Serial Killer Documentary - Lee Ford

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In April 2000, a loving mother of six children, Leslie Ford,
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celebrated her 36th birthday. By the end of the summer, Leslie,
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along with four of her children, had vanished from their home.
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Where is Leslie Ford?
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The truth is, Leslie Ford and her four teenage children
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were buried beneath the woodshed in the garden of their
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family home, killed by her husband, Lee Ford.
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It almost defies belief that anyone could be that callous
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and that cruel to people whom he called his family.
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To cover his tracks, Ford casually told anyone who asked
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that Leslie and his stepchildren had left him.
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I think it's illustrative of Lee Ford's character and how
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callous and cold-blooded this whole thing is, was the story
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he tried to create, his wife.
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And the children going missing, He's creating a version of
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events around the murders of this family. This shows how
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premeditated this is, how planned this is. This isn't a
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panicked afterthought. This is something that he's really given a
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lot of consideration to.
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He killed his wife Leslie after an argument and then
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one by one garrotted his four stepchildren.
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It is a tragedy of the most extraordinary proportions. It
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is beyond belief. even consideration, it's beyond wickedness.
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I wanted to have a long life and suffer as
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bad as suffering can be.
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That's how bad I feel about him.
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Lee Ford committed the most heinous crimes, proving himself to
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be one of the world's most evil killers. In the
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late August of 2000, Leslie Ford and her four children
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from a previous marriage disappeared from the small Cornish village
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of Karnkeye in the south of England. The only family
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members left behind were Leslie's two youngest children, aged nine
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and three, and her husband, Lee Ford. Leslie's behavior wasn't
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completely unusual, as former senior investigating officer Chris Borland recounts.
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It clearly wasn't a happy marriage. I believe that Leslie
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had left him and fled from sort of Shropshire area
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down to Cornwall, and he had then followed, and they'd
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got back together.
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When people questioned the family's whereabouts, Ford gave them a
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believable response.
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His explanation to neighbors and to family was, who had
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been concerned they'd not seen Leslie and the children for
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some time, was that she had left him. From my perspective,
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there was nothing on the face of it that was suspicious.
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The shocking reality of their disappearance isn't discovered until more
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than four weeks later. On Thursday, the 5th of October, 2000,
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the bodies of 36-year-old Leslie Ford, 14-year-old Stephen, and 13-year-old
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Craig were found buried beneath a woodshed in the family's garden.
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The bodies of Leslie's two daughters, 17-year-old Sarah Jane and
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15-year-old Anne Marie, were discovered the following morning in a
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field just a few miles from Karnkai. The perpetrator was
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their 33-year-old husband and stepfather, Lee Ford. Shortly after his arrest,
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Ford confessed to the horrific murders.
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It was the prosecuting counsel at Ford's trial said, this
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is not a crime of passion, but of savagery. And
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that's exactly what it was. But precisely executed savagery at that.
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Karnkai, in the west of Cornwall, had been the Fords'
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home for two years. To the tight-knit community there, they
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seemed to be a normal family. But now their tiny
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village was the center of a murder investigation.
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Obviously, the neighbors were terribly shocked because in a small
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place like that, a family, six children, two adults would
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be noticed.
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Ford had killed Leslie and four children in cold blood.
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And this had been calculated. He knew exactly what he
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was doing. He knew that it was wrong. He makes
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up stories. He keeps other people at bay for a while.
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So this is somebody who's incredibly organized and incredibly in
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control of what he's doing.
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This killer story begins in 1967. From a young age,
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Ford lived in Telford, Shropshire, almost 300 miles north of
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where he committed his crimes.
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Ford grew up in Wellington in Talford, and at the
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time that he was growing up in the area, it
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was quite a deprived part of the town, and this
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area suffered from a lot of issues. Poverty, substance misuse,
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high rates of unemployment.
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Little is known about Ford's formative years. By the time
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he reached his early 20s, he seemed to have no
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ambition and no fixed career.
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Lee Ford is a drifter, roofer, builder, sometime removal man,
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likes a drink, lives on the fringes of society pretty much,
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but has an eye for a beautiful woman, there's no
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doubt about that.
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What he lacked in work ethic, he made up for
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in charm.
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And I think he saw a bit of a vulnerability
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there with Leslie. Leslie is a divorcee, she's got four kids,
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her marriage has not worked out, but She's a very
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determined woman. She's wanting to look out for her children.
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She's working part-time. She's holding it together, essentially.
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Michael Tranter, Leslie's ex-husband and father of her eldest four children,
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remembers their life together.
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Yeah, Leslie was my first love. We were together a
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couple of years, I think, and then I proposed to her.
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Michael and Leslie were eager to have a large family,
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so their four children were born close together. By July 1987,
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the Tranter family was complete.
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Sarah Jane was always smiling, always. Although we were all close,
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Sarah Jane was like Mommy's little girl. She was so happy.
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She was a lively little girl. Anne-Marie was a daddy's girl. Again,
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she was always.
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Smiling, so happy.
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Craig Jonathan and Stephen Paul, they were typical little lads,
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running around doing stuff. We'd always had football and it
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was always kicking balls.
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Around on the little parks. They loved football. Leslie was
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a brilliant wife and so special as a mum.
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In 1989, after eight years together, Leslie and Michael divorced.
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We just moved on. We're still good, good friends, and
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the children, obviously, were still very close to me.
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The following year, Leslie began a new romance with Lee Ford,
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but when Leslie's family and ex-husband Michael met her new beau,
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they were taken aback by her choice of partner.
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I was very surprised Leslie was with somebody like him,
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to be fair. When I met him the first few times,
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I didn't judge. There was nothing untoward. So it was
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a case of Leslie moving on and I moved on.
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And I know.
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Leslie's brother said he wasn't keen on him. He just
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didn't like the way he looked and the way he was.
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A scruffy looking lad who always wear a bobble hat.
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She was probably having a bit of a tough time
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a bit on her own with four young children. It
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wouldn't surprise me if he kind of rides in this
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kind of knight in shining armor type routine in the beginning,
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and he would have seemed like the ideal partner.
