Thursday 31 July 2014

The Original Night Stalker

The Original Night Stalker is not to be confused with the Richard Ramirez case.  This started some years before Ramirez started his killing rampage, and this offender has been given varying names; The Golden State Killer, The Diamond Knot Killer and The East Bay Rapist.  it was not until 2001 that DNA positively linked 50 plus rapes committed in Northern California between 1976 & 1979 and ten murders of single people and couples in Southern California from 1979 to the mid 80`s.  This assailant is believed to have murdered as many as 13 people.  The start of this man`s long spree is believed to go back to the mid 70`s when a burglar known as the "Visalia Ransacker" was striking at many homes.  There was a murder in this spree as a journalist was shot dead as he attempted to stop a masked man kidnapping his daughter.  Was this the first kill by the ONS?  Then, a cop on watch in an area surprised a masked  burglar.  He fired a warning shot which made the burglar surrender, but then he produced a gun and fired which temporarily blinded the officer though did not hit him.  He made his escape by doubling back through where Police were before they could secure the area.  The break-ins at Visalia ceased but then began in Sacramento.

    The sexual attacks began on June 18th 1976 and carried on until July 5th 1979.  He started stalking single women.  He staked out middle class suburbs, which has given rise to speculation about his motives.  On a couple of occasions, a prowler was seen in some areas and was chased off.  One youth saw this masked man and gave chase, but this almost turned fatal when the assailant turned and shot the young man, severely wounding him.  Now it was clear that this man had no hesitation in shooting to kill.  Irvine was also a town that saw sex attacks and murders by this man.  He was seen easily jumping over fences, so it was believed that he was very physically fit.  His attacks involved bondage, humiliation of the men, violent sexual assault of the women, and in cases, murder of them both.  So just who was this maniac?  Three suspects were thoroughly investigated but eventually cleared.  It was in 2001 that the advances in DNA technology linked the Northern California rapes with the rapes and murders in Southern California.

    Speculation grew on what was the psychological profile and the motivations of the assailant.  His areas of attack were middle class, so was this him attacking his own middle class background?  He was cool under pressure.  His attacks were planned as he took his time, knowing nothing was going to happen unexpectedly.  This points to military training.  It is believed that he kept his victims under surveillance for some time, getting to know their routines precisely.  Again, this points to a military background, as how do you keep disciplined for long periods of time unless you have learned about observation.  Let us face it, no ordinary rapist would stalk a victim for long periods of time, because he would want to get in there to the victim.  Extreme patience is a trait that most criminals do not, and never will possess.  He had escape routes planned.  He was scaling fences with ease, showing great fitness.  

    What do I think?  First off, if he did spend great time watching his victims, then to know precisely their routines, then surely he does not work.  This would state that mummy & daddy keep him, indicating that they must have money, and this throws up that they are middle class.  Why would he attack the very social structure that allows him to carry out his attacks?  His fitness?  Then surely he must work out at a gym.  If I am right about him not working, then his family are not bothered by his nocturnal wanderings, and he did switch from Northern to Southern California.  Why was he targeting middle class neighbourhoods?  Simple.  A better class of victim.  A woman did survive an attack by this man and she gave a very telling piece of information.  He was not very well endowed.  I believe this says plenty about his motivations.  If he was in the military then surely having a small tool would have made him a target of ridicule.  Face it, the military is a VERY macho world.  This would give inferiority complexes, so the only way he can regain control is by fear and violence.  Has he decided to punish people because of the size of his manhood?  Speculation on his sex life is that it is dominated by bondage, force, and obedience, so why has no woman come forward to say that a former boyfriend had an obsession about bondage, violent sex and had a small tool.  That would be very conclusive.

    There have been no more attacks attributed to this man for nearly three decades yet in 1991, he made taunting phone calls to one of his victims.  Has he been jailed for a violent crime, elsewhere in the USA?  But then again, surely his DNA profile has been run through the FBI`s national DNA database?  If convicted, how could he be missed on a database?  Or was it before they started routine swabbing?  He did call a victim in 1991.  There is no doubt in my mind that either family or some friends have protected him, and maybe some women are too scared to come forward.  With as many as thirteen victims attributed to him, what would one or two more mean?  Surely, there are people out with strong suspicions.  Pass them onto the authorities if you do.  Get this man put on death row where he belongs, and as it says on one forum about this killer, "never forget the victims."

Tuesday 29 July 2014

The Murder of Inspector Ray Codling

I tried to remember the details of this case that I knew happened it the mid to late 80`s and the killer was a homosexual rapist.  A crime magazine gave the details.  The man murdered was Police Inspector Ray Codling and the killer was Tony Hughes, an armed robber, rapist and now a killer.  This all happened when Inspector Codling & Sergeant Jim Bowden were keeping a watch on patrol for a distinctive motorcycle.  The rider was wanted in connection with an armed robbery.  They come across the bike at the Birch Services near Rochdale, on the M62 motorway.  It was 2.am on September 14th 1989.  I have passed this service station many times travelling from Ellesmere Port to Bradford, and vice versa.  They were checking it out when the rider appeared.  They noticed the rider had a knife on him so they asked him to come over so they could speak to him.  He responded by producing a gun and shooting Ray Codling twice, fatally.  Sergeant Bowden was shot in the leg as he tried to run.  The gunman shot Jim Bowden in the chest but the bullet was incredibly, deflected by his notebook.  Then the gunman fled on the bike.  People at the services gave assistance until an ambulance arrived.  Police forces across the north started a massive manhunt.

   The gunman rode into the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley.  He was looking for a Catholic priest, and was pointed in the direction of the nearest one.  The priest was away, so he went to a close by Catholic school, but the priest was not there.  He decided to lock himself into the garage at the side of the church and wait for the priest.  However, the headmaster saw this and called Police.  They told him to evacuate the school immediately.  Police surrounded the garage but a shot rang out.  The gunman had committed suicide.  He turned out to be Anthony Hughes, aged 42, a career criminal with an unpleasant record.  He was a homosexual but despite this, he viciously raped a stewardess at knife point.  He served 6 years for robbery with violence.  Then after release, this model citizen carried out two armed robberies, an attempted murder, and was caught with two firearms.  Amazingly, he only received ten years.  Then, right after his release from this sentence, he committed rape, dressed as a cop.  This got him 7 years - he served 15 out of 23 years -  then he was back into his old ways; robberies.  A wage snatch in Manchester followed by a bank raid in Stockport.  Now it was murder and attempted murder.  

    According to, Hughes claimed he wanted revenge on cops and prison officers, as he spent many years in jail.  Simple then, he should not break the law.  But as ever, it turns out he was one of those lazy, workshy bastards who draw dole and go out and thieve.  No doubt he did not want to be one of the "mugs" like most of us are.  The shot to his brain? Good fucking riddance!

The Lethal Injection Controversy

The execution method of lethal injection has run into recent controversy over the Judicial System experimenting with different cocktails of drugs, due to chemical companies in Europe refusing to supply the drugs for executions.  The States in the USA that still carry out the Death Penalty are either trying different combinations of chemicals or have suspended executions temporarily.  What caused the storm was the botched execution in April of this year, of a sadistic killer.  Clayton Lockett, aged 38, had come to the end of a 14 year stay on Death Row in Oklahoma, but the botched execution saw Lockett thrash about on the gurney and he finally died from a heart attack after nearly 45 minutes.  He obviously suffered greatly, but then again, SO DID HIS VICTIM!  I know that the Human Rights cunts never acknowledge what their heroes put their victims through, showing exactly what they think of victims.

    So did this piece of shit do to warrant a one way ticket to the execution chamber?  Why nothing much.  He only tortured, shot, then buried 19 year old Stephanie Neiman.  When he covered with dirt, she was still alive.  What had she done to justify this barbarity?  Lockett and two of his buddies tried to steal her car.  They tried to break in to her friends`home but she put up resistance.  This led to an absolutely horrific death.  She was a young woman doing her best to get a good start in life but that was cruelly taken from her.  By that band of moronic, twisted and lazy bastards who cannot make something of their lives.  To people like Lockett - criminals in other words - ordinary, hard working and honest people are the "mugs" of the world.  Ready made victims to be robbed, maimed or killed.  To the civil liberties and human rights scumbags do not give a toss for the Stephanie Niemans of this world.  It is a pity nobody stood up and shouted  "Now you know what it feels like to suffer" but the professional apologists would no doubt have branded them as evil.  The irony would be lost on these cunts.

Sunday 27 July 2014

The Walsh Street Killings

The murders of two young Melbourne Police officers still reverberates through Australia to this day, with controversy raging as to whether it was an Underworld payback for the shooting dead by Melbourne Police of career criminal Graeme Jensen.  This tale started out on October 11th 1988, when Police had Jensen under surveillance, as he was suspected of being part of a robbery gang that had hit four banks.  The plan to box his car in went awry when one of the cars was held up by traffic and so Jensen made to drive through a gap.  Ordered to stop, somebody shouted that Jensen had a firearm, so Police opened fire, killing him.  Jensen was another high profile gangster that Police had shot dead.  At 4.50 am on October 12th, two young constables, 22 tear old Steven Tynan and 20 year old Damian Eyre, were dispatched to Walsh Street to check on an abandoned car.  Constable Tynan was shot dead by shotgun as he sat in their car.  Constable Eyre was also shot but despite serious injuries, he grappled with the gunman.  It was then that somebody came up behind him, took his service revolver and shot Damian Eyre in the head.

