Who were Brian Price and Susan Tetrault? Couple axed to death in their bed
Here we get to know the victims and their grisly fate, which is featured in a new episode of In the Footsteps of Killers.
Who were Brian Price and Susan Tetrault?
Brian Price and Susan Tetrault lived together in a first-floor flat in Clapham, London.
Originally from Birmingham, Brian had a criminal background that included a high-profile escape from a South African jail after being caught with 6,000 tabs of LSD.
He was later imprisoned in the UK for smuggling eighty kilograms of cannabis from Morocco to Cornwall — a conviction that also led to Susan's imprisonment.
On a the evening of Sunday, July 13, 1986, Brian, 43, and Susan, 36, were found dead in their flat.
The couple were understood to have been involved in drug smuggling in the years leading up to their killings.
Although it was never recovered, the murder weapon was believed to be an axe Susan kept in the flat for chopping wood.
The brutality of the murders led police to suspect a gangland-style execution.
The investigation was extensive, but ultimately unsuccessful.
A man named Dean Alexander was tried for the murders but acquitted after a two-week trial.
Alexander was a professional thief Brian met in jail, who admitted been in the flat on the night of the killings.
He said he left to visit his girlfriend, but winded up walking the streets alone all night.
Alexander was later found with Brian's ring, contacts book and £1,000 of his cash.
The case was closed by police, but Brian's adopted son Ray has continued to campaign for it to be reopened, convinced that dangerous criminals were behind the killings.
In 2024, he pleaded: "Brian and Susan deserve justice. If you knew Brian, or have information, please get in touch."
Scotland Yard said: 'A suspect was arrested but acquitted in 1987...
'We welcome any new information that may further enquiries. All acquitted cases are periodically reviewed.'
Despite the passage of nearly four decades, the murders of Brian Price and Susan Tetrault remain unsolved.
In the Footsteps of Killers: The Murders of Brian Price and Susan Tetrault
The murders of Brian Price and Susan Tetrault are the focus of an episode of the true crime documentary series In the Footsteps of Killers.
Presented by Emilia Fox and criminologist Professor David Wilson, the show re-examines unsolved British murder cases using modern forensic science and investigative techniques.
In the Footsteps of Killers: The Murders of Brian Price and Susan Tetrault airs on Channel 4 at 10pm on Tuesday, 15 July.
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