Almost from the moment that Raffle's body was found at the beginning of February 1986, the police appear to have decided that Frank had something to do with it. Given Frank's reputation at the time as a career criminal, and the fact that he was clearly a thorn in their flesh, this may not be surprising. However, this pre-determination makes their investigation look unbalanced - and, in the end, the investigation produced nothing more than circumstantial evidence and innuendo to be presented at the trial.

Surveillance of Frank and Edward Wood

Soon after the discovery of Raffle's body, it became evident to Frank that he was being watched by somebody, although he was in some doubt who was responsible for this surveillance. At times he was certain it must be the police, yet at others, the behaviour of those watching and following him seemed to rule this out. By the time of the trial, however, it was clear that the police had indeed been responsible. A full account of the three incidents of surveillance noted by Frank and his family during this early part of the investigation undermines suggestions at the trial that Frank's behaviour under such surveillance was somehow incriminating.

The arrests of Frank and his family

At 7:00 on Sunday morning March 9th Frank was arrested by 22 armed police officers. Both Frank and William, his eldest stepson, were removed from the house in handcuffs, wearing only their night clothing. The two youngest children and Mrs Ornsby-Wilkinson were then also arrested and taken to Whitley Bay police station, leaving the home in the unsupervised hands of a large number of police officers who then carried out an extremely thorough search.
On arrival at Whitley Bay, Mrs Ornsby-Wilkinson was informed that she would be charged with complicity in a murder and that her husband and son William were to be charged with that murder. She was subject to a barrage of questions and abuse. Mrs Ornsby-Wilkinson repeatedly asked that her children be allowed home with her so that they could be fed but this merely brought further abuse. A long, pre-written statement was placed before her and she was told that if she were to sign it, then she and all three of her children would be released. After 12 hours in the police cells, Mrs Ornsby-Wilkinson finally signed this statement and returned home with her two youngest sons.
On returning home, they discovered that carpets had been ripped up, panelling had been torn from the bathroom walls and many household contents were missing, including ornaments, her clothing, her husband's clothing and most of the children's clothing. All of the family vehicles had been vandalised, particularly the Daimler, the boot and doors of which had been opened with a crow bar even though the police had the keys in their possession. (A complaint lodged by Mrs Ornsby-Wilkinson against the police, and a claim for compensation for the damage done in the course of the search, was eventually refused in August 1988 on the grounds that there was no evidence that the damage had been done by the police!)
Mrs Ornsby-Wilkinson then made repeated telephone calls to try to find where her husband and son were. When her eldest son eventually returned home, he too brought home an account of threats and brutality by the police similar to her own. He too had finally signed a police-written statement against Frank.
According to Frank's own account of it, the conduct of Frank's first police interview, suggests that one use made of the arrest of the whole family was to encourage him to make some sort of incriminating statement. Significantly, neither his wife's nor his son's statement was produced at his trial. Nor did the thorough search of his house provide the police with any significant evidence.

The arrest of Edward Wood

Wood was arrested at his home by Detective Sergeant Atkinson and Detective Constable Pooley in the company of other police officers at 7:30 on Sunday morning March 9th 1986. On admittance to the house, Atkinson said to Wood:
"I am making enquiries about an assault on Alexander Armstrong at the beginning of December 1985 and a burglary at his house, 37, Cedarwood Avenue, at the same time. I'm arresting you for the assault and the burglary."
Wood replied:
"That bastard, I'll kill him."
In contrast to Frank's treatment, Wood was then allowed to dress, collect cigarettes and so on before being taken to North Shields police station.

Questioning of Frank and Edward Wood

Between the morning of Sunday March 9th, shortly after their arrest for the assault on Alexander Armstrong, and the evening of Tuesday March 11th 1986, the police account of the interview process shows that Eddie was interviewed 9 times and Frank 3 times. All interviews took place at North Shields police station. (See a detailed record of the interviews conducted by the police here.)
Over the course of Eddie's interviews, the story of how Frank supposedly came to murder Raffle can be seen taking shape. These interviews were all conducted as conversations and in the main part were written up into note form later. (Note that there is no record at all of one of these interviews.) In addition, Eddie accompanied the police on a trip to Kielder Forest.
According to the police, Frank was interviewed three times with notes being written down contemporaneously. Frank maintains he was interviewed or seen in his cell by the police five times - and the Custody Record seems to bear this out. He says no contemporaneous record was kept of any of these interviews or visits - certainly, no solicitor was present at any interview, despite Frank having requested a solicitor immediately prior to his first interview.

Taking of witness statements

The police took a large number of witness statements - according to a prosecution solicitor, at one stage there were almost 600 statements to go through, mostly concerned with Frank and his life in the village. By July 1986 this witness list had fallen to 135 and was reduced further to 45 at the pre-trial hearing - these consisting largely of police officers who had searched various places and other witnesses giving background information.
The shifting nature of the stories told by some of the witnesses (several of whom eventually gave evidence at the trial) makes them seem less than trustworthy. What follows are examples of such witnesses.
Edward Wood's partner, Brenda McMillan, was interviewed by the police during the same period that Frank and Wood were themselves being questioned. She made three contradictory statements, her last statement eventually agreeing with Wood's own final story of what allegedly happened on the night of the murder.
Several witnesses were interviewed in regard to the Ford Sierra:

Gathering of physical evidence

There were five main sources for the physical evidence gathered by the police during their investigation: