Murdertown: Lichfield
In July 1999, the remains of Wendy Upton were found in nearby woods; she was identified using dental records. Upton had been reported as missing nine months previously. At the time, police launched a major campaign to find the missing 40-year-old even staging reconstruction of her movements on the day she disappeared with the help of the local community.
One particularly helpful person was Steven Salisbury, who took part in the reconstruction and appeared in a press conference urging Wendy to get in touch. However, as well as helping the Police, Salisbury was also under suspicion, and when Wendy’s body was found, he was quickly arrested and questioned.
It emerged Salisbury met Upton and had sex with her on wasteland behind the Tesco store where he worked. He said she became ‘hysterical’ afterward after telling her he would be unable to get her groceries that night.
When she threatened to tell her husband, Peter, and Salisbury’s wife that he had raped her, the security guard took a piece of rope or cord and put it around her neck. After the killing, Salisbury left Mrs. Upton’s body overnight but returned the following day, moved it to nearby undergrowth, and covered it in leaves.
With first-hand testimony from family members, police officers, witnesses and reporters, Murdertown shines a light on some of Britain’s darkest murder locations, examining the crimes that rocked these communities and the impact they have had on the people living there.
Each episode focuses on a murder in one UK city, setting the crime in the context of its location’s wider cultural and criminal landscape.
Season 3 Episode 9
Runtime: 60 minutes
Time: 21:00
Airdate: 22 Nov 2021
Network: Crime & Investigation