Julia’s Derbyshire Tale

Julia Roberts is set to play a Yorkshire woman whose murder sparked a huge police hunt followed by one of the more controversial miscarriages of justice in the UK. Roberts, The Observer reports, will take on the real-life role of Wendy Sewell, whose fondness for alfresco sex won her the nickname of The Bakewell Tart. Sewell was found murdered in 1973 and the person who found her - 17 year old Tim Downing - was later found guilty of Sewell's murder. It took a six year battle by local newspaper editor Don Hale to clear Downing of the murder. The role of Hale is proving a particularly alluring and actors as various as Liam Neeson and Christopher Eccleston are rumoured to have pitched for the part.