I recently discovered some old episodes of Crimewatch UK, the British show that inspired our own AMW. The show debuted in 1984 and is still on to this day, but like UM, I prefer the 80s and 90s reconstructions (re-enactments) to the more current ones. I did some research and found an old BBC episode guide for the show, giving TV Guide-esque synopses for the episodes. Some of the cases mentioned there, however, I was unable to find any info for. These are direct quotes from the episode guides.

November 6, 1984
* A shotgun execution on Guy Fawkes night under the cover of fireworks celebrations.

May 2, 1985
* In February two children died in a fire in Hastings - police know the fire was started deliberately. They need your help to find the murderer.
* Two women simply vanished from a village in North Wales. Somebody must have seen them since.

March 27, 1986
* Six weeks ago London supermarket manager Steve Whitnell was shot dead in front of his girlfriend. Ten days before he'd confronted an armed gang at the store. Detectives believe the attacks may be linked and need your help to catch his killer.

July 10, 1986
* Georgina Davies , a 72-year-old nurse from Salford, was found dead in her home seven weeks ago. The identity of her last patient remains a mystery - the murder squad needs your help with that and other leads.

July 16, 1987
* And in Newcastle-upon-Tyne the murder last month of 18-year-old Rachel Mewes. She may well have known her killer and police believe someone could be sheltering him.


Those are just a few of the case I found in the episode guide that I couldn't find online. There are also many old reconstructions I'd like to see. I made a list of them (many of them came from the same episode guide) in the hopes that someone has them in their collection and could post them online or burn me some copies, but I won't post them here right now.

On a certain site, I found a BBC1 continuity ad from October 17, 1985 featuring a preview of that night's Crimewatch. The announcer mentions that one of the reconstructions is the case of "a lady who was last seen alive on Halloween last year". Does anyone know to whom they are referring? I've looked at some British missing persons sites, but can't find any woman who vanished on Halloween 1984. I also couldn't find any murder victims from that time frame either.

Crimewatch seldom made appeals for adults who were missing, unless there was clear evidence that the person was the victim of foul play. This woman's case must have fallen into that category if the show did a reconstruction of it.