32 | The Peak District Murders

Prash's Murder Map: True Crime Podcast

A birdwatching getaway in the Peak District that should have been uneventful was the inspiration for this episode, with my wife and I accidentally choosing to stay just a few hundred yards from the scene of a notorious set of murders, which we learned about by chance. It seems that true crime follows me everywhere… (my wife still doesn’t believe that I really didn’t know when we booked it!)
The lives of an escaped criminal and an unsuspecting family converge in a dramatic and bloody home invasion set against the cold, bleak, back-drop of Beeley Moor in 1977, a period which would become known as the ‘Year of the Knife’. This episode covers the Pottery Cottage murders and culminates in an explosive finale, while the next instalment will explore the Gunn Hill killings, which took place just a month later.
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Credits: Research, writing, narration and audio editing by Prash
Sources ATV Today, “Cremation of mass murderer William Hughes”, Jan 1977, Mace Archive, https://www.macearchive.org/films/atv-today-25011977-cremation-mass-murderer-william-hughes
ATV Today, “Escaped Convict”, Mace Archive, Jan 1977, https://www.macearchive.org/films/atv-today-13011977-escaped-convict
ATV Today, “Escaped Prisoner - William Hughes – Murders”, Mace Archive, Jan 1977, https://www.macearchive.org/films/atv-today-18011977-escaped-prisoner-william-hughes-murders
ATV Today, “Escaped Prisoner’s Murders – William Hughes”, Mace Archive, Jan 1977, https://www.macearchive.org/films/atv-today-17011977-escaped-prisoners-murders-william-hughes
ATV Today, “Inquest into death of escaped convict, William Hughes”, Mace Archive, Apr 1977, https://www.macearchive.org/films/atv-today-27041977-inquest-death-escaped-convict-william-hughes
Belfast Telegraph, British Newspaper Archive, Nov 1977, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002318/19771102/081/0007
Birmingham Daily Post, British Newspaper Archive, Jan 1977, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002135/19770118/114/0005?browse=False
Coventry Evening Telegraph, British Newspaper Archive, Sep 1978, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000769/19780930/392/0029
Harper, Christopher and Roper, Matt, “Police inspector recalls Chesterfield massacre that still haunts him to this day”, Derby Telegraph, Mar 2020, https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/police-inspector-recalls-derbyshire-massacre-3917798
Howse, Peter and Lee, Carol Ann, “Bloodbath in the Snow”, Scottish Daily Mail, Mar 2020, https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20200303/282080573881508
Howse, Peter and Lee, Carol Ann, “Final heartstopping extract of The Pottery Cottage Murders”, Read Sector, Mar 2020, https://readsector.com/final-heartstopping-extract-of-the-pottery-cottage-murders/
Howse, Peter and Lee, Carol Ann, “The Pottery Cottage Murders: The First-hand Account of a Family Held Hostage”, New York City, Little Brown Book Group, 2020
Hurndall, Alan R, “Pottery Cottage: The Peak District Killings That Shook Britain”, Sheffield, Northend Publishing Ltd, 2019
Lane, Bran, “Real-Life Crimes”, London, England, Eaglemoss Publications Ltd, 1993
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, British Newspaper Archive, Jan 1977, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000726/19770117/001/0001
Osman, Arthur, “Police shot Hughes ‘to save woman hostage’”, The Times, The Times Digital Archive, Gale Primary Sources, Apr 1977, https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=TTDA&u=kccl&id=GALE%7CCS68386972&v=2.1&it=r&sid=TTDA&asid=21d25d15
Reading Evening Post, British Newspaper Archive, Jan 1977, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002471/19770117/005/0001
Sunday Mirror, British Newspaper Archive, Aug 1983, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002137/19830807/031/0004?browse=true