Today’s story comes from Liverpool, in the north-west of England.
It was Thursday 15 September 2005 when the body was discovered in undergrowth at the junction of Crown Street and West Derby Street on September 15, 2005, in the heart of Liverpool’s red light district. If you know Liverpool, this is where the new Royal Liverpool Hospital building stands today. The body was soon identified as 45 year old Anne Marie Foy who was a mum of four and a grandma, who was known to be working as a sex worker in this area at the time of her death. Anne Marie had battled with addiction over the years – especially heroin – and had turned to sex work to fund this habit but had tried several times to get clean. She was a much-loved mum and Grandma and remembered by others in similar situations for her kindness and ‘maternal instinct’ towards younger girls working on the streets.
Life as a sex worker on the streets of Liverpool or any City was – is – an incredibly dangerous place to earn enough money to survive. From 1990 to Anne Marie’s death, 83 sex workers were murdered or reported missing in the UK, or about one every nine weeks. And experts believed the figure was in reality likely to be double that number. Is there any other occupation where people are exposed to such risk whilst they just do their jobs
And Anne Marie had experienced these dangers. One time she was kidnapped and placed on the cold, hard floor of a van and bound up. It was only by being able to kick the doors with her feet and the bravery of a passing motorist that Ann-Marie was able to safely escape. And who knows what her fate may have been if she hadn’t got out of that van.
And there had been other times in her life that she had come close to death. It was reported she was once almost killed in a fire, but was rescued from the burning building in the nick of time. And of course, when you have a major heroin addiction, the presence of death is never far away, and Anne Marie like all addicts had over-dosed on occasion.
One of her sons, who spoke to the Liverpool Echo newspaper, said: “I saw her a couple of weeks before she died and she had been off the drugs for around three months, she had started painting and writing poetry again, she was re-discovering her creative side.
“She was a Christian and she loved going to church. I have since found out she had a lot of trauma in her own life, but I have never had the chance to get closer to her.” But in 2005 Anne Marie had relapsed and returning to the streets was all she could do to be able to afford the drugs she needed so badly. And it cost Anne Marie her life and her future.
It had been a dreadful way for Anne Marie to die. The undergrowth in a wooded area where she was found was was known to be a place commonly used by local sex workers to take men who paid for sex. Detectives believed that Anne Marie was killed at 05:30 that morning – a number of hours before she was found – almost certainly by a customer. Anne Marie had suffered a large number of injuries – over 60 – to her head, neck and body, consistent with blunt force trauma, which were “probably the result of repeated punches” and some of which may have been inflicted with a large tree branch. The branch was found nearby and had traces of Anne Marie’s blood and hair on it. A used condom had been placed between her legs, not just another act to degrade Anne-Marie but detectives thought it was an amateur way of suggesting that a different man from the real killer was responsible for murdering Anne-Marie.
Initial enquiries showed that Anne Marie was last seen at her home about 4am on 14 September, 2005, so what had happened to her in the 90 minutes or so before she was killed? As detectives tried to uncover more information, there was an obvious reluctance to talk from many. From those who did speak to police officers, detectives understood that Anne Marie had “gained a reputation” as someone who would sometimes try to steal from the men who bought sex from her. This was of course a very high risk move and detectives heard how she had told friends that in September 2005 she stole around £300 from one customer who was a taxi driver “who had assaulted and threatened her in revenge”.
Detectives made a public appeal for anyone who could have seen the final minutes of Anne-Marie’s life. Poor quality cctv showed Anne Marie an hour before she was murdered as she stepped out from under bushes on the street where she was working as a car driving south in Hall Lane, Kensington slowed down to talk with her. After a short conversation across the road between the woman, who police identified as Anne Marie from her clothing, and the driver, the car pulled over by the side of the road and the Anne Marie approached it. The car’s lights go out and do not go on again – but the vehicle is driven off and disappears. DCI Mike Parkinson who was leading the investigation encouraged the motorist – or anyone who knows who it could be – to come forward, saying: “We believe this may be the last person who saw Anne Marie alive.”
