Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Today we are exploring the nineteen seventy four murder of Tom Hewitt in Berry. As many of you may already know, I am from Berry and so when I came across this case, I had to cover it. It's rare for me to come across a case I haven't heard of so close to home, and it was one that I needed to get covering. Tom's case has remained unsolved for many years,
with his family attempting to get further coverage of it. The case deserves to have more publicity and certainly another look. This episode contains descriptions that some listeners may find distressing, so listener discretion is advised. The town of Berry is located around thirty miles from the city of Manchester and is famously known around the
world as a market town. Bury grew in population and size during the Industrial Revolution when the Manchester boom in industry extended to many of the towns surrounding it. Bury was a mill town where textiles were manufactured, and as a result, many people moved into the area, making it an often crowded place to live. During Victorian times, many of the areas within the town were industrial, and moving into the present day, a lot of these areas are still
evident within the town itself. The mills have been repurposed into housing or entertainment spaces, and several of the areas being used for other businesses and workshops. One area in the town which is known for this until the present day is Freetown. This area still contains many manufacturing units, businesses, and garyeers. During the nineteen seventies, Bright Street, which is located in this area,
was one such place. On Saturday, the seventh of September nineteen seventy four, Bright Street had its usual number of people coming and going down its narrow roads and bricklined street. Ian Cottrell was a co owner of a garage on Bright Street, and he traveled to it around eleven thirty that morning. When Ian got to the garage, however, he came across a disturbing and upsetting
sight. The co owner of the garage, Tom Hewitt, who was thirty at the time, had injuries to his head and it was obvious that these were severe. He was lay in a pool of blood. Tom was still alive when Ian discovered him and he got in touch with emergency services. Tom was taken to Salford Royal Hospital. It was clear that the injuries that he had suffered were extensive, and despite Tom receiving medical help at the hospital,
he passed away the next day from those injuries. It was clear from the outset that Tom had been attacked and murdered given the types of injuries that he had sustained. It would later be reported that he had been beaten around the head several times with the blunt instrument, which was believed to be an iron bar, which was stated was one of Tom's own work tools from the garage. Contemporary reporting from the time states that a customer at the garage had discovered
him in a pool of blood. However, more recent reporting states that it was Ian Cottrell, who was a co owner of the garage. I'm unclear why this discrepancy occurred, However, the reporting was only two days old at that point, and therefore perhaps there'd been a miscommunication. Police began working the case as a murder investigation immediately. He began inquiries into Tom Hewitt and his life to try and find out more about him and his movements before his death.
House to house inquiries began in bright Street and extra detectives from Manchester sia's crime Squad were drafted in to help with these inquiries. Tom lived in Rosedale Avenue in the area of Sharpool's in Astley Bridge in Bolton, around seven miles from Bury. He lived with his partner, Sylvia, and they had a son together called David. Tom and Sylvia were due to be married just weeks after Tom's murder. Tom had been previously married before to his first wife,
Pam, and they had another son together called Paul. At the time that Tom was murdered. Paul was just eight years old. Tom Hewitt therefore had a lot to look forward to and had a lot going for him at the time that he was killed, and all of this was cut short by this brutal crime. As well as going door to door to try and locate anyone that might have seen anything suspicious or knew anything about the murder, they also
spoke to people who knew Tom, like his friends and family. It's reported that police spoke to customers and friends at his favorite pubs like the Swan Hotel on Tattington Road and Blighty is located in Farmworth. They also went to visit people who knew him in Wales, Derby and Stoke in the hope that this would lead them to more information or more evidence. During the course of the
investigation, police did find some more information that was of interest. Early on, police reported that they were interested to speak to a man who was seen to be visibly angry when attending the garage in the two weeks prior to the murder. Detective Chief Superintendent Wilkinson said, you may have had a perfectly valid reason for visiting the garage. We would like to speak to him, if
only to eliminate him from our inquiries. The man was described as being between the ages of thirty five to forty, around five feet eleven inches tall, of a stocky build, and he was seen to be wearing a dark suit. He had been seen looking agitated and asking for Tom. The man had reportedly called up the garage on the Thursday before Tom was murdered. Contemporary reports refer to one line of inquiry that the police were investigating, which was that
Tom was what they described as a ladies man. Detective Chief Superintendent Wilkinson stated that he was very fond of Female company, and in a Birmingham Male article from the ninth of September, he explained that this fact has led them to be interested in this agitated man. He said, it cannot be overlooked that the angry man may be a jealous husband or boyfriend, but he may have had a perfectly valid reason for visiting the garage and we would like to speak
to him. There didn't appear to be any evidence that conclusively linked this theory to any suspect or anything concrete that the police could work with. This seemed to just be a possible theory. Another line of inquiry that the police were interested in was an early sixties Jaguar Mark ten car with an Irish registration number. They wanted to interview the driver of this car in relation to the murder. However, not much has been reported on as to why this was.
