Alan Lane

Alan Lane is a major character in the Series 16 episode True Love Waits. He is a former police officer and convicted murderer. He is later revealed to be a serial killer, having gotten away with his crimes by framing his victims' abusive partners. He is portrayed by David Murray.

Background
Many years before the main events of the episode, Lane worked as a police officer. On one of his rounds, he rescued a young runaway named Imogen McNeil from being raped by her pimp. He told her he could either take her home to her parents or arrest her for solicitation. Imogen wanted to be arrested, but Lane trapped her into going home as he wanted, by scratching his face and saying he would claim Imogen did it, resulting in her being put away for assaulting an officer. Imogen's parents were very grateful to Lane for bringing their daughter home safely and he became a family friend. Lane fell in love with Imogen and began courting her; the two eventually married. Unfortunately, Lane turned out to be very controlling - he wanted Imogen only for himself and it is implied he emotionally abused her. Imogen was terrified of him, and this fear prevented her from leaving him. Lane became jealous of Imogen's close relationship with her parents, so he murdered her father Derek by causing him to have a car accident. Lane was suspected of being the killer right from the start, although there was no concrete proof. He forced Imogen's mother Edith to move out of the house, further isolating Imogen.

When Lane learned that Imogen was pregnant with his child, rather than be happy, he was furious. Imogen believes he only wanted her to himself, and he tried to force Imogen to abort their baby. However, Imogen had finally had enough and escaped from Lane, making it seem as though she'd been murdered and framing her husband for the crime. She even went as far as cutting off her own finger. Lane was arrested for the murder of Imogen - he vehemently denied killing Imogen, but was convicted anyway. Lane was eventually released from prison and started up a mobile hiking gear business. He also began searching for Imogen, whom he was convinced was still alive. During his search, he also began killing women with abusive partners and removing their fingertips, which he would then keep. He would frame the partners for the murders, knowing that law enforcement would believe the murders to be domestic situations. Lane usually found his victims in A&E.

True Love Waits
Shortly before the events of True Love Waits, Lane changed his MO; whilst drinking at a bar, he witnessed an argument between landlord Roly Henderson and his wife, Joanne, during which Roly angrily threw a knife into the sink next to Joanne. Lane incorrectly interpreted the situation as a sign of abuse. He stole the knife and later broke into the house and murdered Joanne, framing Roly for the crime. When Nikki Alexander found links between this case and the cases of Imogen and a woman named Eleanor Marshall, who was supposedly murdered by her partner four years ago, Lane was brought in for questioning by DI Kate Warren. However, due to pressure to charge Roly with murder by her father, Warren let Lane go. Meanwhile, retired police detective Anne Percival, who had helped Imogen go into hiding, went to Lane's house, intending to kill him to prevent him finding Imogen or harming anymore women. Lane caught her in his basement and demanded to know where Imogen was. Percival shot him several times, but it is revealed he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Lane brutally beats Percival, cuts off her finger and ties her to a chair. He then tortures her to try and learn Imogen's location, but Percival refuses to tell him, prompting him to kill her and stuff a plastic bag filled with his victims' fingertips down her throat.

Lane flees the house before police arrive and goes to his mother-in-law's house, having taken Percival's mobile and learned Imogen's number, he presumably intended to abduct Edith to lure Imogen out. Upon arriving there, however, he found a teenage girl named Karen Masters, who was looking for her mother. When Karen told Lane that her mother looked like an older version of Imogen in a photograph, Lane realized that Karen was his daughter. Lane offered to take Karen to the owner of the house, but she became uncomfortable when he barred her from leaving. This angered Lane, who told Karen she'd inherited her mother's impatience, before he struck her in the face with his handgun, knocking her unconscious. Lane then kidnapped Karen; as he was putting her into the back of his van, DI Warren and her partner arrived at the house and confronted him. Unfortunately, Lane caught them unawares and fatally shot Warren, escaping with his daughter. Lane called Imogen and told her he had Karen; he demanded she come, alone, to an old warehouse, or he would kill Karen.

In actual fact, Lane was keeping Karen tied and gagged in the gym of an abandoned school where he had worked many years ago; he set Imogen up to see if she would honor her word. When Imogen came with an entire SWAT team - having been forced to cooperate with the police - Lane left the property to return to the school, presumably intending to murder his own daughter. However, by the time he got there, Nikki and Jack Hodgson had arrived at the scene and found Karen. Lane attacked them, knocking Karen and Nikki to the ground and engaging in a vicious fight with Jack. He managed to stab Jack twice in the shoulder and nearly stabbed him in the throat, but Nikki was able to hit him over the head with a metal pipe whilst he was distracted, incapacitating him. Lane was arrested by the police; as he was being taken away, he saw Imogen sitting with their daughter and called out to her. However, Imogen ignored him, embracing Karen, and Lane was then taken away and presumably incarcerated.

Modus Operandi
Lane mainly targeted women with abusive husbands or partners. He usually found his victims in A&E, where they would go to be treated for injuries sustained from being beaten by their partners. Lane would then stalk the couple, waiting for the right moment to strike. His method of killing is not explicitly stated - he repeatedly stabbed Joanne Henderson, but he bludgeoned Eleanor Marshall. Its possible he simply uses whatever method is most convenient at each of his crimes. Nikki Alexander states that Lane changed his MO somewhat when he murdered Joanne - he encountered her at a pub, not in A&E, and incorrectly interpreted her argument with her husband to be a domestic violence situation, suggesting he was devolving and becoming more arrogant and reckless. In the majority of his murders, Lane would cut off his victims' fingertips post-mortem with a hunting knife, a reference to his wife Imogen cutting off her finger to frame him. He kept the fingertips as trophies.

Victims

 * Derek McNeil (fatal car crash, make it look like an accident)
 * Several, unnamed women (murdered, cut off their fingers post-mortem and framed their partners)
 * Eleanor Marshall (bludgeoned with an oar and cut off her finger post-mortem, framed her husband)
 * Joanne Henderson (stabbed and cut off her finger post-mortem; framed her husband)
 * Anne Percival (cut off her finger, tortured and killed)
 * Edith McNeil (intended; went to house to abduct her, but she was out)
 * Karen Masters (attempted; knocked unconscious and abducted; intended to kill)
 * DI Kate Warren (shot twice)
 * Jack Hodgson (attempted; stabbed twice in the arm, tried to stab in the throat; was incapacitated)