My sister Annette Wade was murdered before I was born. I found out though old news article in the loft
A Blackpool man shares his trauma of discovering that his older sister had been brutally murdered, after finding an old news article hidden in his parents’ loft.
Dave Wade, 33, was born the year after his sister Annette Wade, had been raped, killed and set on fire.
In a powerful TV interview, Dave explains that he grew up never knowing the truth about what had happened to his older sister - until he found an ‘old women’s magazine in the loft’ which contained all the horrific details about her murder in July 1989.
Friendly girl groomed by stranger
Nine year old Annette, who was described as friendly and ‘sunny’ by those who knew her, had been groomed by a ‘strange’ man who was living in the woods. John Heeley had escaped bail and was hiding out in a hedgerow, in the Carleton area, when he raped and murdered the young girl before burning her body on a makeshift funeral pyre...and going on the run.
‘Parents never told me’
Speaking in a new TV documentary, Dave says: “I never knew. My parents never told me, they just said I had an older sister and she was unfortunately killed, but never said how or why.”
Dave says that the family trauma meant his parents were very protective of him, and he grew up as a ‘bubble boy’. He added: “I was never allowed to go to birthday parties, never allowed to friends houses, even when I was 16 I had to rebel just to go for a sleepover.”
I saw killer trying to break into cars
Now, Dave is trying to make sure his older sister is never forgotten, and is campaigning along with Graham Shaw (pictured above), who says he remembers seeing the smoke in the playing field, hours before he heard about Annette’s murder.
In the film, Graham says: “I saw the smoke but I didn’t think anything of it. It was only when I went home and heard about what had gone on that I knew.”
The Carleton resident remembers how in the days before her murder, he had seen ‘rough sleeper’ Heeley a few times in the area - including outside Castle Gardens pub where he was trying to ‘break into cars’. He adds: “I shoo’ed him off...but it’s always been on my mind if I’d have gone over and had a look at what was going on, I might have been able to stop it.”
Stranger danger
Dave now also hopes that Annette’s story can serve as a reminder about ‘stranger danger’ - and that parents should be vigilant about predators both online and in the outside world.
“This was before phones and social media, and the internet barely existed. If a brazen man could do this back then, it’s worse now that predators can hide behind a keyboard and pretend to be anyone.”
The half-hour programme, which was filmed exclusively for Shots! TV, looks back at the horrific crime and how the Carleton community have been campaigning to get a playground, and a plaque, in Annette’s memory, on the site where she was killed.
Front page news
Video journalist, Lucinda Herbert, revisits the case by showing front pages and photos from the newspaper archives, and speaks with reporters who remember Annette’s murder, and Heeley’s subsequent court trial.
Where can I watch the true crime documentary about Annette Wade?
Watch Killing Field: The Murder Of Annette Wade online https://www.shotstv.com/watch/vod/52804702/killing-field-the-murder-of-annette-wade
The documentary will air this Sunday 09 March at 8pm on Shots! TV. Watch on Freeview 262 or Freely 565.