A new book and podcast will be launched this summer to shed new light on an unsolved Derbyshire killing.

Murder in the Graveyard tells the story of the savage slaying of Wendy Sewell who was beaten with an axe handle after being sexually assaulted 45 years ago.

Written by former Matlock Mercury editor Don Hale, it recounts the details of his campaign to successfully have the wrongful conviction of a teenager overturned.

Legal secretary Wendy was 32 at the time she was killed in Bakewell Cemetery on September 12, 1973.

The savage attack shook the whole town and led to one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history when 17-year-old Stephen Downing, a cemetery grounds keeper with learning difficulties, was imprisoned for 27 years.

'Emotional rollercoaster'

Don, now 66 and living in North Wales, told the Derbyshire Times: “It’s quite a personal and dramatic story, and it has been an emotional rollercoaster revisiting it.

“I wrote another book in 2001, but there was a lot I couldn’t say at the time for legal reasons, and lots of new things which have come to light in the years since.”

Don’s work on the story won him some of the UK’s biggest journalism awards at the time.

His first book, Town Without Pity, became a bestseller and was later adapted into the BBC TV drama, In Denial of Murder.

He said: “I was approached to write a new personal account of my part in it all, why I stuck with it for so long, the detective work, and recent developments.

'A wealth of new information'

“There’s a wealth of new information and interviews, and it’s very different to anything I’ve written before.”

It was Stephen’s parents who first asked for Don’s help in 1994, beginning an eight-year process of exposing police misconduct through previously buried evidence, new witness statements, and expert forensic work.

Along the way, both Stephen’s family and Don say they faced intimidation from people determined to keep the case closed.

To accompany the book, publisher HarperCollins is also embarking on its first ever podcast venture with Wireless Studios. A Murder in the Graveyard series will be released in June.

Producer Lucy Dichmont, who grew up in Alderwasley, said: “It’s a new reportage-led series, exploring real life crime through the stories around the stories.

'Changed so many lives'

“There are so many aspects to this case, and it has changed so many lives. The ripples are continuing to spread.

“I’m particularly interested in Wendy. I think it’s really important to remember that, at the centre of the whole story, there was this woman who was brutally murdered, and the impact that had on friends, family, and anyone who knew her.”

Don said: “A town like Bakewell doesn’t see many murders, thankfully, so it becomes a bit like the Kennedy assassination.

“Everybody remembers where they were when it happened.”

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Lucy and her team will be visiting Bakewell to record interviews on Thursday and Friday, March 28 and 29.

Anyone interested in contributing to the podcast can contact Lucy via thebakewellpodcast@gmail.com or call 07375 494 819.