A horrible crime with lots of unusual suspects lining up but first we must set up the circumstances of the crime scene and the events following.

The Circumstances

Trish was knocked out by someone who knew her name. We do not know if the person who knocked her out was the rapist.

Trish was moved a distance away by the rapist.

Trish was tied up with blue twine and was gagged to the point of choking.

Whilst being raped she saw a light shining nearby and described vodka breath from the rapist.

When Trish came to she was unbound and ungagged so she made her way home.

Once the investigation into Trish’s rape began (2 days later) the rapist returned to the scene of the crime to retrieve the twine and sock. He left with only the twine.

Two previous rapes occurred under similar circumstances. Nira was raped in 2015 after her car broke down. Laura Benson was raped in a field in 2014 after leaving a pub.

The news about Trish’s rape at the party was spread quickly around the village (according to Clive Lucas).

After Ed Burnett was arrested, the twine used in Trish’s rape was placed outside Ed Burnett’s house.

The Unusual Suspects

The biggest smirk in Broadchurch reaches the position of prime suspect. Leo was at the party and had no alibi for the night. It’s almost certain that the sock used as Trish’s gag was one of the football team socks which Leo had access to. Leo has connections to several other shifty characters in Broadchurch making him a useful ally to many.

Interestingly, Leo never found out about the police investigation until after the twine was retrieved so he must have had an accomplice or been told off-camera.

And you thought Cath’s marriage was bad! The Lucas marital bed is colder than the heart of Rupert Murdoch if he was placed in cryostasis in the North Pole. Clive’s clearly sexually frustrated and angry. He hates his wife Lindsay for ‘ruining’ his life and his most recent outburst about how dangerous he could be puts Clive well and truly on the naughty boy list. He has more motive than any other character aside from maybe Jim. He has no alibi and was one of the few people to discover Trish’s rape was being investigated on the first day. This puts him in prime position for retrieving the rope from the crime scene.

The only thing that doesn’t add up is placing the evidence on Ed Burnett’s property. Clive never found out Ed was arrested so he must have had an accomplice or been told off-camera.

Jim’s a real piece of shit but could getting turned down by the catering girl have hurt his pride so much that he would try and re-affirm his masculinity in a horrible fashion? The evidence stacks up strongly against Jim. Jim has used multiple condoms from the box that he bought on the morning of the rape. The previous two rapes occurred on dates when his wife was out of town. Jim has a direct link to Nira’s rape. She called his breakdown service but help never came so she walked home.

The conversation between Jim and Clive in the taxi is still an interesting one to rewatch. Jim accuses Clive of skulking around at the party and Clive fights fire with fire. Both accuse each other of being rapists. The evidence that was placed on Ed’s property was put there when Jim was likely being interrogated by the police making him unlikely to have done this crime by himself.

Would Ian have gone to the party with premeditation to rape and still have gotten drunk? Probably not. If he had tried to do this drunk could he have tied the knots around Trish’s wrists? I certainly can’t see him asking for help from Leo in raping his own wife. Yet, I have Ian rising up the scales. His personal vendetta against Ed Burnett is of key interest. Ian tries to introduce bias into the police investigation towards Burnett, accusing him of being inappropriate in the past. Would any human being try to mislead an investigation into a possible serial rapist just for revenge? Soon after Ian started trying to push Ed into focus with the police, the missing twine turns up at Ed’s house.

Ian has no alibi, a bad memory of the night, muddied clothing and has been spying on Trish’s laptop. There is definitely a strong possibility that he is the rapist.

The King of Evil managed to stay out of the limelight for another week. There are around 600 murders in the UK per year. Now I’m sure he has no links to around 500 of those, but the rest…

Cath seemed genuinely horrified that her husband looked at some nude magazines. Bizarrely more shocked than when Jim had sex with her best friend. As Cath was alone this was not feigned which is why she has fallen down the list. Her long standing skills of manipulation are still on show as she produces lots of evidence implicating her husband in the previous rapes. She holds strong with her 3 star rating as she has reasons to get even with both Trish and Jim, and she could easily rope one of Broadchurch’s feckless men into helping her.

Protector of Axehampton, Withholder of Clues, Slower of Investigations, Mother of Dragons, Arthur Tamworth has no alibi for the night of the rape.

Chas got a new mention this week. He was angry with Trish and his whereabouts are unknown at the time of the crime. He may have assisted with it.

With the placement of the twine at his house by a third party Ed is looking more and more unlikely to be the rapist. His obsession with Trish, whilst creepy and pathetic seems unlikely to have spilled into any physical confrontation. Ian’s suggestion that Ed made inappropriate comments in work to Trish is countered by his reaction to Cath’s “am I attractive” conversation where Ed seemed, if anything, overly cautious at the workplace.

Aaron is an extremely unsettling character. Whilst he has no alibi for the night and a history of sexual violence against women, there is nothing directly linking him to the rape of Trish. More so he was in jail during Nira’s rape in 2015. There’s still a chance that his mystery friend ‘Dave King’ from the pub may be the rapist, but what’s Dave’s real name?

The no manners gang was left terrified by an angry Hardy this week. Such a palpable fear if thoroughly understandable though. No one wants to face the wrath of an irate Scotsman, nevermind an irate well connected DCI Scotsman who is weighing the possibility of eviscerating your private parts. We can assume anything Clive knows may have been passed onto Michael and his friends but aren’t they a bit young to be involved in this?

Paul still has no strong link to anyone involved in the crime. We haven’t seen any sign of his anger leading to a return of his alcohol edition either. It’s looking continually more likely that Paul will have to spend the rest of his screentime dealing with Latimer drama.

My Solution to Broadchurch

Why did the rapist not take the twine with him? This is perhaps the most important question. I believe the rapists, Leo and Clive, were interupted by a drunken Ian Winterman. Ian (or perhaps Ed) doesn’t remember and perhaps didn’t even see the rapists in the shadows. In the rapists’ haste to abandon the crime scene, they left the rope and sock behind.

They didn’t return to fetch the rope until the night that the investigation began. Clive saw the police bringing Trish Winterman home and realised that an investigation had started. He checked his and Leo’s tool kit

and found the twine and sock was missing. He promptly went to fetch both before the police found them but the dog had dragged the sock away so the dynamic duo had to settle for the twine. When Leo was talking to Ian Winterman he heard that Ed had been arrested for rape. Trying to solidify the police’s case, Leo planted the evidence in Ed’s garden. Unfortunately for Leo the police soon switched their focus to Jim the Mechanic.

Other possible team ups that could fit this mould are:

Jim and Leo

Cath and Leo

Jim and Ian

Cath and Ian

Clive and Ian

The Clive/Jim team up is impossible given Clive and Jim’s taxi conversation.

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