Systemic Reform and Ongoing Parole Battles

Hello there and welcome to Myrermost British. I'm Zach. Hey welcome guys. I'm Rachel Welcome to all our listeners. Yeah, welcome new and old. Thank you so much for listening joining us again for another week of crime. Yes Youve gott to get your crime fix. Yeah. weekly crime fix is needed. Well, we've got a special month going on for June It is island mononth summertime Hey, let's go to the islands Have a good time. That'd be nice. Physically go to the islands, but we're going to take you there with our All crime episodes So across the month of June, we'll be looking at cases from the island communities pllaces that are often closely connected to the UK, but not always a part of it in the same way So the Isle of White is a part of England While Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man are crown dependencies They are self governing islands under the British crown. but not partart of the United Kingdom itself, kind of It's kind of weird But they're still a part of the British Isles Yeah. So that's what we cover. so Ireland you know, the whole of Ireland, not just Yeah the whole of the UK plusus obviously the British Isles so I mean, who knows? we may even delve into British territories, you know, with like Falklands and Yeah you know, anything to do with Britain and the UK as a whole Yeah. Yeah Well, then we would branch out and be like, oh, well, how about we do the commommonwealth? Yeah. Th I don't know about that just shit. Let's just st whole the whole commommonwealth and you're like, okay, now we've got tons to choose from. Now, we've got plenty of wild and crazy stuff going on right here. But before we begin, it's just a small request from us If you enjoy listening to our true crime stories Please give us a like and a follow and a five star rating. It really really helps with everything, all the background, algorithms and that And then you can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Murdermost British and on Facebook at MMB podcast. 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Fr the kind of places where children vanished and homes became crime scenes but at least Lodge The danger was already close The door stood open to the wrong people. A note waited in the window And somewhere in the quiet between one February evening And the next morning Two teenagers drifted beyond the reach of the adults who were supposed to know where they were By the time the island began searching, It was already too late The Isle of Man sits in the Irish Sea between Britain and Ireland Close enough to feel familiar They're separate enough to feel like its own world is small, self governing and proud of its difference But in the early two thousands, it still carried the image of a quieter place A kind of island where people knew each other and where the water seemed to hold the worst of the outside world at a distance But every small place has shadows Behind the island's wealth, independence, and beautiful coastlines were children whose lives did not fit the gentler story the island liked to tell about itself. Samantha Barton and George Green were two of them They were sixteen years old. both known to social services, both carrying years of disruption behind them With Samantha Barton, she was born on the eighteenth of may nineteen eighty five and instability came early. She had spina bifida occulta. a small opening at the base of her spine, which was operated unsuccessfully when she was still a baby Her childhood moved between Ireland, Manchester and the Isle of Man Around the age of seven, after her father left the family home and the island Samantha began having emotional difficulties. In June of nineteen ninety five, she was received into voluntary care on the Isle of Man after her mother said that she could no longer control her That'd be really hard. I mean, I don't think you control your children. I think, you know, you kind of have Yeahah, you kind of like a management person, you know, Yeah, but that wouldd be really tough though to where when you're that young and you're that parental figure leaves and I really don't know how to to handle it Yeah. I mean children are going process it obviously in different ways. There's some children that you know, depending on how the parents relationship is. You know, if it was one of arguments say that the child's not really You know, if one of the parents has left the home, they're not going to actually they're going to find peace with that, you know, because there's no longer arguments that they're hearing and stuff. So I think it all depends on the situation By twelve, her public image had begun to follow her She made headlines after being placed in the juvenile wing of the island's adult prison for offenses including assaulting social workers and criminal damage To strangers, she became the wild child. problem girl. The child nobody could control Headlines flatten out, people Samantha could be difficult, yes She could also be loving, funny, warm, and full of life. Well, she was then sent off the island to a specialist one to one placement in Pembroickkshire It was meant to assess her needs and last around six weeks, but Instead, it stretched on for about sixteen months More placements followed. Her mother later said that there had been about Eight moves in four years. Geez. That's a lot. That's a lot. For a child, you know, a young adolescent teenager Well, by two thousand one, Samantha was back on the Isle of Man with no formal qualifications No work experience, few steady routines and a growing need for care that did more than react after trouble had already happened. The warning signs were not vague So her own social worker had said that if Samantha came back to the island She would need clear structure Car boundaries and experienced specialist staff