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Ford and Leslie's relationship quickly blossomed. In June 1990, the
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couple got married in Telford. The following year, they welcomed
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the birth of their son. On the outside, 23-year-old Ford
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appeared to be a contented family man, playing the role
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of both father and stepfather to five children.
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Leslie was happy. Leslie even rang me up the one
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day and said they were going away. It was a
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late call to go and see the family. They were
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going the next day. She asked me if I could
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have the children.
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But in reality, Ford was far from being a loving
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stepfather and husband.
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Then what becomes more and more familiar as part of
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this relationship that Ford and Leslie try to forge is
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that it is abusive from the beginning.
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What we need to remember, abusers like Ford are incredibly manipulative.
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And in the early days, they can be quite convincing,
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quite charming. And it starts with the small things. So
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very often it will start with comments about not liking
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a particular item of clothing or saying you look better
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without makeup on. I prefer the natural look. And this
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is what happened in this case. And this is how
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people like Leslie find themselves in these situations. They don't
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choose this situation. It's something that creeps up on them.
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Ford's controlling behavior also extended to his four stepchildren.
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I started seeing the children every week. It wasn't long
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before I was picking my children up on a Saturday
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where I was getting told they weren't ready, they hadn't
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had breakfast, there'd be another hour. So I drove back
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to the house I was living in at the time.
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Then I'd go back, and I was still told that
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they weren't ready. and basically told to go away. That
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happened on a few occasions.
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Ford is somebody who sees his partner and her children
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as his possessions. This is my household. I'm the man
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of the house now. There is no room for anyone else.
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In three years, 25-year-old Lee Ford had gone from being
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a young, single man with little to care for to
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being a controlling husband, a father of one, and a
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stepfather to his wife's four children from her first marriage.
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Underneath what we've got going on here is a key
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tactic of abuse. It's isolation. So if you cut your
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victim off from their sources of support, from their family,
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You close down those critical voices. People can't see into
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your family life, and that's exactly what Ford was doing here.
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Leslie suffered in silence.
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I wasn't aware that he was being abusive to Leslie
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at all, to be fair. I'd only noticed the children
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were more clingy with Mum, especially when they were bringing him,
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because he would come to the door as well. But
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there was nothing to suggest anything was going on.
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As time went on, Ford's regular alcohol and substance abuse
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fueled his volatile nature. Despite his frequent bouts of violence,
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Leslie remained in the relationship.
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When we look at why Leslie stayed, well, there can
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be many reasons for that. There's likely a fear of
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Ford as to what he would do if she was
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to leave. And very often, victims in deciding to stay
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in a relationship are actually keeping themselves safe because they're
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If they leave that relationship, they compromise the perpetrator's control
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over them, they're not quite sure what the perpetrator would
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do if they were to leave, and perhaps they've been
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threatened by the perpetrator. If you ever leave me, this
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is what will happen.
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But in 1995, Leslie contacted her family and revealed the
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horror occurring in her marriage. She informed them of her
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plan to break free from Ford's grip and swore them
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to secrecy.
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She thinks, I've got to do something. She takes off
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from Telford, and she goes to Cornwall.
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Leslie fled south with her five children and settled in
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a small Cornish village called Bugle, a place she had
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no connections to.
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I think this is testament to her strength of character
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and her love for her children. So despite the fact
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that she's been abused by this man for five years,
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there's still some Leslie left in there. I think this
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is an incredibly brave decision that she makes.
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To ensure Ford can't find her, Leslie only disclosed her
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location to a few close family members.
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I'd gone to the house to pick my children up,
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and I was told they weren't there and that they'd moved.
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Nobody could give me any answers to that.
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Leslie and her children immerse themselves into village life. She
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takes on a job as a part-time carer to support
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herself and the children. In the meantime, Ford was desperately
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searching for his family.
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You know, with her and with those children who would
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have brought in quite an amount of child allowance, and
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no doubt that was helping to support him because he
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wasn't doing anything to support the family. Suddenly, he was
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going to be left with nothing.
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Ford was absolutely determined to find Leslie. So he calls
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Leslie's mother, claiming to be a solicitor who needs to
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get in contact with her. And unbeknownst to Leslie's mother,
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this is obviously not a solicitor, it's Ford. And she
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discloses this information. So I think this tells us just
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how manipulative, just how cunning this offender is, that he
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can be that convincing even to Leslie's own mother.
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In the summer of 1995, just months after fleeing from
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her abuser, Leslie was faced with a dilemma. Ford turned
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up at her door. His only mission was to get
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his wife and family back.
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Now, there must have been a moment when Leslie Ford
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could have said to herself, I'm not letting that man
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back into my life. But she didn't. She's drawn back
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into this spell.
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It's so difficult for women in those situations that when
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you're faced with an abusive partner who's all controlling and,
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you know, your connections in an area are probably limited,
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it's really, really difficult and not unusual for those sort
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of relationships to continue.
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After he reconciled with Leslie, Lee Ford once again gained control.
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he fully resumed his role as head of the family
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without opposition from his stepchildren's father.
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She moved down there without any trace of me knowing where.
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I obviously didn't know what was going on. If I
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00:16:04.210 --> 00:16:06.809
knew where they were, where they lived, I'd have definitely
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00:16:06.830 --> 00:16:09.539
got back in touch. Obviously, that's what I was trying
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00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:12.059
to do in the first place, trying to locate where
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00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:12.379
they were.
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00:16:13.240 --> 00:16:18.250
In September 1997, Leslie gave birth to a baby girl,
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00:16:18.629 --> 00:16:22.669
her second child with Ford. But the addition of another
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00:16:22.730 --> 00:16:25.409
daughter didn't change Ford's behaviour.
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00:16:29.970 --> 00:16:34.210
She now has six children. Ford spends most of his
253
00:16:34.250 --> 00:16:38.230
time drinking. But the beatings and the violence and the
254
00:16:38.649 --> 00:16:42.269
horror inside the relationship don't go away.
