Documentary examining the terrible truth about the death of loving wife Collette Daffin, mowed down in a hit-and-run accident in Derbyshire 2009.

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    A loved one taken without warning It’s s to tips your world upside down a tragic accident or a brutal calculated murder why would somebody want to do that and then suspicion started to mount a desperate need to secure vital Clues we don’t exactly know what’s occurred without that we’re

    Losing valuable evidence and we’re losing time a fairy tale marriage that that was to be tragically cut Short in the foothills of the beautiful darbishire Peak District the market town of Chesterfield is a busy commercial hub famous for the Twisted spire on its Parish Church chestfield is is your average town we live in a promly rural County U it’s got your normal crime level and

    Incidents as you would expect over the years there has been serious violence and things like but it is very rare to Chesterfield the town was home to kette and Christopher Daffin who grew up met and married here in 1993 as a family it was happy to be

    Together happy in life happy just just as a normal family but in July 2009 their happy family life was to be shattered Forever Colette Daffin was born in 1965 and grew up with her mom Maddie and Dad John along with her brother Chris and sister Jane in the Clay Cross District of Chesterfield she was the one that had the cuts and bruises she have been a boy she used to crack jokes

    And I think that come from a dad though kette was uh like any normal child uh ever so fun loving when we had Chris and Jane she was always the one to take them take them under a wing sort of thing she was absolutely ideal daughter

    Uh you couldn’t uh you couldn’t wish for one better in time Colette’s parents separated and she went to live with her mom and her mom’s new partner on Private Drive in the Chesterfield suburb of hollingwood in her teenage years Colette met a boy and became pregnant the relationship did not last and Colette

    Was left to bring up her newborn son Richard alone we looked after her just up here kette was a a a real natural mother she was so loving as mothers are I think she had the same difficulties as uh as most single moms uh money were a little bit

    Tight but she did go to work Colette got a job serving behind the bar at the local pub the hollingwood and it was on a night working here that kette met Christopher Daffin the couple got on from their first meeting and soon became a serious item when Colette not

    Chris um she seemed she seemed happy so if she’s happy I’m happy I thought Chris was a fine lad from the day we met uh we never had a bad word I’d never heard really a bad thing about him he a guy that uh you’d like your daughter to

    Meet and the couple became closer still when Colette gave birth to their son Jason shortly afterwards Christopher and Colette announced they were getting married when she come and told me that she was getting married I just went w PE you know I seemed very happy together I mean they

    Got married in a a Methodist Church at stavely you know they were all happy and that SM so I mean as far as I’m concern it was a good day kette was absolutely radiant on a wedding day she was so happy life had taken off I think you know everything

    Was every everything I suppose a young girl dreams of was that uh it was happening she just looked so beautiful and she look so happy I think to collect it was the happiest day of her life she did look really happy love and to cherish love

    And to cherish till death was to part but on that magical day no one could have anticipated that an early death would tragically end this beautiful marriage what’s taking place now you would never ever ever dream at that that was that would ever Happen 16 years after the couple’s perfect wedding day what appeared to be a routine road traffic collision turned out to be far more Sinister Christopher and Colette Daffin married in the town of Chesterfield in 1993 after 16 years of marriage Colette was 43 years old Christopher was 42 with

    Their two children Richard 24 and Jason 16 they were the picture of the regular family living on an average Street Chris was an electrician and Colette worked alongside her mom at a local hotel they wanted somebody um as a some a waitress light and I approached CL and

    Said do you want to come wake up and be with me you know on my breakfast shift so she say oh that’ be nice mom I says well just go up for an interview I saids and I’m sure you’ll get job and she did so we’re all happy

    Together you know it were good environment to work we all got on well when their eldest son Richard moved to Cumbria for work Colette Chris and youngest son Jason moved to a new house on Ceda Street when she moved to Ceda Street um she only lived uh just at upsi

    A jump away from where where I live so we both found it easy to get to work cuz it was only a walk in fact Colette’s short walk to work would pass the very Pub where she and Chris first met many years before Early in the morning on the 8th of July 2009 Chris and kette Daffin woke to an empty house their son Richard had moved to Cumbria for work and their second son Jason was on holiday with family friends like most other mornings they sat down to have breakfast together before going

