The Scarecrow Murders is the fourth episode of the twenty second series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders.
Synopsis[]
The annual Midsomer Scarecrow Festival to raise church funds takes a grisly turn when dead bodies are found staged like the festival's straw creations. Barnaby's investigation uncovers more going on than a simple competition.
Plot[]
At the Old Vogue Vintage Emporium, Naomi Ashworth gets a scarecrow out of her car. The next day, the Barnaby's show up for the Midsomer Scarecrow Festival, There are scarecrows around the village and villagers can vote for their favorite. Barnaby starts making scarecrow jokes. Rachel Taylor asks the Reverend Oscar Hayden where Naomi is. Adele Paige says Naomi was supposed to be setting up the shop. Samira Mallick introduces her family to her friend, Thea Stannard. She is "the famous Thea from Boot Camp." Thea says her bonus came in so she is going to the Maldives. Reverend Hayden gives an interview to Rachel "Hello and welcome to the 7th Midsomer Scarecrow Festival in aid of the church restoration fund.."
MURDER 1: Adele Paige opens the window to Old Vogue and starts screaming. Stephan Ashworth runs over. Naomi Ashworth's body is the window of her shop. She was strangled and arranged like a puppet with garden wire attached to her wrists and straw stuffed in her outfit.
Winter and Barnaby come to the shop. Naomi ran the shop with her friend Adele. Naomi's main job was PR. Glass was smashed and a table knocked over. But the glass is on top of the table so Naomi must have known her killer. In the shop, Fleur is having a panic attack and counts to 10. She has a fear of scarecrows. "The deceased I can cope with. I don't do straw," she says. Fleur reports that Naomi was strangled about 12 hours ago. She is tied in place with garden wire. Barnaby speaks to Stephan. He says he last spoke to Naomi 2 days ago. He was at a conference.
Jack Baldwin is seen in the churchyard. The Reverend Oscar Hayden walks by the bulletin board and tears down a notice.
Adele tells Barnaby that she owns the online casino, Ventuity. Naomi did PR and Thea is the sales manager. Rachel shows up. She is the head of the scarecrow committee. She wants to know if the event can go on. Adele tells Barnaby that Rachel has a little crush on Reverend Hayden.
A reporter starts taking pictures. Winter goes up to her and recognizes his old girlfriend, Caitlin Dawson. Caitlin says she is covering the scarecrow festival and the lotto-win vicar. Rev. Hayden won £15 million in 2008, lives in a mansion, yet still expects people to raise money for his church roof. Caitlin shows the police a newspaper about the Vicar Wars. Fergus Rooney used to be the vicar of Midsomer Langley until 10 years ago he called out the hypocrisy of Rev. Hayden and Naomi. He went public about the Rev. keeping the money instead of giving it to charity. Then a story came out about Fergus visiting a brothel. Naomi planted it.
After Caitlyn leaves, "Dumped you and broke your heart," asks Barnaby. "Smashed it with a brick," replies Winter.
Barnaby and Winter speak to Reverend Hayden. He can't think of anyone who would want to harm Naomi. She loved her husband, Stephan. Naomi financed his hair salon and them the fitness thing. "I call that freeloading," says Hayden. She accused Jack Baldwin of theft. There was no proof he stole anything. Jack was angry about it.
Barnaby and Winter interview Fergus Rooney. He admits putting up posters: "You cannot serve both God and money." Luke 16. "For the love of money is the root of all evil." 1 Timothy. Rooney says the Rev was a hypocrite. "One cannot preach humility with a red Jaguar in the garage." Rooney called Naomi a peddler of sordid lies in the newspaper article. Rooney likes Bryony Hayden. "They moved here from Yorkshire after their mother died. Then Oscar won all that money." Rooney thought he should give it away and Oscar agreed. But charity turned out to mean "becoming a major shareholder in a gambling company because it was locally owned." When Rooney took the story to the press in 2010, Naomi got involved. She had just started her PR company then. She knew how to attract the attention of the tabloids. Rooney says he never went near a brothel. But his wife saw the headlines and was humiliated. She passed away last summer from Alzheimer's. Bryony was the only one who sent a card. She suffers from panic attacks and doesn't leave the house. "Why give a new interview about Oscar after 10 years?" asks Barnaby. Rooney says a reporter dug up all the old stories and asked for an interview.
At the home of Rev. Hayden, Barnaby and Winter drive in. There are scarecrow figures on the lawn. He lives in a huge mansion. Winter asks if Naomi had a paper diary. They go to speak to Bryony who is painting. Bryony says that Naomi's diary is green leather and looks like a book from the outside. Rev. Hayden tells them to be careful with Bryony. Bryony says "Mustn't upset poor little fragile Bryony." Bryony says Fergus didn't do this. Neither did Jack.