    The massive response by Melbourne Police put four men in the dock, accused of the double murder.  Two were members of the notorious Pettingill family, Trevor Pettingill & Victor Pierce.  Also charged were Peter McEvoy & Tony Farrell.  Appearing as state witnesses were two the Pettingill family, young Jason Ryan and Wendy Pierce, wife of Victor.  But, by the time of the trial, Wendy Pierce had retracted her statements, and as a hostile witness, she was never called to give evidence.  All four defendants were acquitted.  Two other men Police alleged had been involved in the murders, were Jedd Houghton & Gary Abdallah.  Both had been shot dead by Victoria Police before the trial.  The only evidential piece Police had, was that the shotgun used in the murders, was also the gun used in bank raids.  Robbers had dropped some shells and casings during the Oak Park bank raid.  The gun was found much later, partially buried.  Police believed that Pierce, Houghton, Jensen & McEvoy, were part of the gang responsible for the bank raids.

    In 2005, Wendy Pierce admitted that her now deceased husband Victor, had in fact planned and carried out the Walsh Street murders.  Whether it was true or not, there is nothing Police can do a dead villain.

The Murder of John Pull & The Execution of Victor Terry

The execution of young murderers seemed to not have any effect on young criminals who went out to rob and were prepared to kill.  The morning of November 10th 1960 saw the executions of Francis Forsyth, 18, and Norman Harris, 23, for Capital Murder.  But this seemed not to bother Victor Terry, Alan Hosier & Philip Tucker as they set out to rob a branch of Lloyds Bank at Durrington, near Worthing in Sussex.  The branch was opened by Andrew Barker, whilst John Pull went into the back to put the kettle on.  Two young men walked in, went behind the cashiers desk, and so were asked by Mr Barker what they were doing.  one produced a sawn off shotgun from under a coat and they demanded money.  Mr Pull emerged from the back room and stood in front of the two men.  Suddenly the gun went off, hitting Mr Pull severely, resulting in his death a few minutes later.  Mr Barker handed over £1,372 to the robbers who fled in a waiting car.  Mr Barker immediately summoned Police and an ambulance but it was too late for Mr Pull.

    A big break occurred for Police when a taxi driver, upon hearing about the robbery, told them about picking up two young men at Worthing train station, and taking them to the seafront.  They paid their fare with a £5 note and seemed to have a very thick wallet.  Police arrested them and found one with £60 in his pocket, the other has £120 - a very substantial amount of money in those days.  They claimed it was saved for a holiday, but they were both taken in for questioning.  Andrew Barker identified one of them as the youth who took the money, but was not the gunman.  He was 16 year old Philip Tucker.  The other young man was identified as 20 year old Alan Hosier, who turned out to be the getaway driver.  Realising the very serious consequences, they told Police all.  The shooter was 20 year old Victor Terry, ironically, a friend of Francis Forsyth, who had been executed an hour before the robbery.

    They said they used the home of Terry`s girlfriend, Valerie Salter, 18, as a place to plan the robbery.  But when Police raided it, they were gone.  Detectives managed to trace their movements to Littlehampton, Portsmouth, London, then up to Glasgow, in Scotland.  There, a landlady recognised a picture of Valerie Salter that had been published in newspapers, and alerted Police, who arrested them both.  Put on trial, the defence Terry put forward, was that he was on drugs at the time and therefore not in total control of his faculties.  He claimed that Mr Pull grabbed the end of the gun and jerked it forward, and with a finger on the trigger, it went off accidentally.  It was not believed by the Jury and Terry was sentenced to death for Capital Murder.  He was executed at Wandsworth Prison on May 25th 1961.  Hosier was jailed for life for murder, Tucker, being 16, was ordered to be detained and Salter received probation for one year.  At the end of the day, they took a loaded firearm on a robbery, and a man died.  I could not see the family and friends of John Pull being bothered by the execution of Victor Terry, he chose a dangerous path and paid the price.

Friday 25 July 2014

The Execution of Anthony Miller

19 year old Anthony Miller was part of a small number of young men executed in the UK during a very short period in the beginning of the 1960`s.  Miller was convicted of Capital Murder -  Murder in the Furtherance of Theft - at Glasgow High Court in November of 1960.  His accomplice, James Donovan, 16, was convicted of Non-Capital Murder, and due to him being under the age of 18, he was ordered to be detained for a determined period of time.  The offence was a mugging that turned to murder.

    A man named John Thomson had booked into the Parkview Hotel in Glasgow on April 6th 1960, telling staff that he intended to watch an international match at Hampden Park, home of Scottish football.  However, Mr Thomson did not return to his room after the game.  His body was found in the nearby Queens Park area.  Police discovered, through fingerprints, that the man was in fact John Cremin.  The only motive Police could find was robbery.  The murder scene was a notorious pick up and cruising area for homosexuals, meaning that nobody would ever come forward to say anything, as homosexuality was still illegal in the UK at that time.  The case went cold until a couple of months later, when a young boy aged 16 was being interviewed over crimes in the Queens Park district.  He told Police that a friend of his, 16 year old James Donovan, had said that Tony Miller had hit the man over the head with a plank of wood.  Both Donovan & Miller were arrested.  

    They were charged with murder on November 5th 1960.  They were charged with another robbery and assault on a victim back in March.  They were also alleged to have attacked two more men, with robbery the motive.  Miller had also attacked a man in 1959, along with two accomplices.  Donovan had been charged with gross indecency with a man.  The witness against them told the court how they would use public lavatories, notorious meeting places for gay men, to entice potential victims to go somewhere quiet for sex, then attack them.  Miller was the heavy.  The court heard evidence from another youth who said that Donovan had shown him money they had taken from a drunk and that Miller had struck him with a plank of wood.  

    Donovan gave evidence in his own defence in which he admitted a number of attacks on men in order to rob them.  He admitted that on a couple of occasions, violence was used.  He admitted talking to Cremin in the toilets, then left with him, and on passing Miller, a piece of wood was brought down on the head of Cremin.  They robbed him as he lay on the ground, and quickly made off.  Donovan admitted robbery but denied murder & manslaughter.  He was convicted of murder and served eight & a half years.  Miller admitted robbery but denied Capital Murder.  He was convicted and sentenced to death.  His appeal was dismissed on 7th December and so he was executed at Barlinnie Prison on December 22nd 1960.

Thursday 24 July 2014

Jane Goodwin - Did Snelgrove Kill Her?

This 1982 case is an unsolved murder that crime author M. William Phelps believes was carried out by convicted double murderer Edwin Snelgrove.  The circumstances are very similar to the murder of Karen Osmun in 1983.  Jane, 30, was attacked in Newark, New Jersey, in which she was strangled and repeatedly stabbed.  The connection here is that like Karen, Jane had her blouse torn open and she was repeatedly stabbed in the breasts.  There no wounds in the genital areas so this would make for a very unusual sex crime.  Why repeatedly stab the breasts?  Suggestions sourced during a little research say that he could have been impotent and attacked one of the two areas of womanhood, sexually.  I would suggest that if he was impotent, he would have gone for the genital area, as it would be the area he could not perform with.  Maybe the simple answer was that he was a tit man?  Did Jane, Mary Ellen Renard & Carmen Rodriguez give him the brush off, and with his overwhelming sense of superiority, this caused him to explode?  How dare they give him the brush off?  He then punished them by disfiguring the elements that other men would look at.  Namely, their breasts.  Mary Ellen survived her attack.

    He attacked his girlfriend Karen Osmun in the same way.  Did Karen decide to leave him and this resulted in her murder?  Snelgrove was obsessed with Bundy and aimed to be just like him or even better than him.  He killed twice, attempted to murder another, and just may be the killer of Jane Goodwin.  Drawing up a profile, Snelgrove most certainly fits the part, but at least he will never be coming out of prison but if he ever does, regardless of age, he will kill again.  You never know, some dickheads on a parole board just may give him the opportunity.

Edwin "Ned" Snelgrove - Killer

This double killer is doing a very nice 60 year sentence for a murder and an attempted murder, that sees him as ineligible for parole until he is 103 years of age.  The sentence alone tells you that this is in the USA, as such a sentence in this country would have howls and screams of the justice system being barbaric.  Not that you would hear the scumbag professional apologists calling the crimes that!  But Snelgrove is a dangerous individual who does what he can to convince people he really was innocent, and is a very manipulative person.  Author Matthew William Phelps believes Snelgrove is responsible for the murder of Jane Goodwin, which officially is unsolved.  I will make a post about that case separate from this.

