August 2012 Christopher Laverack murder case closed after 28 years Police name uncle, Melvyn Read, who died serving a seven-year sentence for sexual assault, as killer of nine-year-old boy Melvyn Read, left, who has been identified as the killer of Christopher Laverack (right) in 1984 Police have finally closed their file on the long and frustrating hunt for a boy’s murderer, by naming his late uncle as the killer. Evidence from pollen and plant material found with the body of Christopher Laverack, who was nine when he was killed and possibly sexually assaulted in Hull in 1984, has sealed the case against Melvyn Read, who died in prison four years ago. The search for justice for the boy, who was babysitting his infant nephew when he was abducted, has been the longest “live” murder inquiry in the history of Humberside police. The image of fair-haired and freckle-faced Christopher has long been familiar to people in Hull and east Yorkshire, after repeated appeals for information. Detectives say that all doubt has now been removed that Read was responsible. Read died aged 65 while serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for sexually assaulting four young boys. Read’s name had been widely known in the area for two years previously, after he was questioned about the murder when his sexual offences came to light. Detective Superintendent Ray Higgins of Humberside police, who took over the inquiry and commissioned a leading QC to rule on forensic evidence, said: “This has been a very complex case to solve but there can be few matters more important to pursue relentlessly than the murder of a child. Had Read not died in prison, he would have been arrested for this murder following his release. “He was an evil man and a man wholly without remorse. I am satisfied that Christopher’s family can have some sense of closure and understanding of what happened. This case has taken many years to resolve.We would all wish the evidence to convict were available sooner and whilst Read was still alive to face trial. However, that was not to be. Nothing of his sexual offending was known to the investigation team in the years immediately following the murder. “The few officers still working on this case, between their other duties, have been determined to do all possible to solve the case and have simply refused to give up.” The breakthrough after 28 years follows analysis using modern techniques of material recovered when Christopher’s body was found in a carpet underlay bag in Beverley beck, near the house of his older sister and her husband, where he had been babysitting. An ornamental brick which police believe was used in the murder was examined by Dr Patricia Wiltshire, a palynologist, or expert on pollen and plant matter, who established forensic links to a water feature in Read’s garden. This connection, along with Read’s sexual record, his knowledge of the beck, his lack of an alibi and the closeness of his home only 10 minutes from where Christopher was babysitting job, gave police confidence to go public with the initial theory that Read was probably the man responsible. The material was then tested by Paul Watson QC, whose who describes the weight of evidence against the dead man as “conclusive”. Humberside police said: “We have been in close contact with Christopher’s mother, who has expressed her relief that some unanswered questions have now been answered, not least the identity of the person who killed her son. She still finds the subject of her young son’s tragic murder too painful to talk about in public and we request that her privacy is respected at this time.”