A relative who was looking after little Christopher Laverick slipped out to buy some crisps for the boy. While she was away a TV set disappeared from the house – and so too did Christopher.

The hunt for the nine-year-old, who disappeared on Thursday March 8th, 1984, went on for two days. On March 10th a man out walking his dog saw the body in a canal wrapped in a carpet underlay. The boy had been raped and savagely beaten.

Christopher’s kidnapper was almost certainly the same man who stole the TV set. Although there were no other clues, Hull police mounted their biggest ever manhunt. The results were negative, causing a member of the public in 1986 to offer a reward of £100,000 for the capture of the killer. Even now the hunt goes on – police had a major review of the case in March, 2004. UK Murder Stories from True Crime Library.

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