{"id":32851,"date":"2023-05-16T14:52:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T12:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1829643"},"modified":"2023-05-17T04:52:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T02:52:53","slug":"what-happened-to-paul-bethell-as-seen-in-steeltown-murders","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/what-happened-to-paul-bethell-as-seen-in-steeltown-murders\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to Paul Bethell, as seen in Steeltown Murders?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The detective led the cold case investigation into the murders of Sandra Newton, Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd. <\/p>

By Abby Robinson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 16 May 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

This feature contains information from all four episodes of Steeltown Murders.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This feature also contains discussion of themes such as sexual assault that some readers may find upsetting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

BBC drama Steeltown Murders<\/a> charts the cold case investigation into the rapes and murders of three teenage girls in the Port Talbot area of Wales, near Swansea.<\/p>\n

Sandra Newton and friends Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd, all aged 16, were fatally attacked while travelling home from nights out in 1973, but the identity of the perpetrator wasn\u2019t confirmed until 2002.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The follow-up investigation, led by Detective Chief Inspector Paul Bethell, used pioneering DNA evidence to posthumously expose Joseph Kappen<\/a>, who is believed to have committed other crimes of a similar nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case would go down in global criminal history for the revolutionary methods used by the South Wales Police,\u201d said Bethell. \u201cIt was a massive moment for us as investigators. We now had a golden opportunity to search for the killer of these girls.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Who is Paul Bethell?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Bethell was born in Bridgend in south Wales and joined the Glamorgan Constabulary, now <\/span>South Wales Police, in 1967 as a cadet, before becoming a police constable. He then set his sights on becoming a detective and later joined the Criminal Investigation Department, ascending the ranks to\u00a0<\/span>Sergeant, Detective Sergeant, <\/span>Detective Inspector and <\/span>Detective Chief Inspector.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
He remained in the profession for 54 years.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Steeltown Murders true story: How accurate is the BBC One drama?<\/a><\/li>\n
Steeltown Murders highlights Jospeh Kappen\u2019s other victims\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n
Who is Gerard Croiset? Steeltown Murders\u2019 Dutch psychic explained<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
In the initial investigation, there were 150 detectives working the case but the second time around, the team of three had to trawl through 10,500 suspects and 14,000 statements (via Wales Online<\/a>).<\/p>\n
Over time, the list of potential perpetrators was trimmed down to 500, with the first 353 checks failing to deliver a positive result. But through a stroke of genius, they eventually had their man.<\/p>\n
Kappen\u2019s son Paul, who was seven at the time of the murders, had been convicted for car theft and his DNA was in the police database \u2013 50% of which he shared with his father.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a groundbreaking technique, the first time it\u2019s ever been done in the UK and possibly the world \u2013 and from there, the new investigative tool now known as familial DNA<\/span> was developed,\u201d forensic\u00a0<\/span>scientist Dr Colin Dark told the <\/span>BBC\u2019s\u00a0Steeltown Murders documentary<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n
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