    Their separate ways for work however this morning Chris decided that he was not going to go straight to work you don’t mind if we go fishing new instead he was going to go fishing at the local Canal just a couple of hundred yards from their Home with Chris gone Colette got herself ready and left for work as a breakfast waitress around the usual time of 5:45 a.m. her usual route to work was down Cedar Street along Pine Street and continuing down Elm Street to the Ringwood Hall hotel around this time dog walkers noticed a man behaving strangely

    On Private Drive Witnesses at that time um a couple of dog walkers had come forward and been identified who walk the dogs same time every day and they’d identified something really unusual which was a man hiding in the bushes near the hollingwood PO wearing a gry hooded jacket and Poss

    Sunglasses and they’d never seen this man before and it was unusual for somebody who appeared to be quite furtive walking away and then going back to the bushes so his old demeanor was quite suspicious as she approached Pine Street Colette received a phone call possibly as a reaction to this call or distracted

    By it Colette didn’t turn down Pine Street as usual but headed towards private drive a slightly longer route to work I used to go to work a bit before cab um CU with me been supervisor got bit first day so she used to poll in probably about 10 15 minutes later she

    Always happy go lucky when she come in um she was a bright and breakfast up however Maddie wasn’t at work that day on the 8th of July as she had booked a day’s leave Colette Daffin never arrived at work that morning either well as I arrived at work on the on the

    8th of July um the first thing I was notified was that there had been a fatal RTC a Non-Stop road traffic collision where the vehicle had collided with The Pedestrian and driven off so it’s still a suspicious incident something we treat very seriously when Chris Daffin arrived home

    At about 6:30 that morning he received a call from from one of Colette’s colleagues asking him where Colette was as she had not turned up for work all right well she left at a normal time Christopher made a call to the to the police and the phone call to us was very much

    My wife’s not turned up for work the police told Chris there had been an accident on Private Drive which superintendent Debbie Platt was monitoring what we do is Road policing would take lead for the investigation supported by a detective inspector and we would lock down uh the road um we

    Would try and identify the deceased obviously the fact that hollingwood was such a close-nit community meant officers at the scene were quickly able to put a name to the deceased there was a witness who came forward very very close by to the actual reporting of the incident who basically says I know that

    Person I know who it is the body was identified as 42 2-year-old mother of two Colette Daffin you’ve then got the distressing uh part of of this job which he’s having to speak to the family face to face sat kitchen sa a dressing girl own a cup of

    Tea and there not cup door I could see police then the police woman and they told me that i’ been an accident says where she he said I’m private dress no we can’t I don’t go that way I can’t remember anything From and officer was also dispatched to inform Christopher Daffin that his wife of 16 years was dead hi Chris Daffin yeah can I come in a minut please the initial family aison officer he he went to Christopher’s address he wasn’t too sure about Chris’s reaction for all intents and purposes

    His wife’s left to go to work and she’s been involved in this collision and there was just something that just didn’t seem to be right uh he didn’t show that much emotion I appreciate that people deal with grief very differently and he’d had the most distressing news he could possibly take

    But his responses and lack of Engagement um were a Worry on hearing the news of Colette’s death Chris went to call on his mother-in-law Maddie as news of the accident spread to other members of Colette’s family around about 9:00 I was informed by my manager that what had happened and he he he uh actually brought me home and somebody else brought my

    Car and then I walked in the house and I don’t think for one minute there anybody in the house they all seemed to be outside on the patio and I walked out to see M were in she were devastated and at the time ER and Chris was start to

    Putting their arms around each other consoling each other I didn’t know what to do myself I was to I don’t know how to put it really I thought what can you do now I mean and I ended up having to phone everybody up that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to

    Do it says there’s been an accident I says yeah he says it’s say it’s your CL I said right I’ll be I’ll be over as soon as I can when I’ve just you know spin car back around and and said no it’s fatal so uh only thing I thought to do

    Was Ring my dad up I just says how are you Chris everything all right and he says no and uh that’s when the news came out I’m sorry but it uh it sort of tips your world upside down it screamed I can I can hear that scream

    Now when he tell me KET lost her life yeah that’s uh that’s not good when I found out that it was a it and run I thought Chris would be absolutely fuming absolutely humaning as well as losing his wife that morning you know few hours ago we find out it’s it’s in Run it’s still clear in my mind now as it were over a year ago and it won’t go away but something I have to learn to live with Detective inspector Rick Alton was starting to piece together the events surrounding Colette’s death the main thing that I needed to look at is