But no formal assessment was carried out before her return Even though social services knew the island did not have the resources that she needed Instead of structure, Samantha was moved through unsuitable placements including a semi derelict house in Douglas where she lived alone at fifteen until in september two thousand one She arrived at Last Lodge two now in a care campus in Bradon, near Douglas That's crazy. He's just putting them in some sem derelic h and I made fifteen years old Yeah, wild. But maybe she was a homeer. maybe she You know, they didn't choose to place it there. Why would they you know what I mean?, put her in a derelict? They just didn't have what they what she needed. She probably should have stayed on the mainland to until really her out done and stuff. Yeahah, definitely That's crazy. Well, Least Lodge two was supposed to be a step towards semi independent living In plain terms, Samantha was only sixteen and living alone placement offered little of the structure that she'd needed There was no care plan, no placement agreement and no proper support package A clear objective had been set for what the placement was meant to achieve And for two and a half months, she did not even Have a keyworer No support by the sounds of that Yeah, you're gonna see a running theme throughout this whole case. I mean, to be fair. Failures. There's a lot of you know, even now. Yeah. failures in social services come to light, you know? Yeah So this is not actually surprising me. the Part of our society that we should protect the most, our children. And they're just failing. Yeahep, very much so even before she arrived, People inside the system knew how fragile the arrangement was One Nugent paper used a devastating word for it. warehousing It said Nugent care stood little chance of having any impact on Samantha And the professionals saw the move as folly This was not a hidden weakness discovered later It had been recognized F from the start Once Samantha was there, the warnings became a daily reality Last Lodge two drifted beyond meaningful adult control Young people came and went Visitors stayed without permission Drink was present and drugs was suspected. Staff nearby could offer help, but some saw their role as closer to good neighbours than responsible carers There was no proper system for nighttime checks meaning Samantha could leave in the middle of the night, stay out until morning and return without anyone knowing exactly where she had gone. or when she hadd gone In January, the decline was visible. She told the drug and alcohol team that she had lost two stone or twenty eight pounds in five months. There's a lot of that is really bad. Yeah Clearly not eating very well getting the nutritions that she needs Yeah. And then if you've got alcohol and drugs mixed in as well Exactly. That makes it worse This is where you'd have to step you say, okay, well this ain't working, obviously. Let's get you the hell out of here. In the final weeks, the danger around Samantha was no longer abstract On the thirtieth of january, she phoned to say she had heard Lis Lodge two was going to be done over. buy a smackhe. who knew where she lived What happened next was silence. after that There was no evidence less cleanly recorded, but deeply troubling that Samantha had spoken of men after her over drugs and a fearing she would be kneecapped Okay, that's another just get her out of there.. Just take her away and just be like, Yooy, you need to go somewhere else. Yeah if she's explaining that she's being threatened and stuff, they definitely needed to remove her from this type of situation. Yeah Well, Samantha was not the only young person being failed in those months George Green's path was different It carried some of the same fracture lines He was born on the twenty seventh of december of nineteen eighty five into a family that loved him deeply. remembered him as a happy boy who liked fishing, bike rides and walking the dogs and being close to home. Then secondary school came. And with it a wider circle more freedom and trouble that began to gather speed with the wrong crowd. Y. That's very easily to do Yeah because by twelve, George's name had already been on the child prrotective register By his early teens, there were offenses involving violence, burglary, robbery, criminal damage, and theft But he was not only just his record could be funny, polite and easy to like He was also easily led inccreasingly reckless. but still a child The boy already being spoken about as though the damage had settled into something permanent This is the thing sometimes, but you know Tenagers, they get a bit unruly and going down the wrong path and you know some ry easel. general people We'll write him off straight away. Yeah. o, there's just too damage now It's like, well hang on a minute You know, give them some support and their behaviours could change, you know give them a chance at the end of the day. Yeah. Well In two thousand, George was placed at Eden Grove, a specialist residential school in Cumbria Away from the island, he had structure, education, supervision, and a place where he could make progress Staff saw something in him beyond his offences He was remembered there as popular and he made real progress in both work experience and academic work. For a while, the distance really helped But George still belonged to the Isle of Man. He returned for Christmas in two thousand one with a plan that was meant to end and the seventh of January. That night he came close to leaving. At the sea terminal, as the boat was called, staff began walking him toward the departure area. Then his father appeared George asked if he could stay with him. His father said he couldn' always stay George Ran Without that intervention George would probably have left the island that night After that, the