Christopher Laverack: BBC Crimewatch

BBC Crimewatch from August 1984, five months after Christopher Laverack disappeared from his half-sister's home in Hull.

Further resources and links on the Christopher Laverack case that shocked Hull in 1984 and for decades beyond, as the killer was not caught at the time. I am looking in more detail at this case for a number of reasons. One is that it is not a cold case, there is now a killer which the Laverack family accepts, although for reasons which will become clear, there was never a trial. Another reason is that it’s really the case that inadvertently led me to start Crime Guy: it is a very important part of my childhood, and that of every 1980s child born in the area.

One thing we can do for a closed/solved case like this one, is review what the police said at the time of the crime and connect it to what we later found out. One specific example in this case is that the police always suspected Christopher’s uncle based on the car seen outside the house and the picturesque location chosen to conceal Christopher’s remains. The word on the street in Hull in 1984 was that a relative had killed Christopher, but it would be 2012 before this was publicly announced.

The BBC Crimewatch reconstruction features many details I did not know about, including the theme tune from TV show The Fall Guy. This was such a happy song and series for me, and I find it almost unbearably sad that it was the last detail of Christopher’s life.

Newspaper Round-up

Hull Daily Mail, August 2019

The Guardian, August 2012

BBC Crimewatch

The reconstruction below was made five months after Christopher was killed, in August 1984.

Christopher Laverack’s older half-sister lived at 7 Harpham Grove, Hull.