What happened to Sharon Birchwood and where is husband Graham now

The 52-year-old’s murder case is one of the most shocking in the UK’s history

A new Channel 4 documentary is exploring the death of Sharon Birchwood, but where is husband Graham now.

The station is ramping up their true crime output, with The Digital Detectives returning for its second series on Thursday night (July 16) after two years off-air. The series follows detectives who are trying to navigate their investigations in the rapidly evolving technological world.

Episode one of season two will explore the death of Harvey Willgoose. The 15-year-old was killed by his schoolmate Umar Khan just last year. Once that episode airs, the station will turn their attention to Murder in Suburbia, a new two-part series that shines a light on a shocking crime. Both episodes will be airing back to back.

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Its synopsis reads: “An investigation into the murder of Sharon Birchwood who, in 2007, was found dead having been strangled by an electrical cord in her home in Ashtead, Surrey. With no signs of burglary and no immediate DNA match, the police were left with a disturbing mystery.

“Their inquiries began as the long route to the truth started in a case that became one of the most exacting and chilling contract killings in modern British criminal history.”

Sharon, who lived a quiet life in Surrey, was murdered on December 4, 2007. She had been bound at her wrists and hands and strangled by an electric cable.

The 52-year-old suffered from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). According to the NHS, ME, also called chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS, is a long-term condition that can affect different parts of the body. The most common symptom is extreme tiredness.

The main suspect at the time of her death was her former husband Graham Birchwood, who found her body and called the police. The Birchwoods divorced in 1989, but he remained the sole beneficiary of her will.

It emerged that Birchwood was miles away from his ex-wife when her death occurred. However, detectives learned that he had hired a hitman from Thailand to murder his former wife.

A phone number was found on Birchwood’s mobile, which had been contacted before and after Sharon was killed. The number belonged to Paul Cryne, 63, a former bodyguard from Manchester, who was paid £30,000 to fly from Thailand back to the UK to kill Sharon.

Prior to the murder taking place, Cryne stayed with Birchwood’s mother for a week. Birchwood paid Cryne to commit murder in an attempt to inherit Sharon’s £475,000 assets, with him having debts of £150,000.

Birchwood was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years in 2009 after being found guilty of murder. He died of heart disease at HMP Wayland in 2019.

One year after Birchwood was jailed, Cryne was convicted of murder after being extradited from his home in Thailand and was jailed for 28 years and six months. He died in prison, external in January 2018.

Murder in Suburbia airs on Thursday night, July 16, at 10pm on Channel 4