warnings became harder to ignore George came to the police's attention again and again in January. and early February On some occasions, he admitted what he had done St, he was not charged and was bailed back to his mother's address Each arrest could have become a lever to return him to Eden Grove But instead, each one became another mischance And then there was Peter Newbray He was older than Samantha and George, born in December of nineteen eighty and brought up in Douglas He too had passed through the care system And by adulthood, he was an unemployed former abbatoir worker with a criminal record stretching back into the mid nineteen nineties mainly around violence Police later received information they considered reliable that he was dealing drugs and his connection to Samantha was not new In nineteen ninety seven when Newbry was sixteen and Samantha was twelve He was moved out of Kamul shei after concerns that he was having a relationship with her No one could say exactly what had happened, but the warning was there and it should have been dealt with. Yeah. A themes still running through failures Yes, very much In November of two thousand one, Newbry was arrested over an allegation involving a fourteen year old girl in care at Priory House She and two friends had gone on an overnight camping trip with him outside the knowledge of the adults responsible for them The allegation was that he raped her threatened her with a knife cut her jeans tied her hands with ripped clothing and gagged her After that, Nberry was assessed as a higher risk to women. And by late January, there was enough evidence for him to have been charged But he remained free Not yeah. Well That's crazy. By February of two thousand two, the warning signs were no longer separate Samantthel was still at Last's Lodge, where the boundaries had almost collapsed George was back on the island after refusing to return to Cumbria And Newbry, despite everything already known about him, remained free On an island that prided itself on being safe, All three were now close enough for one failure to become another On the seventh of February of two thousand two People gathered at least Lodge too George Newbry. and another friend were there Cannabis amphetamines had been part of that disorder inside the house Stolen clothes, CDs, rumors, and half form plans pass through the cottage like weather through a broken window that's I mean, kind of be. And fetamines is a strong drug get get some speed especially agages. Yeah. So there was talk of something stronger than cannabis Samantha had shown people what she believed was a rock of crack cocaine Her sister Lindsay later said that Samantha had spoken about finding it in a rucksack on her doorstep and that she had told her to hide it, bury it, just get rid of it. In that circle, drugs were not background detail, they were currency They would leverage They also brought danger. Yeah That's that's not good. As you just find. You just find a ruck sack with some crack in it. I think you would assume get rid of Pcaine, you know, it could be God knows crystal meth, Well, I mean You know I Well, crack is whack So Don't do it. Don't do drugs, people. Yeah, don't do drugs The next morning on the eighth of February, Samantha was inside her cottage At some point, Nubry returned A cottage that had so often been noisy, crowded, and difficult to control became suddenly private What happened next? cannot be reconstructed minute by minute But by the end of it Samantha and George had both been drawn into the same violence. Samantha was attacked in the place where she should have been safest She was raped. Stangled with a shoelace and attacked with a knife been stabbed forty seven times, her shoulders, back and thigh were slashed and her bra was cut from her body. Lward George was not somewhere far away from this He and Samantha were good friends, part of that same circle around the cottage and he was visiting her when Newbry's violence turned on them both He was sexually assaulted, stabbed in the chest, and strangled with a tightly knotted shoelace Boxer shorts were also cut from his body The violence against George carried the same pattern cllose, deliberate He degrading. There is a particular cruelty in the objects used a shoelace and a knife Ordinary things, close at hand turned into instruments of murder The sexual violence did not stop with death Newburry sexually assaulted both victims before and after They were killed Dgusting bastard It like without neicrophilac in it or something. Yeah, but just it's just That's horrendous I mean you've already done something absolutely horrific and then you just carry on doing something even more herrific. Well Samantha was left on the living room floor Around her, the cottage still looked like a place waiting for life to resume But George was not left inside with her body was taken outside and hidden in scrubland nearby. just over three hundred meters from Samantha's home It was not far But it divided the crime scene. Samantha in the cottage George hidden in the scrub lland beyond it Newbury left a note in the window It was written as though it had come from Samantha saying that she had gone to court to see her sister them for a drink and we'd be back at seven It was a small ugly piece of theatre, a delay A false voice girl made to explain her own absence The lie worked because it sounded just possible enough Samantha was known to come and go to argue, to disappear for hours and return with little explanation. Newberry did not need a perfect story He only needed one that let the day keep moving inside the cottage The silence held The first discovery came almost by accident. Police had been called to Lice Lodge two to search for two young people in an unrelated matter Shortly after midnight on the ninth of February, they entered Samantha