But despite a number of further emotional appeals by members of Anne Marie’s family and a number of people spoken to about the murder, nobody was charged. A year went by and still nothing. On the anniversary a large appeal was made in the hope that this jogged a memory or encouraged someone to come forward with information. Then just days later, on the 19 September 2006, 44 year old Kevin Kilshaw walked into a police station in nearby St Helens and confessed to the murder. Kilshaw told how he had been involved in a fight with a sex worker matching Anne Marie’s description over money, and had recently discovered she was dead. He told how he could not cope with the guilt so felt he had no other choice but to confess. Although there was no physical evidence, detectives were certain they had their man and after discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service, the decision was taken to charge Kilshaw with Anne Marie’s murder.
But two months after his confession, Kilshaw’s defence suspected he had a history of making false confessions and they alerted the prosecution with this information. The police investigations continued and they discovered that Kilshaw did have an alibi and was in fact in London at the time of the murder. The hearing date at Liverpool Crown Court was brought forward, with Kilshaw found not guilty after the CPS offered no evidence.
Much to the embarrassment of the police a forensic psychiatrist was brought in who found Kilshaw to be suffering from mental health problems. It was discovered that he had been at a hostel for the homeless in London at the time of the killing, and could not have murdered Anne Marie in Liverpool. And it wasn’t his first false confession. In July 2003, Kilshaw contacted police in London and told them that murderer Anthony Hardy had asked him to dispose of bodies. It was a false confession. He also claimed to be responsible for an arson which he did not commit.
If embarrassing to the police, it was devastating to Ann Marie’s family who couldn’t understand how detectives hadn’t been able to see that Kilshaw clearly wasn’t the killer. Anne Marie’s daughter Carly said: “I feel absolutely gutted. How can he be in London and yet police still think he’s killed my mum? I’m shocked that details of his fake confessions didn’t come out sooner, and if they did, why they didn’t set a few alarm bells ringing? We’ve been thinking justice was finally going to be done for our mum, but now we’re back to square one. I’m due to have a baby soon – this couldn’t have come at a worse time. It’s so important this person is found so we can get on with the rest of out lives.” I don’t hold much hope now of catching the killer.”
In the end, Kilshaw spent five and a half months in a cell following his confession. “He recognises the hurt and anxiety his behaviour has caused to the family and friends of the deceased and he wishes, through me, to apologise to them. He was suffering from a mental illness at the time he made his false confession.” It’s not clear what happened to Kilshaw, but I don’t think faced any charges for wasting police time.
Assistant Chief Constable Patricia Gallan said that the thousands of pounds spent on DNA analysis of items connected to the murder in the US were not wasted as they could be used another time with new suspects. She added “Merseyside Police had no reason to think that Kilshaw had made previous confessions. It was only later in the investigation that it was brought to our attention that he had done so in another part of the country. The case is very much open and we will continue to try to find the person responsible for the murder of Anne-Marie Foy and bring them to justice”.
After Kilshaw walked away a free man, leads of Anne Maries case were few. In 2008, a 39-year-old local man was questioned by Merseyside Police and later released on bail. More cctv was discovered with showed two men in the area near where Anne Marie was killed an hour or so after the murder took place. But despite widespread appeals, nothing substantive arose.
Until one normal November morning in 2010, Liverpool taxi driver, 64 year old David Butler heard a knock at his door and when he opened it, he was shocked to see police officers, who duly arrested him on suspicion of the murder of Anne Marie Foy. Forensic evidence had been taken from the scene of the killing back in 2005, including clippings of Anne Marie Foy’s nails. With the increases in forensic technology after Anne Marie’s murder, cold case detectives had been looking again at this evidence. At the police station, Butler learnt that his DNA had been logged into the UK national database after a 1998 investigation into a break-in at the home he shared with his mum. A partial match had been made to DNA found on Foy’s fingernail clippings and the buttons of her cardigan. The scientist who conducted the cold case review found that the DNA match of Butler was the only match against “the more than five million profiles” held on the national DNA Database. In addition to this, the CCTV footage we spoke about earlier which showed a “distinctive and striped” Hackney Carriage taxi, was driven by Butler around the time of the murder. Moreover, during his interviews at the police station, Butler admitted he had bought sex from sex workers in the area where Anne Marie had been working. But despite all the evidence against him, Butler continued to protest his evidence claiming to have never met Anne Marie. When interviewed by police, Butler, who suffered from chronic bronchitis, said he would have been “physically incapable” of struggling with and dragging a woman due to the state of his health. He said: “I just want to reiterate that what’s gone on is wrong, and I will say to the day I die that I did not do this. I’m flabbergasted by it all.”