    Edwin Fales Snelgrove Jr, born in 1960, became a suspect in the murder of his girlfriend Karen Osmun, a 23 year old from New Brunswick in New Jersey.  She met Snelgrove and dated for some time, as they both attended Rutgers University.  Karen failed to show up at her parents home in Bricktown, New Jersey, for dinner, on December 24th 1983.  They alerted Police, who discovered her body in her apartment.  She had been strangled and stabbed numerous times.  What struck Police as bizarre, as there was no sexual assault and all the stab wounds were in the breasts.  Snelgrove was the prime suspect but they could not find enough evidence to charge him, and so the murder went cold.  For a couple of years.  A woman named Mary Ellen Renard, 44, met a man in a New Jersey nightclub.  This much younger man, left the club after her but her car failed to start and so he helped her get it started.  He said he would follow her home to ensure she made it safely.  After she entered her home in Elmwood, he asked to use the bathroom, and as she let him in, he violently attacked her, trying to sexually assault her and stabbing at her, but she managed to flee and run to a neighbour who called Police and paramedics.  The man fled.  Despite her injuries, she was able to identify her assailant as Edwin Snelgove.

    Snelgrove was arrested and surprisingly pleaded guilty to the attack on Mary Ellen & the murder of Karen Osmun.  A deal saw him receive 20 years( a very light sentence) for Aggravated Manslaughter, Criminal Sexual Contact & Criminal Attempted Homicide.  He served just under 11 years!!!!  Why?  Because he was a very nice and well behaved young man.  Prosecutors objected to his release but a parole board deemed him no danger to the public!!!  Snelgrove went on to prove this, after his release in 1999and moving to Hartford, Connecticut.  Carmen Rodriguez, 33, was seen leaving a bar with a man in December 2001, and her body was found on 6th January 2002, in Hopkinton, Rhode Island.  He was hog tied and wrapped in nearly a dozen trash bags.   The man identified as leaving the bar with her was Snelgrove.  He was charged with the murder of Carmen in October 2003 and went to trial in 2005.  The Judge allowed his past record be entered into evidence and he was convicted and sentenced to 60 years.  He appealed against his criminal record being used as evidence but in 2008, a Supreme Court confirmed his conviction and sentence.

    Snelgrove attempted to model himself on Ted Bundy, seeing him as a person to be looked up to and himself having a superiority complex, like Bundy.  He claims he is innocent, and tries to manipulate people to his way of thinking.  A cold case detective showed Snelgrove a photo of Jane Goodwin.  His response was to turn away and say nothing.  A sign of Guilt?

Tuesday 22 July 2014

The Michigan Child Murders

This is still a highly contentious unsolved case, with accusations flying every which way on forums and sites, so I will stick to just the basic facts.  South Michigan was rocked by four child abductions and murders in Oakland County in 1976 & 1977, yet the killer or killers were never apprehended.  Persons of interest were and have been developed but nobody has been charged with any of the crimes.  The first victim was 12 year old Mark Stebbins of Ferndale, who left an American Legion Hall on 15th February 1976 to go home and watch TV.  He never made it home.  He was found four days later, on a snowbank in a car park of an office building on Ten Mile Road and Greenfield, in Southfield.  Mark had been strangled and sexually assaulted with an object.  He had been laid out in a very neat fashion, which has long puzzled investigators.  He also had ligature marks on his wrists.

    The second victim was 12 year old Jill Robinson of Royal Oak.  She vanished on 22nd December 1976, after packing a bag and running away after an argument at home.  Her bicycle was found the next day behind a store on Main Street.  It was on 26th December that her body was found neatly laid out and fully clothed on a snowbank not far from the Troy Police Station.  She had been killed with a shotgun blast to the face.  The third victim was Kristine Mehelich aged 10.  She vanished on 2nd January 1977 after she visited a store on Twelve Mile Road in the Oakshire district of Royal Oak.  She was missing for 19 days until her body was found by a rural road in Franklin Village.  Again, the body was fully clothed and neatly laid out.  Kristine had been smothered.

    The fourth victim was 11 year old Tim King of Birmingham.  He vanished after receiving some money to go to a store to buy some candy on Marple Road.  He left the store by it`s rear entrance but never returned home.  This on 16th March 1977.  He was found six days later, in a shallow ditch, by two teenagers that were out and about in a car.  The ditch was on Gill Road, near to 8 Mile Road in Livonia.  This was out of Oakland County and just inside Wayne County.  Bizarrely, his clothes had been washed and ironed.  He had been sexually assaulted and strangled.  There was, and still is, a huge outcry over this case with claims of incompetence, cover-ups, paedophile rings and much more.  So did cops develop any good suspects?  Yes, they did.

    One was a known paedophile called Archie Sloan.  Hair fibres were found in his 1966 Pontiac that matched Tim and Mark.  There was no DNA then.  Sloan regularly lent his car to his paedophile buddies, so this made it difficult to make a case against him.  Another suspect was also the most controversial.  This known paedophile was Chris Busch, with a number of convictions for abusing boys, but a problem was that his father was a powerful executive at General Motors, who some claimed, used his money and influence to get his son of many charges.  He was arrested, along with two of his friends for a catalogue of sex offences against young boys.  His friends were sent to jail, whilst Busch, mysteriously, never faced charges for the same offences.  Busch committed suicide in 1978, though some have said he was murdered to keep his mouth shut.

    James Vincent Gunnels surfaced a few years back as a suspect due to a mitochondrial DNA match to a hair found on the blouse of victim number 3, Kristine.  This DNA match does prove conclusively that Gunnels is guilty, but it does not rule him out.  Gunnels was abused as a youngster by Busch, for which Busch was convicted.  Did the abused become the abuser?  The last suspect is Theodore Lamborgine.  He was arrested by Palma Heights Police in Ohio as being part of a child porn ring.  Lamborgine pled guilty to 15 charges to avoid being forced to take a polygraph over the four child murders.  This sounds very suspicious indeed, but no evidence has come to light, in order to charge him.

    Both boys were sexually abused but the girls were not.  Is this an indication that it is two different killers?  One factor linking them all is the displaying of the bodies.  All neatly laid out.  Virtually every killer will just dump a body, yet this person(s) take the time to display it just right.  It also shows they are very familiar with the areas, and the comings and goings of people.  The killer could be one who enjoys degrading the boys, but whilst enjoying the killing, does not get his jollies through abusing the girls.  One was held for 19 days.  This shows he, or she, is comfortable keeping them somewhere.  But surely the person would have needed assistance to keep a young child for that length of time?  Maybe a woman?  Maybe a ring of paedos is behind it all?  Each would have their own brand of perversion that needed satisfying.  Speculation is endless, but the families of the victims want results, even now.  They need peace of mind and closure.  Let us hope they get it.

Monday 21 July 2014

"Funny That!"

I have touched on some of these points in some of my much older posts but it never fails to surprise me that some people can be branded as grasses, liars, but this does not apply to all.  I bring this point up because lately there has been graffiti sprayed around declaring "fat John xxxxxxxx is a grass."  Now, I have no idea what this is all about, but it struck me that the term "grass" does not apply to all that do something that compels co-operation with authorities.  This is not meant to apply to law abiding citizens but the criminal classes who cut deals to lessen their jail term or to escape prosecution completely.  Let us start with a man involved in a brutal murder locally, one Sonny Stewart.  He informed on all his cohorts in a deal to save himself from a very long jail sentence.  Five he gave evidence against received, 24 years, 33(min) x 3, and 35 years. Two others received 12 & 13 years.  Yet his evidence was never coherent against the man who received 35 years.  He could not get his story straight.  This interview was shown by Panorama.  I expected to see graffiti everywhere about Stewart but have not seen any.

    Then there is the memoirs of "King Squealer" Maurice O`Mahoney, who spoke of a "crazy psychopath" who walked about with a gun in a shoulder holster thinking he was in Chicago in the twenties.  He later said he discovered that "Mad Alan" was a Police informer but never did anything.  Then there was the celebrated trial of Ronnie Kray for shooting George Cornell.  Frank Fraser gave evidence on behalf of Kray.  According to one book, Fraser named Jack Duval as boasting he shot Cornell.  Duval helped put the Richardsons and Fraser away, so you can see why he named him.  Yet, incredibly nobody has picked up on this.  Or is it a case of "It`s Frank therefore it is different?"  Another puzzler is in Liverpool, where you will see "Frenchy (Stephen French) is a grass" or people screaming "That fucking Paul Grimes, the grassing bastard!"  Yet, do people say those sort of things about that great Scouse folkhero John Haase?  He pulled a con on Michael Howard to get very early release for himself and his cohort Paul Bennett, yet it emerged that Haase was informing for Customs.  Part of his elaborate plot was to have a gun smuggled into Strangeways, then claim a man was to use the gun to take hostages if his trial went against him.  The only high profile case going on locally was that of Tommy Bourke, charged with killing two MoT inspectors.  Suddenly, the Jury had a change of hotel, police marksmen were on roofs around the court, and of course this had no effect on the Jury who convicted.  Haase was said to have commented that Bourke`s trial was a big coincidence.  Of course it was.  Anybody interested in this case simply search "Tommy Bourke - MoT Murders" and see the campaign by his family in fighting for a retrial AND the truth.

