A DOCUMENTARY about North- East cannibal killer David Harker will be screened on TV tonight.

Cannibal Killer will be shown on Channel Five at 10pm, telling the story behind one of Darlington's most notorious killers and the trail of devastation he left behind.

Harker was jailed for a minimum of 14 years for the murder of mother-of-four Julie Paterson in April 1998.

Her dismembered torso was found in Polam Lane, Darlington, sparking a massive murder inquiry and a hunt for the rest of her body.

Her head, arms and legs have never been found. Harker admitted what he had done to The Northern Echo in a series of interviews and letters, but has always refused to say where her remains are.

Now, the officer who led the original investigation, Chief Superintendent Dave Jones, of Durham Police, is preparing to visit Harker in prison in a last effort to find out the truth.

The officer said he wanted to bring some closure to Julie's family before he retires at the end of the year.

September Films originally made the documentary about Harker in 2000, but has been filming in the region in recent weeks to update the story.

The new progamme tells how Julie's long-term boyfriend, Alan Taylor, was tormented by her death and ended up killing one of his friends. Taylor, 41, strangled 45-year-old John Morrison with a belt. After he was arrested, he told police he wanted to be jailed so he could get to Harker and exact his revenge.

During his trial at Teesside Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

However, the jury rejected his claims of post-traumatic stress disorder and found him guilty of murder.

Taylor killed himself in June at Holme House Prison, Stockton.

September Film's reporter, Randeep Sandhu, who worked on the film, said: "The new programme will include the related events that have occurred over the past seven years."