    Setting off inquiries to actually try and locate the actual vehicle that had caused that had been involved in the Collision again a member of the local community was able to assist the police he was traveling about 80 yards behind the offending vehicle when Colette was mowed

    Down the make of the vehicle is voxo fronter and it was like the maroon burgundy maroon uh red we was quite full fortunate to have a witness account that basically followed the frontier down the road as the vehicle was traveling down it took an aggressive action towards the

    Pavement which again building that in against the camber of the road would suggest to me that we was going to change this from not an average hit and run accident where somebody had been involved in a collision and then gone out of sheer shock it was quite obvious

    That this was going to change to a murder investigation investigations at the scene were also revealing evidence that was to become significant in the inquiry in the bottom of the Hedge R was part of the registration number L5 and trying to match that with the Vox all Frontier and

    That gave us quite a a significant lead in relation to tracing the vehicle the police national computer computer came up with 66 red colored voxal Frontier vehicles with a registration starting with L5 in the greater Chesterfield area an intelligence officer would obviously identify all of the 66 Vehicles identify

    The addresses and then there would be actions to different offices or to different Force areas to find out what movements that vehicle’s taken one of the leads detectives followed was that 6 months earlier a voxal frontierer matching the exact description of the V iicle that killed Colette had been

    Repeatedly reported as abandoned Around the Clock Tower Business Center in Chesterfield I was made aware that um from the intelligence officer that um a red frontierer had been seen at the clock house tower which isn’t too far away from the scene uh and that was an abandoned vehicle Report where um a

    Number of different people have run in to say this vehicles’s parked on private l land um but clearly has got noot uh or tax and was causing an obstruction but on the day of Colette’s death searches for the frontier in and around the clock tower Business Center proved

    Fruitless with police believing this was now a murder inquiry a specialist family liaison officer from darbishire C was appointed to the Daffin family I was asked to note anything that I thought was suspicious the time I spent with Christopher my good reaction was that something was not right uh the behaviors

    He displayed things he did didn’t seem to me to be um the behaviors or the actions of a man who just found out his wife had been killed I just remember him being distracted and looking back quite cold on that morning back at the scene of the crime further

    Evidence was being uncovered collector’s obviously come to rest uh once the vehicle’s taken off approximately where we are now but the critical points for us as the investigating officer of me myself is the fact that in her in her left hand she had a mobile phone which had obviously suffered during the impact

    From the frontier and it was broken in several pieces the alarm Bell start to ring who’s she been in contact with or who’s tried to contact her so for me to obtain that phone data would give me a line of inquiry to actually find out who

    She’s been talking to and and the length and time of the calls as well which starts the investigation going and gives it some Focus police were about to obtain information from Colette’s crushed mobile phone that could quite possibly tear Colette’s family Apart the market town of Chesterfield lying in the foothills of The darbishire Dales was home to Colette and Christopher Daffin who married in the town in 1993 on the morning of the 8th of July 2009 kette made her usual walk to work at the nearby Ringwood Hall hotel but

    Colette’s Journey was cut short at around 6:00 a.m. that morning when she was callously run down by a red colored 4×4 that failed to stop investigations at the scene LED police to believe that this was not a road traffic accident but a murder and the fact Colette was on the

    Phone around the time of her death led the police to request her phone data the mobile phone became very significant in itself because when we’ done some call data it became then evident that um there had been two calls from Christopher daffins to Colette Daffin mobile to mobile and Colette Daffin back

    To Christopher Daffin and these calls were between half 5 in the morning and 6:00 and we believe she was killed around 6:00 that morning so those four phone calls and that contact between them is very significant and it was more significant because Christopher Daffin never told us about any of

    This however Christopher Daffin did tell police that as part of his electrical business he rented storage space at the clock tower Business Center the same Center where a red frona had been spotted abandoned in the months leading up to Colette’s death information uh came in that um Christopher Daffin had

    Got a lock up uh in the clock house tower that then became quite critical information for me and Christopher daffin’s status as a suspect was massively raised senior officer Debbie Platt called family liaison officer Nicola Clark and detect detective Constable Dave Porter to the scene where they were

