Hilda Marchbank and Susan May – Part 1: The Crime and the Case

On the morning of the 12th of March 1992, Susan May arrived at her aunt's house on Tandle Hill Road in Royton with a sandwich for lunch.

She found Hilda Marchbank dead.

She was eighty-nine years old, and she had been beaten and suffocated in her own bed.

Susan had cared for Hilda almost every day for years. She described her as a second mother. Eighteen days after the murder, she was arrested and charged with killing her. The case against her rested on three marks on the wall of Hilda's bedroom, a lie she had told police, and questions about money. But behind the forensic evidence presented to the jury lay a series of decisions - about what was tested, what was disclosed, and what was pursued - that would take decades to fully come to light.

This is Part 1 of a two-part episode, covering the murder, the investigation, and the trial. Part 2 follows Susan into prison, and through the long fight to prove what she always maintained: that she didn't do it.

I spent a long time digging into this case, and trying to unravel the forensic science and the issues raised by the Friends of Susan May. It ended up being a two parter because there is just so much to cover!

I’m attaching some links below and will add some more when we get to Part 2 and the fight to clear Susan’s name.