255
00:16:44.409 --> 00:16:49.490
In 1998, Ford, Leslie and the family move further south
256
00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:51.450
to the village of Karnkei.
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00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:58.820
Karnkei is a small village in the old Cornish mining area,
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00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:01.539
about five miles from Halston.
259
00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:03.940
There's rows of houses.
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00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:09.579
But if I remember rightly, the shop was probably more
261
00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:13.509
than a mile away, so a distance to walk. and
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00:17:13.529 --> 00:17:17.490
there was also a parish hall with, I believe at
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00:17:17.529 --> 00:17:18.890
the time, a social club.
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00:17:19.630 --> 00:17:24.759
Reporter Colin Gregory offers one theory for the sudden relocation.
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00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:28.920
It's quite a remote village, and that may be why
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00:17:28.940 --> 00:17:33.359
Lee Ford chose it as a place to move to,
267
00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:37.829
because he probably didn't want to get in with a
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00:17:37.869 --> 00:17:41.490
lot of neighbours who might ask him who he was
269
00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:42.430
and where he'd come from.
270
00:17:43.410 --> 00:17:47.630
The tiny village of Karnkei was the perfect location where
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00:17:47.710 --> 00:17:51.589
Ford could keep tabs on every movement his family made.
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00:17:52.369 --> 00:17:57.470
The four older children went to Halston Community School, but
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00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:00.690
they would have either had to be taken by car
274
00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:03.099
or bus. It was much too far of a walk.
275
00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.079
This is a family unit that many people have described
276
00:18:07.140 --> 00:18:10.480
as being a very private family unit. This is a
277
00:18:11.029 --> 00:18:14.289
a family man who kept himself to himself. But we
278
00:18:14.329 --> 00:18:18.170
need to remember that privacy is this barrier behind which
279
00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:20.730
this kind of alleged abuse goes on.
280
00:18:21.910 --> 00:18:25.880
As the family settled in, the Ford and Tranter children
281
00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.039
became welcome faces amongst the community.
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00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:34.480
Everybody said what lovely children they were. And one of
283
00:18:34.539 --> 00:18:38.819
the things was that the children would offer to go
284
00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:43.559
shopping for... elderly people in the village, because the shop
285
00:18:43.940 --> 00:18:48.000
was quite a distance to walk. So people thought highly
286
00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:53.299
of them and also sort of said they were really cheerful, well-mannered.
287
00:18:53.779 --> 00:18:57.200
However, their mother, Leslie, was rarely seen.
288
00:18:57.769 --> 00:19:02.490
People didn't really know Lee and Leslie very well, but
289
00:19:03.269 --> 00:19:07.190
people said, although she stayed home a lot, she was
290
00:19:07.430 --> 00:19:11.000
quite pleasant. to speak to sort of across the garden fence,
291
00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:13.950
so to speak, or if she was walking down the road.
292
00:19:15.670 --> 00:19:21.289
Leslie's husband, Lee Ford, made little contribution to the local community.
293
00:19:22.529 --> 00:19:28.740
It's a human tragedy in that sense that this good, upright,
294
00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:33.500
decent woman is stuck with a man who seems to
295
00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:37.569
spend most of his time drinking or taking drugs. Doesn't
296
00:19:37.609 --> 00:19:39.970
seem ever to have a job. Doesn't seem to care
297
00:19:40.009 --> 00:19:40.829
much about anything.
298
00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:45.140
He just appears to be quite insignificant. But actually, if
299
00:19:45.180 --> 00:19:47.690
you look behind closed doors, if you look at his
300
00:19:47.769 --> 00:19:52.059
family life, he was incredibly dominant. incredibly controlling. He was
301
00:19:52.119 --> 00:19:53.500
the master of his own home.
302
00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:59.380
In 2000, the Tranter children had reached adolescence. Sarah Jane
303
00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:06.150
was 17, Anne-Marie 15, Stephen 14, and Craig 13. Ford's
304
00:20:06.210 --> 00:20:10.019
stepchildren had grown up fast, but he continued to rule
305
00:20:10.190 --> 00:20:12.079
over them with an iron fist.
306
00:20:13.259 --> 00:20:14.980
The children could only wear what they were told they
307
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:17.339
could wear. His wife could only wear what she was told.
308
00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:19.440
They had to do what he wanted when he wanted
309
00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:25.170
it to happen. No one was allowed to penetrate that household.
310
00:20:25.730 --> 00:20:28.130
This wasn't a house in which people were constantly coming
311
00:20:28.170 --> 00:20:31.210
and going. Yes, they went to school, and yes, they
312
00:20:31.269 --> 00:20:35.059
had friends, but it wasn't one of those places This
313
00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:36.960
house is integrated into the community.
314
00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:42.160
Ford was especially strict with his eldest stepdaughter, Sarah Jane.
315
00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:48.579
Sarah Jane was working down at McDonald's at Falmouth, which
316
00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:52.480
would have been about four or five miles from the house,
317
00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:56.049
so she would have had to have a lift. Lee
318
00:20:56.230 --> 00:20:58.309
would have taken her to work and picked her up.
319
00:20:59.250 --> 00:21:02.609
It seems like he didn't want her to meet other people.
320
00:21:03.890 --> 00:21:07.930
Lee Ford was... jealous of Sarah Jane being involved with
321
00:21:07.970 --> 00:21:12.839
other boys. It's about control. At 17, she was getting
322
00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:15.000
to an age where she would make her own decisions,
323
00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:18.519
where she would stand for it no longer, where she
324
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.039
could leave home, have her own life. And I've always
325
00:21:21.059 --> 00:21:25.700
suspected that there is something in his actions around that,
326
00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:28.599
that he wouldn't be able to control her for that
327
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:29.079
much longer.
328
00:21:29.859 --> 00:21:34.039
Ford struggled being in the same household with so many people.
329
00:21:34.579 --> 00:21:37.490
He started to withdraw himself from the family.