    Briefed on the latest developments by detective inspector Rick Alton one of the inquiries that I wanted Dave to do when he went to support Nikki is to obviously find Christopher twofold one to get him away from the family because I knew which way I think this investigation is now starting to go and

    Secondly to obtain his phone about 20 minutes past 1 on that afternoon we arrived at um Maddy’s house Colette’s moms but Christopher left he left the house and he told them he was going to walk the family dog and he’d gone home so our next month obviously was to

    Go to Five seed the street the marital home of Christopher and Colette Daffin hi Chris I’m DC Dave Porters can we come in and talk to you I asked him questions about his movements that morning and I told him that we wanted his telephone uh the only real um questions he asked back were why we wanted the telephone there were no other questions

    Really and I just explained to him that everything that to be looked into it a very serious incident and we needed to look at his phone I stepped outside the premises and left Nikki with Christopher Daffin and I telephone rck Alon the DI I explained to him I got the telephone the

    Mobile phone I also told him that this something didn’t seem right he was uh too calm there were no he wasn’t caught up at all about what had happened something wasn’t right something just wasn’t right Chris what you to accompany us to the to the police station he made

    A decision to bring Christopher daffing back to chville division headquarters to get details of what had happened to him that morning what his movements were and where he’ been and what he knew about colx movements he agreed to this and and we set off and we came back to Chesterfield Police Station

    There was concern around uh how he was behaving with the uh family Ling officers there was concern around the vehicle was still outstanding we still hadn’t identified the red Frontier we knew that um Christopher Daffin had got a lock up at the clock tower we could put an abandoned red Frontier a similar

    Number plate to the clock house tower and we knew that weren’t dealing with a Non-Stop collision at that point if a woman dies in this country the vast percentage die at the hands of a partner or husband but if this was to prove to be a domestic murder it was not following the

    Usual pattern of events associated with this type of crime the issue with domestic homicide there generally appears to be an escalation of risk before somebody would have called whether it was a neighbor whether it was the victim to report domestic abuse the unusual factor in this case is that um

    There was no history of domestic abuse reported to the police on the contrary descriptions of kette and Christ Daffin given to the police were of a very happily married couple and that for me was quite an unusual Factor if we were considering him a suspect part of me would have

    Anticipated that there would be something there a motive or something around previous domestic violence within that household and there didn’t appear to be anything with no previous knowledge of Christopher Daffin it was vital that police build a picture of who he was and more precisely an account of his

    Movements that morning Christ daffing told me that himself and Colette had slept together that night they got up in the morning at 5:00 he’d left the house at quter 5 and he was going to go fishing so he went to the uh the Canal which is local only a

    Few hundred yards from where they live really he said that there’ve been telephone calls and and text between him himself and Colette whilst he was at the canal something about an errand she wanted him to run for bread and and that’s as much as he said really and

    Then following that he got back home and received a telephone call from Colette’s boss at work and telling him that she’ not arriv for work so Christopher said he rang the police he was told um that there had been an accident and somebody would come

    And see him he also said that he walked from his house at Cedar Street to the scene or to the where the scene was taped off from where he was met by police uniform police officer he explained who he was to the officer and the officer took him home very shortly

    After that I believe um the message was passed by officers that collect was involved in the accident they found me once he got down to the police station and basically gave me just a brief account of what Christopher is initially saying and there was no sign of him going fishing

    Nobody had seen any fishing tackle and if it was fishing when that you know when it had the news it was a very short fishing trip I’m local to this area I know Chesterville very well I do a lot of mountain biking and I do do that route some times down there

    Along The Canal at hollingwood and I know where he say he was fishing that there isn’t a signal down there it just increases my suspicions around whether his account is actually true or not with di Alton convinced Chris was lying about where he was at the time of the phone call to Colette

    The police decided to take a dramatic step in the investigation about 2:00 in the afternoon possibly a bit later and um myself uh di Alton who was a deputy siio uh we sting a police van and we were just reviewing the evidence and the picture was obviously building uh around

    Christopher Daffin and obviously to arrest anybody is a serious step and not one that you would ever take lightly ccum You’ run through a whole series of um questions in your mind because um the impact for this family if I arrest an innocent man would possibly be catastrophic because not only have we

    Told this family that the mothers died that their daughters died but we’re now also going to have to go back and inform them that the man we’ve arrested is the dad is their son-in-law is their son and that’s a a really difficult decision to make but the evidence was stacking up

