A vaguely engrossing two-part true crime miniseries, The Confession sees the law adhered to but justice seemingly bypassed in the (likely) murder of Yorkshire woman Patricia Hall.
In January 1992, Patricia Hall disappeared from her Pudsey home. Husband Keith claims she drove off in the early hours of one morning following an argument. She has never been seen since. Police believed Hall killed his wife and disposed of her body in nearby woodlands. But without a body it’s all circumstantial and, throughout police interrogations, an inscrutable Hall no-comments.
Photographs, re-enactments and interviews with detectives involved in the case, family members, journalists and, extraordinarily, Keith Hall himself form a large part of two-part miniseries. But it’s only the result of events six months later with the investigation taking a new and unexpected turn that the documentary is made. A honey trap sting, a confession, original audio recordings and surveillance all feature in what is legally determined as entrapment of the only suspect.
And that’s where the law was upheld but justice likely not served. In a series of chilling present day interviews, the ‘innocent’ Hall talks of the fateful night and the disappearance of his wife. Yet it’s a very different story he told ‘Liz’, the undercover policewoman, one night in a Yorkshire pub whilst under surveillance.
Rating: 50%
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