Barton's cottage and found her on the living room floor. At first, the horror had one room, one body, one scene That's pretty crazy, It just By accident, they showed up. Yeah No no Yeah and nobody no care people come around see how she was doing or anything no. And it just so happened. they just show up saying, Hey, we're looking for these two people and stumble upon it. That's crazy Well by morning, the investigation began pulling in the people around Samantha. friends, acquaintances, young people who had been in and out of the cottage Anyone who might be able to explain her final movements Police launched a major inquiry And for the Isle of Men, it was something almost without comparison But the island was small enough for a killing like this to feel personal, even to strangers But the work still had to begin with names timelines and elimination. Yeah, very much so Well, one of those names was Peter Newberry. Others knew Samantha, others had movements that needed check in. But Newbry carried a detail did not ignore He was already on bail over an allegation involving a fourteen year old girl a knife and clothing being cut In the investigation log, the reason for bringing him in was blunt Knife used clothing cup Pleice called and MO suspect. Yeah. in the context of Samantha's murder was enough to make him stand apart Prety much to its is it's a small place quite close knit, you know, people re going to know people And, you know, obviously, If there's not a lot of crimes You know, happening in this place that's going to stand out. Somebody has been accused and it's got very similar You know ye Yeah, the police are like, do we have anybody around here that has has done things like this? And you're like, you're not going to believe this. Yeah. He's done this, this It's like three strikes. Yeah. you're out.''ve gone Let's take a look at this guy Late that morning Detective Sergeant Campbell and Detective Constable Hyatt went to Newburry's home He was told they were investigating a serious offense and wanted to speak to him as a witness He agreed to go voluntarily to Douglas Policeation. And then Before he had even left his own address, Newberry made what can only be described as a spectacularly stupid choice outside the house with the officers right there He took an object from his pocket and threw it over the garden wall Well for God's sake, I mean, we've covered some seriously thick criminals. Yeah. but they won't see me go just chuck a fuck can. Imagine you just go and you see someone's arm go like that and you're like, yo. What'd you just do Jesus Nothing nothing. Oh I heard a spasm in my arm. I don't know what happened. It's good that they're obviously, you know paying attention to him But also prior to that, they're treating him psychologically they they're like we just want we just need you to sort of, you know Because if he An inkline that they are looking at him as a suspect, he's going to be all like acting different. Yeah s? All jittery. Yeah Well The object was recovered Oh and guess what? it turned out to be a knife. Newburry claimed it belonged to a friend. Okay. It was not, pererhaps the strongest opening move for a man about to be spoken to by detective. Yeah On its own, the knife might have been strange but explainable I'm standing there In the first hours of a murder investigation, it was something else entirely. Yeah If if if very suspicious dude, Yeah Yeah, you know I mean, he might have been thinking, oh God, they might find this knife on me and you know, I'll get dumb for carrying a knife Let's lob it. you know, come on It just made him go like heat sinking right to it be like, o well, you're even more suspicious than not rid of you know, straight away after he's he's committed this crime, you know stupid At Douglas pololice Station, Newbry was asked about his movements over the previous three days. He gave them you know, in detail of what he was doing. At this stage, he was had not been cautioned Police were still working through a process known as trace. interrogate and eliminate Bringing in people connected to Samantha, checking their movements and deciding who could be ruled out Well then during a break, Newburry said something that shifted the ground beneath him He spoke about the man he claimed had given him the knife He said this man had talked about a previous stabbin and stressed that the man had been very bloodstained. The problem was obvious Newby not been given the details of Samantha's death He had not been told that she had been stabbed I yeah They're throwing the knife talking about the stabbing that he shouldn't know about Yes So he's literally just lining the police up and handing himself to them without actually physically saying, Yes, I did this. I stabbed her, you know Idiot What a plunker Well, I always say, you know, he'n't here like 's not like we're cheering ong going Yeah, I' smart the cops were' just like No. what a fucking idiot. And I'm glad they're idiots because they get caught. Yeah I mean, they'd save the police a lot of time if they just once they've been arrested, o well, obviously this guy's not been arrested as yet U but, you know I'm sure it won't be long So for detectives, it was the kind of moment that changed the temperature of a room A man brought in to be eliminated had spoken as though he knew more than he should The comment was passed back to the incident room Shortly after two o'clock that afternoon, on the ninth of February, Newbry was arrested on suspicion of Samantha's murder. I'm not surprised. The very next Yeah. I' very I was so not surprised that it didn't take that long. Yeah Well, earlier that same morning George Green's body had also been found nearby concealed in the scrubland near the Old Douglas to Pill railway line onlyly a few hundred meters from Samanth's cottage Police appealed for