Murder 24/7 – how West Mercia Police detectives solved ‘sadistic’ crimes

One featured case was the killing of Cheryl McKenna, another inquiry Lougher was in charge of.

Shortly after the attack, her former partner Chris Hemming called emergency services and confessed.

“On the face of it, [he] admits in that first phone call to the call operator that he’s killed Cheryl,” Lougher said.

“But actually, there’s still a whole host of work that needs to go on in order to progress that through the criminal justice system and into court.”

Officers arrived within minutes of the call, arrested Hemming and found the body of Cheryl upstairs in the home. Her 18-year-old daughter, who was also there, was unharmed.

But throughout his police interview, Hemming, 47, answered “no comment” to every question. He then entered a not guilty plea when he was stood before a judge.

Detectives had to build up their case against him ready for the trial, Lougher said.

“He was essentially trying to suggest that he suffered from a loss of control, which would have seen his murder conviction drop down to a manslaughter,” he added.