Monday 27 October 2014

The Unsolved Murder of Gloria Booth

This 1971 unsolved murder goes through periodical reviews by Police, but recently, a retired cop believes that the victim, 29 year old barmaid Gloria Booth, was an early victim of Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.  Two aspects of the case do not convince me, which I will come to later.  What is known is that on Saturday night, June 12th 1971, Gloria left the pub she worked at, the White Hart, in Yeading Lane, Northolt, at 11.30pm and was seen walking along the A40 towards a Polish War Memorial.  Then it was early sunday morning, June 13th, that a newspaper delivery boy took a shortcut through South Ruislip Park that came across the virtually nude body of a young woman.  He had the calmness to check for a pulse then he ran home to tell his parents.  Meanwhile, a dog walker found the body and summoned Police.  He made an understandable mistake in covering the body, thus contaminating any evidence gathered, to preserve some dignity.

    Police checked her movements. Her estranged husband was quickly eliminated as a suspect - they were going through a divorce - as his movements were solidly alibied.  A post mortem revealed that she had been strangled, but there had been no sexual assault, giving rise to some theories that not only was the killer a sexual pervert but also impotent.  A shoe was found hidden under a bush but her other clothes had just been strewn about the murder scene.  She had been seen alive at 12.15am and later at 1.30am.  The Pathologist determined that she was dumped there after being murdered elsewhere.  Traces of brick dust and oil were found on her body.  Had she been murdered in a factory, or garage, or similar? Gloria had been mutilated.  She was supposed to have met a barman from the Viking Pub to go to a party but the Barman did not go as he had to call a doctor for the landlord, so did not leave the Viking until at least 1.00am, putting him in the clear.  Police believed the killer was local as Gloria had been dumped in the darkest part of the park

    Had she been taken there in a car or carried?  Police staged a reconstruction which gave them a few new leads but nothing substantial.  Another possibility is that the killer made two trips; one to dump the body, the second to deposit the clothes.  The case ran cold and now goes through a case review every couple of years.  But what about the claim about Sutcliffe being the culprit?  I do not buy it for two reasons.  One, the body was covered in bite marks, and as far as is known, Sutcliffe was never a biter.  Second, it is claimed that in 1971, Sutcliffe lived in Alperton, West London.  And Sutcliffe worked as a mechanic at this time.  That should be pretty easy to ascertain.  His family would certainly know.  And I have not heard anything about Sutcliffe living in West London.  Again, facts that should be easy to obtain from his family, providing that they would talk about their infamous sibling.  No, I am not convinced that he is responsible.  But his later job as a lorry driver would take him all over the country, and I wonder how many opportunities he acted upon by sheer chance.  I believe Gloria`s killer is still walking free or in a pine box in six foot of soil.

    UPDATE:  Reader Barry Glenister contacted me to say that the murder happened right near his parents home.  He says that an unreported fact was that the contents of Gloria`s handbag were scattered amongst the bushes bordering his parents home in Walnut Way.  He believes the killer left the park either by Walnut Way or Masson Avenue.  He arrived there the day after the murder, not knowing what had happened and was questioned by Police.  Thank you to Barry for this information.

11 comments:

  1. Nobody has mentioned the fact that the contents of Gloria's handbag were scattered among the bushes bordering my parents house in Walnut Way. This would suggest the murderer might have exited the park via Walnut Way,or Masson Avenue. I visited my parents the morning after the murder,not knowing it had happened,and was immediately interviewed by the police.

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  2. Hello Barry, thank you for your comments on the Gloria Booth case and I will put these comments up as an update. It is good to see details not before published or not spoken about and may give amateur sleuths something to think about. Thanks again, Daryl