a man seen leaving Woodland at around one thirty five PM the previous day to come forward. He was described as white, around five foot four to five foot six wearing a blue and black hat. blue fleece and light coloud trousers Pice wanted him identified so he could be eliminated from the inquiry George's discovery changed the investigation all at once right there What had begun with Samantha's body inside the cottage was now a double murder split across two scenes, but marked by the same violence The shoelaces, the knife wounds, clothing cut away And then the knife Newberry had thrown over the garden wall became more than just a stupid move George' blood was found on the blade. Yeah This guy. Well, luckily This, you know, Luckily the police did spot that he'd thrown this knife and they've been able to evidence. Yeah. you know, because But he wass just carrying it around with him like Why are you not throwing that into the sea He' still got blood on it, you know, still why are you I don't understand his mentality of not discarding it Maybe he thought he had more time and he was going to do something else. I don't know, just stupid.ike I'm trying to get my head into his way of thinking and it's just impossible because it's just stupid Yeah. in my view. H to understand stupid people. Yeah Yeah in the interview room Newberry denied responsibility and tried to push suspicion elsewhere He described himself as a small time drug dealer who had supplied Samantha and George and talked about stolen drugs as though the answer lay somewhere beyond him Other names, other deaths and other possibilities had to be checked But police later said that those lines were eliminated and beneath all that noise the evidence kept moving in one direction Straight back to Newburry By then, the case against Newburry was building in layers He had been placed at Samantha's house. A witness had seen him leaving and lock the door behind him The note in the window suggested the delay The knife over the garden wall suggested concealment His DNA on the shoelace used to kill Samantha put him in direct contact with one of the murder weapons as well. So just all building. They'll check the the note for the handwriting. So they'll check that again. They'll find the, you know This is your handwriting is not hers? Not hers. ye. Because obviously everybody does have different handwriting. It might be similar, but there is always differeces. Yeah, deffinitely. Nobbody's gonna write my little chicken scratch that I write. You're right your writings were really like fluffy Bye then The earlier allegations still sat in the background. But the case no longer depended on similularity alone. The evidence had moved from pattern to contact from Sanfur's cottage to the knife to the shoelace, to George's blood. The following evening at six o two PM On the tenth of February Newburry was further arrested on suspicion of George Green's murder Ireland's largest police inquiry in living memory had moved with startling speed from fear and confusion to one man in custody. Yeah, two days A super quick. They fucking got them quick Brilliant, you know, it's fantastic when when the police can you know, gather u suspect so quickly. Yeah ye And then obviously with little bits of evidence Veryute and very quick. Yeahah, amazing Well, by the time Peter Newberry's trial reached the Isle of Man Courts of Justice Samantha and George had been dead for more than a year Lease Lodge was more than an address It was a question the island could not stop asking Inside the courtroom, the jury had a narrower task They were not there to try the care system. the rumors around the cottage or the island's failures They were there to decide whether the man in the dock had committed what the prosecution called quote Very determined and deliberate murderous acts. Newbry denied both killings His defence did not need to make him innocent looking It needed to make the case look uncertain. Around Samantha's cottage were drugs, stolen goods, visitors, grudges and rumours Enough they argued to ask whether someone else want e something from her The prosecution took the same material and turned it back towards Newbury He admitted supplying drugs to Samantha and George And Samantha had shown people what she believed was crack cocaine shortly before she died A newby was alleged to have wanted it to the defence That detail opened the door to other dangers A the prosecution, it gave Newbry a reason to return Then came the physical evidence. Newberurry had been seen at the cottage, he had left and locked the door behind him His DNA was found on the shoelace used to kill Samantha, and bloodstains at the murder scene helped tie him to both crimes George's blood was found on the knife Newberurry had tried to discard. The prosecution also pointed to Newberry's conduct after the killings The note, the locked door, the attempt to keep the day moving, all suggested control rather than panic He was, they argued, calm enough to behave as though nothing had happened Well, he also claimed he had sex with Samantha in a cemetery the night before she died. It was a risky position He was trying to push the danger away from himself into the wider drug circle around the cottage But his own account kept pulling him back in Close to Samantha, close to the drugs, and close to the final hours before she was killed Yeah, because if you're in a relationship with someone as well also points, you know, most of the time is you're killed by people you know. Yeah, people you care about, whatever But I mean, to be fair, they were straight back in, you know, postmortems and they would have checked to see whether she had had sexual intercourse prior to her death. You know, there was no evidence of that in the sense that the u prosecution had brought forward. so you know, it was just the ass. It