The police interviews with Bestwood crime boss Colin Gunn have featured in many crime documentaries after he was arrested in connection with the deaths of John and Joan Stirland on the Lincolnshire coast more than 18 years ago. They can be found on YouTube, along with footage of Gunn and associates, which put them in the area at the time of the plot to kill the former Nottinghamshire couple.
Now series 4 of Murdertown, on Crime + Investigation, will document an episode about the tragedy that unfolded in Trusthorpe, and it is expected to include part of the interview with Gunn when he was arrested in connection with the killings. Police put together the digital puzzle over eight months before they arrested Gunn and interviewed him.
In recordings of the interview, supplied by Lincolnshire Police and which are already in the public domain on YouTube, Gunn's words were taped as he responded from a barrage of questions from officers.
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The officer puts to him: "The bottom line is, Colin, we believe all roads lead back to you... It was initially an assassination. Is there anything you want to say about the events of that weekend and the days leading up to the killing?"
Gunn calmly replied: "All I want to say is, I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I was up the coast with my family and friends. I met family and friends. I went to different parts of the coast and that's all I have done.
"All I've done is gone down the coast and travelled about the coast cos I was on holiday, which I do most weekends, because I've got a van down there and, you know, it is not usual for me to do exactly what you are saying I did."
Gunn's mother had a place on the coast but Gunn said "that don't mean that it had anything to do with me". "It's just where mum's place is situated."
Gunn said his nephew (Jamie Gunn) had just died and "I was grieving". "I mean I'm shocked you have got me here accusing me of these things and the nature of what you are suggesting is just phone calls."
Police said: "We put you at the scene of the crime at the right time, haven't we?" To which Gunn replied: "You have put my phones, if they are my phones, in the area."
"What we are saying, Colin, is there's not only your phone in the area but there's also McNee's phone in that area and Russell's phone in that area at the material time," the officer said.
The officer added: "We have told you what we think and we have told you what the evidence is." Gunn replied: "Well it's not evidence, is it?"
"Well, it is evidence, yeah," the officer said in reply. Following that process Gunn was charged with the offence of conspiracy to murder.
* Gunn, co-accused John Russell and Michael McNee were jailed for life for conspiring to murder John and Joan Stirland. Gunn received a minimum of 35 years, Russell was to serve at least 30 years, and McNee, then 21, was handed a 25-year term.
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