Barnaby speaks to Jack Baldwin. Jack Baldwin is a homeless young man who does odd jobs for the Reverend. He has convictions for theft. Jack asks if it's true Naomi was stuffed like a scarecrow. Naomi accused him of theft. With zero evidence. He is from Sheffield but left after a few issues with his dad. Rachel found him sleeping in the church and told Oscar.
In the Mallick house, Lukesh Mallick demands his wife Samira's phone. He locks it in a drawer. Samira watches him.
Winter finds the diary at the Hayden house. He hears a noise outside and sees a smashed wine bottle. He runs after someone in black and tackles them. It is Caitlyn. She was going through the bin. Winter tells her he can't discuss the murder investigation. She says she has tracked down a former intern of Naomi's..
Winter reports to Barnaby, "Naomi specialised in something called dark PR, which is basically about destroying people. Her clients paid her to discredit their rivals with smear campaigns." In Naomi's diary, she was due to have an appointment with Lukesh Mallick. She circled the last Tuesday of the month every month. Fleur says "Cause of death, as suspected, was ligature strangulation with a thin wire. These half-moon shaped marks on her neck indicate she tried to pull the ligature away, and we've got particles of green plastic under her fingernails." The bruise around her eye was inflicted several hours before she was killed. She was hit by something shaped like a star- possibly a ring.
Fleur tells Winter she dug some books out for him. "I found them extremely useful over the years. The New Rules of Love. Dating in the Digital Age. You looked like you'd been hit by a steamroller when you saw Caitlin."
Lukesh Mallick says that Naomi was a patient. He was treating her for depression. Samira interrupts them. She asks if Oscar is OK. She's been his bookkeeper for years. Lukesh tells Barnaby that "this has got nothing to do with Naomi or the way she lived her life and everything to do with the killer's emotional void. Early behavioural problems progressing to antisocial behaviour as an adult. Delusions of grandeur and impulsivity. The scarecrow staging is a classic example of psychopathic narcissism. It won't be the first time they've displayed predatory behaviour, and I promise you it won't be the last."
At night Samira goes downstairs and finds her phone.
Barnaby is reading the paper- "Police Admit Serial Killer Fear." "A senior source inside the investigation says police fear a serial killer is on the loose." Winter tells Barnaby that is not what he told Caitlyn. Barnaby tells him to sort it out.
Barnaby and Winter go to talk to Adele. They go down to the Venturity Call Center. They ask Thea about the bruise on Naomi's face. Thea noticed it. She also mentions that Bryony went out in a red jaguar Friday night.
At the pub, Winter is getting drinks for himself and Caitlyn. He confronts her about what she wrote in the paper. Caitlyn says that the public have a right to be informed. "Then stick to the facts. If you're capable of that," says Winter. Caitlyn tells him, "Fergus was the one who approached me. He turned up with like 20 files of stuff on Oscar and Naomi. And for the record, I've never been a liar. We were already broken up." Winter tells her that any media requests are to go through official channels.
Bryony admits to Barnaby that she was out driving to Naomi's on Friday. "I was driving to Naomi's house, but then I turned back, I was afraid I was going to have a panic attack at the wheel."
Winter to Barnaby, "I just heard back from the hotel that Stephan Ashworth was staying in for that conference. They're saying that he checked out on Friday morning. He's lying about his alibi. And, there were two people booked into his room, Mr and Mrs Ashworth."
When interviewed, Thea says "It's not JUST a fling. We've been together over a year. We want to get married, just had to find the right time." Stephan says "It's our ten year anniversary in June, Naomi had this big party planned and... I was going to get through that, then tell her." They were both in Thea's flat that rents out back on Friday evening.
Samira comes by. She was going to go for a run with Thea.
Stephan denies hitting Naomi. He was not aware that she was seeing Lukesh. He did find the gold chalice in the back of Naomi's wardrobe and gives it to Barnaby. At the church, Barnaby asks Jack why Naomi would lie about Jack stealing the chalice. Just then, the Rev. Hayden and Rachel walk in. Rev. Hayden thinks immediately that Jack had stolen it. Jack walks out. Rev. Hayden tells Barnaby that last month, Naomi asked Rev. Hayden to sign a letter saying that the deposit he gave her to buy their home was a loan. Naomi told him it was a tax thing.
Winter goes to talk to Fergus. He was watching the Rev. Hayden and Naomi. He has a lot of files on them. In the last years of his wife's life, she believed story about the brothel. Fergus hated Naomi.
Stephan goes to his house but his keys don't work. Lukesh puts papers from a file named Naomi in the shredder. Bryony starts a painting of Jack.
At church, the Rev. Hayden announces that Rachel will no longer be churchwarden. "A permanent one has been appointed by the parish." Rachel is not happy. Stephan walks in and stands at the back of the church. Adele asks if Rachel is OK. She walks out past the Rev. Stephan stands in front of the church and gives the Rev. a dirty look. Fergus stops by on his bike.
