Brian Hardwick

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at getting Away. If you think a friend might enjoy the website, then please also share with them so they can find the cheapest flight for their perfect destination. I will leave the link in the show notes. Thank you for listening, and back to the episode. On the morning of Wednesday, November the twenty first, two thousand and one, employees at Huddersfield Car Electrical Services Garage on corn Road in the town of Huddersfield were beginning to arrive to

start work. Their colleague, Brian Hardwick, was known as always being the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, and so that morning they believed would be no different. When the employees arrived, though it didn't appear to be the same as other mornings. When they entered the garage, they immediately spotted Brian slumped on the floor next to the vehicles that they would normally be working on.

It was clear that something awful had happened to Brian, and it was evident that he had already passed away by the time that he was found. The employees quickly contacted West Yorkshire Police to come out to the scene and investigate. Brian was fifty at the time that his death occurred, and everyone that knew him had something positive and nice to say about him. He had a lot going for him, and in his personal life, he had just started a new beginning with his wife, Lynn, whom

he had only married six months prior. Lynn discussed Brian on a segment on the program Crime Watch. Brian was a father of two, and Lynn explained that he was a loving, sensitive and hard working man and that his friends all thought a lot about him. She stated that they had a great social life and every Friday the pair would go to a club called the Range Riders. At this club, the patrons would dress up in country and western gear. They would dance and have a good time.

Both Brian and Lynn were very passionate about this, so much so that when they got married they had a Western themed wedding. Brian's colleagues were just as positive about him, saying that he was reliable and conscientious and had always given everything to the job that he had been working in for the last twenty three years. Finding Brian dead in the garage must have been a heartbreaking discovery for

everyone involved. However, when police arrived at the scene, they quickly realized that this was not just a case of someone passing away from natural causes while at work. Brian had clearly been murdered. Police found two gunshot wounds on Brian's body, and it was later concluded that he had been first shot in the chest, and then when he had fallen to the ground, he had then been shot

in the head. This was completely unfathomable. Why someone had wanted to shoot Brian was unknown, as all police could find were people who loved and cared about him. It didn't appear that he had any known enemies in the world. He was a popular man who hadn't had any run ins with anyone as far as they could tell. Police began looking at the evidence that they did have. They found that Brian had been shot with a small caliber weapon, a twenty two, and that the scene indicated that the

motive may indeed have been robbery. A small gray popper purse and a brown leather wallet were both missing from the scene, although it's been reported that there wasn't much in either of these wallets. A set of keys was also missing, as well as something sentimental. A gold necklace which had one half of a broken heart on it

had also been taken from around Brian's neck. Lynn had the other half, and this itself was hard for her to hear as these were very sentimental and meaningful items which it seemed strange that someone would want to steal from Brian. Detective Superintendent Bob Bridgestock from Calderdale Police was put in charge of the investigation and began to look into Brian's movements on the evening of the twentieth of November,

the night before his body was recovered. Brian had been at work on Tuesday the twentieth of November as usual and had planned to leave at around five thirty pm. Before Brian had chanced to leave, however, one of his colleagues went out to get in their own car and noticed that Brian had a flat tire on his red Reynolk Cleo. Brian went out to have a look and found that someone had stabbed his tire and that he was going to have to try and fix it in

the garage before he could drive home. This would have been an easy fix for someone who was an auto engineer like Brian, and wouldn't have taken him long. In hindsight, however, after his murder, this punctured tire seems extremely suspicious and

relevant who had done it and why. In more recent years, Lynn had speculated about whether this was someone from the area who knew the garage, given that puncturing Brian's tire would have meant he was alone in the garage, and it appeared that someone may have known this before then attacking him. It was an extremely chilling theory, but one that nobody could dismiss, given that it does seem like a coincidence that he had the punctured tire, meaning he

left work late. If this hadn't happened, then Brian may still be alarmed. Police also had some other evidence to consider. While there wasn't much in Brian's wallets themselves, there was Brian's cash card and they were able to trace this after his murder had taken place. The card was used and as a supermarket on Bradford Road around four miles away.

It was known that around three hundred and fifty pounds was taken out of Brian's account that evening, and police discovered that the transaction from the account had taken the perpetrator or perpetrators around seven minutes to complete. This was quite a long time for someone to have spent it a cash machine, and it could have showed someone having some trouble accessing the account or just being extra careful.

