Chasing A Killer: Gary Allen: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
How killer Gary Allen was convicted of two murders 21 years apart
Year: 2026
Certificate: 15
In 2021, Gary Allen was sentenced to at least 37 years in prison after being convicted of the murders of two women. The crimes were committed 21 years apart - in 1997, Allen killed 29-year-old Samantha Class in Hull and, in 2018, he murdered 38-year-old Alena Grlakova in Rotherham.
Grlakova was a sex worker at the time of her death, as was Class, and the latter's body was found near the Humber Bridge. Phil Bell, then a Detective Inspector, recalls being called to the scene and thinking it was a suicide. The journalist's perspective on this long and tangled case comes from Lisa Welton, a former crime reporter at the Hull Daily Mail.
And it is a tangled case. Allen was actually tried and cleared of Class's murder in 2000, and only finally convicted after he was charged with Grlakova's murder so many years later. It later emerged that a deep-seated hatred of prostitutes was his motive and the documentary is at pains to explain how impoverished local conditions contributed to each woman - both of whom were mothers - being driven to that work. (Two episodes)