After the embarrassment of the Kevin Kilshaw incident, officers knew they had to be very clear of Butler’s guilt before charges were pressed. But this time the DNA and circumstantial evidence convinced them they had their man and after discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service, David Butler was charged with murder.
At Liverpool Crown Court, David Butler denied murdering Anne Marie Foy. He looked a frail and sorry figure sitting in the dock with his oxygen bottle, due to his severe breathing issues.
And his defence team targeted the DNA evidence, with Michael Wolkind QC, defending, saying that the findings were not done to the “high standards” of the forensic regulator and he would call scientists who would refute the evidence. He said: “He (the defendant) never met Anne Marie. The idea that he violently attacked her is beyond belief, and unsafe science cannot change that fact.”
The trial lasted a month and the key evidence was around the DNA – without it the circumstantial evidence was not strong enough to convict Butler.
The DNA samples from Anne Marie’s nails were a complex mixture of profiles and only a tiny and partial match was found with Butler’s DNA. Further analysis of the initial examination notes showed that on the day she was killed she had been wearing glittery nail varnish. Sue Pope, a DNA expert who worked on the case, and is now co-director of Principal Forensic Services Ltd explains “That is going to retain more DNA for a longer time because there is more opportunity; more things for it to stick to”. And there was another major point in this case which is behind Butler’s nickname among his pals of Flaky. His flaky skin was actually due to a genuine medical condition which Sue Pope explains: “He was depositing a lot more cells that you might expect from a single touch. The findings, argued the defence, meant that Butler’s DNA could have found its way on to Anne Marie’s hands and hence her clothing by entirely innocent means – for example by Anne Marie handling coins that had previously been touched by Butler.”
When the jury returned to the court on 11 February 2012 after deliberating for 11 hours there was silence in the court as they delivered the verdict – Not Guilty. The trial judge thanked the jurors for the “obvious care and consideration” they had given the case before returning the not guilty verdict. Anne Marie’s family again faced up to the fact that there was still no justice for Anne Marie. They made no comment after the trial.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo after being found not guilty, David Butler said: “Something comes along sometimes which is life-changing but you never see it coming so you are never prepared for it. It is difficult to put into words how I feel now. The major worry for me was how this would impact on my family, not on me. They are my life. I was never really worried about myself. “We have to remember there were victims here and we all saw Anne Marie’s family and their reaction afterwards [some quickly left the courtroom in tears] and I didn’t expect anything else. No-one should lose their mother in those circumstances and I wish them every success in getting justice. This was another false dawn for them which must have been hard but it has to be the right man and it wasn’t here.”
There is no record I can find of the Merseyside Police saying that they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the killing. So if not Butler who else could be responsible for the crime? Well, there is always the risk of a random angry man buying sex becoming violent – and this person could have offended anywhere else in the UK at any time. But one name that came up a few times in my enquiries as someone who could potentially be a suspect was Peter Chapman, who is often referred to as the ‘Facebook Killer’. You may recall that he met and befriended 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall on Facebook by posing as a teenage boy. When he met her he raped and killed her. It wasn’t his first attack and he was first investigated at the age of 15, and four years later he received a seven-year prison sentence for raping two sex workers at knifepoint. When Anne Marie was killed he lived just eight miles away in Kirby – was he a suspect. If not David Butler then he is certainly one of a number of feasible suspects at that time living in the Liverpool area.
It is hard to know if he was ever interviewed or spoken to about this case, or whether the Merseyside Police didn’t look any further than David Butler, seeing his acquittal as a technicality. Or their focus was on another angry customer – as we know, there are enough scary, violent people cruising the UK red light areas. All we can say for certain is that as I record this episode on 29 October 2024 nobody has been convicted of the murder of Anne Marie Foy.