330
00:21:38.089 --> 00:21:41.029
He was an alcoholic. He probably more and more was
331
00:21:41.089 --> 00:21:44.450
not getting his own way. He felt a little isolated
332
00:21:44.490 --> 00:21:47.259
that he spent time in the garage away from the family,
333
00:21:48.019 --> 00:21:48.940
and he couldn't.
334
00:21:48.740 --> 00:21:49.319
Watch the TV.
335
00:21:50.369 --> 00:21:52.329
When we think of a family man, we think of
336
00:21:52.369 --> 00:21:55.430
somebody who puts their children's needs before their own. And
337
00:21:55.450 --> 00:21:58.390
when we look at Ford's behaviour, what we've got here
338
00:21:58.470 --> 00:22:01.900
is essentially a petulant child. Some of his behaviour is
339
00:22:01.940 --> 00:22:06.599
incredibly immature. So his children are watching particular things on television,
340
00:22:06.660 --> 00:22:09.119
which means that he can't watch what he wants to watch.
341
00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:12.319
So he goes off ultimately in a strop and he
342
00:22:12.380 --> 00:22:14.500
goes and takes himself off to the garage or the
343
00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:18.140
garden shed and spends time in there. And he'll also
344
00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:20.400
go and escape to the local cricket club, where he'll
345
00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:22.799
just sit and drink. So this is a man who
346
00:22:22.859 --> 00:22:26.180
is incredibly selfish. He wants to do what he wants
347
00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:27.819
to do, and that's really revealing.
348
00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:34.740
In May 2000, after years of being violently abused by Ford,
349
00:22:35.140 --> 00:22:37.519
Leslie made a shocking discovery.
350
00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:42.259
Ford embarks on a sexual relationship with his 17-year-old daughter,
351
00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:45.829
Sarah Jane. It is horrifying.
352
00:22:47.099 --> 00:22:50.119
Ford had known Sarah Jane since she was a little girl,
353
00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:54.789
around six years old. So this shows a real abuse
354
00:22:55.029 --> 00:22:57.990
of a position of trust. This is a man who
355
00:22:58.029 --> 00:23:01.769
feels a sense of ownership over this family. He feels
356
00:23:01.789 --> 00:23:04.230
that he has the right to do with Sarah Jane
357
00:23:04.410 --> 00:23:07.680
whatever he wants to do. So this poor girl really
358
00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:10.180
has been completely manipulated by him.
359
00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:14.039
Leslie didn't take the situation lying down.
360
00:23:14.849 --> 00:23:18.180
When this incident happens, I think this was a real
361
00:23:18.220 --> 00:23:20.900
line in the sand for her. She thought about what
362
00:23:20.940 --> 00:23:23.980
she'd seen and she decided, I think this is out
363
00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.589
of order. I'm not putting up with this. I'm going
364
00:23:25.609 --> 00:23:28.849
to get some help. So she goes to see a solicitor.
365
00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:33.049
She reports this to social services. Yet Sarah Jane is
366
00:23:33.150 --> 00:23:34.359
never interviewed.
367
00:23:35.190 --> 00:23:40.009
In the late summer of 2000, isolated and alone, Leslie
368
00:23:40.130 --> 00:23:44.849
finally broke her silence. She contacted her brother, Peter, and
369
00:23:44.910 --> 00:23:48.710
revealed to him the horrific extent of Ford's abuse.
370
00:23:49.809 --> 00:23:51.650
I had a phone call off the brother-in-law out of
371
00:23:51.670 --> 00:23:55.559
the blue telling me that he'd been to Leslie's house
372
00:23:56.460 --> 00:24:01.779
and Leslie wasn't very happy he'd been hitting her. And
373
00:24:01.819 --> 00:24:04.829
that was the first I knew of anything happening. Peter
374
00:24:04.869 --> 00:24:07.509
was trying to get Lesley out of the situation, and
375
00:24:07.849 --> 00:24:09.009
I think that's why he called.
376
00:24:08.809 --> 00:24:09.309
Me as well.
377
00:24:10.390 --> 00:24:12.609
And he cut ties with her in the end, because
378
00:24:12.890 --> 00:24:16.410
Lesley didn't want anything to happen with that. And then, obviously,
379
00:24:17.049 --> 00:24:19.650
that became a massive thing to me, that Lesley and
380
00:24:19.809 --> 00:24:20.890
the children need to be safe.
381
00:24:21.630 --> 00:24:24.880
This was the first news Michael had had of his
382
00:24:24.950 --> 00:24:29.660
family in five years. After weeks of searching, he tracked
383
00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:31.160
down his eldest daughter.
384
00:24:32.349 --> 00:24:35.109
I spoke to Sarah Jane, who I found out was
385
00:24:35.150 --> 00:24:38.650
working at McDonald's. I briefly spoke to her and told
386
00:24:38.690 --> 00:24:41.230
her who I was and that I wanted to know
387
00:24:41.250 --> 00:24:44.059
if she was all right. And she did put the
388
00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:48.859
phone down after acknowledging me, but I put that down
389
00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:50.259
to me not being in.
390
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.880
Their lives for a little while. That's why she put
391
00:24:52.900 --> 00:24:53.559
the phone down.
392
00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:58.130
It was the last conversation Michael had with any of
393
00:24:58.190 --> 00:24:58.809
his children.
394
00:25:00.849 --> 00:25:03.799
I then had a phone call off Leslie's mum saying
395
00:25:03.819 --> 00:25:06.380
the children were fine, they're happy, they're safe.
396
00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:08.839
I asked them where they lived, she wouldn't give me
397
00:25:08.900 --> 00:25:10.000
the address.
398
00:25:10.859 --> 00:25:14.299
It's believed that news of Michael Tranter's phone call to
399
00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:16.339
Sarah Jane reached Ford.
400
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:20.660
I thought that quite likely that she had gone home
401
00:25:20.740 --> 00:25:25.799
that night and said that her father had traced her
402
00:25:26.380 --> 00:25:30.960
and wanted to meet her and that Ford was by
403
00:25:31.019 --> 00:25:33.819
then thinking, as you might say, the game was up,
404
00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:36.039
and he was afraid.
405
00:25:35.619 --> 00:25:36.980
Of what would happen.
