds Pub in Dore Village.

I also remember my mum and nan saying that shortly before this happened, whilst they were walking through Ecclesall woods on a very warm day a lone guy walked past them with his hood up on his jacket and looking very shifty. I think they mentioned this to the Police at the time. Also my junior school teacher lived on Dore Road and it was mentioned in assembly in the morning and she looked very down.

I recall that event, very nasty i was a Special Constable at the time and i have actually seen the photographs of the aftermath, Gory!!!

The Laitners were family friends and I used to play with Nicola as a child. I was under the impression from reports at the time that she (Nicola) had befriended the murderer at a pub in town and brought him home.

Hutchinson met Nicola in the Limit club.
I'm not sure if he actually followed her home or whether she invited him back for something to eat out of kindness.
I do know that there was a lot of unfounded rumours about her "picking up" this maniac.

I lived in Dore with my parents at the time & couldn't go trick or treating at the time.
My dad used to take our dog on farmlands close to the murder scene & saw someone run up the farm lane days after it happened! 1983, is it that long ago! Sheeet!

i used to work for the company that put the marquee up for the wedding it was one of the lads that found them

yeah


There were a lot of rumours about the motive and what actually happened............does anyone know his actual motive something must have really annoyed him.........I heard the girl left sheffield under a new name

Originally posted by DaBouncer
What was his motive for killing the family? Or was it because he had severe mental problems and was clearly just out to kill someone.

Was he from Sheffield? If so where abouts was he from? Why choose Dore to kill people, why not closer to home (unless he was from that area).

Obviously he is clearly disturbed by killing 3 members of one family, then going straight on to repeatedly rape another at knifepoint only to then eat from the families fridge before leaving.

Would be interesting to know how this guy grew up, family history and what drove him to be so violent.

I believe that Hutchinson met the Laitners younger daughter who was a rebel, in a City Centre pub and she told him the address of her parents home, then he went up to case the joint with disastrous consequences. red

So the both daughters survived... the bride (who wasn't at the house) and the daughter who was raped but survived??? So did both assume new names then?? You only suggest one moved away under a new name?? :confused:

I just heard the younger sister was dead hard faced about the whole affair and left sheffield.

To be fair I dont think anyone knows the motives that night.

I do know for a fact that hutchinson is never being let out thogh

can anyone tell me anything else about this case or where i can find out.

Im dead interested...can you find out from archives in the library or anything?

Originally posted by Cycleracer
Would be interesting to know how this guy grew up, family history and what drove him to be so violent

I followed this case closely at the time, and can supply some background to the man who was the killer in the "Wedding Day Massacre:" Arthur Hutchinson was from Hartlepool. He was born in 1941, the second youngest of eight children of a miner. As he and his younger sister shared a different father to the other children in the family, he was rejected by his siblings, who called him a *******. At age four he nearly died of meningitis, and his mother claimed she saw an alteration in his behaviour after this, with him being prone to violent rages. At age seven he attacked one of his sisters with a pair of sisters, and at age eleven was convicted of indecent assault. At age nineteen he embarked on a short-lived marriage, and in his late twenties married again, to a woman who claimed that during their four year marriage he violently beat her and boasted of affairs. Throughout life, Hutchinson was a petty thief, and was twice jailed for sex with underage girls. In 1978, after being prosecuted for a social security fraud, Hutchinson threatened one of his half-brothers with a sawn-off shotgun, claiming he had informed the police about the fraud. He was jailed for five years for this offence. Soon after being released, in 1983, Hutchinson was arrested for burglary and rape in a wealthy area of town but escaped from police custody, and attacked the Laitners while on the run. The story about him having known one or the other of the Laitner daughters prior to the assault( that some posters here are quoting as fact) was apparently actually a fabrication Hutchinson made during his trial to support the story that sex with the Laitner daughter was consensual and not rape. When Hutchinson was jailed in 1984, the judge recommended he should serve at least 18 years, but this was subsequently altered by the Home Secretary to become a sentence of imprisonment for his whole life. Although the Home Secretary no longer has the power to decide a prisoner's final sentence in this way, this does not affect Hutchinson's "whole-life" term, as the ruling setting it was made before the rulings in the High Court and European Courts that the Home Secretary cannot have the final say in setting a killer's sentence.