Lind later commented on the use of Brian's card, stating that she believed that Brian would not have fought with an attacker and would have complied, saying, I think he did volunteer his card and number. He used to say that life is more important than possessions and to give your possessions if you're robbed. If some one held a gun to him, he would have handed over his possessions. This begs the question, then why did some one kill him if he did volunteer his pin number, and why

was he shot in the way that he was. He was shot in the chest and the head and it has been described as almost execution style. This seemed unnecessary, and coupled with the punctured tire, implied that for whatever reason, Brian had been targeted. Police reached out to the public for their help in identifying anything or any one suspicious, and for any one who knew anything to come forward. They did receive around six calls coming in the week end after Brian had been murdered, and this was seen

as a very positive start. However, it appears that none of these calls led to a perpetrator or an arrest. It was decided to reach out to crime Watch to try and gain some more publicity for the case and hopefully get some more leads. The segment aired on the fifteenth of May two thousand and two, and the information that the police had was shown to the public. It included descriptions of two men who had been seen in

the area around the time that the murder happened. The police wanted to eliminate these two men from their inquiry. The first man was described as white in his twenties, of an average height and a stocky build. He was described as having piercing eyes. The photo fit shows the man wearing a hat, indicating that this might have been what he was wearing that night. There was less information

about the other sight in. The other man was described as black and appearing to be sheltering from the rain that was coming down on the night of the murder. These sightings were important as they knew that Brian's car tire had been punctured and so anyone waiting in the

area was immediately under suspicion. As well as this, the information about the missing items and the bank cauard transactions were discussed in the hope that someone had seen the belongings or remembered someone taking a long time at that cash machine at Asada that night. Crime Watch helped to keep Brian's case in the headlines, however, it didn't solve it. While there may have been leads that came in about it,

they did not lead to any arrests or convictions. In the months and years that followed, Brian's case was occasionally brought up in the headlines, however it seemed to be in relation to other shootings taking place. West Yorkshire Police in fact, were dealing with quite a few few shootings in two thousand and one alone, with twenty one shootings

taking place that year. While Brian's case was unusual as he was an unlikely victim, shootings themselves in the area were not years passed, but Brian's wife Lynn did not give up on the case and kept in touch with police regularly to find out if anything new had been discovered. In twenty eighteen, Lynne told the press that the police were reviewing Brian's case again, seventeen years after it had occurred.

She stated that two cold case detectives had visited her and explained that they would be reviewing the evidence all over again. She said, I was visited by two detectives who told me that Brian's case was being looked at again. They are going through all the evidence in Brian's case right from day one. They have new techniques and forensics are a bit better. They may also be reinterviewing people.

They said that I might not hear from them for six, twelve or eighteen months, and that they can't promise anything. They said they'd already started to go through everything and look at every piece of evidence. I feel quite positive Brian hasn't been forgotten. They couldn't promise there would be a good outcome. This was a step in the right

direction for the case. And Lynne has always been open and honest about how the murder has affected her, given that she had found love and happiness with Brian and they'd only been married six months before the murder took place. She said, we have missed seventeen years. We didn't even have our first Christmas together as man and wife. He has just taken from me and his friends. His best

friend John still talks about him. She also explained that she believed someone who knew Brian had committed the murder, given that it had taken place at his job and that the person could get away and seemingly knew the area. She stated he was murdered at his place of work. I remember that night because it was dark and raining. I will never forget it. Someone who knew the area got from the garage to Asda. I think they knew

the back roads. In two thousand and one, the detectives were asking about Brian and saying that nobody had a wrong word to say about him. I said they wouldn't because he was that sort of bloke. He was cruelly taken from us. At the time, police explained that they were dedicated to justice for Brian, with Detective Superintendent Jim Dunkeley of the Major Investigation Review Team saying, as a victim focused organization, our priority is to achieve justice for victims.

We never close a case until it's solved, and we continue to review evidence and look at new advances in DNA technology which may help with the investigation. Despite extensive inquiries, the murder of Brian Hardwick is a case that remains unsolved. Getting justice for a victim's family is a top priority for West Yorkshire Police and our commitment and determination doesn't waiver as time passes. I would reiterate our appeal for

anyone with information on his murder to come forward. Has been seventeen years since Brian was shot dead, but the pain endured by his family hasn't lessened. Allegiances may have changed over this time, and I would appeal for anyone who has been concealing any information to protect someone else to contact detectives. The reinvestigation was certainly a positive step. However, since twenty eighteen, there has been no new developments reported

since then. In six years have now passed. It has now been twenty three years since Brian Hardwick was murdered at his job, doing something that he loved and was dedicated to. If this was a robbery gone wrong, it's extremely tragic that whoever did it killed a father and a husband for just three hundred and fifty pounds and a gold necklace. If this was someone who knew Brian, then why did they do it? By everyone's accounts, Brian

was a loved person who was popular and happy. He did not deserve to die the way that he did and leave behind so many people who cared about him. If you know anything about the murder of Brian Hardwick, then please contact police on one oh one. Our crime stoppers are oh eight hundred five five five one one one.

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