    Keeping with Liverpool, former Glasgow kingpin Paul Ferris, claimed to have received a call from Scousers who told him that three major Liverpool villains were working hand in hand with Merseyside Police.  Another point of annoyance is when you tear apart somebody`s "reputation."  With truth.  You get whingers who cry "How could you?" yet they will never say anything like that to their bullshitting heroes.  Funny that.

Sunday 20 July 2014

The Murder of Lillian Collins

Another death for the murder casebook was that of Lillian Collins, 25, a quiet, newly married young woman, whose life was cut short brutally by a young man who thought that she was just a woman who should have sex with him.  It led him to the Condemned Cell but he was subsequently reprieved.  Yet it was murder in furtherance of a sex attack.  Lillian had only months before, in August of 1954, married Ray Collins, a Navy man, whom she had met three years before in Southsea.  The ceremony was at Moxley Parish Church, near Wednesbury. After a honeymoon in Bridgnorth, he had to return to his base in Rosyth, but this did not trouble Lillian as she was completely devoted to him.  She worked as a machinist at the Rubery Owen factory in Moxley.

    1st December 1954, Lillian left work with two colleagues, Liz Freeman & Joyce Collett, then left them to make her way to her home in Arden Place.  She never made it home.  Three hours later, her brother, Jack Lloyd and her brother in law Stan Worrell, went out to search for her.  At 10pm, they made a grim discovery.  Her body was found by a wall and a piece of waste ground, known locally as "The Patch."  DCS Tom Lockley of Staffordshire Police led the investigation.  First person of interest was reports of a stocky man attempting to molest nurses from the local hospital.  He was not traced but a guard was put on nurses.  Then there was thought to be a connection to the murder earlier on in the year, of Olive Bennett, but this proved to be unconnected.

    Then, officers were dispatched to an army base in Chester.  (This would have been Sealand Camp which for decades has now been used by the RAF)  They interviewed a Moxley man doing National Service.  He was 19 year old Private Ken Causer.  He had been seen around the area the night of the murder.  Causer had been on leave then returned to camp three days after the murder.  He claimed to have gone to the cinema but the detective, DI Bill Gray, pushed harder.  Then Causer confessed.  He had not meant to hurt her.  All he wanted to do was make love to her.  He admitted being on the corner of Queen Street, where he lived, spotted Lillian making her way across the Patch towards her home.  He caught up to her and put his hands on her and tried to kiss her.  Then both were on the ground where he discovered she had fainted.  So, sportingly, he dragged her body towards a wall and then left her.  He went home, washed himself, then caught a bus and went to the cinema.

    Causer went on trial at Staffordshire Assizes in March 1955.  Lillian had died from a combination of shock and asphyxiation, due to a hand being clamped over her nose and mouth.  He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.  The Jury made a strong recommendation for mercy, which was duly granted by the Home Secretary, and he was reprieved.  What do conclusions do you draw from this?  Simple.  It was attempted rape.  If Causer wanted sex, why did he not try and find the nearest red light district?  Or failing that, using his hand?  Of course there is the standard "suddenly the victim was dead and I do not remember" syndrome.  She was suffocated because he had to silence her screams.  Of course, a sudden sex attack is a harrowing event for a woman, and nobody knows how that person`s body is going to react to the shock.  He decided to go after Lillian with one aim.  Rape was premeditated, and how many rape or attempted rape victims die at the hands of their assailants?  Causer go off easy.  Ray Collins did not, nor did both families, but how many apologists give a toss about victims?  Enough said.

    

The Murder of Vera Page

The one type of murder that elicits the most violent outpouring of anger is that of a child, and this infamous case from 1931, was no exception.  Vera Page was a ten year old girl who lived in Notting Hill in London.  Vera had just won a number of swimming certificates and was very eager to show them to her aunt, who lived nearby.  It was just after 4.30pm on December 14th 1931 that she set off for her aunt`s house.  She never returned home.  Her failure to return home worried her parents who contacted Police, who immediately began a search.  Then two days later, a milkman discovered her body in some bushes in Addison Road, about a mile away from her home.  He summoned Police and Superintendent George Cornish raced to the scene.  With him was the Divisional Surgeon and he deduced that Vera had been dead for more than 24 hours, her face was bruised and swollen and cause of death was strangulation.  During the period of her disappearance, there had been much rain yet her clothes were not dank or soaked, indicating that the body had been kept somewhere dry.

    A more thorough examination by Bernard Spilsbury found evidence of rape, strangulation and a ligature mark around the neck.  This was done after death, showing that it was possibly used to drag the body.  The Coroner at the inquest, believed that the body had been moved in a barrow, and as these were common on the streets of Britain at the time, it would have aroused no suspicion of a man pushing a barrow with a sack in it or a blanket over the contents.  Amongst her clothes, a finger bandage, stained with ammonia, was found.  But the problem was it was a very common finger bandage.  Then Cornish had a huge breakthrough; they had a suspect.  It was Percival Orlando Rush, aged 41.  His parents lived above the Page family in a flat, and visited them every week.  He lived a couple of hundred yards from the Pages.

    Cornish now had circumstantial evidence pouring in.  Rush had recently cut a finger and used a finger bandage.  He worked in a laundry where ammonia was frequently used.  He would have known young Vera as he regularly visited his parents, above the Page home.  He said that he went out shopping but could not prove it, as his wife had gone to visit her mother.  Then again, Cornish realised, he could have done just that.  Experts examined the finger bandage Rush was wearing, to the one found on Vera.  They were not from the same source.  Rush was found with a length of cord in his pocket.  He said he used it as a belt.  He had an answer for everything Cornish threw at him and was never flustered or nervous.  A witness saw a man pushing a barrow, early that morning in the direction of Addison Road.  The contents of the barrow were covered with a large red cloth.  Such an item was seen at the Rush home.  But the witness failed twice to pick out the man at an identification parade.  The inquest recorded a verdict of "murder by person or persons unknown."  Cornish believed he knew who the killer was but obviously could not name him as nobody had been charged.

   Recently, a researcher named Jonathan Oates had dug deeply into all records of this case and made some startling discoveries.  Rush had been a flasher.  He had been jailed twice for exposing himself.  Rush had served in the Great War.  Had his experiences unbalanced him?  Circumstantial evidence is certainly that, so in reality, coincidence-wise, he would have been fantastically unlucky.  Or was it all correct?  The problem of the body being kept in a warm place, throws up the possibly that Rush kept the body in his home.  Something that his wife would have easily found.  This in turn, leads to the allegation that she helped cover up for him.  Modern forensics, with DNA, would have positively proven the guilt or innocence of Rush, but back then, everything was primitive.  So it comes a question of whether you believe Rush was the killer of Vera, or just the unluckiest man ever.  What you cannot say, is that he WAS the killer.  There is nothing to prove it.  Do I believe he was the killer?  Yes, because there is far too much circumstantial evidence, but then again, I could be wrong.

Friday 18 July 2014

The Murder of Olive Bennett

The murder of Olive Bennett goes back to 1954, but remains one of the many unsolved crimes that unfortunately are beyond justice.  This murder goes back 60 years, and so the chances of the killer still being around are very slim.  It is though, a good exercise for the amateur and armchair sleuths to try and get their head around.  The facts of the case are these.  Olive May Gardener Bennett, a 46 year old Scots midwife, worked in the Stratford-upon-Avon district, and for some unknown reason, had a complete turnaround in her private and social life.  She had taken to smoking and drinking, smartening herself up and going out and meeting men, but she had led a very sheltered life until then.  It was on Saturday April 24th 1954, that she had gone out and was having a drink in a Stratford-upon-Avon pub, The Red Horse Hotel, which was located in Bridge Street.  Later, she was seen outside the pub, after midnight.

    But tragedy struck when her body was found on the banks of the River Avon, early on Sunday morning.  Olive had been strangled with a scarf and was weighted under a heavy tombstone that had been taken from Holy Trinity Churchyard which was close by.  Her bottom dentures, her spectacles and a solitary shoe were discovered strewn around the churchyard.  Her hat was discovered on a towpath that was referred to locally as "Lovers Lane" which was close to the Memorial Theatre.  The local Police made no headway with their enquiry and so called in Scotland Yard, and one of it`s star detectives, Chief Superintendent John Capstick.  But Capstick himself could not make any progress and so it remained open.  Until 1962, when inexplicably, two women told Police that the night Olive was murdered, they were in that churchyard with two men.  They said that one of them had threatened to throw them both into the River Avon, with weights attached to them.  After 8 years, the Police would have had extreme difficulty in locating them, which was indeed the case.  But why did they wait 8 years before saying anything?  With the circumstances of Olive`s murder matching the threats of this man, then surely they could add two & two and get four?  It would be so obvious that these men must have been the murderers of Olive Bennett, and so it would have been paramount that these two were taken off the streets.

