Who was Sharon Birchwood? The true story behind ‘gruesome’ killing on C4 Murder in Suburbia that shocked Brits

Channel 4 revisits another gruesome crime case in Murder in Suburbia, this time exploring the killing of Sharon Birchwood. Her death stunned Britain when the disabled 52-year-old was found murdered at her home in Ashtead, Surrey, in 2007, but it was the motive behind the crime that proved even more shocking.

Sharon’s body was discovered by her ex-husband, Graham Birchwood, who immediately contacted emergency services. She had been gagged with tape and strangled using an electric cord, prompting detectives to launch a major murder investigation.

Suspicion immediately fell on Graham. Although the couple had divorced in 1989, they had remained unusually close in the years that followed. The pair had met as teenagers before eloping to Gretna Green three years later.

Channel 4

Sharon believed she’d found her match, but the marriage eventually broke down after Graham suggested they separate for financial reasons. Following the divorce, Graham remarried and had two children.

Despite building separate lives, he and Sharon stayed on good terms, with Sharon regularly allowing him to stay overnight at her home.

In 2001, Sharon, who lived with myalgic encephalomyelitis and bouts of depression, named Graham the sole beneficiary of her will. Should she die, he stood to inherit £475k.

That discovery immediately strengthened detectives’ suspicions. They also learned Graham had accumulated debts of around £150k after a string of unsuccessful business ventures and was facing financial ruin. Despite the apparent motive, investigators soon encountered a major obstacle.

On the day of Sharon’s murder, CCTV captured Graham at the Ashley Shopping Centre in Epsom, providing him with what appeared to be an airtight alibi. Detectives were forced to widen their investigation, distributing thousands of leaflets to local residents and businesses in the hopes of finding a fresh lead.

Instead, those who knew Sharon described her as a quiet, well-liked woman with no obvious enemies, leaving police with few promising lines of inquiry. The investigation took a turn when detectives began looking into Paul Cryne, a former bodyguard and one-time business associate of Sharon’s who had relocated to Thailand, where he was living an extravagant lifestyle.

Just weeks before the killing, he’d flown in from Thailand to stay with Sharon at his mother’s house in Banstead. That visit would ultimately trigger his downfall. Detectives discovered Cryne’s DNA on a mug at the Banstead property, as well as on Sharon’s right hand and the roll of tape used to bind her during the attack.

The forensic evidence was matched to DNA held by police following Cryne’s 1972 conviction for holding a girlfriend hostage, a crime for which he had been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Channel 4

Investigators concluded that Cryne killed Sharon shortly after she returned home from a shopping trip before making a swift escape to catch a flight back to Thailand. Police tracked him to the island of Koh Chang, where he was arrested before being extradited to the UK to stand trial.

As the investigation continued, police uncovered a darker conspiracy. Evidence revealed that Graham had orchestrated the murder, hiring Cryne to kill Sharon so he could inherit her fortune. Prosecutors said he agreed to pay £30k for Cryne to carry out the attack.

A crucial breakthrough came from Graham’s own mother, who told police her son had persuaded her to allow Cryne to stay at her house in the days leading up to the killing, unknowingly helping him prepare for the murder.

In 2010, both men were convicted of Sharon’s murder. Cryne was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years and six months, while Graham received a life sentence with a minimum term of 32 years for arranging the killing. Neither man remains alive today.

Graham Birchwood died from heart disease at HMP Wayland in Norfolk in 2019, while serving his sentence. Cryne also died in custody after developing sepsis and being treated at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Murder in Suburbia airs this Thursday (16 July) from 10pm on Channel 4.