Its a bit of a morbid question but does anyone know the number of the house on Dore Road? I was 10 at the time and vaguely remember it. I now drive down there regularly but can't remember which house it was. I walked down Dore Road recently and I still couldn't work out which house it was! Its been bugging me so I thought I'd look on the internet for newspaper archives but couldn't find anything other than this board.... Can anyone help?!

Interesting thoughts, AT1969, about the awful background the perpetrator had.

However, no matter how bad he had it, there are plenty of folks who had it as bad as him, (and worse, in some cases) and they didn't commit multiple (or even single) murders.

JAC1, I dunno the house number, but there are photographs in the star archives which might help you identify the particular house, and satisfy your curiosity.

PT

I dont know the number of the house but it is located on the left hand side as you are going up Dore Road towards the village of Dore. It is about half way up. It has dark brown bricks and looks like a 1980's style property. After the murder they have put a big type of Rock garden in front of the house so it can be easily missed. I think (or a at least there used to be) a empty plot of land to the left of the house (as you look at it from the road). The property looks like a bungalow (or maybe even is a bungalow)

Hope this helps

I think they found Hutchinson in a field opposite Bents Green Fire station? next to the new posh houses (if only they knew).

The Laitners had the dormer bungalow built around 1980 whilst they lived next door in a large white fronted house. I worked on the construction of it.
They had not beenin the property long when the attack took place.
Im not sure of the number but *** springs to mind, its just before a narrow road on the left.
We used to see the family whilst building and they were nice people
Nicky used to make us drinks and we even played table tennis in her house in our dinner hour. I think she was off school at the time and we saw a lot of her, i never detected any nastiness or bitterness from her towards her family.
After we had finished work on the property i saw her again later that year in a casino, she was just as pleasent.
I had heard before the trial that she met hutchinson in town and had invited him to her house.
I seem to remember he was caught nearer Worksop and that he had been on the run for a while, i remember reading that was hiding in the woods, because of this i think they labelled him the fox. The police had to draft in a specialist to learn how he would survive and to track his movements and they soon captured him.

I was working at the farm across the road from the Laitners at the time. We had just slaughtered a pig that morning. The police came down at 11am to do a preliminary search and ask us if we'd seen anything. My overalls and wellies were covered in blood while I chatted to them. They never made a single comment about the blood.
We had seen a man walking down the farm lane at 6.30am while we were getting the cows in for milking, but he was too far away to identify. It's the only time we've ever seen anyone walking down the lane at that time, but it was never confirmed whether or not it was him.
Two days later about 50 policemen came and did a more thorough search.
The police set up their incident room in The Dore Old School. They were there for about a week and gave daily press conferences. They said that a possible suspect had been seen on the farm, but only one journalist bothered to come round and follow up the story. The rest just hung around the school yard, at that time the Old School was empty. But from there you could see one entrance to the new junior school.
One of them wrote a story describing groups of parents waiting at the school gate to collect their children and then hurrying away with them, they called it The village of Fear. If they'd been around a bit longer they'd have known it always looked like that.
Hutchinson was finally arrested about a week later in a field somewhere near Redcar.

Yes, I remember it. I believe Mr.Laitner's brother was the man who ran Oxley's Men's clothing shop on Fulwood Road at Broomhill.

The house is number **. As u look at the house there is a narrow road to the right of the property, I think this is ********** Road or something like that. The big white house that was mentioned in previous post is no ** (it says on the big gates!) and is to the left of the house as u look from the road.

Should we actually be giving out the house and street number?

Is that even safe?