MURDER 2: At night, the Rev. goes out to check the gates. One of the scarecrows out front comes alive. The next morning, The Rev. Hayden is found dead, standing in the place of the scarecrow. Jack found the body. Bryony was pulling at the corpse, trying to get him down. Fleur reports that there was a "wound to the chest. There's blood soaked through his robes, but no other damage to the material." He was killed and then dressed up afterwards?
Stephan admits that he was angry at the Rev. Hayden. Stephan had to break into his own house. He told Rev. Hayden to back off, then came home. Stephan says that the thing with Thea was a bit of fun. All her talk of getting married were her plans.
Fleur tells Barnaby that he is looking for a blade 5 cm or longer. The wire is the same used on Naomi's body. The latest message from Tech shows that Oscar texted Fergus a few hours before he died, asking to meet up. Also, Naomi sent an email to Samira last year showing transfers from Oscar's bank statement to Samira.
Samira tells Barnaby that she initially was gambling after her son was a few months old. She was lonely. By the time Lukesh found out, their savings were gone. All the money they put away for the kids. Samira had credit cards, loans. She thought that she could put it right by stealing from Oscar. She saw it as borrowing...If she could have one decent win, everything would be OK. So she borrowed more and more until last year when Naomi. found out. In the end she agreed she could pay it back gradually. £182,000. Lukesh said they cut back, he took on new private patients. Barnaby says "You had a debt you would never be free of while Naomi and Oscar were alive." Lukesh was involved..."Naomi covered up the embezzlement because you agreed to hand over confidential medical records. She paid for stolen information To build her smear campaigns," says Barnaby. Lukesh won't answer any more questions without his lawyer.
Barnaby goes to Interview Rachel, "Were you aware that Oscar contacted the bishop about you? He was concerned that you were becoming too, um... attached. That's why they appointed a new church warden." Rachel scoffs at that.
Socco spotted Fergus at the crime scene. He went to visit Bryony. Oscar wanted to meet with him yesterday. He suspected Bryony murdered her sister, Naomi. Bryony says "The reason we moved here from Yorkshire was that I had a baby. He was five months old. I'd never left him, but Dad said I needed a night out. By the time I got back... They said it was cot death. All Dad could talk about was how I'd miss my education. He went on and on about adoption, even after he was born, and then... when he... They wouldn't let me see his body." Winter, "You think your parents gave your son away. He'd be 20 next month." She thinks Jack is her son. Naomi was there when her son "died." Bryony thinks Naomi took the communion cup to incriminate Jack.
The police have the DNA on file and would know if Jack were her child. Which he isn't. But they don't want to tell Bryony yet.
Samira is on her phone in a bathroom at night playing on the casino website.
Caitlyn finds a magazine with a photo of Thea on it. Thea has the star shaped ring.
Thea says that Naomi found some photos of Thea and set them up on a website as some kind of escort service. Then at an event, Thea punched Naomi. Stephan had a photo of Thea with comments under it referring to the Last Tuesday Club. Adele was running an underground gambling club. High stakes, but all off the books so she could hide it from the taxman. Stephan was blackmailing Adele into lying for him and Thea.
Winter reports, "There's nothing in Naomi or Oscar's emails about the Last Tuesday Club. They did find an email that Oscar sent to his broker on Friday. He was planning to sell every one of his shares in Adele's company."
Adele says "I was trying to help, that's why I gave the picture to the journalist. I wanted you to know that Thea hit Naomi. Barnaby, "By threatening to expose the illegal gambling den you're running here?" Adele, "There's nothing illegal about gambling at a private member's club." Barnaby, "There is if you're dodging taxes and it's completely unregulated." Hours before Naomi was murdered, she found out that Adele had kept quiet about Stephan's affair. She was going to report Adele to the gambling commission. "That's why Oscar was selling his shares... You were on the brink of losing your gaming license And your biggest investor," says Barnaby.
Rachel goes to the police station looking for Jack. Winter sees Caitlyn outside the police station. He offers to walk her home. He tells her to text him when she gets home.
MURDER 3: Stephan is at home packing up a suitcase. Thea is also packing. She throws away the star shaped ring. Jack is in jail. In front of Hair by Stephan are three scarecrows. Except one is Thea, dead.
"Massive skull fracture. I need a CT, but it's the type of injury you get with a hammer attack. And we are talking multiple blows," says Fleur. The murders are getting more violent each time. No straw beneath the clothes either. The killer is hurrying more.
Stephan says he was at home. Thea was going to move in with him. Barnaby says "You implied your relationship wasn't serious." Stephan says it was a mess. He loved both Naomi and Thea and didn't know what to do about it.