    Overwhelmingly against Christopher and it’s my duty to account for Colette’s death and that’s when it’s the decision yeah arresting for the murder and although and and you say it now it’s quite easy to say but within that van there was quite a lot of pressure because soon as we make that

    Decision not only is it going to focus our investigation in relation to Christopher what we have to bear in mind as well is that it’s going to tear that family potentially tear that family apart we hadn’t located the vehicle Christopher Daffin wasn’t wearing a gry

    Hooded top uh at the house so there were obviously key pieces of evidence missing but my view was that um there was too much suspicion not to arrest and uh we needed then to secure the house the vehicle um he’ got a couple of vehicles

    On his Drive anyway um and that for me became a key line of inquiry the decision to arrest Christopher Daffin only 7 hours after the death of his wife Colette was even a surprise to the investigating officers taking chis a statement in Chesterfield Police Station as I was taking the statement we

    Got approximately a page and a half through the statement and I received a phone call from the Alon again so I obviously left the room I’m speaking today pter over the phone and basically instructed him that this is what we want doing Christopher’s to be arrested on

    Suspicion of the murder of his wife and there was a bit of a a pause then the pause went on a bit longer and I basically had to say to Dave did you wear that and it come back and it was quite obvious that Dave was shocked I was taken somewhat by surprise

    Uh but I went in when I got some details off a rick in relation to the phone calls uh not telling with what he was telling us and other information that had come to light from Witnesses I went into the same room and I arrested him on suspicion of the

    Murder of cette what you do not have to say anything the only thing he says it was something like uh what and that that that was the only emotion I saw from him he never said another word he never he never spoke another word I told him to

    Follow me down to the custody this week and which he did I led him down there he never asked a question he never said a word following the arrest of Christopher Daffin it was Nicola Clark’s job to tell Colette’s family that Chris was being held in C custody as a suspect in her

    Murder as a police officer having to turn up at the family home and informed the immediate family members that we as the police had now arrested a husband who they trusted um with the care of their daughter it was a difficult thing to have to do and their initial reactions

    Were that they didn’t want to believe MADD was very uh uh found it very hard to believe at that time that he could possibly do something like that and she didn’t want to believe it but uh I don’t know it’s neither of us wanted to believe it I read on the

    News that they’ve arrested a 42 year old man on suspicion of Colette’s death never in a million years did I think it would chis that no I knew they’d got the wrong man I mean uh why would why why would they arrest Chris so of course I thought well it be released

    Very shortly then we’ll have a chat with Chris Daffin now in custody police could secure his and Colette’s property and search it thoroughly for evidence to link him to the crime they were also Keen to establish a motive the home address was sealed as a scene there was

    Um two vehicles on the driveway one of which was a white viaro van again that was sealed as a scene and we also uh locked down uh the lockup that Christopher used at the clock house tower and then set the parameters of what I was asking staff to specifically

    Look for uh and certainly from the home address search I was looking for a motive is this a domestic dispute that’s that’s gone totally totally wrong uh and it’s been done out of sheer frustration pressure is it Financial is there anybody else still out there that could be involved Bernie

    M with somebody lurking in the bushes searches within the house retrieved financial documents which police hoped might point to a possible motive while officers beginning a search of Chris daffin’s work van were about to make a significant Discovery myself and two other officers got to see the street

    Uh Our intention of being to search a Vox all van which he used for his work as an electrician and as we removed items from the car and Van they were to be photographed I received a call from the search team that’s responsible for the search of Christopher’s van and with

    What they told me it did blow me mind to a certain extent they’ve recovered items of clothing which match the description of the man that was alleged to have been in the Hedge roll near to the scene and also underneath that a V5 document which related to a Vox all fronti with the

    Registration which started with L5 so quite hard to believe at that time and I think after i’ put the phone down from the search advisor it was very much sit back and have I just listened and heard what he’s told me the V5 log book directly linked Chris

    Daffin to a vehicle that matched the description of the one that brutally mowed down his wife and the clothes found in his work van were identical to those worn by the man seen acting suspiciously at the scene immediately before the murder the fact that we found

    The old all with a V5 document and the clothing did feel like a Vindication for making the arrest but you never make such an arrest on a wing on a pray you’ve got to have the courage e convictions in this type of investigation but we still needed to to