406
00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:42.740
Just weeks later, Ford's behaviour spiralled out of control.
407
00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:49.650
At some point towards the end of August 2000, there
408
00:25:49.710 --> 00:25:55.750
is another row between Lee and Leslie. Lee hits Leslie
409
00:25:55.829 --> 00:26:00.250
with a rounder's bat in the face. He goes into
410
00:26:00.269 --> 00:26:04.599
the garage to calm down. He doesn't calm down. He
411
00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:07.480
finds a piece of rope and he goes back into
412
00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:16.130
the house and proceeds to garrote his wife, Lesley. Lee
413
00:26:16.230 --> 00:26:19.750
Ford then hits some kind of psychotic break.
414
00:26:21.069 --> 00:26:23.289
He took decisive action.
415
00:26:25.910 --> 00:26:29.759
He's not content with simply killing Lesley. He decides he's
416
00:26:29.779 --> 00:26:33.519
going to kill Leslie and then all her children with
417
00:26:33.579 --> 00:26:40.079
Michael Tranter. He clearly and carefully and meticulously killed them
418
00:26:40.180 --> 00:26:44.190
one by one. He wraps the bodies up and takes
419
00:26:44.230 --> 00:26:46.490
them to the woodshed at the bottom of the garden,
420
00:26:46.750 --> 00:26:49.630
where he buries them. All five.
421
00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:55.289
Lee Ford had brutally murdered his 36-year-old wife, Leslie.
422
00:26:57.150 --> 00:27:03.049
And his four teenage stepchildren, Sarah Jane, Anne-Marie, Stephen and Craig.
423
00:27:04.230 --> 00:27:08.019
Only his own two young children escape Ford's wrath.
424
00:27:10.700 --> 00:27:14.460
The reason why the two youngest children weren't killed, I think,
425
00:27:14.509 --> 00:27:18.349
was because Ford feels a sense of ownership and possession
426
00:27:18.369 --> 00:27:21.230
of them that he doesn't feel over the other children.
427
00:27:21.490 --> 00:27:25.000
The relationship is slightly different there. So they are his
428
00:27:25.099 --> 00:27:29.079
biological children. He sees them as an extension of himself,
429
00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:32.339
and he's got a very high opinion of himself. So
430
00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:36.180
he sees these children's lives as worth saving, not because
431
00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:38.619
he loves them, but because they are his, they are
432
00:27:38.660 --> 00:27:40.180
part of him, and he owns them.
433
00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:45.359
Ford continued to go about his daily life without any
434
00:27:45.460 --> 00:27:46.579
sign of remorse.
435
00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:50.700
As far as anyone is concerned in the village, well,
436
00:27:50.809 --> 00:27:54.339
he's just looking after the kids. No one comes knocking
437
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:57.950
on the front door to ask where Leslie and the
438
00:27:58.049 --> 00:27:58.670
children are.
439
00:28:00.769 --> 00:28:05.369
Nevertheless, Ford wanted to ensure his dark secret was never discovered.
440
00:28:07.009 --> 00:28:10.759
It's believed he concocted a story should the family's sudden
441
00:28:10.819 --> 00:28:13.319
disappearance raise any suspicions.
442
00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:17.799
He goes to the McDonald's in Falmouth, where Sarah Jane's
443
00:28:17.819 --> 00:28:20.740
been working, and tries to collect her pay packet. Oh,
444
00:28:21.059 --> 00:28:23.690
they've gone off with their mother. It is as if
445
00:28:23.819 --> 00:28:27.680
he's constructing a new life. Oh, well, I'm left to
446
00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:30.460
look after the little ones. I'll do that. And she's
447
00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:32.460
left me. She doesn't care about me.
448
00:28:34.299 --> 00:28:38.420
Initially, Ford called the Tranter Children's School, telling them they
449
00:28:38.460 --> 00:28:41.829
had food poisoning, but later changed his story.
450
00:28:42.829 --> 00:28:46.049
He visits the children's school to hand back some books
451
00:28:46.490 --> 00:28:49.210
that they'd borrowed from school and says that they've moved
452
00:28:49.269 --> 00:28:52.470
out of the area, they won't be coming back. And
453
00:28:52.490 --> 00:28:54.980
he's being quite convincing to the people he's telling these
454
00:28:55.019 --> 00:28:58.859
stories to. They believe him. And what's happening here is
455
00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:02.380
that Ford believes that he's restored the natural order of things.
456
00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:05.759
He's got back in control. So there's no wonder he
457
00:29:05.799 --> 00:29:07.019
appears to be really calm.
458
00:29:07.700 --> 00:29:12.559
Michael Tranter hadn't heard anything from Leslie's relatives or his daughter,
459
00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:16.250
Sarah Jane, since their last phone call in early August.
460
00:29:16.589 --> 00:29:18.589
And he was concerned for their welfare.
461
00:29:19.230 --> 00:29:21.230
I went down to Cornwall and I went down there
462
00:29:21.250 --> 00:29:23.279
that week So I did go down there to have
463
00:29:23.299 --> 00:29:26.519
a look, but I got no phone call, nobody to
464
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:28.980
ring to try and find out where they were.
465
00:29:29.720 --> 00:29:33.650
Meanwhile, Ford kept up the pretense that Leslie, with her children,
466
00:29:33.670 --> 00:29:35.569
had left of their own accord.
467
00:29:37.630 --> 00:29:41.819
Ford calls Leslie's brother, Pete, and says, I know that
468
00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:44.640
Leslie and the children are with you, and this is
469
00:29:44.819 --> 00:29:48.880
yet another one of his performances, essentially, that are part
470
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:52.440
of this narrative. I'm the victim, she's left me, I've
471
00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:56.039
been abandoned, you're part of this conspiracy. And there's almost
472
00:29:56.099 --> 00:29:58.680
a sense in which he's kind of enjoying this. He's
473
00:29:58.740 --> 00:30:01.519
creating a drama. He's laying the blame at the feet
474
00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:02.359
of other people.