The police investigation was seemingly quite large and quite thorough, with involvement with Interpol and the investigation going as far as New Zealand. Despite this, police did not get the breakthrough that they needed in the investigation and they continued to struggle for leeds. Weeks and then years began to pass with Tom's murder remaining unsolved. The years turned into decades and Tom's murder remained an unsolved case for Greater
Manchester Police. Tom's family had to cope with the fact that they had lost a beloved father and partner, but also the fact that nobody had been brought to justice for it. Paul Tom's son continued to hope that someone would come forward with information or that some breakthrough would be made. Its reported that in the early nineties the case had been nearly cracked. However, nothing seemed to have come from that, and it's unclear why it was thought to have been
almost solved. This has not been published or reported on. In two thousand and one, Grenada TV Unsolved did a reconstruction of the moments leading up to Tom's murder, and it was hoped that this would finally bring forward the leads that the police needed to solve the crime. Paul Tom's son was seen on the footage visiting his dad's grave in Ashley Bridge, where he was buried and
where he'd lived at the time that he was killed. Paul visits every year on the anniversary of his death, and he has been a strong advocate in his dad's case. He stated in the Bolton Evening News, I'm still hopeful about the killer being found. I spoke to Bury Police after the program went out and they said that there had been some phone calls but nothing substantial to go on. A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said there were a few phone calls
following the program, but only with information we already had. This was no doubt disappointing, but it once again got Tom's case back in the headlines and it meant that there was some hope that the right person with information may come forward. With this hope, Paul continued you to try and drum up new information, and he made the announcement that he was putting up his savings of ten thousand pounds to anyone who could help with the investigation. He explained.
The money is a lot, but it's nothing compared to the satisfaction of finally being able to catch the killer so Dad can rest in peace at last. At times it's been a living hell. Police agreed that this may indeed help with the investigation, and Detective Chief Inspector Frank Raggitt from Berry CID said mister Hewitt's reward is very generous and maybe the trigger needed to make someone come forward. Despite all of the appeals, reconstructions, and Paul Hewitt's reward, nothing
substantial appears to have been discovered from the investigation. There is little that has been reported or published about the movements before Tom's murder, and unfortunately, the footage from the unsolved episode with the reconstruct doesn't appear to be publicly available. Paul has stated about the murder, I'm always wondering what happened. I just want to know the truth. Did he upset someone by ripping them off over a clutch? Was it something more serious? Or was there some other reason
we don't know about. I can't stop thinking that the person who did it is still out there. The fact that the motive appears to be unknown for the murder makes this case all the more odd and tragic. Why did someone want to murder Tom and in such a brutal manner? At this point, this is unknown, and it's part of the reason I'm sure why it is still unsolved. In twenty sixteen, The Very Times published an article which discussed
Tom Hewitt's case and gave some interesting insight into the original investigation. The article centered around farmer Greater Manchester Police officer Alan Williams, who served on the force from nineteen sixty eight until nineteen eighty nine. He stated in the article that he found out in two thousand and three from one of his friends who had opened the cold case into Tom's murder at that time, that he had once been a suspect in the murder. Alan Williams wrote a book called The Truth
Fairy, which was a memoir of his life. He wrote that his dad had had an encounter with Tom Hewitt during a minor car collision in nineteen seventy three. He stated, my father had been driving through Berry when he was involved in a minor collision. The other driver, with what my dad described as an old banger, seemed a nice fellow who told Dad not to be
concerned by the minor damage. Alan Williams stated that around a week later, his dad received an invoice for forty five pounds to pay for the damage to Tom Hewitt's car. Alan Williams said he and a colleague on the police force looked into Tom and found that he had sold the car already with no damage reported on it. They told Berry c ID and they arrested Tom on charges of obtaining money on false pretenses. Tom originally pled guilty, but then changed
and stood trial instead. Alan Williams said, I was present at the trial and the solicitor trashed my dad and he came away from the dock in tears. I said to somebody after the trial, I hoped to sort mister Hewett out one day. What a rash comment to make. He then found out that due to this comment, he'd been on a list of suspects in the murder. Given this had occurred just five months before the murder took place. Talking about his friend and colleague who'd opened the cold case, he said he
was amazed to find me along with my dad as suspects. Of course, both of us were cleared of any involvement and the case from it unsolved to this day. I was shocked to find out that they could consider me a suspect. My dad was interviewed by police at the time of the murder,
but it was a big surprise that I was linked to it too. The fact that police looked into many different angles for the murder, including motives related to his business, personal reasons, or people who had come across him over the years or in the area all showed that there wasn't a concrete motive for
why the murder had taken place. Despite the many different angles that were looked into, it is still not been solved, and there hasn't been many updates at all since the articles published in two thousand and one and two thousand and two, and then the later article with Alan Williams in twenty sixteen. Tom Hewitt's case does not contain a whole lot of information and unfortunately there aren't many
indication as to what happened to him. There are suggestions that perhaps police believe that the answer did lie with someone who knew Tom, was acquainted with Tom, or lived in the area. However, their motives are very unclear, and if the police do have some indication, they've not reported it. It's so tragic that Tom's case has not been solved and his families still have to
wonder what happened. I think it's so important to cover the case on the podcast because someone does know the answer, and someone may have divulged this to someone over the years. It's so important that they come forward with what they know. If this is true, If you know anything about Tom Hewitt's murder in Berry in nineteen seventy four. Please contact police on one oh one.
Thank you for listening to this episode. If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month. You can also get access to new episodes early in ad free. You can use the link in the show notes to visit Patriot on and see what we offer. You can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also just share the episodes.
You can subscribe on YouTube and follow us on social media as our ways. I'm Caprice and this has been unseen the sh