A tyre expert also testified at trial that a skid mark at the place the body was found matched a wheel on Browning's car.

Having failed in an initial appeal in which he complained that the trial judge had prevented the jury from convicting him of manslaughter and not murder (i.e. that he killed Wilks but that he did not intend to do so), Browning was controversially released in 1994 on a technicality.

A police officer who had felt guilty at having driven past the scene despite apparently seeing the killer turn and park next to Wilks had undergone hypnosis to try to remember more of the car's numberplate, but the video of this had not been disclosed to either the prosecution or defence.

The prosecution maintained the video had only not been disclosed as the man's claims were unreliable and he had unintentionally made up the evidence in an effort to be helpful, highlighting how he had immediately apologised and told police to ignore it.

In 2000, one of the friends and colleagues who had called police saying he matched the artist's impression in the Wilks case testified on oath at a trial that Browning had admitted to murdering the woman the day before he was arrested.

[6] West Mercia police set up interview areas in nearby service stations and also detained motorists in their search for witnesses.

[8] Experts attempted to examine an automatic tape machine[clarification needed] by the site of the phone box, believing that it may have recorded the attack.

[11][10][18][19] On the day of the murder he left his house to drive to Scotland after a violent row with his wife, who, like Wilks, was seven months pregnant at the time.

[14][20] Browning then came home, only to soon storm out again after his wife became angered at him ignoring her and a violent argument ensued about his womanizing; he had indeed been cheating with a mistress at the time.

[12][11][21] His first wife would later tell the press that Browning was a violent and unfaithful man who cheated on her constantly, even on the day before their wedding, and also used to hit her when she complained, including when she was pregnant.

[13] An off-duty police officer had seen Browning park his silver-grey car by Wilks as she was on the emergency telephone, but assumed that he was offering to help her and so drove on.

[11] Several witnesses corroborated this account, reporting that they had seen the silver Renault perform a U-turn across the central reservation before parking up next to Wilks.

[43] The jury did not believe Eddie Browning's version of events and they found him unanimously guilty of murder after five and a half hours deliberation.

[33] He told Browning: On June 18, 1988, you had plainly had a fierce disagreement with your wife, arising in part out of your selfish demand that she, heavily pregnant, should get your breakfast.

[11]There were cheers and applause from the public gallery when the guilty verdict was announced, and Wilks' sobbing husband Adrian rushed to thank Anthony Palmer of the prosecution.

[29] Lord Chief Justice Taylor gave opinion that if the hypnosis evidence had been included in the original trial, he could not be certain that the verdict would have remained the same.

[57] West Mercia Police said they were "surprised and disappointed" by the Court of Appeal's decision, and added that there were no new lines of inquiry which pointed to anyone other than Browning having committed the crime.

[64] Worcester MP Mike Foster said he could not comment on Mr Browning's acquittal, that he did not know if he had been rightly acquitted or not, but said his sympathies were with Mrs Wilks's family.

[17] Upon his release, Browning moved back to Cwmparc, in Wales, where locals there gave him a less-than-warm reception, as many remained convinced he was guilty, with one commenting to the press: "There's a lot of people won't be rejoicing".

[59] Due to the strength of feeling in the village, only a small celebratory reception was held by close friends when Browning returned home.

[66] He also quickly spent all of his initial compensation money on luxury items and nights out drinking, saying that his release "hasn't made me any happier".

[69] In 1996, Browning made the news again after police issued a request for the public to help locate him so they could arrest him for allegedly threatening his estranged wife.

[76] His brown Land Rover had been spotted driving erratically from one side of the road to the other, and when police attempted to pull him over he refused to stop.

"[17] In 2016, Detective Chief Inspector, Steve Tonks, with his team, reopened the case to see if any new forensic evidence could be generated to solve the murder.

[65] The murder of Marie Wilks produced outrage at the death of a young mother; fear in lone female motorists; embarrassment and frustration for the West Mercia Police force, whose tactics and procedures were found to be deficient; and brought attention to crimes against pregnant women.

One of the most shocking aspects of the crime was that 11 year old Georgina Gough was seen walking down the hard shoulder, carrying her baby nephew, looking for her sister, and that no motorist stopped to help her.

However, West Mercia police had not told the court that Inspector Clarke had agreed to undergo hypnotism in order to better recollect specific details.

The successful 1994 appeal by Browning hinged on this abuse of process,[88] the non- disclosure of evidence and this led, along with other similar cases to the Criminal Procedure and Investigation Act of 1996.

Lord Chief Justice Taylor decided that if the new evidence had been included at the original trial, it was impossible to determine whether the verdict would still have been guilty.

In 1977, the use of hypnosis in order to retrieve "hidden" evidence from a witness to a crime, was treated with some interest with studies concluding that it "may be a potential tool to get information".