Would the current owners appreciate hordes of sightseers flooding past gawping at their home? I know I wouldn't...

PT

Mod: PT is right - please respect other people's right to privacy and don't post up personal information (house numbers, etc).

Thanks.

I remeber them because the bloke who committed the murders escaped form the court house near where I live also I courted a girl who worked in Dore shortly afterwards so I remember them well:| I would like to Catch up with Sue one day and see if life has ben good to her. Her name is Sue Walker and she lived in Bents Green with her Mum and Brother Ian so if anyone knows how I can contact her please do let me know. What high schooll or secondary school would cover Bents Green maybe I could look on friends reunited? under the schools section?
Cheers

If your friend went to an ordinary state school, then the nearest in that catchment area would be High Storrs, or Silverdale, and at a push perhaps Abbeydale Grange (I doubt they'd have fallen into king teds' or Tapton's catchment area).

They might have gone to a private school, in which case it could be Brantwood School, or Sheffield Girls' High School?

PT

Originally posted by JAC1
Its a bit of a morbid question but does anyone know the number of the house on Dore Road? I was 10 at the time and vaguely remember it. I now drive down there regularly but can't remember which house it was. I walked down Dore Road recently and I still couldn't work out which house it was! Its been bugging me so I thought I'd look on the internet for newspaper archives but couldn't find anything other than this board.... Can anyone help?!

You worked out the house yet?

Nicola got a very rough press on this, as I recall she was in a pub in Sheffield (the Penny Black comes to mind) on her sisters hen night. She was in a state expected of a girl on her sisters hen night and got into conversation with a guy who turned out to be Hutchinson and must have told him where the wedding reception would be.

Nicola has to live with this for the rest of her life, she didn't know that Hutchinson was a nut case, give the girl a break.

Yes, I've worked out the house! Thanks all - my curosity has been satisfied (and the cat is still alive!).

Hi I have just begun investigating this one and found that the Police were on the verge of arresting someone else for the crime but were stopped !! Why is that and who was the new suspect ?

wattsy - we must know each other, probably. I was in the specials too and I saw the same. I was based at West Bar.
Horrible murder and I remember I think they called Hutchinson The Fox.

I just heard the younger sister was dead hard faced about the whole affair and left sheffield.

To be fair I dont think anyone knows the motives that night.

I do know for a fact that hutchinson is never being let out thogh

I heard that the police were already to arrest the daughter who had moved to Spain with her New York boyfriend and all the money - but they were stopped. I would start by writing to the Chief Constable who has a duty to reply and if he doesn`t tell your MP and he then has 28 to reply. This is the route I am taking.

The Laitners were family friends and I used to play with Nicola as a child. I was under the impression from reports at the time that she (Nicola) had befriended the murderer at a pub in town and brought him home.


Yes, I thought that too as I am certain that was mentioned The Star at the time.

The firm of solicitors "Laitner and Smythe" - Basil Laitner the father was one of the senior partners in the firm - had offices above the Dove and Rainbow in Hartshead. The firm was evetually taken over I think

I also believe but I can't be certain that the three family members who were murdered were interred alongside each other in the jewish section of Ecclesfied Cemetery. Some years after the burials, their graves and others in the section were daubed with neo-nazi graffitti. - I don't know the outcome of it.

According to a recent edition of The Guardian , Hutchinson is one of the few "lifers" that have had a whole life tarriff imposed on them - he will never be released from prison.