seems like a pure lie, basically. Yeah. put it's putting him closer to her Yeah to where people like, yeah, most of the time people kill people they know shit Then came Lindseay Barton's evidence She was in prison at the time, and Samantha had visited her the day before she died Lindsy's account gave the jury the detail both sides kept circling Samantha believed she had found crack cocaine and Lindzy had told her to get rid of it In core, that detail mattered because it could be made to point in two directions at once The trial also brought Samantha and George's reputations into the room They're offending drug use and difficult histories were not hidden because those details formed part of the world that the jury had to understand. But there was a risk in hearing only the worst of them Samantha had been judged in public long before she died George had been difficult to manage He had also been a son, a brother and a boy who had done well when he was given structure at Eden Grove courourtroom had to hear the trouble without letting it become the whole story Yeah canan't get them lost in what they did before Yeah doesn't affect what happened to them in a sense. say yeah, no. You know, they didn't deserve what happened. No very much. so they definitely didn't After a six week trial, the jury retired to consider the evidence Around the case were years of care records, rumors, drugs, arguments and competing explanations. But the jury did not days to cut through it They returned after only three hours. Well, three hours. Yeah. Correct. The thing is, I think if you've got common sense and you've gone through this evidence, You know you've got You know, you know whether that person is guilty or Oh yeah withithin you know, an hour of reading through There was enough time for them to do the paperwork Yeahah, refreshing your b what you've listened to in court. They're like, let's fill out these forms. Y This have a te. coffee Yeah, I think the evidence just pointed without question, he did this. Yeah Yeah, because on the fifteenth of December Peter Charles Newbury was found guilty of murdering Samantha and George The verdict landed just before Christmas in a courtroom filled with grief that had been held in for nearly two years Oh as the decision was announced Samantha's uncle stood and shouted Merry Christmas, Sam and George are laughing at you. Hell yeah It was grief breaking through the rules of the room. The judge called for restraint, but no courtroom instruction could make that moment clean On the twentieth of feebruary of two thousand four Newbury returned to be sentenced by acting Demster Simon Fakas That's where they call a judge over there Yeah. J justust so people know Well, there was no visible remorse No emotional reckoning in the dock. The Judge had read psychiatric and psychological reports and they did not soften the picture They gave no meaningful mitigation Instead, they offered what the judge called a chilling insight into a young man shaped by self centredness and violence Then the judge said what needed to be said about Samantha and George whatever lives they may have been leading, They did not deserve to be treated as they were treated They did not deserve to be killed It was a simple point But in this case, it mattered because so much of the trial had exposed their chaos The courourt drew the line where it had to be drawn. Yeah, definitely. It had to be said. Yeah. because I think you know, you have to Yes, someone's had a child as grown up and you know, gone a bit wayward and It does not G anyybody the reason to murder another. Newburry was sentenced to life imprisonment for both murders. with a minimum term of twenty years before he could even be considered for parole. in the dog Newby gave them nothing didnid't react nothing. No, no empathy, no showing of guilt, showing of Remorse, nothing It just disgusting Not even a turn to say, hey, I'm sorry Nothing Well after the sentencing, the Isle of Man was left with the par no court could repair Peter Newberry had been convicted and sent to prison But Samantha and George were still gone Their families were left with empty rooms, birthdays that would never come and a question that would not leave quietly How had two children in care been left so exposed to the man who murdered them Well outside court Samantha's mother, Rose Berneell twentywenty years was not long enough. Yes, I agree with you Well, I think we both agree that twenty years was not enough for en for each awful, defefinitely not because he would still be a young man when he got out She and George's parents, Edda and Margaret Green also said that their confidence in the authorities charged with Samantha and George's care. been shared. Last Lodge could not simply become an address people stopped saying out loud It had become a symbol of the uneasy gap between care on paper and care in practice. Well, after all of that, leease Lodge was closed. D Be it's not fit for purpose. Yep. and it would not be used as a care home again On the thirtieth of september two thousand four, Newry's appeal against his conviction was dismissed leaving the verdicts intact Yes, G fucked The case had already moved beyond the courtroom The inquiry looked not only at Samantha and George's care But at support for vulnerable older children across the island. It did not conclude that one single failure had directly caused the murders, but it criticized crick care providers, police, and social services and found a system where records were weak care plans were limited Overssight was poor, responsibility was unclear, and supervision had not been strong enough The court made one hundred and thirty two recommendations. one hundred and thirty two That was that's a lot of stuff fucked up Well, I'm not going to read the hundred and thirty two recommendations because we'll be