    Find that fronti it got to be somewhere local uh and that would be the critical piece of the jigsaw and the person the police thought could help locate the frona was about to be interviewed by detective constables Dave poris and Mandy shanburn at Chesterfield Police Station it was after 10:00 that night we

    Began the first interview with Christopher daian want to know about his family life but by this time he taken advice from his Lister and he maintained a no comment interview it every question that was asked it replied no comment if you’re genuinely an innocent individual

    You would be crying out to be heard in that police station and you would be given as your movements and aliis and people who could assist and we just got no comment after no comment after no comment no comment and although you know that’s a person’s perfect entitlement to

    Do that um I just also think it’s an indication of guilt of an individual when somebody decides to go no comment although the interviewing officers are very frustrated I’m frustrated because the family are asking us questions around what’s happening and we can’t give them an account time was running out and the

    Police required cast iron evidence to charge Chris Daffin with the murder of his wife they needed to find the murder weapon the red 4×4 and that breakthrough would come the following day On the morning of the 9th of July 2009 Colette daffin’s husband Christopher was in custody in Chesterfield he was being held on suspicion of her Murder By running her down in a red 4×4 the previous day ket’s family found it impossible to believe her husband had killed her we thought Chris was a

    Victim even how bad I felt I thought well God he he must he must feel well it’s it’s ripped my hat out how was he going to feel but Colette’s sister Jane had information that would rock the family she came and she started saying that uh she knew about the affair i”d

    Been having with this other woman and uh collected ask her not to say anything it were just horrific hearing all that so as well lo my sister and might say my mom and dad Liv and the daughter we after they all all this we’d add information into the uh investigation team that Christopher

    Daffin was um having in an affair and obviously that did become a line of inquiry in its own right we arrested The Other Woman she had clarified that there had been a relationship over a number of years um that it had been an onoff relationship um and that that it had

    Finished and that she had no idea whatsoever of his intention to kill Colette um and with her movements uh and and Alibi from other people we were quite clear that she hadn’t been involved in the preparation or the actual act uh of murder Christopher Daffin wouldn’t admit that he’d been

    Having an affair he says he was friendly with this woman but he wouldn’t have it that he was having an affair it’s strange but um when asked if he was having an affair with this woman he denied it but when asked if he’ murdered KET he went no

    Comment police had arrested Chris less than 7 hours after Colette’s death subsequent searches of Chris’s work van had revealed clothes similar to those worn by a man acting suspiciously at the scene and a logbook belonging to a red colored voxal frona the vehicle used in Colette’s killing a vehicle that the

    Police had yet to trace the frustration that we’re feeling cuz this car is still out standing you know we’ve looked at everything we’ve looked at the intelligence systems we’ve looked at ampr the you know the number plate recognition system we’ve looked at speed cameras we’ve had the helicopter

    Up doing all the surrounding area we’ve even gone to the extent of asking the fire service not just in this County but other counties if they get any burnt out Vehicles the car is critical cuz it’s actually the murder weapon that was used to uh murder kette and by finding the

    Vehicle hopefully we will then have forensics on the vehic vehicle that would connect Christopher to the inside of the vehicle and collect sadly to the outside of the vehicle once again it was a member of the public that came forward with Vital Information a call comes into

    The police and it’s basically a woman local to the she’s heard about the incident because of how close the community is and she’s walking down a pathway at the back of a club that’s waiting to be knocked down it’s totally derilict and stuck right underneath the

    Club in like an open garage is the voxo Frontier so this is what used to be the uh trough league club and the day after uh the Mur this is where the voxal frona was found detectives found petrol and gas canisters in and around the frona they believe it was Chris daffin’s intention to return to the vehicle at an

    Opportune time and by igniting the canisters explode both both the car and the derelict Club totally destroying any evidence held within it for us as an investigation team that would have been quite critical point for us because a lot of the evidence that we found from the vehicle would have been lost within

    The fire and obviously buried under as you can see quite a large amount of the rubble DNA and forensic evidence in and around the frontia undisputedly linked Chris to the vehicle even down to the shoes he wore on the day of the murder the decision to make that early arrest