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    1. I don't believe it had anything to do with Sutcliffe either because i lived there.
      I've never forgotten that awful night as i was on my way home from my sisters wedding when the traffic was stopped by the Police....asking where we'd all been.
      There were many rumours swirling around at the time and we were all in shock.
      I did not know Gloria but i knew several women who did...they were devastated and to this day i don't know why the Police will not listen to anyone about it.
      We all heard rumours...i worked in the local pub along with several other women...that night one of them (now deceased) was threatend by the local villians not to reveal that a certain man (JW)came into the pub covered in blood...otherwise her three children would pay the price - she was petrified so kept quiet until the day she died.
      I listened for days to things that were said...lots of it added up and even when i told the Police - they were not interested.
      Over time when the story was in the News of the World - i telehoned them with what i knew...they said it was heresay so weren't interested.
      This went on for years but i never forget that poor girl, even though i didn't know her it touched my heart...it's haunted me and every five years i revisit it. I'm in my 70's now and before i die i'd like to know i di my best for Gloria.
      Some time ago i'd heard more information so called Scotland Yard...they came to my house to speak to me - i told them what i'd heard over time and even the name of the man who was willing to speak to them with the name he'd given me of the alleged killer...the minute i told them that Ruislip Police were in the back pocket of the local villians (which everyone knew at the time) they turned on me.
      I knew then that something was wrong and nothing would be done yet again....why was this happening i asked myself...i've yet to come up with an anwer.
      Allegedly, the same distinctive murder happened in Guernsey later on, this i cannot prove but the man i'd heard was the killer, was sent there by the villians...out of the way. I do know his name and gave it to the Police but they seemed disinterested.
      I asked Scotland Yard if they would look into the second killing - but to this day i've heard nothing from them.
      I would love for this to be solved so that her family can get some peace...none of us who lived there at the time have ever forgotten Gloria and maybe one day justice will be served or at least the killer will be exposed.
      I've always wanted to contact her family and tell them everything i'd heard and who allegedly did it, but i've never been able to find any information on them....I don't know why they think it was Sutcliffe...it wasn't i'm certain of that.
      Anyone can contact me if they so wish...sadly Scotland Yard never bothered and they never turned up at the guys house who offered to speak to them with more information than i had.
      I keep asking myself why...wasn't it in their interest to close the case or did the Police have something to hide, i guess i'll never know?


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    2. Hi anonymousZ , today an article was published regarding my auntie still looking for the killer of Gloria.
      Gloria is my auntie, ive been reading anything I could to try and understand what happened that night and why anyone would want to hurt her. Even though I never got the chance to meet her my dad would tell me all about it, it broke his heart loosing her. If you have any information you'd like to share with our family im more than happy to speak more privately with you. Thank you

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  3. Gloria was the daughter in law of my friend. We worked together for a few years at pitshanger lane & socialised together on trips to bingo. She was very elderly & I 21 at the time. i remember her son was devastated by Gloria's murder & couldn't get over it. That was in 1980

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    1. I didn't realise she was married, i thought her boyfriend was the manager of the Viking.
      Was she coming from the pub where she worked to meet him in the pub(Viking)over the roundabout at the Polish War Memorial?
      The suspect, who knew everyone of us who worked in local pubs, because he drank in all of them along with the gang of thugs. Did he recognise her, offering her a lift, ostensibly to take her to the Viking. Instead, did he take her to his garage where the offense took place(hence the grease on her body which the News of The World were interested in) did he call call up the mobsters to help him? Were they the ones who picked Gloria up and dumped her in the field opposite the pub to make it look as if it was the boyfriend who did it.

      He was taken in for questioning but subsequently released but none of us thought it was him.
      It's starting to look a lot different to me now, i still believe that JW allegedly did it, but the pieces are beginning to form a more complete picture. I am so glad i stumbled on this site because it's the first time that i've been able to lay out my thoughts without being ignored or ridiculed, thank you all for that.
      I realise now that i will continue to ask questions until my dying day because none of this has ever added up and Gloria deserves justice.

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  4. I don't believe ripper nutter had anything to do with this either. I believe it was a series of unfortunate events put her in the company of a dangerous psychopath. It's shocking to hear that Anonymous Z may have had helpful information yet its been ignored time & time again. Disgraceful!

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  5. It can only be that the police were in the back pocket of the villains, it's the only thing that makes sense. My friend was too petrified to go to the police because JB threatened her and her children, i didn't have children so i wasn't afraid. The trouble is, we all knew the man that came into the pub covered in blood...when he wasn't 'off his face on drugs' he was quite affable which scared me a bit because he'd worked on my car. The NOW wanted to know about the grease found on the body...i told them he had a garage on the way to Ruislip, they never went there either to my knowledge
    I'm just sad that i couldn't help, i really tried. :*(

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  7. Can anyone tell me where this lovely woman is buried please? My partner & I would like to pay our respects.
    If so please contact me on: d.harrison981@btinternet.com

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  8. Thank god other people think Chris Clark is talking nonsense stating Sutcliffe killed Gloria Booth,making money off this girls murder by telling lies is disgusting.

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