here a while, but some of them were Better assessments, clearer plans, stronger records, closer inspection, and more consistent management A new secure unit opened at Braddon Legislation followed that would have given social services the power to force a child in George's position back to a mainland placement. Debates were held policies were revised Promises of change followed How many times do we hear that? Yeah But beneath all of it was the truth that Samantha and George's families had been left with from the beginning Children in care needed protection before disaster Reform after it. Yeah hundred percent you know I know that they they do have to care for many, many, many vulnerable children and young adults more I mean, we've we've been involved with the care system, you know, we've been Um Yeah fost fost foster we've fostered a child ourselves and So we've been in touch with social workers and we've had We've had some experience with them, haven't we? It was inadequatees but The first ones very inadequate ear their jobs. There's one guy. I was like, how was he even have a job? Yeah. Yeah, this is crazy. He doesn't do anything. Five mines offful. Yeah. Comes and sees the child for five minutes Ay, how are you doing? G I? How's collllege? That's it If done So even now Yeah. Yeahep, even now because this was only Probably two years, two years ago. Yeah This still goes on where children. I mean, luckily I old foster. he's he's been doing really well. He's not in a in a dangerous sort of situation and stuff. but kids out there that need these care workers, social care workers to really support them and from our experience, definitely need to do Bell Yep So For years, Newberry remained in presence through the tariff that kept release out of reach then into the period when parole became possible He served much of his sentence in the UK But by twenty twenty, he had been brought back to the Isle of Man He had not simply reached a date on a calendar Once back on the island, he had to persuade a parole committee that he was no longer a risk to the public. That fear is sharper on an island Especially one aroundty three miles by thirteen. So it's quite really small George's family lived across Douglas, Pele, Castletown, and the places between. A released killer would not abstract name on a document He could be someone seen in a shop on a pavement across the road Some relatives were told They would be given home alarms and that Newbry would be prevented from approaching them But those protections could not cover every child, partner, route, or ordinary routine by twenty twenty five The fear had become painfully practical Alarmed houses, alarms worn around the neck. changed routes and even the thought of avoiding the same supermarkets. Yeah, I mean, how how How can you expect their family to be having to change their way of living? I would say you'd be banned from the island. say get your ass over to mainland and you're banned from the island. hundred percent. one hundred percent Well, in twenty twenty three, Newbury's bid for parole was refused. Good. George's sister, Jackie Christian said that she felt as if a weight had been lifted. But relief was not the same as peace By the time another parole bid approached in twenty twenty five Relatives were absolutely terrified of coming face to face with him George's family described life as a never ending nightmare Samantha's family spoke of lives permanently destroyed M Mantha's mother had left the Isle of Man because she no longer felt safe with the possibility of his release hanging over her Jeez, seeee, ha peopleople having to flee the, you know where they live. Yeah because they don't want to be confronted by him if he gets out. That's crazy. It is putting yourself, you know, them If he was to be released and released back to where you know, the family are. How would the family react, you know, Because they're being put in this situation of say possibly coming face to face with this this man that's killed their children. Yeah If I was that person, Oh man. If somebody killed my daughter and I came face to face with the killer, it didn't matter whether it was twenty years Fty years down the line. I don't know what I would do to that person. Yeah. sadness that I've had to live with. Yeah, but then you're also worried, is he going to come after us? you know Is he going to do something Is he going to hurt anyone else there's yeah, and it' and these families Do not just think about their own They think about the children in the whole community. You know, that could be possibly put at risk by this person being in the vicini. Yeah. Sorry. Well he was refused again in twenty twenty five That is sort of a strange afterlife of a life sentence with a minimum term. Even when the sentence continues, The questions can still return. The Mank' authorities. confirmed there is no fixed limit on the time between Parole applications once a mandatory life prisoner has served the minimum tariff each new application risks pulling the families back through statements, memories, and sleepless weeks often with too little guidance or reassurance about what comes next There were even anger over claims that Newburry had been allowed out for a beach visit The Department of Home Affairs denied it saying no prisoner had attended any beach and that beach visits were not usual procedure notot usual procedure.. That would say to me does happen It's not unusual you know,'s not Every like a minimum security open, you know, they they're trying to get them back out into the world Yeah The reactions showed how raw the case still was. More than twenty years on, even the suggestion of movement beyond prison walls was enough to reopen the wound. In the end Samantha Barton and George Green were more than the language used around them More than files, offenses, placements, court