BBC's Sherwood has brought two Nottinghamshire murders back into the spotlight. Writer James Graham admitted the six-part fictional series was inspired by the real life events from his home county of Nottinghamshire that hit the headlines when he was a student.
Sparking one of the biggest police manhunts in British history, the events of 2004 scarred families and communities. And while the two murders were not linked, they happened within weeks of each other and both killers hid out in woodland near Annesley Woodhouse.
The crime drama is fictional and stars David Morrissey, Robert Glenister, Adeel Akhtar, Lesley Manville, Alun Armstrong and Joanne Froggatt, but the real life events saw Robert Boyer and Terry Rodgers convicted for the crimes. At the time Nottingham Post covered the manhunt and court appearances of the suspects. Here we explain, who Robert Boyer was and what happened to him.
Who was Robert Boyer?
When the Nottinghamshire pits closed, miner Robert Boyer was just 23. Going on to work as a security guard, the Annesley Woodhouse man would also go on to kill.
READ MORE: BBC One Sherwood: The Nottinghamshire killings which inspired chilling new drama
Boyer pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Keith Frogson, a father-of-three, ex-miner and representative for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). On the night of the killing, Boyer had waited for Mr Frogson to return from the pub, shot him with the crossbow and then attacked him with the sword. Boyer was 42 years old when he committed murder.
The search for Boyer and Rodgers involved a team of more than 450 officers from forces across the UK. It cost more than £1.5m, and led to a desperate community appeal to find him with "wanted" posters pasted to lamp-posts and in shop windows.
What happened to Robert Boyer?
Sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court, the court heard that Boyer had mental health problems and wrongly believed that Mr Frogson was out to get him.
Prosecutor Andrew Easteal told the court: "He had convinced himself that Keith Frogson was trying to dismantle his house brick by brick, that acid was being thrown at the brickwork and that a screwdriver had been used to chip away at the bricks.
"He had developed a fixation with Mr Frogson. He was obsessed with the idea that Mr Frogson was persecuting him and trying to damage his home. Mr Frogson was completely innocent of this and had no idea what Boyer was thinking, or the delusions he was suffering."
Like the drama, links to historic events relating to the 1984/85 miners strike were suggested at the time of the manhunt. However, Mr Easteal said: "It was suggested initially that the origin of this tragedy had something to do with the miners' strike. May I make it absolutely clear that suggestion is wholly wrong. It has no basis in fact."
Boyer was given an indefinite hospital order.
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