Gary Campbell, the partner of Lucy Hargreaves, was the intended target when a killer gang murdered the 22-year-old mother in her Walton home over 20 years ago. The case remains one of Merseyside's most infamous unsolved crimes, and a new television programme is revisiting the tragedy.
The Night of the Murder
In the early hours of August 3, 2005, Lucy Hargreaves was asleep on the sofa when three men burst into her home on Lambourne Road. She was shot three times with a sawn-off shotgun before the attackers doused her duvet in petrol and set the house on fire. The flames quickly engulfed the property, forcing Gary Campbell, who had been sleeping upstairs with their two-year-old daughter, to escape through an upstairs window. He desperately tried to save Lucy, managing to carry her lifeless body out of the burning building, but she had already died from her injuries.
Gary Campbell's Account
In an exclusive interview with the ECHO in 2021, Gary, now 49 and a father of three, spoke about the events of that night for the first time. He recalled hearing banging on the door and shouts of 'police, police, police,' followed by gunshots. He then saw flames coming up the stairs, grabbed his daughter, smashed the window, and jumped out, handing the baby to a neighbor. He tried to re-enter the house to save Lucy but was beaten back by the intense heat. He eventually broke through a front window, found Lucy on the couch, and pulled her out. He knew immediately that she was dead.
The Motive
The gang was looking for Gary Campbell, believing he was involved in a hit-and-run incident in 1993 that killed four-year-old Kevin Downes in Huyton. Gary has consistently denied being in the stolen car that reversed into the toddler. The murder of Lucy was intended as an act of revenge against him.
The Suspects
Twenty-one people have been arrested over the years, but no one has been convicted. Tony Downes and Kirk Bradley were acquitted midway through their 2007 trial after a judge ruled insufficient evidence. The prime suspect, Kevin Parle, remains on the run despite being one of the National Crime Agency's most wanted fugitives. The 6ft 5in career criminal is also wanted for the murder of a teenage boy in Dingle the year before Lucy's death.
New Television Programme
A special TV programme, Rob Rinder: The Crime I Can't Forget, airs tonight at 9pm on Crime+Investigation. TV judge Rob Rinder returns to his roots as a criminal defence barrister to delve into the case that shocked the nation. He meets those who knew Lucy and, for the first time, speaks with her family, who have never publicly discussed her murder.
