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Part 2 of a two-part UK true-crime documentary

Donald Neilson was born Donald Nappey. He changed his name to get the bullies off his back. But he couldn’t shake the jealousy that drove him to rob the vulnerable at gunpoint. He murdered defenceless victims in the pursuit of greed. And he tethered a teenage girl naked in a drainage shaft, demanding £50,000 for her release. Lesley Whittle died in that shaft, throttled by the metal cable Neilson shacked around her neck. But did he fall or was she pushed? That was for a jury to decide.

The Six O’clock Knock is a Psycho Killer production.

Transcript
[Music] this podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Help me for god's sake he's got a gun pc Stuart McKenzie staggered out of the patrol car two lads stood open-mouthed on the pavement outside the junction fish and chip shop in Rainworth Nottinghamshire time seemed to stand still then 18-year-old Paul Cullen and his friend Derek Smart sprinted to the corner phone box and dialled 999. it took 12 minutes for one day's policeman and a gang of have-a-go heroes to restrain Donald Neilson his coat came open during the struggle revealing knives and the bandolier of shotgun cartridges Paul Cullen remembers the melee outside the chip shop I could just see a load of people gathering around and helping the policeman what was not took in a bishop that was trying to help him to restrain him to the railings like and when we got back down there he wasn't quite at the railings but everybody was trying to get involved the best they could to help the policeman because it was on his own at that point I was just thinking that we were looking to be alive being a double-barrelled sawn off shotgun if that gun would have gone off in our direction we'd have been blown through the wind of me and derry what's the one thing that you'll remember above everything else about what happened that night the one thing that really sticks with you well there's actually two I’ve got the voice of the policeman him for help just disease he slammed his brakes on and also the noise from the gun so we could pick one out of the two there George Collins was an RAF serviceman at the time he left the Robin Hood pub across the road to see what the commotion was about in an email he told the Six O’clock Knock when I arrived on the scene one of the two PCs I think McKenzie was holding the shotgun trying to open the breach I asked if he needed help and he moved it towards me I operated a lever on top of the breach and the gun opened as it did the two cartridges popped out a short way McKenzie kept hold of the gun and I took hold of the cartridges they were placed in bags then put in the boot of the police vehicle along with the gun Neilson was handcuffed to the railings between the toilet block and the chippy he had a Black eye I’m not sure which side I went into the chippy then headed home the next day I travelled back to Edinburgh where I was stationed in the RAF none of my details were taken at the time of the incident some weeks later I had a call from not CID someone had obviously done some leg work and came up with my name I was reported in the local paper as the missing link i.e. how did the gun get in a safe state and the cartridges end up in the boot I had to travel to Nottingham to give a statement and have my fingerprints taken for elimination purposes you're listening to the Six O’clock Knock the true crime podcast that examines historic crimes through a modern lens in part two of our review of the Black Panther case we'll look at the trial of Donald Neilson the prosecution of his wife Irene and the repercussions for policing in the UK were lessons learned from the hunt for the Black Panther remember he was free for 11 months after Lesley Whittle's death and he was caught accidentally by two police officers who were almost certainly being driven to their death by the super fit kidnapper and multiple murderer and last but not least we'll ask how easy it would be for a modern day Black Panther to offend with the impunity that characterized Neilson’s reign of terror so how did Lesley Whittle meet her death Neilson swore that she slid off the platform although he did not see her go over he told the Court he went down the ladder for the last time in order to set Lesley free as I descended I saw Lesley had started to move as she normally did to allow me to get off the ladder onto the platform beside her as I stepped from the ladder I had one foot on the landing I took my foot off the ladder and turned and it was while I was doing this to the look round and she went over the lantern was still lit I grabbed this and stepped across to the other side of the landing I put one foot down on the concrete ledge and went down into a squatting position in front of her with the intention of pulling her back up but her head was lower than the gantry and she was hanging with one shoulder underneath it there was nothing for me to grab hold of the torch was pointed into her face her eyes flickered and stopped there was no movement it was then I realized she was dead later Mr Justice Mars-Jones pressed Neilson the accused replied the difficulty is it all happened so quickly the head went over between the stanchion and the far wall she slid in the bag away from the ladder what I did see was the fact the wire went tight she had been in a lying position she wasn't stood up when I said she moved I didn't mean she walked away from me she slid the pathologist Dr John Brown told the Court there was little sign of violence on Lesley's body suggesting she wasn't fighting for her life when she fell to her death the five feet of wire rope looped around her neck was long enough for her to stand in the drain under the platform but the wire snagged on a supporting stanchion rather than landing in the drain Lesley was left dangling by her neck with her toes just a couple of inches off the bottom the

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