    Was in my mind um you know validated completely because had we not we would have lost critical evidence if Christopher Daffin hadn’t been locked up on the 8th we would potentially have lost the evidence in the white vivaro van the grey hooded top the V5 document and definitely the frontier of vehicle

    So you know in terms of um justifying that arrest uh and and feeling that you know it was the right decision to make at that time you can look back now and think yeah you know it was the right decision to make so the decision then is is made to charge Christopher in

    Relation to the murder police submitted their evidence to the crown prosecution service and just before 1:00 a.m. on the morning of the 10th of July 2009 less than 48 hours after Colette daffin’s death her husband Christopher Daffin was charged with her murder on the 8 of July 2009 at Chesterfield County of D

    Collect to make when I heard about all this I thought how I could read people so well uh I know he wasn’t like that initially he was you know they was happy but uh least it just deteriorated to this stage uh uh once he’s you know he messed about

    We other women there’s no there’s probably not there’s no room for three in the marriage but detectives were about to uncover the real motive behind Colette’s murder The Specialist departments that we have that can look deep into people’s finances was one of the financial investigators Mark with just an A4 piece

    Of paper and shaking it with a great smile on his face and puts it on the desk and says look at that well to me I basic says well what am I looking at because it’s an insurance policy for 250,000 life insurance had been taken out on Colette Daffin for a figure far

    Greater than any other previous policy and police had concerns regarding the authenticity of the signature on the policy it came back from the forensics at Birmingham which basically says that that is not collect signature which again when you you sit back and you think this has obviously been planned

    Over a considerable period of time again that gives you your motive with overwhelming evidence stacked up against him Christopher Daffin eventually pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife kette on the 7th of April 2010 Chris daff appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing when the judge sentenced

    Christopher Daffin to 25 years for murder um it’s it’s it’s a mixed emotion really you know that your decisions your investigations been sound and that’s been justified in the court of law but you’re also conscious you sat in that courtroom and there are numerous family members and friends there and so you

    It’s a mixed emotion really She was my daughter and my friend I rolled into one I feel lost part of me ripped away it’ll Never Mend nobody knows what it’s like for a mother Dr Berry a child

    22 Comments

    1. Ok, to the police. You can no use someone silence as guilt. They might be the murder or not, but the normal person doesn't get interrogated often. So they don't want the police to twist their words during an emotional time. Duh

    2. Harrowing. Absolutely senseless. Rest in peace Collette. I hope that vile creature that did this to you has, is and will suffer every minute for your murder. Condolences to Collettes family and friends. Sleep tight Collette.

    3. Well if you watch when she walks up the aisle which should be the happiest time, neither seem to notice the other one as she reaches the preacher. The groom doesn’t even look at his bride, he looks to his best man to move up to the altar with him. Neither looked happy.

    4. Not all women report domestic violence. I suffered for 10 years and kept it hidden from my family, his family and our friends. The only one who knew was my best friend just incase I disappeared. I had a fractured skull, broken arms and much more but we always had a good excuse ready to save his arse. Don’t assume if someone has no criminal record they are a good person. Book by its cover springs to mind. Love and prayers to all survivors xx❤xx

    5. Such wickedness. Superbly told story of such a vile individual who snuffed out a life for financial gain. Excellent police work. I feel so very sorry for the family left behind. I can't begin to imagine the pain of the grown children, knowing their own father did this to their mother. RIP Collette.

    6. I wish cops would stop bleating on about how people who ask for a lawyer are straightaway seen as suspicious, too many innocent people re currently in jail because they tried to co-operate with the police. It's just a mindgame to make people too frightened to be seen a guilty…guess what you don't owe them anything nor are they going to be in your circle of friends fter the interviews..they re literally of no import to the rest of your life…UNLESS you do co-operate then you will see them quite a lot..until you're incarcerated for something you didn't do. So no DON'T. They are not your friend they are sly, underhanded and manipulative. And when you do need them they are nowhere to be seen.

    7. This is a really superb series….always so well-narrated & compiled. British forensic work awesome. Another scumbag caught, but what a pity about the (usually) light sentences! RIP Collette🥀

    8. So they arrested him, half way through taking a statement from him? Wouldn't it have been better to get him to finish his statement, sign it, then arrest him? They had him at the station; he wasn't going to go anywhere, so they have a half finished statement, the remainder of which could very well be different once he knew he was a suspect, ie: arrested. Very odd.

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