    About six months later, there was a possible link to another murder but this proved to be false.  Then in 1984, fresh interest in the case arose when Police in Vancouver contacted Scotland Yard, when a former serviceman was questioned over a motoring offence and just started talking about an old murder in Stratford-upon-Avon.  But what happened beyond this is unknown.

Wednesday 16 July 2014

The Village That Would Not Talk PT2

This second post on the death in 1934 of farmer Jim Dawson is to look at theories on what happened.  The programme about the case was riddled with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims, as pointed out in her book "Wall of Silence" by Jennifer Cobban, great niece of Jim Dawson.  I remember an old man saying that he knew the name of the killer and that Dawson was shot in mistake for him.  This, I believe was Tommy Kenyon.  Kenyon was pursuing the daughter of neighbouring farmer, Tommy Simpson, and they did have a scuffle.  Nancy Simpson did go skinny dipping with Kenyon, and other local lads, but she did have an affair with Jim Dawson, whom some thought of as being the father of her child.  Kenyon commented that Simpson may have thought of him as being the father, but there was no proper explanation for the brawl, so Kenyon was only speculating.  So here we have two scenarios;  Was Dawson shot for being the father?  Or was he shot in mistake for Kenyon?  This clearly points the finger at Tommy Simpson.  

    Yet, why use an airgun?  A shotgun would have done the job proper.  But then again, could you argue the case of wounding or merely hurting somebody, in order to make a point? It would certainly avoid the situation of standing on a trap door with a bag over your head and a rope around your neck.  Was it Kenyon wanting to do such an injury to his rival for the affections of Nancy?  Kenyon was alibied by a couple of his friends.  He drank with them at the Red Pump Inn and then went with them by car to the Star & Royal in Clitheroe.  For him to be the shooter, it meant his friends had lied for him, but why should they do such a thing?  Plus, surely there would have been a number of witnesses at the Clitheroe pub, to say he was there?  Kenyon did alter parts of his story, years later, which is always suspect, but regardless, there are the alibi witnesses he was drinking with.  He supposedly gave a deathbed confession to the killing, saying it was over Nancy, but again, this confession is contradicted by the friends he was with.

    Another theory is that Dawson was hit accidentally by a poacher firing at some small animal.  A reasonable point.  But why would he be hit so high up?  Small animals run along the ground, and to hit a man in the shoulder would make the poacher, an incredibly bad shot.  Or could it have been a ricochet?  Tommy Simpson committed suicide, allegedly soon after the shooting, and it is still assumed that it was over this shooting.  That thought carries on to this day, as I found doing a little research.  Jenny Cobban revealed the truth.  Simpson hanged himself TWO YEARS after the death of Dawson, but it was over his farming business.  Was Jim Dawson shot by another jealous male?  Quite possible.  He was very much a ladies man, despite his age, and a middle aged Romeo sweeping young women off their feet, could cause deep resentment to much younger men.

    There are any number of theories or explanations for this incident, and it will no doubt run and run, and be regarded as a whodunnit classic in the mould of the Julia Wallace murder a couple of years before.

Tuesday 15 July 2014

The Village That Would Not Talk PT 1

This was the title of a 1979 documentary into an unsolved murder that happened in a very small village situated on the border between Lancashire & Yorkshire.  I remember watching this on TV but very nearly all the facts I had forgotten.  Subsequently, some things presented as fact, are actually incorrect.  Some of these errors are still presented as facts when you research this case.  It all happened on March 18th 1934, a Sunday evening, when farmer Jim Dawson, a 46 year old farmer and veteran of World War 1, was on his way home from a pub when he was shot in the back, yet he knew nothing about it.  All he recalled on the wet and windy night, was a tap on his shoulder, and hearing a click.  It was not until morning, that it was discovered that he had been shot.  His stubborn nature was later to have said to have contributed to his death.

    That night, Jim Dawson was to meet friends at a pub called the Edisford Bridge Hotel, but one, Tommy Kenyon, did not show up.  He left at 9pm to go home to Bashall Hall, by the small village of Bashall Eaves.  He lived at the hall with his family, and one of the tenants of the hall was Kenyon, who was employed by Dawson.  On his way home down a country lane, the headlights of two passing cars, showed a man hanging around a gate, but had no idea who it was, and the figure vanished.  He did recognise the people in one of the cars, which included Tommy Kenyon.  They had been for drinks at the Red Pump Inn in Bashall Eaves, then went to the Star & Royal Hotel in Clitheroe.  Dawson felt something hit his shoulder and heard a click but thought that he had been hit by a stone.  Later, at home, after a meal, he went to bed, but was very uncomfortable. Tommy Kenyon arrived back at the hall at 11pm.  Dawson was soon in agony and noticed some blood but decided to say nothing as it had appeared to stop bleeding.  He realised that he had been shot with something, and the man he saw illuminated in the headlights was responsible.

    He had his sister take a look at his back, where she saw a wound in his shoulder, but due to his stubborn nature, it was some time before the Police and a doctor was called.  The doctor persuaded Dawson to have an x-ray on his shoulder which revealed a bullet-like object lodged there.  He advised immediate surgery but Dawson, again, refused, so the doctor took to visiting him to check up on him.  Dawson soon started going downhill so he was taken to a private nursing home, where he was operated on, and the bullet removed.  Except it was not a bullet.  It was a piece of steel cut from a rod.  Whilst in the home, he gave a statement to an assistant clerk at Blackburn magistrates, but could not explain how anything had happened because he heard no shot.  Some hours later, Jim Dawson died from Septicaemia.  Now it was murder.

    Detective Chief Superintendent Wilf Blacker was called in to lead the investigation but ran into problems.  Nobody was saying very much, despite one of their own being killed.  Blacker had all firearms, regardless of age, taken for examination, and all local garages, sheds & workshops were all searched for cut pieces of steel.  Blacker had a problem; a man shot but no sound was heard.  So he called on the leading firearm expert at that time, Robert Churchill, who had contributed enormously to the investigation into the murder of PC George Gutteridge, some years earlier.  His contribution to forensics was the introduction of the comparison microscope.  Churchill believed the murder weapon had to be an airgun, such as a Poacher`s Arm, which consisted of two rods, one to take a slug of some kind, the other to take compressed air.  Powerful enough to injure somebody at reasonably close quarters.  But no such weapon was ever found.  Until the 1990`s, when such a weapon was found in a barn close to the pub Dawson drank in that night.

    Who were the suspects and why?  Dawson had a neighbour, Tommy Simpson.  Amongst his children was a daughter whose behaviour was scandalous.  Nancy Simpson was a young woman who enjoyed nude swimming in a local river, with local men, who naturally, loved her company.  Women hated her.  This was very much a no-no at that time.  Nancy was also mother to a child, but unmarried.  Another scandalous trait.  She had many admirers, one being Tommy Kenyon, but was said to have had an affair with Jim Dawson, who was double her age.  Police discovered that Dawson was a bit of a romeo and had a number of girlfriends, all who had to be interviewed by Blacker.  Tommy Kenyon had a fight with Nancy`s father, over his affections for Nancy.  But the investigation failed to turn up any conclusive proof.  Then a TV documentary was made about the case, and a book written by the great-niece of Jim Dawson.

Monday 14 July 2014

North Carolina Child Murder

This child killing goes back to July 1966 in North Carolina, but Police never had anybody charged with it until 2007.  Yet, was the right man charged?  There are some points that even amateur armchair detectives cannot overlook.  The victim was 11 year old Brenda Sue Brown who was asked by her mother to take her five year old sister to her school, in the town of Shelby.  She did not return and so the mother started a search of the neighbourhood.  Later on that morning, she called the authorities.  The local Rescue Squad took up the search, and at early evening, the young girl was found dead in woods, not far from the family home.  She was naked and her body covered in branches and leaves.  Her dress was found near her body, neatly folded.  The murder weapon was found by her also.  A rock that was blood stained.  An autopsy showed that she had not been sexually assaulted in any way, despite how she was found.

    Police developed two good suspects.  One was a flasher, the other a black mentally impaired teenager named Robert Roseboro.  They could not find enough evidence to charge either of them, so the case remained unsolved.  Then two years later, in June 1968, some people found a local store still closed near lunchtime, which was very unusual.  The closed sign was still being displayed.  Then, to their horror, lying in view as they looked through the windows, they saw a woman naked and blood spattered.  They quickly summoned Police, and then none other than Robert Roseboro walked out of the store, surrendering.  He was charged with murdering the store owner, Mary Williams.  She had been stabbed and beaten.  There was no sexual assault.  He was convicted and given the Death Penalty, though this was commuted to life imprisonment, as he was still a juvenile.  Nothing else was heard until the local newspaper ran a series of articles on the murder of Brenda Brown, in 2006.

