In August 1961, 22-year-old Valerie Storie and her partner, 36-year-old Michael Gregsten, were approached by a gunman as they were sitting in their Morris Minor car in a cornfield in Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire.

The gunman demanded their valuables and then held them captive for 2 hours before ordering them to drive towards London. Seemingly with no obvious plan, the gunman continued to order the couple to drive through the night. They eventually found themselves driving along the A6 and just north of Clophill, Bedfordshire, they were ordered to pull over into a layby. Within the hour, Michael had been shot dead in the back of the head and Valerie was raped as blood poured from her partner’s wounds. The killer then shot Valerie five times but miraculously she survived, though she would be paralysed from the neck down for the rest of her life.