475
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:08.619
Her brother, Peter, in Hampshire, begins to worry. He hasn't
476
00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:11.079
heard from her. He tries to find out where she
477
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:16.160
might have gone, with no success. Where is Leslie Ford?
478
00:30:17.019 --> 00:30:20.700
On the 29th of September, Leslie Ford and her four
479
00:30:20.849 --> 00:30:24.940
eldest children had been missing for almost a month. By
480
00:30:25.019 --> 00:30:30.079
contacting Leslie's brother, Ford had unwittingly made a grave mistake.
481
00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:35.200
His call had made Leslie's relatives so suspicious they reported
482
00:30:35.259 --> 00:30:36.279
it to the police.
483
00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:39.920
That's when they rang me and asked me questions if
484
00:30:39.980 --> 00:30:42.220
I knew anybody, if she'd got friends down in a
485
00:30:42.359 --> 00:30:46.329
different part of the country and anything, in Hampshire and whatnot,
486
00:30:46.650 --> 00:30:47.869
and I said, no, definitely not.
487
00:30:48.690 --> 00:30:54.750
Initial police inquiries into the family's disappearance proved fruitless. Leslie
488
00:30:54.809 --> 00:30:59.019
and the Tranter children had vanished without a trace. Detectives
489
00:30:59.099 --> 00:31:02.940
turned their attention to Lee Ford, the last known person
490
00:31:02.980 --> 00:31:05.119
to see them before they disappeared.
491
00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:06.740
They did visit him.
492
00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:10.319
He used that same story to say that his wife
493
00:31:10.359 --> 00:31:13.519
had left him, the family had gone. Certainly, there were
494
00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:17.490
no obvious offenses that Lee Ford had committed. that we
495
00:31:17.529 --> 00:31:19.670
knew when the officers first went round there.
496
00:31:20.890 --> 00:31:24.849
Officers searched Ford's home but came up empty-handed.
497
00:31:25.529 --> 00:31:30.019
There were no outward signs that a crime had been
498
00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:33.599
committed at that time. By the time I get involved,
499
00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:35.819
we're starting to want to get out to the public.
500
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:38.039
We want to appeal to Leslie if she's still alive
501
00:31:38.059 --> 00:31:39.900
and the children to come forward and not to worry
502
00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:40.589
about doing so.
503
00:31:41.390 --> 00:31:46.440
Leslie and the Tranter children never made contact with the police. Instead,
504
00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:52.319
further investigation into Ford's behavior at home revealed some disturbing information.
505
00:31:54.259 --> 00:31:57.650
We strongly suspected that he was having sexual relations with
506
00:31:57.710 --> 00:32:02.049
Sarah Jane and possibly Anne-Marie. I don't recall it was
507
00:32:02.089 --> 00:32:06.190
ever proved Leslie had made complaints. And if it had
508
00:32:06.230 --> 00:32:08.950
been going on for a number of years, then clearly
509
00:32:09.170 --> 00:32:12.589
those girls would have been underage at the time this
510
00:32:12.650 --> 00:32:15.569
sexual activity would have taken place, so it wouldn't have
511
00:32:15.589 --> 00:32:16.299
been with consent.
512
00:32:16.730 --> 00:32:21.640
It quickly became clear to investigators that something serious was amiss.
513
00:32:22.259 --> 00:32:25.660
The family were last seen alive on the 31st of August.
514
00:32:26.220 --> 00:32:29.829
They had no proof of life after this date. Their
515
00:32:29.910 --> 00:32:33.650
missing persons inquiry became a murder investigation.
516
00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:36.859
I think from the outset, I knew this wasn't right.
517
00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:40.539
I suspected that there was foul play involved.
518
00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:43.779
Their prime suspect was Lee Ford.
519
00:32:44.700 --> 00:32:47.740
We never suspected anyone else was involved in any harm
520
00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:49.880
coming to the family other than Lee Ford himself. And
521
00:32:49.900 --> 00:32:53.819
that was down to the actions that he had shown.
522
00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:56.759
His evasiveness, his story didn't ring true.
523
00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:04.440
Despite their suspicions, detectives still didn't have any hard evidence
524
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:08.039
that a crime had been committed or that Lee Ford
525
00:33:08.259 --> 00:33:09.420
had harmed the family.
526
00:33:10.339 --> 00:33:12.369
What I was concerned about is that if we didn't
527
00:33:12.529 --> 00:33:15.009
step in soon, he could go on the run and
528
00:33:15.049 --> 00:33:18.809
cause us even more difficulties. The family could be alive
529
00:33:18.849 --> 00:33:22.150
and he could then still cause them harm if he
530
00:33:22.170 --> 00:33:25.089
was allowed to run free. So we had to take
531
00:33:25.170 --> 00:33:28.349
steps to have him in custody so that we could
532
00:33:28.390 --> 00:33:29.150
interview him properly.
533
00:33:32.210 --> 00:33:35.839
On the 5th of October, officers discovered Ford and his
534
00:33:35.890 --> 00:33:40.079
two children were missing from their home in Karnkei. Police
535
00:33:40.099 --> 00:33:44.299
suspected he'd fled and immediately issued a warrant for his arrest.
536
00:33:45.019 --> 00:33:49.190
I remember thinking at the time that he knows we're
537
00:33:49.230 --> 00:33:51.349
on to him. He knows he's going to get caught.
538
00:33:51.950 --> 00:33:57.089
Just hours later, police tracked Ford's vehicle using automatic number
539
00:33:57.150 --> 00:34:01.930
plate recognition. He traveled north to Shropshire with his two children.
540
00:34:02.539 --> 00:34:06.200
When he re-entered Cornwall, officers seized their chance.
541
00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:12.219
Ford was arrested driving through Bodmin Moor, so he'd come
542
00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:15.340
back from dropping his two children off in Talford.
543
00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:19.139
He was actually arrested for a relatively minor offense. benefit fraud,
544
00:34:19.380 --> 00:34:24.110
but it gave us sufficient powers to legitimately arrest him
545
00:34:24.610 --> 00:34:27.269
and have him in custody and he was brought back
546
00:34:27.550 --> 00:34:32.269
to Camborne Police Station where the interviews took place.
