Welcome to Untold Bizarre True Crime where I write about the lesser known and truly mysterious crimes throughout history. Today I will be writing about the unsolved murder of Derek Grain who was found on Halloween in 1980. Buckle up- this is a wild one. Thank you for reading and if you’re new, please follow to receive the newest posts! So, let’s dig into this case and see what happened to Derek Grain!
Brandon Hill in Bristol is a hill relatively close to city center and dominated by Cabot Tower. Cabot Tower was built to commemorate John Cabot’s voyage from Bristol to Newfoundland in 1497. Today it consists of a steep vast park along with a beautiful and popular two-hectare nature reserve that is run by Avon Wildlife Trust, with their headquarters nestled next to it. The trust established their headquarters here in 1980, and it was on the morning of Halloween in 1980, there on Brandon Hill, that 24 y/o nurse Susan Isaac made a truly disturbing discovery.
On that 1980 Halloween early morning, Susan Isaac was on her way to St. Mary’s Hospital for work when in the darkness she found the body of a man lying face down in a pool of blood just over Brandon Hill. She quickly utilized her nursing skills to check for a pulse, but sadly there was none. It was clear the man had been dead for sometime. Susan quickly went for help and soon police and an ambulance were at the scene. When the sun began rising, it became clear how savagely this man had been attacked.
This man would later come to be identified as Derek Grain who had not been in Bristol long- he had been sent there on secondment, or as we say in the US, job rotation, to British Aerospace in Filton.
Shockingly, it was discovered that the kind hearted Grain had been beaten in the head with a sand filled traffic cone, killing him. Grain had been in the city a mere 2 months after moving from Hertfordshire. During the past 2 months, he had been a guest at Bristols Unicorn Hotel. 39 year old Grain’s Ford Fiesta was found at the hotel and police determined it hadn’t moved since 4pm the day before the murder.
Partially because of Grain’s distinctive dark beard, detectives were able to piece together his last movements with relative ease. On the night of October 30th, Grain had been out drinking, quite heavily, in Vicki’s and Curves nightclubs which were both located on Park Street at the time. At 2am Derek Grain left Curves alone and headed toward Brandon Hill Lane. This action baffled detectives and was one of the first mysteries surrounding this case- Brandon Hill Park was in the opposite direction of his hotel. Detectives could find no logical reason for him to go that way at 2am.
Detectives WERE certain of one thing though- the motive. Grain’s jacket had been ripped off and around 50–60 pounds (approximately $65–$78 US dollars) was stolen from the pocket. This led detectives to believe it had been a robbery gone wrong. His bank cards had been left behind though, scattered around his body.
But, I know what you may be thinking. HOW would detectives know how much money was stolen from his jacket, right? Well, upon conducting interviews at Vickis and Curves, they were able to distinguish approximately how much money he had been carrying and how much he had spent. In his fuzzied and alcohol buzzed mind, he hadn’t exactly hidden his cash when paying each tab.
Detectives came up with one main theory: the killer must’ve seen Grain spending significant amounts of money in the clubs and decided to follow him.
Even still, the brutality of his murder was still quite shocking and a bit of a mystery. Grain appeared to have been kicked in the head as he already lay dying from the blow of the traffic cone.
Detective inspector Brian Theobald spoke to the then Bristol Evening Post stating, “there is a possibility that more than one person was involved in this. I am having a second investigation of the scene and am pretty confident the assailants were spattered with blood, at the very least.” He went on to say, “I am pretty satisfied that the motive was robbery. They used an awful lot of violence — it was a particularly vicious, brutal murder.”
After Derek Grain’s death, he was described as being a “loner” but also a kind and cheerful person who would do what he could to help others, never seemingly bothered by lending a helping hand.
It was stated by one of his friends that he was fond of a drink- but his department head at work told reporters “He was not the kind of person to get mixed up in brawls in pubs or night clubs.”
Early in the investigation police received leads, but sadly they did not lead to Grain’s killer.
An anonymous caller told detectives he’d seen a mysterious red Jaguar car in the vicinity. He stated he had seen 3 or 4 men attacking someone near Clifton Triangle (which from what I could tell by researching is in the Brandon Hill park vicinity) at approximately 3am on the night in question with the fight being confirmed by other witnesses. Detectives were able to trace the car, but it was nowhere near Bristol at that time.
Yet, it wasn’t the only sighting of that car on that night. Someone else from Reading called the Post claiming the owner of the car came from Reading and the car was registered in Hitchin: Derek Grain’s hometown. So the plot thickened.
But, despite all of the suspicious witness accounts, police investigations and the nightclub posting a 500 pound reward (which was $645.75 in US dollars), very few people came forward with information.
Investigators were left with a footprint on the back of Grains blood soaked shirt as virtually their only clue to the murder.
Detectives have still refused to give up on this case and have since used forensic breakthroughs to try to catch the killer. The traffic cone murder weapon that was found 80 yards from his body was analyzed but doesn’t seem to hold the evidence police hoped for. The inside of Derek Grains pockets were analyzed in 2009 with the hope of finding skin cells from the killer. Sadly, over 30 years later this murder remains unsolved. It does and likely always will stand as a disturbing true Halloween horror.
The murder of Derek Grain is just as much heartbreaking as it is mysterious. Why kill someone so violently if the motive was simply robbery? Why did he head the opposite direction from his hotel- was he lost or was he led there by the killer? What’s the deal with this mysterious Jaguar everyone seen but police say it wasn’t there? With the Jaguar being registered in Grain’s hometown, it makes me wonder if he could’ve had potential enemies there or owed money (only my own speculation). These questions and more are haunting my mind.
If you have any information about this case please reach out to detectives at the Bristol police Department. If the killer happens to be reading — turn yourself in!!!
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