The Jewish Cemetery in Ecclesfield is not near the conventional cemetery near the parish church. It is some two miles away in Colley Road.

i worked at blue house farm at the time and worked the saturday they caught hutchinson, it is near a village called dalton piercy police had every field in a 2 mile radius surrounded, i remember going to work that day at 7am through hundreds of officers when i arrived at the farm they were useing it as a base with armed officers on top of buildings and officers every 10ft or so around every field in the area, about 4pm all hell broke loose i dont know how he managed to stay were he was for so long but he just stood up in the middle of a field along side the farm, a field that had been surrounded all day. the rumour was he had been visiting his mother on the rift house estate when he was sighted. ( hope this helps)

i worked at blue house farm at the time and worked the saturday they caught hutchinson, it is near a village called dalton piercy police had every field in a 2 mile radius surrounded, i remember going to work that day at 7am through hundreds of officers when i arrived at the farm they were useing it as a base with armed officers on top of buildings and officers every 10ft or so around every field in the area, about 4pm all hell broke loose i dont know how he managed to stay were he was for so long but he just stood up in the middle of a field along side the farm, a field that had been surrounded all day. the rumour was he had been visiting his mother on the rift house estate hartlepool when he was sighted. ( hope this helps)

The guy who committed the killings escaped from the court house 500 meters away from my house here in Selby:gag:

I remember it well. I was about 10 at the time I think and the Laitner's were friends of ours. I still have some of the cuddly toys they bought me when i was achild. All very disturbing! There was talk of a curse on the family as they lost a toddler who drowned in their pond several years before.

my dad was one of the police officers who had to deal with this terrible crime that is all he said about it. cos he said it was to sad and horrible to talk about and the worst thing he had to deal with he had been in the police force for over 30 years before he retired in 1988

I remember this, it happened in 1983. I was doing voluntary meals on wheels at the time around the Ecclesfield area and we saw the funeral courtege going to the jewish cemetry. Awful it was. I also remember the big headlines in the Star.

I remember this, it happened in 1983. I was doing voluntary meals on wheels at the time around the Ecclesfield area and we saw the funeral courtege going to the jewish cemetry. Awful it was. I also remember the big headlines in the Star.

i remember it well it was in all the papers if i can recall he was caught by teeth marks in a lump of cheese in the fridge

he was caled the fox yes..as when i was at secondry school we did about him..and i went to scho in worksop, he was actually working at the glassworks in worksop. at the time he was caught. and my mum told methe police were knocking on doors in the area and they searched peoples houses..
my mums house being one of them.. as my mum had said she was the only one at home.the police came in to find ,me sleeping in my cot.. this is a story that she always tells me..about how the fox was caught in worksop for murdering an entire familly in dore,sheffield

it sends shivvers down ya spine

I followed this case closely at the time, and can supply some background to the man who was the killer in the "Wedding Day Massacre:" Arthur Hutchinson was from Hartlepool. He was born in 1941, the second youngest of eight children of a miner. As he and his younger sister shared a different father to the other children in the family, he was rejected by his siblings, who called him a *******. At age four he nearly died of meningitis, and his mother claimed she saw an alteration in his behaviour after this, with him being prone to violent rages. At age seven he attacked one of his sisters with a pair of sisters, and at age eleven was convicted of indecent assault. At age nineteen he embarked on a short-lived marriage, and in his late twenties married again, to a woman who claimed that during their four year marriage he violently beat her and boasted of affairs. Throughout life, Hutchinson was a petty thief, and was twice jailed for sex with underage girls. In 1978, after being prosecuted for a social security fraud, Hutchinson threatened one of his half-brothers with a sawn-off shotgun, claiming he had informed the police about the fraud. He was jailed for five years for this offence. Soon after being released, in 1983, Hutchinson was arrested for burglary and rape in a wealthy area of town but escaped from police custody, and attacked the Laitners while on the run. The story about him having known one or the other of the Laitner daughters prior to the assault( that some posters here are quoting as fact) was apparently actually a fabrication Hutchinson made during his trial to support the story that sex with the Laitner daughter was consensual and not rape. When Hutchinson was jailed in 1984, the judge recommended he should serve at least 18 years, but this was subsequently altered by the Home Secretary to become a sentence of imprisonment for his whole life. Although the Home Secretary no longer has the power to decide a prisoner's final sentence in this way, this does not affect Hutchinson's "whole-life" term, as the ruling setting it was made before the rulings in the High Court and European Courts that the Home Secretary cannot have the final say in setting a killer's sentence.

