Another section of Ms Lazarus’s website described how the police opened a cold case after she ‘investigated’ it, and that they were ‘currently’ acting on her advice by performing DNA tests on a suspect based on her information. I decided to follow up this information also.
My email to South Wales Police:
Hello,
I hope you can help me gather some information. I am pulling together some information
on two fronts :
I am looking into the use of psychics by police forces in the UK. I would like
to know how often psychics are used by your police force. Can you give me any
examples of verifiable information provided by them that helped solve a case?
How much money is invested in using psychics?
The other information I would like to ask about concerns one
psychic in particular. Diane Lazarus claims on her website that you reopened
the case of Muriel Drinkwater based on information provided by her. She also
claims that you were checking the DNA of a suspect based on her input. Can you
verify any of these claims? Was anyone convicted for this murder, and if so
was it based on what Diane had to tell you? Did she give you any specific information
that was verified as the case was completed? I understand that she was working
with detective sergeant Peter Hall. Would he be available to comment on this
case at all?
I look forward to receiving your response.
Their response came back as follows:
I write in connection with your request for information dated 14th April 2006, concerning use of psychics. Your request for information has now been considered and the response is as follows:
I have spoken to the Senior Investigating Officer dealing with the Muriel Drinkwater murder (1946). He has no recollection of South Wales Police ever using a psychic on any murder enquiry over the last 30 years, including that of Muriel Drinkwater. South Wales Police have had no dealings with the named Diane Lazarus and can confirm that the statements you allege she has made on her website are untrue. Peter Hall was a Sergeant with South Wales Police and has since retired.
The actual wording on the website has been slightly altered since I contacted the police, and now reads as follows:
Her ability to visualise past and future events has led
her to being called upon by police in England, Ireland and Wales, her accuracy
in several murder investigations promoting senior officers to call for her psychic
assistance in a number of high profile crimes. Diane recently re-investigated
the murder of twelve year old Muriel Drinkwater, a case that was closed fifty
years ago. She was able to describe the child's final walk home from school,
her rape and the shooting by a "friend". She identified the murderer
as an old man living in Wales and police re-opened the file. DNA testing is
currently being carried out.
Source: (http://www.dianelloyd-hughes.co.uk/about.php)
For me, the implication is clear; Ms Lazarus wishes people to make the connection and assume that “She identified the murderer as an old man living in Wales and police re-opened the file” means that the police were acting under her guidance, and this simply is not the case. She wants prospective clients to believe that her information is so accurate that DNA evidence is required to bear this out. The whole website is a confusing mish-mash of ‘current’ events that are scheduled any time between 2002 and 2004, apart from the front page update to declare her victory on “Britain’s Psychic Challenge”. This makes it difficult to determine when ‘current’ claims expire. However, I can find no information about a conviction in the Muriel Drinkwater case, and therefore the murderer cannot yet be classified as identified.
Certainly the various police forces I have contacted all deny her claim that she has been called upon by any of them. Claiming to see a child’s last walk home is totally unverifiable storytelling, as is most information about the rape unless the real murderer is actually caught and confesses. I hope her parents were spared having to hear a tale of gruesome details, as so many psychics insist on burdening families with terrible imagery about their loved ones. Also, after 50 years, I would say that claiming the murderer is now an old man is likely to be an accurate guess.
So, as usual there is a large discrepancy between what the psychic claims their input was to a case, and what the police will claim they felt about it. The psychic makes it appear as if the case would not have been solved without them, but while the police may have followed information provided, they have done this as they would have treated information from any member of the public not claiming to have special ‘powers’. The case was resolved in the same manner as it would have been if the psychic had never intervened; the perpetrator was betrayed by his brother, who was not influenced in any way by any actions of the psychic – so far as we can tell.
Added June 2007
Diane's claims to have helped the police may well have originated in a series called "Psychic Detective". It's simply a credulous TV programme aiming to promote psychics rather than being a serious look at psychics' claims. There are a couple of youtube clips of this show here:
Part one here (10 minutes)
Part two here (10 minutes)
Note: Diane Lazarus was formerly known as Diane Lloyd-Hughes.
This is presented as if Diane had no prior knowledge of the case but it wouldn't take anyone much time to research the case and find out the details that were known and released to the public - these are the facts that Diane got right. The information that Diane gave of the killer has not been corroborated, no-one has been arrested for the murder, and Diane's 'psychic information' has been of no use in this case: it remains unsolved.
