Wild Justice: Lynn Siddons Murder

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Mr Chittenden, a father-of-three, helped to clear 16-year-old Roy Brookes of the murder of Sinfin girl Lynn Siddons when he was acquitted of the killing in 1978. While a motive can be detected in the case of the step-son, it is impossible to find one in the case of Michael Brookes. One would have to imagine one. A detectable motive for the boy using his step-father to carry the blame for the murder is that he was very immature, that he was still dependent on the protection and provision of the parent, and that he was homicidal. He was strongly attached to both his victims, and there is an interesting logic in the matter of this motive, because the physical weakness that is evident in the murder would not only have disappointed the boy's sexual success with the murdered girl, it would also have disappointed his self-esteem as the progeny of the 6 ft. 2 in. giant Michael Brookes, who was not his natural father, and who had not therefore passed his quality of strength to the boy, who must naturally look up to the parent and identify with it. The victims therefore share the same relationship problem for the killer, and they are combined in his motive.

Music used in this episode: "The Descent" by Kevin Macleod. All music used is sourced from https://filmmusic.io/ and used under an Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Miss Siddons's late grandmother, Flo Siddons, campaigned hard to bring Brookes to justice and was handed a string of awards for her tireless work. At the end of the trial we were just over the moon that we had got justice for Lynn. That was all we ever wanted." But while speaking to his teenage client before and during the trial, it became clear to him that the real killer was the boy's stepfather, Michael Brookes.Justice, Mrs Siddons said: "We've been going for 20 years now and I am very pleased with the result."

Mr Chittenden, of Aston-on-Trent, said: “I have nothing at all against the SRA for what they did to me because I admitted it and they are just doing their job. Lynn Siddons did not get justice, and for many years her female relatives turned their need for this on to the step-father, Michael Brookes, who experienced years of persecution with their campaign. He found it increasingly impossible to get employment, and he was willing and open in TV interviews about his situation. Lynn's mother, Gail Halford, 53, said: "We are really pleased because he would have been a free man if he had won the appeal. Now he must serve his sentence. He deserved what he got." His conviction followed a rare civil suit brought by Lynn's family after police failed to charge him with the murder.The Derby step-strangler case has the step-son committing the murder and the step-father doing the punishment for it, while the hereditary difference between them is the motive. This case serves as a warning against the bringing up of children by unnatural parents. The appeal court judges declared that they had "no lurking doubt about the safety of the conviction", which is an astonishing admission, since it means that they had neither instinct nor intelligence for any doubt about it. This would mean that they were not qualified to judge the appeal. The memorial was arranged by British Waterways and is located about two miles from Lynn's home in Sinfin. In 1978, 16 year-old Lynn Siddons was murdered on a canal towpath in Derby and her body left hidden in bushes. She had been stabbed 43 times, strangled unsuccessfully, and finally drowned in a puddle. Algae was found in her lungs. A 15 year-old boy was seen by eyewitnesses to leave the crime scene alone, and his age helps to explain why the killer had had so much trouble in killing the girl. The boy, who was recognized by the witnesses, was taken in for questioning, charged with murder, and tried in November.