If I remember rightly, whilst Hutchinson was on trial and in the dock, he pointed to the Judge and accused him of the murders.

I remember this case, I had friends in Dore at the time and obviously we were very shocked by this awful event. I'm sure everyone in the area was.

I thought Hutchinson was caught in Worksop. He had been living in a B&B on Carlton Rd. the whole time he was on the run. Maybe he had got wind that the Police were onto him and done a bunk from there and they did collar him in Dalton.

I was 17 at the time and living in a village near Worksop. Somehow the Police came to believe that Hutchinson was holed up in a derelict pig farm nearby and the village was crawling with Coppers for about 48 hours. Every door got a knock and people talked of little else for months afterwards. No one had ever seen a Police presence like it. Mind you, that didn't last long as the strike hotted up very soon after and we were inundated by chirpy cockney coppers for the best part of a year. A Riot Van on every corner. More pigs than people, not that I'm bitter. Anyway; I fear I am digressing, that's a whole other show as Oprah says.

Very interesting thread, though rather chilling to be reminded of such gruesomeness.

yeah thats right he was in a b&b on carlton road..apparantly under the name arthur fox or something..

evil man... there isnt much online about it..noramlly a murder case is very public all these years later

Arther Hutchinson Used To Like A Walk Down The Wicker On A Sunday Night He Often Went In The Station Hotel....

I had the unfortunite job of looking after this individual whilst working in a max security Prison, what a calculated killer, I did not know what he had committed before I met him, I have also met and worked with many murderers in my time but this man was something else, his stare was cold, I am 100% sure that he would ,without a doubt kill again if he was ever released. But knowing the system as I do, he only has to say the right things and complete the correct courses whilst in custody and he would be shopping at a supermarket near any of us. I am not aware if he is a natural lifer.

as i remember this he met the daughter went home with her and something went wrong . he killed everyone but her. he handed himself in to the police because of a cut on his leg which he thought was going wrong . i think he was in a bedsit on city road . when sentenced i thought his minimum tarrif was 18 years but that can have been altered.he was in wakefield and played for the cricket team along side denniss nielson the man who butchered rent boys in london . my friend who worked in wakefield prison said he was nothing like the papers described him and a bit of a whimp in jail..he probably will never get out . the laitners were a a family haveing a nice family wedding untill this monster turned up.

Basil did my house conveyance in the early 70's, what a lovely guy. Personal touch and very professional.

if i remember rightly wasnt huchinson labelled the fox ??

I remember this, and I also remember spotting someone who was the spitting image of Hutchinson (or of the photo they had published in The Star) and calling the police. The police were all over in minutes, and although it wasn't him, but a really close look a like, they thanked me for my call, but I felt a prat for getting it wrong.

My girlfriend at that time lived in Dore,and i remember these murders well.It definately shook up the locals for a while though.
Not me though,I was just a commoner from Meersbrook! :hihi:

I remember the manhunt for Arthur hutchinson well. He was sighted at burngreave one night, to this day i have never seen as many police in one place. I also hung around the Dore area at the time of the murders. I actually met this man briefly in 1984 he was very unassuming. He is obviously an evil person, but you would never guess it to speak to him, or by his bearded (when i seen him) yet neat apperance. Although he was guilty as sin and was being hunted for rape, and escape from custody prior to the Laitner murders i always thought (as previously mentioned in the thread) that there was more to this murder than meets the eye. Hutchinsons 18 year tarrif expired in 2002 but this was extended to full life. No doubt he will be fighting for freedom in the european courts.

I am a journalism student at the University of Sheffield and I'm currently investigating the 1983 Dore murders as part of a piece marking the 25th anniversary of this tragedy.

I notice that some members of this forum have posted some very interesting accounts of your memories of this incident and provided good background information into the case.

