A former regional daily journalist has described how he reported on a grisly murder as part of a TV series examining prisoners who have spent the rest of their lives in jail.

Former Oldham Chronicle reporter Peter Phelps, left, covered the murder of 17-year-old Sharon Mosoph, whose body was found in the Rochdale Canal in Failsworth in March 1976.

Trevor Hardy, who was nicknamed the “Failsworth strangler” was convicted of murdering her and two other teenage girls and was given three life sentences in 1977.

An interview with Peter features in an episode about Hardy’s crimes in the second series of “When Life Means Life”, which is being shown on the Crime & Investigation Network.

The Chronicle reports that in the episode, Peter describes how he covered the murder from the initial discovery of the body through to the court case.

The show also features interviews with the relatives of victims and with Hardy’s brother Colin.

Hardy died of a heart attack in Wakefield Prison in 2012 while the documentary was being filmed.

The episode was broadcast on the Crime & Investigation Network on Monday.