The Adelphi
Janet and Fiona visited the pub late on Saturday evening.
Established · PoliceCase file 001 · Preston, Lancashire · Unsolved
Janet MurgatroydThe Walk Home
The Preston murder still unsolved after thirty years.
In the early hours of 16 June 1996, twenty-year-old Janet was walking from Preston towards her home in Penwortham. She never made it. Thirty years later, her murder remains unsolved—and detectives say the investigation is active.
Case statusUnsolved
Date16 Jun 1996
LocationPreston
Age20 years
Police reference0260 / 15.06.26
Before the case / Janet
Twenty years old.A life in motion.
Janet was a university student, worked part-time at Lancashire Police headquarters in Hutton, and had been making plans for a holiday abroad.
On Saturday 15 June 1996 she spent the day in Preston with her best friend, Fiona Watson. They shopped, visited pubs in the city centre and ended the evening at The Adelphi. Janet’s story is often reduced to the route she walked next. The record should begin with the person who set out on it.
People remembered · Not spectacle · Not a cold case number
01 / The documentary
The story, on film
Filmed in the places where the story unfolded. The documentary follows Janet’s final journey and examines how a conviction was secured, then overturned.
Case: Unrested original
Who killed Janet Murgatroyd?
Watch first for the complete narrative. Use the casebook below to slow the story down: retrace the public route, separate fact from uncertainty and open the source record.
Published 2026 · YouTube
Source-led documentary
02 / The final journey
One route. Six known points.
The public appeals describe a journey south-west through Preston and across the River Ribble. This view preserves that sequence without pretending every movement or minute is known.
Route reconstruction · Based on Lancashire Police and Crimestoppers public appealsDirection of travel → Penwortham
City centre
Janet left with a man she knew. They later parted in the city-centre area.
Established · PoliceFishergate
CCTV and witnesses placed Janet walking alone towards Penwortham.
Established · PoliceRailway station
Crimestoppers states that Janet paused near the station, where her purse was stolen.
Public appeal · CrimestoppersPenwortham Bridge
Janet was seen crossing the River Ribble in the early hours of Sunday.
Established · PoliceHolme Road
Two witnesses reported a wail and a crouching man near the riverbank and car park.
Witness account · Police03 / Chronology
The record, in sequence
A case spanning three decades—from Janet’s final night to a renewed public appeal built around advances in forensic science.
A day in Preston
Janet spends the day shopping and socialising with Fiona. Late that evening they visit The Adelphi.
The walk home
Janet is seen walking alone along Fishergate and Fishergate Hill, then south across Penwortham Bridge.
Found in the Ribble
Members of the public find Janet’s body in the River Ribble. Crimestoppers says she had sustained fatal head injuries.
First trial
A jury is unable to reach a verdict in the first trial of Andrew Greenwood.
Manslaughter conviction
At a retrial, Greenwood is convicted of manslaughter. The conviction will not stand.
Conviction quashed
The Court of Appeal rules the conviction unsafe after evidence relevant to the defence case had been excluded.
Appeal renewed
Lancashire Police renew their appeal. Detectives point to major advances in DNA technology and scientific approaches.
04 / State of the record
Where certainty ends
A careful file distinguishes evidence from repetition. These labels reflect what the public record currently supports—not a private assessment of guilt.
Established
Supported by police, court or clearly attributed public records.
- Janet walked alone towards Penwortham.
- She crossed Penwortham Bridge in the early hours.
- Her body was found in the River Ribble later that day.
- The 2003 conviction was quashed in 2004.
Reported
Accounts that remain tied to their source and wording.
- Two witnesses reported hearing a female wail.
- They reported seeing a man crouched near the Holme Road riverbank.
- Crimestoppers states Janet’s purse was stolen near Preston station.
Unresolved
The questions the case still cannot answer publicly.
- Who attacked and killed Janet?
- What forensic evidence may now be capable of review?
- Who else saw Janet between Fishergate Hill, the bridge and Holme Road?
- Who has information they did not feel able to share in 1996?
05 / The conviction that did not stand
Convicted. Then overturned.
In 2003, Andrew Greenwood was convicted of Janet’s manslaughter. On 28 May 2004, the Court of Appeal quashed that conviction.
The appeal court concluded that material capable of supporting the defence contention that another person may have been responsible had been wrongly kept from the jury. The conviction was therefore unsafe.
Lancashire Police stated in June 2026 that the man whose conviction was quashed does not form part of its enquiries. The court did not determine who killed Janet, and this case file makes no allegation against Greenwood or the other person discussed in the judgment.
Editorial note: an overturned conviction is not an unresolved footnote. It changes the legal record. This page treats it as such and avoids language that quietly restores an allegation the court set aside.
06 / From the field
The landscape is part of the record.
Standing beside the Ribble changes the scale of the story. The route is not an abstract line between pins: it is a city-centre walk, a descent towards the river, a bridge and a dark bank where two witnesses said they heard something wrong.
The filming revisits these places to understand geography—not to turn them into spectacle. That principle carries from the documentary into every page of the casebook.
Case: Unrested production archive · River Ribble fieldwork · 2026
07 / Source ledger
Follow the record
The casebook is designed to be checked. Primary and authoritative records are kept closest to the claims they support; secondary material is treated as context.
Lancashire Police · 30-year appeal
Renewed appeal, final journey, witness account, current investigative status and official contact reference. Published 15 June 2026.
Crimestoppers · renewed reward
Route details, station purse theft, Holme Road location and the conditions of the reward of up to £20,000. Published 15 June 2026.
Court of Appeal · R v Greenwood
Neutral citation [2004] EWCA Crim 1388. Judgment concerning the exclusion of evidence and the safety of the manslaughter conviction.
Case: Unrested · documentary record
The filmed narrative, location work and production research from which this public case file was developed.
Information can still matter
Someone knows.Thirty years is not too late.
Lancashire Police ask anyone with information—especially anyone who was around Fishergate Hill or Penwortham Bridge late on 15 June and into the early hours of 16 June 1996—to come forward.
Police: use the Major Incident Public Portal or call 101, quoting log 0260 of 15 June 2026.
Anonymous: contact Crimestoppers online or call 0800 555 111.
Crimestoppers offers a reward of up to £20,000 for qualifying information given directly to the charity. Information passed to police does not qualify for that reward.