The Search (2/8)

At five o’clock on the afternoon of 8 December 1980, the moment of truth had finally arrived. After days of intense courtroom drama, the jury was about to deliver its verdict. When it was finally delivered, there was a moment of stunned silence. For several seconds, those present seemed unable to fully comprehend what they had just heard. Cyril Belshaw himself sat motionless, his face betraying little emotion. Just a seemingly passive figure as the enormity of the jury’s decision began to sink in. Outside the courtroom, a mass of international reporters waited for a statement from the man at the centre of one of Switzerland’s most controversial murder trials. But Belshaw had nothing to say.

On the final day of the trial, the prosecution and defence present their final pleas. By then, the prosecution had woven together what seemed an almost inescapable account of Betty's fate. Yet one crucial element remained missing: Definitive proof. Every link in the chain was circumstantial, and the defence had spent the entire trial exploiting that single weakness, determined to plant the seed of reasonable doubt. Whether they succeeded would remain unknown until the following Monday, when the judges revealed their verdict. RATING & REVIEW FOLLOWING (be informed about future episodes) FEEDBACK & COMMENT (written or audio recording) SWISS MURDRER MYSTERIES WEBSITE Author & Host Rudolph Isler Get in touch FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN Donations PayPal REVOLUT Copyright Playground Media Productions Ltd. Interview Cyril Belshaw©RTS

Extradited to Switzerland, Belshaw was taken to Bois-Mermet Prison in Lausanne, where he remained in custody awaiting trial. His defence was entrusted to two of Switzerland's leading criminal lawyers, Paschoud and Stoudmann, while Swiss investigators assembled the case they believed would finally reveal the truth about Betty's disappearance. On December 3, 1980, Cyril Belshaw stood trial for murder in Aigle. Awaiting him was not only the weight of the prosecution's evidence, but a judicial system unlike anything he would have had encountered in the Anglo-American world - one that would shape the course of the trial its outcome. RATING & REVIEW (highly appreciated) FOLLOWING (to be informed about future episodes) FEEDBACK & COMMENT (written or audio recording) SWISS MURDRER MYSTERIES WEBSITE Author & Host Rudolph Isler Get in touch FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN Donations PayPal REVOLUT Copyright Playground Media Productions Ltd. Interview Cyril Belshaw©RTS

Confronted with the Swiss investigators' discovery, Belshaw admitted to forging his wife's dental records. His explanation, however, raised more questions than it answered. Convinced they had uncovered only a fraction of the truth, the Swiss investigators closed in, determined to stay on the suspects’ heels. Belshaw was arrested after making what would prove to be a fatal miscalculation: Traveling to Paris for a conference, where French police were waiting. Backed by some of France's most formidable defence lawyers, he fought a determined legal battle to avoid being sent to Switzerland. The outcome hung in the balance. In the end, however, the courts ruled against him. RATING & REVIEW (highly appreciated) FOLLOWING (to be informed about future episodes) FEEDBACK & COMMENT (written or audio recording) SWISS MURDRER MYSTERIES WEBSITE Author & Host Rudolph Isler Get in touch FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN Donations PayPal REVOLUT Copyright Playground Media Productions Ltd. Interview Cyril Belshaw©RTS

Three months after Betty vanished in Paris, road workers made a grim discovery: the decomposed body of a woman near a lay-by on a remote alpine pass in Switzerland, barely 100 kilometres from Crans-Montana. Aware of the French missing-person investigation, Swiss detectives asked Cyril to provide Betty's dental records. He complied—but only after secretly altering the charts. Soon afterwards, he returned to Canada, seemingly unaware that Swiss investigators would eventually uncover not only his forgery, but an even more damaging secret. During his time in Crans-Montana, Cyril had been carrying on a clandestine love affair. RATING & REVIEW (highly appreciated) FOLLOWING (to be informed about future episodes) FEEDBACK & COMMENT (written or audio recording) SWISS MURDRER MYSTERIES WEBSITE Author & Host Rudolph Isler Get in touch FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN Donations PayPal REVOLUT Copyright Playground Media Productions Ltd. Interview Cyril Belshaw©RTS