547
00:34:33.150 --> 00:34:37.590
While being questioned by officers, Ford made a sickening admission.
548
00:34:38.449 --> 00:34:42.539
One of the detectives who was interviewing him opened the
549
00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:44.780
door and said that she had to speak to me urgently.
550
00:34:45.460 --> 00:34:48.179
She said, he's admitted to it, he's killed them all.
551
00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:52.760
Ford revealed that after an argument with his wife Leslie,
552
00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:55.760
he'd hit her across the face with a rounder's bat.
553
00:34:56.340 --> 00:34:58.900
He then left the house and went into the garage
554
00:34:58.940 --> 00:35:02.719
to calm down. Instead, he picked up a piece of rope,
555
00:35:03.099 --> 00:35:07.039
returned to the bedroom and garrotted her. He then, one
556
00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:10.519
by one, killed all four of his stepchildren in the
557
00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:12.599
kitchen using the same method.
558
00:35:13.699 --> 00:35:16.179
He was later to say that he didn't know why
559
00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:18.530
he did it. I don't know why I did what
560
00:35:18.630 --> 00:35:19.050
I did.
561
00:35:20.199 --> 00:35:24.139
He's essentially saying, I flipped, I lost it, I snapped,
562
00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:28.989
I lost control. These were very deliberate killings. At any point,
563
00:35:29.050 --> 00:35:31.730
he could have decided to stop in between the first
564
00:35:31.769 --> 00:35:34.429
and the second, the second and the third, but he didn't,
565
00:35:34.590 --> 00:35:37.900
he continued. And these killings took place over a period
566
00:35:37.940 --> 00:35:42.179
of 24 hours. So this is not somebody losing control.
567
00:35:42.599 --> 00:35:45.039
What this is, is somebody exerting control.
568
00:35:47.210 --> 00:35:52.070
Senior investigating officer Chris Borland remembers Ford's confession.
569
00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:54.320
We were all shocked that he'd just come out and
570
00:35:54.340 --> 00:35:58.400
said it and that he had told them where the
571
00:35:58.440 --> 00:36:02.440
bodies were buried. I was absolutely adamant that we were
572
00:36:02.460 --> 00:36:05.539
not going to leave those bodies there any longer than
573
00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:08.219
we had to, so we were out that night recovering
574
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.829
the bodies from the woodshed at their home in Kankai.
575
00:36:12.539 --> 00:36:14.980
Police hunting for a mother and her four children, who
576
00:36:15.019 --> 00:36:18.210
disappeared more than a month ago, found one body this morning.
577
00:36:18.750 --> 00:36:20.949
The discovery was made in a woodshed close to the
578
00:36:21.010 --> 00:36:24.889
family home in Helston, Cornwall. Forensic officers are continuing to
579
00:36:24.929 --> 00:36:27.789
search the area and police fear more bodies may be found.
580
00:36:29.690 --> 00:36:33.710
The bodies of Leslie, along with her two sons, 14-year-old
581
00:36:33.789 --> 00:36:38.980
Stephen and 13-year-old Craig, were recovered. But Sarah Jane and
582
00:36:39.159 --> 00:36:41.500
Anne-Marie were nowhere to be found.
583
00:36:42.179 --> 00:36:44.599
He said that he'd started to move the bodies. He'd
584
00:36:44.619 --> 00:36:46.159
wrapped them in plastic, put them in the boot of
585
00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:50.480
his car, and the plan was always to move all
586
00:36:50.519 --> 00:36:53.000
of them, but he hadn't had time.
587
00:36:53.699 --> 00:36:57.079
Ford moved Sarah-Jane and Anne-Marie's bodies to a field a
588
00:36:57.139 --> 00:37:00.980
few miles away and buried them in shallow graves.
589
00:37:01.900 --> 00:37:04.380
Officers have uncovered two further bodies from the scene here
590
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:05.019
at Trelliswell.
591
00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:08.380
They've been taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Trellis,
592
00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:13.849
where post-mortems will be carried out this afternoon. they had
593
00:37:13.929 --> 00:37:18.190
decomposed quite badly so we used dental records and of
594
00:37:18.230 --> 00:37:20.809
course some of the clothing that they were buried in
595
00:37:20.849 --> 00:37:24.610
helped identify them and he had admitted that they were
596
00:37:24.929 --> 00:37:26.130
his family that he'd murdered.
597
00:37:27.650 --> 00:37:30.920
The cause of death was established to be ligature strangling
598
00:37:31.820 --> 00:37:35.400
because it left very little damage to the skin or
599
00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:39.159
indeed to the neck. It was a very precise and
600
00:37:39.579 --> 00:37:44.739
calculated method of killing which again indicates to me that
601
00:37:44.780 --> 00:37:47.500
Lee Ford had planned this very carefully.
602
00:37:48.699 --> 00:37:53.389
Michael Tranter recounts his visit to Karnkei after he received
603
00:37:53.409 --> 00:37:57.469
the heartbreaking news that his children were no longer alive.
604
00:37:57.489 --> 00:38:01.250
I was told what he actually did to his four children.
605
00:38:04.210 --> 00:38:04.530
Sorry.
606
00:38:09.659 --> 00:38:09.920
Sorry.
607
00:38:11.690 --> 00:38:14.110
I visited the house when I went down, obviously when
608
00:38:14.130 --> 00:38:19.170
everything happened. And I looked over the view, down towards
609
00:38:19.210 --> 00:38:21.690
the fields, I think there was a cricket field, and
610
00:38:22.550 --> 00:38:26.489
my thoughts were how peaceful it was where they lived,
611
00:38:26.650 --> 00:38:27.590
how peaceful it looked.
