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?