    Now, a young woman came forward, stating that her grandfather had confessed just before his death, that he, Earl Parker, and another man, Thurman Price, were responsible for the murder of young Brenda.  Police arrested Price and charged him with the murder, which he vehemently denied.  Price was 78 at this point in time and died in 2012 before his trial.  But were they guilty?  Both had a conviction for raping a minor.  A huge red flag.  But Brenda had not been molested in any way, and paedophiles with a taste for young girls would not have passed up the opportunity of having a naked girl in their power.  The neat folding of her dress is something I believe a pervert would not bother with.  He would be focused on violating the victim.  But somebody thinking that he has done no wrong, might decide he would leave her dress nice and neat.  Especially if he has mental problems.  Robert Roseboro claimed to know nothing of the murder of Mary Williams whilst in the locked store, yet there are similarities in both cases.  Both were naked, yet not sexually assaulted.  When you strip a female victim, that is for only one reason.  For two female victims to be stripped, murdered, yet not violated, indicates somebody that is possibly not fully sexually aware.  The real question is what was behind the stripping of the victims?  Could it be the beginnings of sexual curiosity?


    Another question is why did the grand daughter of Parker leave it four years before she informed Police?  People giving virtual deathbed confessions might just say something to cause a little bother for authorities.  False confessions are a common nuisance to Law Enforcement.  One theory that did the rounds during the first murder, was that Roseboro was being protected by a crime syndicate.  Personally, I regard this as rubbish for simple logic.  Why would a crime syndicate want to protect a 13 year old?  He had mental problems, and if you meet people who are impaired in anyway, mentally, they can tend to be extremely truthful.  Such a person would be a danger to a syndicate.  It could be dismissed as ravings from a lunatic, but would serious criminals want anybody saying anything about them, especially to cops?  My personal belief is that Robert Roseboro committed both crimes, but that is only my opinion.  He has been convicted for the second murder.

Sunday 13 July 2014

The Death of Stan Nicholls

If a family was ever hit hard by tragedy, it was the Nicholls family from Yalding in Kent.  The first tragedy that struck the Nicholls` was the death of Stan in September of 1994, when he went for a drink in the Anchor Inn pub in Hampstead Lane.  It was at 11.40pm that the 37 year old asked a barman to let him out.  As the door was opened and Mr Nicholls stepped out, two men tried to burst in.  They both wore masks and one carried a sawn off shotgun.  The gun went off and hit Mr Nicholls in the side of the head, killing him.  There were still a dozen people inside the pub.  There was speculation that Mr Nicholls was the target, for some reason.  But I think it was an end of the night robbery for the takings and the gun went off as they tried to burst in.  If he was the target, they could simply have waited for him to come out and shot him, rather than force their way in to a place and carry out the shooting in front of numerous witnesses.  Plus, it was late at night with fewer people about.

    Then over the following years, Stan`s mother and father passed away, and then on 6th October 2012, Police forced their way into the home of Gordon Nicholls to find him dead.  54 year old Gordon Nicholls was a bit of a recluse, who had no friends, and could not interact socially with people - could have been chronically shy - so was a loner.  He had not been seen for months so a neighbour alerted Police.  He had last been seen on 31st August at the Accident & Emergency Department at Maidstone Hospital but was discharged as he had no medical problems.  He told them he could no longer cope.  Then it was discovered that Mr Nicholls had had his existence made a complete misery by gangs of yobs.  It was further discovered that he usually left his house by the rear door, in order to avoid them.  It seems that he simply gave up the will to live, and a Coroner gave an Open Verdict on his death.  It was thought that he may have been dead for a couple of months.

    I bet the heroes who terrorised him think that they are so cool and wonderful, knowing that if they were ever brought to book for their hounding of him, they would be supported by social workers with their usual plethora of excuses.  Plus, the wankers who do not give a flying fuck about victims, crying for their heroes if they were ever charged with any offence.  The usual suspects; Prison Reform Trust, Liberty, and the middle and upper class "radicals"who want to be seen "opposing the establishment."  Funny how these cunts dressed like hippies in the 60`s & 70`s but in the last few decades, they dress in power suits.  Plus, they most certainly embrace that "ideology" they "opposed" in the past; capitalism.  They may want to bloody the noses of the Police & courts but they definitely will not give up on money!  Strange eh?

The Unsolved Murders of Wendy Knell & Caroline Pierce

The next couple of murders in the Unsolved Casebook were committed down in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, in 1987, which have striking similarities making it seem very plausible that the same offender is responsible for both crimes. The first was that of Wendy Knell, aged 26.  She was found badly beaten in her bedsit.  She had also been sexually assaulted.  There were no signs of forced entry to her room, indicating she may have been familiar with her assailant, and had no worries about him.  No sounds had been heard by other tenants.  The case remains open.

    The second murder was that of 20 year old Caroline Pierce, who like Wendy, lived in a bedsit.  A bedsit is a house with all rooms turned into living quarters, where you could have a small kitchen, but usually share a bathroom with other tenants, and probably a kitchen as well.  Caroline was found 40 miles away, in a ditch, three weeks after she had vanished.  She had been strangled.  This case remains open also.  What do we make of the circumstances?  Single women in bedsits?  A predator would view them as easier targets being on their own.  Wendy was murdered in her room, no signs of forced entry, showing familiarity with the killer.  Caroline was found 40 miles away.  She would have been comfortable in getting into a car with this man, but did he try it on with her and she fought back, so in a rage he strangled her, then dumped her body well out of the way?  He would probably be familiar with the area, as you never know who may be around or driving by.  It could have been a busy area for traffic, or isolated.  He would have needed time to get the body into the ditch, as contrary to film & TV, moving dead weight is not easy at all.  Why in murder scenes are there drag marks?  Dead weight.  As ever, if anybody reading this has any information, pass it on to Police.

Saturday 12 July 2014

Who Murdered Kate & Lynda?

These two still unsolved murders down in the south east gave rise to the possibility of a serial killer doing the rounds.  What gave severe grounds for concern, was the attempted abduction of a mother and daughter by a knife wielding thug.  The circumstances of all three cases are very similar, plus the general description of men seen in the vicinity of the crimes, are similar.  The first was that of 14 year old Kate Bushell, who had her throat cut by a fiend in November 1987.  Kate had left her home in Exwick, Exeter, Devon, to walk a dog belonging to a neighbour.  When she did not return home, her father contacted Police and an officer went with her father to search.  They came upon the grisly scene, just 300 yards from her home.  A man was seen running from near the murder scene, with blood on him, but he has never been traced.

    The second attack, thought to have been committed by the same assailant was that on 41 year old mum of two Lynda Bryant, who like Kate, was walking a dog on a quiet country lane.  A man was seen talking to her 100 yards away from the murder scene.  Her body was found on Ruan High Lanes, near St. Austell in Cornwall in October 1998.  She had been repeatedly stabbed in the neck and chest.  The man seen talking to her was never found. 

    The third incident was when a mother and daughter were walking their dog on a quiet country lane, at Netherton, near Newton Abbot in Devon, on 31st December 1998.  A car run into the legs of the girl, and when the mother bend down to check her, the driver held a knife to her throat, and ordered them into his car.  He drove them about 3/4 of a mile before the girl grabbed him around the neck, forcing him to stall the car, then they fought to get out.  The mother received slash wounds to her hands, but they managed to escape and summon Police.  The kidnapper drove away quickly.

    These have been given a cold case review but nothing seems to have unearthed to point to a suspect.  How many similar crimes have been committed in Cornwall, Devon and other neighbouring counties?  If it is the same assailant, then he must have been responsible for other attacks.  Why should he stop?  He obviously had a taste for it.  He had not been pulled in by Police.  He could have spread his activities much further afield.  Judging by the circumstances, he could be a predator.  By that, searching for victims in the right circumstances.  Or he is an opportunist attacker, coming up on victims by chance and with the right circumstances.  As ever, if anybody knows or suspects anybody, report it to Police.

Friday 11 July 2014

A Pause For More Thoughts

Every so often, I like to take a breather from the case posts and put up some thoughts of my own.  Now and again, I read a book about the current crime scene, which reinforces the fact that the "Cor blimey, guv" underworld is well and truly dead, and has been for decades.  It is just that there are the various individuals who still like to think that the "golden era of crime" was the be-all and end-all of organised crime.  We have heard that "women and children were not harmed."  Amazing that many still like to cling to that fantasy.  And when you hear from old villains, they try to justify everything they have done.  The difference with today's criminals is that they make no bones about who they are and what they do.  But there are many who like to boast about what they have done and seek publicity, just like the heroes to the retarded did, in the East End.