As part of the piece, I am looking to obtain accounts from local people with their individual experiences of the murders. I am also interested to hear any information which people may have discovered independantly since the murders, or found out at the time.

I am particually interested in hearing from people who lived or worked close to the family's home, remember his arrest, worked in the police at the time or met Arthur Hutchinson.

So if you would like to share your experiences of the tragedy, or have some interesting information to add, I'd be very grateful if you sent me a personal message.

Any help would be most grateful.

Many thanks,
Paul Garbett

Arthur Hutchinson is having his sentence reviewed today.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Parole-bid-by-brutal-triple.4091092.jp

hutchinsons original tarif was 18 years but that was when a home secretary could overide the judges reccomendation and he altered it to life means life .can't happen now , that's why tarifs are much higher now .

Today, after reviewing the case at London's High Court, Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled there was "no reason at all" for disagreeing with the Home Secretary that Hutchinson must die in jail.

Today, after reviewing the case at London's High Court, Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled there was "no reason at all" for disagreeing with the Home Secretary that Hutchinson must die in jail.

Good. A man capable of such a cold blooded crime should never be released

{deleted - sorry}

I remember this clearly as I was mothers help to the Laitners when Nicola was a baby, so I had lived in the house and I knew which rooms they were talking about when they reported the murders.

Was the mother a Dr? If so i remember her as she did my hearing tests when i was but a nipper, i do remember her being killed as i shouted at the time to my mum that my hearing doctor was on the T.V.

hi there does anyone else know of more dore murders, i was told last night that someone killed a few people in the village of dore.

i am wanting 2 find out if this is true.

the person that killed was a taxi driver and killed some kids in the garage!!!!

please let me know of anything that may help me find out more info!!!!!

thanks for ur help, marc.

Mr Clover who ran the Post Office in Dore was murdered and to this day they have never caught his killer. I was around 7 or 8 at the time (1979/80), and every single household in the village was questioned to their whereabouts that morning.

I remember the Dore murders, it happened in 1983 and I remember going past the cemetry when the funerals of the Mum, Dad and brother were taking place, I was doing my work at the time. I also remember all the coverage in the Star. I'd have been about 21 at the time. Very sad and the man who did it shouldn't be freed.

Mr Clover who ran the Post Office in Dore was murdered and to this day they have never caught his killer. I was around 7 or 8 at the time (1979/80), and every single household in the village was questioned to their whereabouts that morning.

At the end of a thursday night shift I was given a lift home at 06.00 hrs. so I would arrive home by 06.15 hrs. The man who gave me a lift, lived at Fulwood and was stopped by the police shortly after dropping me off but I did not know anything about the crime until I went back to work on a early night shift that started later that day at 16.00 hrs.

I knew Mr Clover and Mrs & Miss Clover and would dearly like to read that the person or persons who committed this crime had been brought to book. Mrs & Miss Clovers lives must have been changed because of this crime.

Whilst Mrs & Miss Clover always smile though I often think their heart must be broken.

Albert, I was speaking to Miss Clover only last week. Mrs Clover is in poor health now but apparently is a chipper as can be expected. I too would like to see his killer finally brought to justice. Miss Clover is a wonderful testimony of her parents; always cheerful; always smiling. I'm surprised the case has never been re-opened.

Was the mother a Dr? If so i remember her as she did my hearing tests when i was but a nipper, i do remember her being killed as i shouted at the time to my mum that my hearing doctor was on the T.V.

Yes you are correct - she did my hearing tests too.

Albert, I was speaking to Miss Clover only last week. Mrs Clover is in poor health now but apparently is a chipper as can be expected. I too would like to see his killer finally brought to justice. Miss Clover is a wonderful testimony of her parents; always cheerful; always smiling. I'm surprised the case has never been re-opened.

The thing which I would like to say to who did it.
' If you did it, now is the time to give yourself up and get it off your troubled mind, you will be joining Mr Clover soon '.