Prints came back of a Lisa Jarrett. There is a newspaper article about her being arrested at a climate change protest in Bristol a few years ago. "Bristol mum campaigns for tighter age restrictions for online gambling after son's suicide." That's Rachel Taylor!
Ventuity. Naomi did the PR, Oscar was a major shareholder And Thea was their top saleswoman.
There's a photo of Jack Baldwin protesting as well. He and Rachel knew each other. But they couldn't have murdered Thea- Jack was in a cell all night and Rachel was at the police station at 9:30. Barnaby says, "So there's a third person, someone whose life has been destroyed by gambling addiction." Samira Mallick. "We know that Thea was customer relationship manager for Ventuity, which is corporate speak for encouraging people to lose money." On Thea's client list is a S. Kaul, Kaul is Samira's maiden name. "So Thea was Samira's contact at Ventuity. With no idea she knew her in real life." So how is Adele still alive?
The police race over to Adele's- Rachel has a knife to Adele's throat. Barnaby says he knows that Rachel lost her son, but killing Adele is not going to bring him back. Naomi ran a smear campaign against Rachel's son. "He was 15 when he gambled away his birthday money on her website. 15. By the time he was 20, he was drowning in debt." Rachel lets Adele go.
Jack says that they all met in a chat room for gambling support. They were all victims of Ventuity. Jack says, "We started joking what we'd like to do to them. And at some point it wasn't a joke anymore. We identified people who were making money out of our misery and came up with a plan to kill them. Oscars name was on a list of investors, so I found him in the church and I told him about my dad. How he'd you used payday loans to gamble on Ventuity. How he lost the house." Oscar's response was to ignore him.
Adele says "He should have got help."
Barnaby says, "So the two of you moved to Midsomer, you worked at the church and concocted that homeless story as a way to infiltrate their lives."
Samira, "It was all by email. I'd stop myself playing for a week and then she'd pop up in my inbox. I told her that I had a gambling problem. And do you know how she replied? With a free punt to cheer myself up." Rachel said "They're like drսg dealers... waiting on the steps outside rehab." Thea liked to laugh about how all her holidays were paid for by sad cases throwing their money away."
Rachel killed Naomi. She strangled her. Jack killed Rev. Hayden. He called him from a phonebook and pretended he was stranded. Oscar didn't even have the decency to come and help Jack. So he stabbed him. Rachel gave him the robes to dress him in and provided an alibi. Jack took Rev. Hayden's watch and was going to give it to Samira. Samira killed Thea after Thea sent her another email... a free punt. Samira lost three months salary in an hour. So she smashed her head in with a hammer.
Winter sees Caitlyn off. Caitlyn says she owes him an apology after what happened at uni. Winter says he's fine. They were only 19.
Winter gets invited to the pub with Fleur, Sarah, Barnaby, Paddy, Betty. They've set up a dating profile for him- he's "an adventurous, fun-loving foodie with a passion for the outdoors and a great sense of humor." Fleur says he has 15 messages already and only one from her. Barnaby says, "Bees to honey. Must be the description I wrote for you. I sprinkled it with my famous charm." They laugh.
Cast[]
- Neil Dudgeon as DCI John Barnaby
- Nick Hendrix as DS Jamie Winter
- Fiona Dolman as Sarah Barnaby
- Annette Badland as Fleur Perkins
- Emily Bevan as Naomi Ashworth/Bryony Hayden
- Jacqueline Boatswain as Rachel Taylor
- Simon Shepherd as Reverend Oscar Hayden
- Holly Freeman as Thea Stannard
- Goldy Notay as Samira Mallick
- Raj Bajaj as Lukesh Mallick
- Amara Karan as Adele Paige
- Jason Wong as Stephan Ashworth
- David Yip as Fergus Rooney
- Billy Hinchliff as Jack Baldwin
- Jessica Ellerby as Caitlin Dawson
Galleries[]
Body Count[]
Strangled with a garden wire, strung up, tied with the wire and posed as a seated scarecrow, with straw on her, in her shop's vintage emporium window.
Stabbed in the abdomen, dressed as a scarecrow and strung up to a pole with straw on him to replace a preaching scarecrow vicar.
Hit multiple times in the head with a hammer and then tied to a chair next to some other scarecrows.
Supporting Cast[]
Episode Images[]
Arrests[]
- Rachel Taylor for the murder of Naomi Ashworth
- Jack Baldwin for the murder of Reverend Oscar Hayden
- Samira Mallick for the murder of Thea Stannard
- All the above for the attempted murder of Adele Paige
Notes[]
- It is revealed that Fleur Perkins has a fear of scarecrows.
- Jessica Ellerby is Nick Hendrix's wife.
Quotes[]
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Trivia[]
The Trials and Tribulations of Jamie Winter: Jamie comes face to face with his college sweetheart who broke his heart. Fleur gives him a stack of books on dating.