    In the literary world, the criminal autobiography is by and large, a thing of the past.  Publishers have wizened up to the fact that many openly lie about their "exploits" and everybody disagrees with what another has written.(by a ghostwriter)  There had only been a couple released over the last couple of years. One by Jimmy "The Weed" Donnelly, from Manchester, is one I liked.  He talks of many of the other villains, characters, hard men, that you never hear of.  And the truth behind the Quality Street Gang.  Donnelly makes no bones that he and a couple of the QSG WERE villains, but most were not.  Another book that recently came out was by former armed robber Bobby Cummins.  To be honest, I thought that this would have come out a couple of years ago.  But it falls into the same old trap of old villains.  "I am not a gangster, I am a businessman!"  Oh, so robbing banks, holding people up, carrying a gun, and general mayhem, is all in the day of a "businessman."  What a load of bollocks.  Cummins was a criminal.  Simple as.

    When you read the articles and books by investigative journalists, and you read of the rampant trade in drugs and what people do to get drugs and just lengths pushers will go to, to keep addicts addicted, it makes the guy who was on the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2, claiming that the recent crime statistics showing crime had dropped 15%(Everybody burst out laughing) was accurate and the drug problem is nowhere as bad as it was in the 80`s, because most addicts were in treatment.  A drug counsellor I know burst out laughing when I told him this. Very loudly!!!  One anonymous villain quoted by journalist Tony Thompson, says that you can spot the criminal failures.  You see their memoirs in the bookshops.  He says the really successful villains do not put their heads in the spotlight, and you would not have heard of most of them.  I see that programme by Donal McIntyre, "At home with the Noonans" as nothing more than the Noonans declaring to Manchester that they are still well and truly alive and active.

    One name we never hear floating about these days and that is of king of the clowns Dave Courtney.  Whilst real villains go about making money illicitly, he tries to make a living taking money from the mugs who believe his brand of bullshit.  I wonder if he still claims he is under constant 24 hour surveillance by Police?  This would make the Metropolitan Police the laughing stock of the world, and would be the most criminal and obscene waste of manpower and money.  One man claimed to me that Courtney`s books have all been BIG sellers.  A claim that brought howls of laughter from my contacts in the publishing world.  And I did make quite a few.
I posted before that Courtney has claimed to have been acquitted of murder, but frequently dodged and ducked a £25,000 offer to prove it was true.  That means arrest papers, charge sheets, station charged in, court he appeared at and when, so it could be verified.  But no.  Who wants the truth?  Certainly not the bullshitters and their fan clubs.

Thursday 10 July 2014

Spared From The Scaffold PT2

Another visit to the killers who were sentenced to death after the suspension of Capital Punishment.  The first killer is Ronald John Cooper, who murdered one person and attempted to murder another, during the course of a robbery.  It was late 1964, when Cooper decided to rob a ship repair company, armed with a gun.  He burst into the office and shot the managing director, 67 year old Joseph Hayes.  Mrs Hayes attempted to flee, when Cooper shot her in the back.  Cooper grabbed nearly £2000 in cash and fled.  He then left the country for New York, then he moved onto the Bahamas, where he found work as a croupier.  He thought he was safe and sound.  But back at the murder scene, Police found fingerprints on a newspaper and on a stair railing.  They were matched to Ronald Cooper.  The hunt for him now began.  His movements were traced to the Bahamas, where he was arrested by local Police and then extradited back to the UK.  He stood trial in December 1964, and found guilty of Capital murder and Attempted Murder.  Sentenced to death, he was reprieved and served just under 15 years.  His execution was scheduled for 27th January 1965 at Pentonville Prison in London.  The files on this case have a closure period of 75 years.

    The second case features a man from Silsden, West Yorkshire.  34 year old Richard Latham was having a relationship with Doreen Wass, also 34, but there was a slight problem.  Doreen Wass was married, and her husband was completely in the dark over his wife`s activities.  But the relationship cooled and Doreen Wass ended the affair and took up with another man.  Latham would not accept this so he went to see Mr Wass and told all about his affair with his wife.  Mr Wass refused to tell Latham where she was at present, which incensed him and he violently assaulted Mr Wass.  Unable to accept that Doreen no longer wanted him, he decided that she had to go.  In May 1964, Latham had acquired a firearm for the job, but he was unable to track her down until November of that year, when he discovered her address in Leeds.  He found that she was heavily pregnant, so he waited for her to give birth.  It was 20th January 1965 that he decided it was time to act.  He gained entry to her home and shot her three times.  He was very quickly arrested and charged.  Condemned to death, he was reprieved and served 14 years.  His execution had been scheduled for for May 1965 at Armley Prison in Leeds.  Another example of a man who simply could not let go.

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Danny Hooks - What A Nice Man!

Will we hear cries from the professional apologists and do-gooders that Hooks should never have been given the death penalty in the first place?  No doubt, now that Hooks, now 55, has been reprieved after 16 years on Death Row in Oklahoma.  This decision was taken after there was talk of problems re-sentencing him after a retrial.  A plea bargain was offered in exchange for revoking the death sentence, to life without parole.  What did this lovely, cuddly man do to warrant such barbaric sentencing from the courts?  Why, he only butchered five women.  Not much to scream about, is it?

    His crime occurred in 1992 in Oklahoma City.  He was in a crack house with five women, and he demanded they all participate in a sex orgy with him, but they all refused.  It was a decision that turned into a bloodbath.  The age ranges of the women were 30 to 47, but Hooks was only caught in 1997, thanks to DNA.  Blood and semen found at the murder scene was tested and yielded a positive profile.  After putting it into a national database, it came up with a match to Hooks, who at that time, was incarcerated in California.  What was he in jail for?  Rape.  

Kevin & Reginald Haley - Monsters

It has taken 30 years for a court to finally decide the fate of a killer, after a decision to reverse a death sentence, led to his death sentence being reaffirmed.  This was 50 year old Kevin Bernard Haley.  He and his brother, Reginald, 54, carried out numerous burglaries across Los Angeles in order to fund their - yes, you guessed it! - drug habit.  (those substances that fucknuts believe should be legalised)  But this pair of monsters were not content to steal, they destroyed their female victims` dignities, with rape, sodomy, and in some cases, death.  Their spree ran from 1979 until 1984.  55 year old Dolores Clement was strangled and then brutally beaten by Kevin Haley.  He was convicted of this murder in 1988 and sentenced to death, but this was reversed in 2004.  He was also charged in 1988 with beating 56 year old Laverne Stolzy to death, but a jury could not agree.  

    The case was retried this year with Haley being convicted of both murders, and being given yet again, the death penalty.  The jury took into consideration the circumstances of burglary, robbery and the sexual indignities the victims were subjected to.  His brother was convicted in 1988 and was sentenced to life.  Police believe that in the five years they were loose - 1979 to 1984 - they committed at least 500 hundred burglaries.  During these burglaries, nearly 60 women were raped and in total 8 were murdered.  If these two were responsible, I fail to see just how anybody could have the slightest sympathy for them, and they deserve all they get.

Spared From The Scaffold PT1

The last two executions occurred in the UK on August 13th 1964 when Preston dairy worker Peter Allen was hanged at Walton Prison in Liverpool, and his co-accused, Gwynne Evans was hanged at Strangeways Prison in Manchester.  The death penalty was suspended after these two executions whilst it was debated in Parliament.  Death sentences were still handed out, but all these were commuted to life imprisonment.  Death sentences were still handed out until March 1966, and into the 70`s & 80`s in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man & Northern Ireland.  The last one passed was in 1992 in the Isle of Man.  The Death penalty was finally abolished in 1969.  But just who were some of these people reprieved? 

    I start off with two cases, but have only been able to find bare bones details.  The first concerns a triple conviction for murder.  Vincent Patrick Keighery, who lived at 58 Carroll House in W2 of London.  He had invited three men to his house for drinks, at the beginning of December 1964.  These men were Bill Dunning, John Simpson & Michael Odham.  Mr Keighery was said to have been a homosexual, and after a drinking session, the men got up to leave and Mr Keighery tried to give a hug to Dunning and plant a kiss on his cheek.  The men reacted violently to this by savagely beating Mr Keighery, who died from his injuries.  They were charged with Capital Murder, and convicted on March 22nd 1965.  Their deaths were set for April 20th, with Dunning & Odham to be hanged at Pentonville Prison & Simpson to be hanged at Wandsworth.  These were commuted to life sentences with them serving between 11 years 4 months to 12 years 3 months.  Wandsworth is the only prison in the UK with execution facilities today.

    The second case features a man who the public look to for protection.  This man chose to brutally take life.  He was Police Sergeant Henry Francis Burgess, 41, who came from Woodford in London.  He had one dead victim but nearly took three lives.  He shot dead 23 year old nurse Veronica Baker at her parents home in Plashet Grove, East Ham, London.  He fatally wounded Miss Baker, shot her mother, Jessica, in the stomach, requiring emergency surgery to save her life.  Her husband, George, was shot and wounded in the leg.  He struggled acrossthe road to get a neighbour to call Police and an ambulance.  It all happened on May 14th 1965.  Burgess was caught, charged with Capital Murder, as a firearm was used, and convicted on July 27th 1965.  His execution was scheduled for 10th October at Pentonville.  This was commuted to life with Burgess serving just over 12 years.  Why did he do it?  I will update when I can find more information.  The case file has a 95 year closure on it.

