Husband reported wife missing, then her body was found in wedding dress bag
This story discusses striking details about human remains and death that some people may find upsetting
When Kirsty Wilkinson found the perfect dress for her wedding after a whirlwind romance, she bought a pink suit carrier to protect her on her big day in February 2008.
Just over a year later the pink carrier would make a shocking reappearance with a gruesome discovery that led to the capture of a ruthless killer.
Now the story of how that murderer was brought to justice has been revealed in a new documentary.
On the morning of 6 April 2009, a lorry driver left the M4 and parked on an underpass near Porthcawl in south Wales when he spotted a bag on the embankment.
Thinking that the suitcase might have fallen from the roof rack of a car passing over the bridge above, the driver picked up the suitcase and began to open it, only to see a hand and some blond, blood-stained hair.
Twenty miles down the road in Swansea, senior investigating officer Dorian Lloyd had been called in a few days earlier to assist with a missing person’s case.
Kirsty Grabham, 24, nee Wilkinson, was reported missing a week ago by her husband Paul on March 30 and was last seen by friends after a night out last Friday.
Following his tip-off, police carried out a cursory check of his home but found nothing negative, but Lloyd was called to the scene when officers realized the body next to the M4 was that of a young woman.
Kirsty Wilkinson was soft-hearted and trying to please people, her mother says [Family of Kirsty Wilkinson]
“It was terrible,” he recalls. “Inside the suitcase we found two black bags with bin liners.
“One was placed on the body’s head, the other on its feet, and itself was wrapped in a pink robe carrier.”
The investigation team suspected the body was Kirsty but were not sure.
Former BBC Wales chief correspondent Penny Roberts, who covered the case at the time, said: “A woman of the same description as Kirsty had gone missing in the same town. It seems so unbelievable.”
The body was found 20 miles from Kirsty’s home, which also raised suspicions because Lloyd said it was “very rare for a body to be moved that far”.
Cathy Broomfield said Kirsty’s behavior changed after they got married and she became “nervous”. [Yeti Television/BBC Cymru Wales]
Her mother, Cathy Broomfield, was given the terrifying task of trying to identify her youngest daughter’s body as evidence pointed to Kirsty as the victim.
he said BBC One Wales series: The Truth About My Murder: “She looked like something out of a horror movie. Her nose was broken, her jaw was broken. They had washed her hair, but there was still blood in it. She didn’t look like my little girl.”
“All his features had changed dramatically. I could only recognize his eyebrows and their shape. I couldn’t even cry, I was so shocked.”
Lloyd said it was a “particularly painful revelation” that Kirsty’s body was wrapped in the pink carrier she had bought to protect her wedding dress.
When police told Grabham that the body in the bag was his wife, his reaction – making no comment to any questions and showing no emotion at the shocking news – raised suspicions.
But officers needed much more than suspicion and it was at this point that the pathology team’s findings proved crucial in finding Kirsty’s killer.
The autopsy revealed the true extent of the violence inflicted on Kirsty before her death.
Dr Richard Shepherd, the Home Office’s former forensic pathologist, said the extent and distribution of his injuries suggested it was a “violent, violent and prolonged attack”.
Kirsty had fingerprints around her throat and the bone behind her tongue was broken, indicating the extent of force applied to her.
Cathy and Kirsty grew from a little baby into a petite woman, five feet shorter than her husband. [Family of Kirsty Wilkinson]
Meanwhile, the police were painting a picture of Kirsty and Grabham’s relationship.
Cathy said Kirsty, who works as a glamor model, had been in a relationship with another man but suddenly announced she was marrying a man called Paul.
They had a whirlwind romance and got married three months after they met; but soon Cathy noticed changes in her daughter’s behavior.
Kirsty no longer “looked like herself” and was running away from the house “like a frightened rabbit” when her husband started honking his horn outside.
“He was neurotic. We didn’t like him.”
The letters that emerged between the two revealed the problems in their relationship, and forensic psychologist Dr. Catrin Williams examined the evidence about the couple.
“We see some evidence of coercive controlling behavior in this relationship.
“This may include controlling their movements, isolating them, and controlling which friends they see. It may escalate to the point where the partner controls every aspect of their life.”
Cathy said Grabham strangled Kirsty at a party “so much so that she literally thought she was going to die”.
Paul Grabham sentenced to at least 19 years in prison for murdering his wife [PA Media]
Although there was mounting evidence of Grabham’s violence, this did not make him a murderer.
He told police he went out with Kirsty on the night she disappeared but he got too drunk and returned alone, claiming he woke up to find her gone with her purse, wallet and phone.
But neighbors had heard things between 3am and 4am, shortly after Kirsty had left her friends despite their pleas for her to stay at their home.
They heard someone from the apartment below screaming with their hand over their mouth, followed by crashing sounds and something heavy being dragged from the bathroom.
A witness from the bar Kirsty and Grabham went to that night recalled serving his sangria with apples floating in it.
Shepherd said a piece of apple was found in Kirsty’s small intestine during the autopsy, which “fits very well with Kirsty dying between three and four o’clock in the morning.”
Sisters Hayley and Kirsty Wilkinson “really loved each other” and Hayley is left devastated by Kirsty’s death, their mother says [Family of Kirsty Wilkinson]
Police needed evidence that Kirsty had died in the flat, and senior forensic expert Claire Morse was the one to find it.
He saw small traces of blood on the wall and found more on the floor under the strong forensic light.
He also saw stains under the freshly painted ceiling and found blood in other parts of the apartment, including the bathroom.
Her DNA profile matched Kirsty’s and forensics also found small traces of her blood on Grabham’s clothes.
To make the case against him watertight, they needed to prove he carried her body into the underpass.
Phone records show Grabham’s mobile phone was at the location where Kirsty’s body was dumped at 10.30am on Tuesday, March 31, as he had received and sent a message from there at that time.
In January 2010 Grabham stood trial for Kirsty’s murder and was sentenced on 4 February was found guilty of killing him.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 19 years.
Roberts remembers the hearing. “Grabham’s behavior in court did not change at all. He showed absolutely no emotion. Nothing flickered on his face.”
The impact of Kirsty’s death led to a more tragic development.
He had two older sisters; one of them, Hayley, was only 16 months her senior and extremely close to Kirsty.
Cathy said: “They really loved each other. Hayley said: ‘I feel like a part of me has been ripped away. I couldn’t live without my little sister.’
“He started drinking really hard. He died in my arms at Warsgrave Hospital in Coventry.
“Two of them died very young.”