What are your thoughts?
I read one article about this story in the Mirror newspaper which says that on the day that Anne Marie was brutally murdered, the papers were full of stories about ex super-model taking cocaine. There was very little about the murder of Anne Marie. And we all know exactly why this is. Her job. Hilary Kinnell, the former head of the UK Network of Sex Work Projects pointed out very accurately that unless there is a connection with a well known serial killer, the death of a sex worker gets very little coverage in the national press adding, ‘Men are more likely to attack sex workers because their position as a hated person within society is perpetuated by the authorities. So the carnage goes on. It is shocking and horrible’. Indeed it is, all the innocent lives taken whilst just doing their job. And the way she was killed in a sustained, brutal attack in a remote area – her last moments must have been absolutely terrifying. I don’t think we sometimes appreciate just how awful those last moments must have been as the blows rained down on her before she lost consciousness.
But Anne Marie wasn’t defined by the job she did – and hated – but did as she saw no alternative. She was a mother of four and a grandma. When she died she was living with a couple and their young children and despite suffering a crippling heroin addiction, she still managed to use any spare money to buy the school uniform for the two children. As her children said, she was a good, kind soul and should be remembered as much.
And still nobody has been convicted of Anne Marie’s murder. It must be a case that makes Merseyside Police squirm after they get it quite so wrong on two occasions, with neither man charged being found guilty by a court. As we know, DNA has transformed criminal cases and gets better every year with new advances in the science. I am no expert on DNA analysis, but it seems that this isn’t the only case where DNA has led to the wrong person going to jail – or maybe I should rephrase that. Maybe the DNA evidence just isn’t always robust enough. Either way, maybe it isn’t always the golden bullet that we so often expect it to be and interpretation of the evidence is key. Another case makes this point very well, the shooting of two British soldiers in Antrim, Northern Ireland, in March 2009. Let me directly quote from an article in the Guardian newspaper – which like all my sources you can find in the show notes for this episode;
“This included a match between mixed-profile DNA taken from a mobile phone found in the partly burnt-out getaway car and one of the suspects, Brian Shivers. As the scientific expert testified, the DNA on the phone was six billion times more likely to be that of Shivers than it being a coincidence.
Together with other DNA evidence, the finding proved pivotal in the outcome of the trial. Shivers was found guilty and sentenced to at least 25 years in jail, with his poor health making it likely he would die in prison.
Yet in 2013, there was a retrial. The reasoning hung not on the evidence, but on its interpretation. Shivers’ DNA, the judge concluded, might have turned up on the phone and on other evidence from an innocent touch, or even a handshake.
“Have the prosecution eliminated other possibilities than the guilt of the accused? Am I satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused?” he asked.
The answer was clear. No. Shivers was acquitted.
And there we have it for this week. As we approach the 2oth anniversary of Anne Maries death, her family and friends are no closer to finding out who killed her. I haven’t seen anywhere that Merseyside Police are not looking to speak to anyone else, so if you do have information that could solve this crime please contact Merseyside Police on 101. And as with so many unsolved murders, the best hope of getting justice for Anne-Marie is the passing of time when loyalties change and some people may be more willing to pass on information than they were 20 years ago. And one thing that is for sure is that somebody knows exactly who killed Anne-Marie. As we hear so often on this podcast, almost without exception every killer talks to someone. So this really is the time to give Anne-Maries family some sort of closure and not to leave them always waiting for the knock on the door or the phone call that they hope beyond hope may be some news.
This story was covered on episode 415 of the UK True Crime Podcast, ‘A Liverpool Murder’. The sources used are below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-11839266
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mum-suffered-cruel-brutal-death-25039674
https://www.missingandmurdered.co.uk/post/anne-marie-foy-unsolved-murder-2005
https://www.drugwise.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Who-gets-angry-over-Anne-Marie.pdf
https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/1245312.false-confession-man-could-face-fresh-charges/
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/i-never-gave-up-hope-3352777