Broadchurch: Who Is Trish's Attacker? We Take A Look At The Suspects



It's two months since DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller began their investigations to discover who raped Trish Winterman and tonight they will finally reveal who the Broadchurch sex attacker who has terrorised the seaside town really is.

Over 10 million viewers have watched every week as Hardy and Miller interviewed scores of suspects and delved in to the murky lives of suspicious locals, making Broadchurch one of the most successful dramas for decades.

Last week's episode ended on a cliffhanger with cabbie Clive Lucas' hapless wife Lindsay discovering rape victim Trish's house keys in a locked drawer in his garage. But is it him who violently bludgeoned the divorced mum before subjecting her to the vile attack?

Actor Mark Bazeley, who plays mechanic Jim Atwood, has revealed during an interview on This Morning that there may even be more than one man in the frame, saying: “The person, or persons, who have done the deed are forewarned.”

And series regular Joe Sims, who has played Nigel Carter across the trilogy,  has told OK Magazine that fans should "My advice to anyone watching would be, I wouldn’t discount anybody or anything and where Chris Chibnall is concerned, expect the unexpected."

So before Hardy and Miller wrap up the case tonight we take a look at the most likely suspects...


Clive Lucas

Taxi driver Clive Lucas, is certainly a very unsavoury character, he treats wife Lindsay badly and is a frequent cheat. He even attempted to get a date with Trish prior to her attack. Though he was certainly keener for romance than her "I had to turn him down" she explained.

He has no solid alibi for the night of Cath Atwood's 50th birthday party, where Trish was raped, having lied about his taxi radio not working. 

He has a dodgy porn collection and is he behind the porn schoolboy son Michael and his pal Tom have been accessing?
Could the light that Trish remembers seeing during the attack be the light from a phone recording the assault for distribution to others at a later date? 

Clive is now a prime suspect after Lindsay found Trish’s keys amongst a sinister collection of what could be seen as 'trophies' in a locked drawer in his garage, ' just before he arrived home to catch her in the act...


Jim Atwood

Jim is yet another Broadchurch husband who can't stay faithful to his long suffering spouse. Another serial cheat, Jim slept with Trish on the morning of the day of the attack.

Despite her justified anger at Trish for sleeping with her husband, Cath told police that she had discovered condoms in Jim’s car, which matched the brand found at the rape scene. And when Hardy and Miller began to delve further they discovered he had no alibi for two earlier attacks after Cath admitted that she was away from home at the time.

It was also discovered that he has a connection to one of the previous rape victims through his breakdown service after she had called for his assistance after breaking down prior to her attack.

He attempted to explain the existence of the condoms in his glove box by telling Hardy and Miller that he was hoping to get lucky with a young waitress who was serving at the party, but although the girl backed up his claims, she also disclosed that she had changed her mind, leaving him frustrated and angry and alone at the scene of the crime.

He was also spotted and confronted by Lucas after having a heated discussion with Trish at the party.
He is also the owner of a key piece of evidence, the blue twine, used to tie Trish up, and one of the many possible owners of the football sock which is set to unveil the identity of the attacker thanks to it's DNA evidence...

Ian Winterman

Trish's ex husband Ian certainly doesn't seem to be taking their divorce well. He's already admitted to spying on his former wife by using a scary software he had installed on to her laptop by former pupil, Leo Humphries.

He also has no firm alibi for the time of the attack claiming that he, rather conveniently, can't remember what happened at the party after apparently drinking too much tequila and blacking out. He refused to give a DNA sample on first request and threw all of his clothes he'd worn on the night of the attack in to the washing machine.

Ed Burnett 

Trish's boss Ed seemed affable enough at first, but it's emerged the owner of the local farm shop had something of a obsession with her so much so that Ian claims that he had to warn him to back off. 

Ed's unrequited love for Trish resulted in Jim receiving a vicious beating from him after he found out that they'd slept together as a result of the ongoing investigation, proving he has a violent streak. 

The suit he wore to Cath's party had grass stains on which could place him at the scene of the attack and a ball of the blue twine used to tie Trish's wrists was found in a pocket. He explained that away to police by telling them he uses it in the shop and had been in work prior to attending the party.

Ed called his detective daughter Katie to the shop where he had discovered a ball of the twine in a farm shop plastic bag. Has he just stumbled on a key piece of evidence that will prove his innocence?

Trish reckoned that she could smell vodka on the breath of her attacker. Ed appeared to be a teetotal , but at the end of the latest episode he was seen hitting the bottle once more...

Leo Humphries

Leo came on to the scene when Hardy and Miller began to investigate the remnants of blue twine found in a wound on Trish's wrist. They came to his workshop to discover if they made the twine there. Cocky and irritating, he immediately riled both the detectives.

Leo is certainly a dodgy character, he helped his ex teacher Ian Winterman by installing the spyware on to Trish's laptop. He has no alibi for the time of Trish's attack and his girlfriend said giving him a false alibi was the third favour she had done him – three is the number of sex attacks being investigated.

When faced with an official police interview Leo's bravado dropped and he admitted to being the one who had put the spyware on the laptop and that he had attended Cath's birthday party. 

We know he had an endless supply of the blue twine thanks to his father's business making the stuff, but perhaps the most damning evidence against him is that he has also been seen playing football wearing identical socks to the one used to gag Trish.

Aaron Mayfield

Possibly one of Broadchurch's most revolting residents, Aaron Mayfield is known to the police and is a previous sex offender
He claims to have been out fishing on the night of Trish’s rape, but there was no sign of the fish he said he caught and CCTV records proved he lied about the route he took to the beach. As a fisherman he also had access to the blue twine.

His previous attack did show similarities to Trish's and he had tenuous links to the previous unsolved rapes in the area.


Watch the final Broadchurch tonight at 9pm on ITV and 10pm on TV3 and find out if it's one of our suspects....

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