612
00:38:29.949 --> 00:38:32.429
When a crime like this happens in a local community,
613
00:38:32.590 --> 00:38:36.059
it has an absolutely devastating impact because there are a
614
00:38:36.059 --> 00:38:38.940
lot of children in this family, so this family would
615
00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:41.969
have been known in the community lots of people's kids
616
00:38:42.010 --> 00:38:45.440
would have known the kids in this family. So I
617
00:38:45.460 --> 00:38:48.599
think there's a very visible scar that's been left on
618
00:38:48.820 --> 00:38:49.719
this community.
619
00:38:51.179 --> 00:38:55.320
On the 6th of October 2000, Lee Ford was charged
620
00:38:55.360 --> 00:38:58.849
with the murders of his wife Leslie and her four children,
621
00:38:59.329 --> 00:39:05.610
Sarah Jane, Anne-Marie, Stephen and Craig. Despite his confession, Ford
622
00:39:05.650 --> 00:39:08.610
refused to divulge his motive for the killings.
623
00:39:10.130 --> 00:39:12.889
He's never, to my knowledge, given a full and frank
624
00:39:12.929 --> 00:39:16.860
admission of exactly what happened and why it happened and
625
00:39:16.920 --> 00:39:22.340
the detail of how he murdered those children in the house.
626
00:39:23.260 --> 00:39:27.570
And I think that must be really difficult for the family,
627
00:39:28.070 --> 00:39:30.820
that they've never got a true picture of what actually happened.
628
00:39:32.500 --> 00:39:35.320
In the months that led up to his trial, Ford's
629
00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:38.800
legal team attempted to put forward a defence of not
630
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:43.599
guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Their case fell
631
00:39:43.659 --> 00:39:48.750
apart when he refused psychiatric assessment. Ford changed his plea.
632
00:39:49.650 --> 00:39:54.010
By pleading guilty, he saved himself going into the dock,
633
00:39:54.659 --> 00:39:58.800
and nobody knows completely what happened that dreadful night.
634
00:39:59.699 --> 00:40:04.389
On the 24th of May, 2001, at Bristol Crown Court,
635
00:40:04.769 --> 00:40:08.650
Ford was sentenced to five life sentences with a minimum
636
00:40:08.710 --> 00:40:13.239
term of 35 years. There is the possibility that in
637
00:40:13.280 --> 00:40:17.639
the near future, Ford will walk free again. Michael Tranter
638
00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:19.780
hopes he won't see that day.
639
00:40:20.679 --> 00:40:24.030
In my eyes, he should never come out. I wanted
640
00:40:24.070 --> 00:40:28.630
to have a long life and suffer as bad as
641
00:40:28.670 --> 00:40:32.309
suffering can be. That's how bad I feel about him.
642
00:40:33.130 --> 00:40:36.289
At the time, I would love an electric chair and
643
00:40:36.329 --> 00:40:40.099
I'd be the one that did it. and I will
644
00:40:40.179 --> 00:40:42.440
never ever forgive whatever answers he gives.
645
00:40:43.639 --> 00:40:46.940
I've got no thoughts whatsoever other than him suffering.
646
00:40:50.219 --> 00:40:53.019
We have the option now in England and Wales to
647
00:40:53.059 --> 00:40:56.400
give people a whole life tariff to say you are
648
00:40:56.440 --> 00:40:59.059
never going to be released from prison. And I think
649
00:40:59.400 --> 00:41:02.460
some crimes are so heinous that they warrant that kind
650
00:41:02.480 --> 00:41:04.679
of sentence and this is one of those crimes.
651
00:41:06.630 --> 00:41:10.309
Ford was locked away, but the impact of his actions
652
00:41:10.650 --> 00:41:14.989
had a devastating effect on family members left behind.
653
00:41:22.460 --> 00:41:28.219
Worst day of my life. Children's funeral. Absolutely.
654
00:41:30.699 --> 00:41:35.159
It was a horrible, horrible day. I don't know how
655
00:41:35.179 --> 00:41:39.730
I got through, to be fair. It's just certainly out
656
00:41:39.750 --> 00:41:41.090
and lovely. I'll just have to cut through now.
657
00:41:47.889 --> 00:41:53.090
Reporter Colin Gregory attended Leslie's funeral and the Tranter Children's
658
00:41:53.150 --> 00:41:56.530
Memorial Service in Truro.
659
00:41:56.530 --> 00:42:00.869
400 people, that was family and school friends, went to
660
00:42:00.929 --> 00:42:05.550
the service at Truro Cathedral. There were a lot of tears...
661
00:42:05.929 --> 00:42:11.099
But a lot, sometimes people smiled when they remembered playing
662
00:42:11.139 --> 00:42:15.500
with the kids at school. And one of them, I remember, said,
663
00:42:16.139 --> 00:42:20.179
we'll never forget you. You were such good fun and
664
00:42:20.619 --> 00:42:24.110
always had a smile on your face. And I'm glad
665
00:42:24.219 --> 00:42:27.210
that you came into my life, even though it was
666
00:42:27.710 --> 00:42:28.710
for a short time.
667
00:42:32.889 --> 00:42:35.019
Well, I think this is one of the most awful
668
00:42:35.079 --> 00:42:39.380
crimes that I've ever been involved in. And those wonderful children,
669
00:42:39.400 --> 00:42:43.300
that nice family, have been killed by a worthless individual.
670
00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:46.179
He's affected a lot of people, and personally, I hope
671
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:47.139
he never comes out of prison.
672
00:42:50.219 --> 00:42:53.110
Lee Ford didn't just deprive Michael Tranter of his children
673
00:42:53.469 --> 00:42:57.769
and their mother. He also deprived his two children with
674
00:42:57.809 --> 00:43:01.349
Leslie of their mother and their brothers and sisters. It
675
00:43:01.449 --> 00:43:06.570
is a tragedy of the most extraordinary proportions. It's beyond wickedness.
676
00:43:09.409 --> 00:43:13.059
We may never know what triggered Ford to kill that day.
677
00:43:13.619 --> 00:43:17.320
What is certain is that he systematically murdered almost his
678
00:43:17.400 --> 00:43:23.420
entire family over a 24-hour period without remorse, making Lee
679
00:43:23.519 --> 00:43:27.039
Ford one of the world's most evil killers.