appearances, and headlines Samantha was remembered as beautiful, lovely, funny, warm and full of life And George could be sweet natured, helpful and much more than the trouble he got into Their worst moments were written down best moments stayed with the people who loved them. And that is Part of the cruelty of this case Peter and Nubbry took their lives but long before the murders, Samantha and George had already been reduced too often to records, risks, and warnings easier to file than to answer. The final image is not the courtroom or the prison gate. or even least lodge under an island's sky It is a door to too many people who could pass through it a note in a window cottage that should have been safe and two sixteen year olds who should have been far harder to lose Yeah. No. That was the story of the Last Lodge murders and Oh what an awful Tragic waste of life you know, that's absolutely Aa from what seemingly was some drugs that he seemed to have wanted to take. Well I'm sure if he'd asked, she probably would have gi it to him, you know, yeah, I don't want it Yeah You know Yeah, but it's one of those things where we'll never we'll never really know. He wouldn't know the full motive, but no Obviously what actually happened unless he he spoke about it, but if from we've kind of That's the only thing that we can really kind of think, Oh, that's the reason, you know? But Yeah Or was he just Did he just want to do it Maybe he got an argument with her and then started made by them. And they the thing And then there' always questions. There's always You know when they don't fully explain everything. Yeah. He said that he in the court that he had sex with her in the cemetery the night before or maybe that was a lie. Mbe he tried, you know, he wanted to and she refused and you know, he's got her back because of that and pooor old George was, u He was just there there and he You know Who knows? I mean I think it's so hard to when a prisoner that hass been found guilty, they don't open up and tell you why you know, like for you to be able to understand. Well, that's mainly because they want to try to do a feel have control as well. they don't want to Yeah But yeah, just awful. And then all the failures of the state of the care system and all that was just like ye, yeah, they can do all these recommendations we we recommended that they do these hundred and thirty two different things Did they do that? It' whether they implemented them and is it being followed? Even now are these one hundred and thirty two? u assessment, you know, recommendations. O have they been implemented? Is there oversight over that going, okay, yeah, we've done you've done all these things, okay? Now we're going to do spot checks to make sure that you're doing that and you're carrying for them continuing to do stuff. Yeah And it's just so much going on and's so much machinery thingsings are going to happen. children will fall. within, you know care support system A vulnerable. They are the most vulnerable children. U and young teenagers and young adults Um, that really do need the support. Yeah, but they're just treated like they're just naughty children. They just need to what that one paper said, warehousing, they're just putting them in somewhere. Here you go, put them in there. keep them contained and see where they go when when they become adults. then they're Not our problem anymore ful. There should be ongoing support, definitely. support in the beginning and all the way throughout and definitely love follow ups, you know even if they've left the care setting and they're in Yeah I And there is like that step back Because obviously we had that, you know, there was a no longer looked after child situation And u You know, still follow up You know, every three to six months. just drop by, check in. Hey, how you doing? Check how they're doing, you know, if they need any more support again or passing them on to other you know, institutions that would be able to help them. Well We're at the point, darling, where You know there' a lot of Unfortunately, a lot of authorities are really failed in this country at the moment and it definitely needs you know, prevent the social care system mental health teams, you know, everything is so stretched and It's like they in some big black hole And they need to pull themselves out, you know, and they need to doing their damn jobs Sorry I smked my hand I so angry Well, thank you so much for listening. Tell us what you think, Tell us what you feel about it. It really it really helps us out and I love seeing comments and all that. So ye Yeah, it's definitely nice to get other people's opinions on our cases that we've brought to your attention Most of them hopefully you haven't heard of before and we're you're hearing them for the first time. Oh, this one I only found We do come Yeah, Pone found one other YouTube they covered it and that was it. We do obviously cover popular ones, but o yeah, you know that have been quite mainstream news and stuff like that. but These types, you know, most of the time they just are only known within place that it has happened. so It's just nice to bring it and Yeah, we tryed to also find one this where it affected things like what the care system show and how it was failed and different changes and whatever for. Yeah. But if you'd like to support the work we do here in the archive Please take a moment to follow the show and leave us a five star rating It really helps others discover the stories that we tell here and keeps the archive growing Sharing the podcast with someone who loves true crime also makes a huge difference. you've got a family member out there that you know likes true crime family or friends Give it a share and let them know that we're We're out. 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