Monday 7 July 2014

"The Woodsman" - Serial Killer

This is about a serial killer who targeted prostitutes in the Connecticut area in the early 2000`s but has not been apprehended.  A "person of interest" was convicted in April 2012 for the 1996 murder of Theresa Stone, and his connections to the area where the bodies were found, plus he was a known outdoors man, makes him a good suspect.  As of yet, there has been no proof linking him to the series of murders known as "The Woodsman Killings."  The first victim found was 29 year old Betzaida Montalvo, who vanished in April 2003, with her remains being discovered in a shallow grave on 24th September 2003, in Marlborough.  The next victim was found 5 days after Betzaida, on 29th September.  She was Carmen Ruby, 29, who had vanished virtually a year earlier.  She was found near to Betzaida`s grave.  The third known victim was Dinelia Torres, 33.  She had disappeared before any of the others had been found, in August 2003 but not found until march 2004.  All were prostitutes.

    There have been a couple of other murders attributed to this killer due to method, victimology and general locations, but this is only circumstantial.  One is Wendy Morello, 40, who was last seen on 9th September 2004 and her body discovered 8 days later.  Another is Lineida Olivera, 34, last seen in January 2007 but not discovered until 4th September 2007.  At least another two were attributed to the "Woodsman" but one seems to have been committed by a man arrested, whilst the other involved the "person of interest."  This was 42 year old Alex Scesny, who was convicted in 2012 of the 1996 rape and murder of 39 year old Theresa Stone, who was found on Kinsman Road, Fitchburg.  He had a previous conviction for violence against women when in 2007, after an incident at the Reservoir Motor Lodge, just off Route12, at West Boylston, on St Patrick`s Day.  He was charged with rape and attempted murder, but was acquitted of these charges.  He was, however, convicted of Assault & Battery, and received 18 months.  Is he the Woodsman?  At this moment in time, he is not.

More Unsolved North East Murders

On this post, I put up three unsolved murders from the North East of England, covering South Shields, Newcastle & Sunderland.  The first is the murder of 51 year old prostitute Julie Perigo, who was murdered on 23rd May 1986.  The mother of two lived in a one bedroom flat in Kidderminster Road, in the Downhill area of Sunderland.  She had told a friend that she was meeting a client at lunchtime, but later on, she was found dead from multiple stab wounds.  The proposed client has never been traced.  Information on this case is thin on the ground, but as ever, if anybody knows anything, contact Police.

     The next case concerns the murder of doorman Kevin Nightingale, who was shot dead on his doorstep at Drake Close in South Shields on 17th February 1996.  Mr Nightingale, 33, was doorman at the OZ Nightclub, and had a strict anti-drugs policy of keeping pushers out of the club.  Which would not go down well with criminals and their supporters club.  Mr Nightingale had been the victim of three previous attempts on his life; an arson attack on his family home, a blast from a shotgun and a bolt from a crossbow.  Four years after the murder, four people were arrested and charged with murder.  But later, the charges against one man was dropped, and the following year, the charges against the remaining three were dropped.  Later in the year, three more people were arrested, but this seems to have hit a dead end too.

    The third case concerns Peter Beaumount Gowling.  He was found shot to death in his flat in Osborne Road, in Jesmond, Newcastle.  Police believe that two men were responsible for the murder on 14th February 2001.(not the sort of Valentine anybody would expect)  Mr Gowling had not been long released from prison, after serving less than half of an 11 year sentence for money laundering.  He was caught in 1996 with two suitcases of money, travelling to Ireland, and jailed in 1997.  Mr Gowling had apparently led an affluent life, mixing with major criminals, but numerous rumours were circulating that Gowling had been short changing the people he was involved with, a dangerous thing to do.  It has been said that cctv cameras caught two men leaving the scene very quickly.  Were these two the killers?  Who knows?

Sunday 6 July 2014

"The Fast Food Killer"

Paul Dennis Reid went on a murderous rampage after being fired from a job as a dish washer.  Not much of an excuse is it?  But then again, since when do people need an excuse to go out and end other people`s lives?  By this time, Reid already had a violent criminal history.  He had served just 7 years for a nasty armed robbery in Houston, Texas, his home state, in 1983.  He moved onto Nashville, Tennessee, in a hope to make it as a country & western singer.  Instead, he found himself working at Shoney`s Restaurant in the town of Donelson.  He was fired, so he went into a Captain D`s restaurant on the pretext of seeking employment.  He timed it perfectly as it was not quite ready to open.  He robbed it but that was not enough.  At gunpoint, he forced Steve Hampson, 25 & Sarah Jackson, 16, into a walk-in refrigerator, made them lie face down on the floor, then cold bloodedly shot them both in the back of the head.  It was February 16th 1997.

    The following month, March, he struck again.  This time at McDonalds, where he forced four employees into a back room, again, ordering them to lie face down.  He shot three of them in the back of the head, but lack of ammunition meant he had to improvise on the last victim.  He used a knife on him, but despite 17 wounds, the man survived.  He was later able to recognise Reid. ( makes you think of the Zodiac who stabbed the couple by the lake multiple times.  The girl died but miraculously the man survived)  Then in April, Reid claimed his next two victims.  Angela Holmes, 21 & Michelle Mace,16, were abducted and murdered by Reid after he robbed the ice-cream parlour they worked at, in Clarksville.  Then in June, he tried to abduct and murder the manager who fired him, but was apprehended.  Police quickly linked him to the string of murders, with the survivor at McDonalds, positively identifying him.  He was convicted and sentenced to death.  He avoided execution in 2003 but died in Nashville General Hospital in November 2013 of natural causes.  No doubt some moron somewhere shed tears for him.

Larry Eyler - The Highway Murderer

This man was another one of those prolific killers that did not reach the media heights that other serial killers achieved.  Yet, his crimes made him just as dangerous as anyone of the so-called "elite" band of killers.  Larry Eyler was a killer of young men and boys, which, after his death, was revealed to have stretched over five states.  He travelled around these states using the network of highways or interstate roads, thus earning him the name of "The Highway Murderer," "The Highway Killer," & "The Interstate Killer."  Eyler was born on 21st December 1952, in Indiana, where as he grew up he displayed a volatile temper, and needed rough, violent, gay sex.  It has been said that Eyler was ashamed to be a homosexual, where boyfriends or casual sexual partners suddenly became his victims.  His killing spree ran from 1982 to 1984.

    His first victim was Jay Reynolds whom was found dead dumped outside Lexington, In Kentucky.  The young man had been stabbed to death.  Kentucky Police then dealt with another three young men being found stabbed or strangled.  They realised they had a serial killer on the loose.  Then it was back to his home state of Indiana, where he killed another three young men.  Then, into 1983, and Eyler had moved on to Illinois, when in August of that year, he murdered Robert Calise and dumped his body near Lake Forest.  Then in September, Police arrested him on Insterstate 65, where he had a bound man.  A search of his vehicle produced, rope, tape and a bloodied knife.  The blood and tyre tracks matched those left at the scene of Robert Calises` murder.  Was this the end of the line for him?  No, it was not.  In one of those unbelievable examples of "justice" Eyler was released whilst cops carried out their investigations!!!!  To show his contempt for the cops, he went on to murder another four young men.  Allegedly whilst he was kept under surveillance!

    He was arrested at last for the Calise murder but a Judge ruled the evidence against him was inadmissible at a preliminary hearing.  Once more Eyler was released to go out and kill more young men.  But his luck ran out when he was arrested for the murder of 15 year old Daniel Bridges.  He was convicted and sentenced to death in July 1986.  He drew up a list of his victims and where he killed them, in order to win a plea bargain, but authorities rejected it.  He died in March 1994, from Aids-related illnesses, but he told his attorney, Kath Zellner, to release it to the authorities.  This was where authorities gained the information on unsolved murders of young men and boys.  Eyler`s total number of victims as thought to be as many as 23.  He admitted 17 murders, plus four with an un-named accomplice.  This man has never been found.

Friday 4 July 2014

Mamie Stuart PT2

An update to my post "Mamie Stuart and the Man Who Got Away With Murder".  Unbelievably, a true crime magazine has published an article by a group of "physics" who profess that George Shotton, whose "Spirit they had made contact with" told them that he did not murder Mamie.  Naturally.  These "physics" claim that the murder was carried out by a postman and a butcher.  They could contact Shotton but obviously could not contact the real perpetrators, despite knowing their professions.  Amazing!  A retired postman recalled that as a young postman, he was delivering to the home of Mamie and Shotton, when he encountered Shotton dragging a heavy sack.  Shotton literally shit himself, thinking that the blue postman`s outfit was that of a Policeman.  Now why should he be so startled by a blue uniform?  Why was the reason he thought it was a cop?  What was the heavy object he was dragging in a sack?  Let us not forget that dead weight is much harder to move.  But our heroes of the physic world do not answer these questions, as obviously Shotton declined to comment on them.  Believe all this and you believe in Santa Claus.