Freeman May - Recipient of Mercy Not Shown To His Victims

The time spent on death row in the USA usually stretches for decades, and it is becoming common for condemned killers to be shown mercy.  Something that their victims never received.  Another one of these killers is Freeman William May.  Now 56 and having spent 23 years on death row, the reason for the commutation of his sentence to life without parole, is that he has mental incompetency.  His crime was that in December 1982, he brutally attacked two teenage girls from the town of Lititz in Pennsylvania.  He raped one of the girls and then proceeded to stab both of them.  He left them for dead but he did not achieve his aim.  They survived the attack in woods, were able to stagger for help and were able to identify him.  He was jailed for 35 years.  But cops noted the similarities in another case that happened three months before, in September 1982.  This was the abduction and murder by stabbing of Kathy Lynn Fair.  She was on an errand in the town of Lancaster when the waitress disappeared.  She was found buried in woodland in 1988.  May was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991.  The penalty phase was retried twice in 1995 & 2008, both condemning him to death.

     The phrase "like father, like son" most definitely applies to May & his son Landon.  He has been sent to death row for the torture and murder of Terry & Lucy Smith.  This occurred in September 2001 in their Ephrata home. These were the adopted parents of Scott Bourgeois, a friend.  But what was their despicable crime that warranted their horrific deaths?  It was because they objected to the girlfriend of Scott, Drena Rodriguez.  It was she who hatched the murders.  Over some hours, they were tortured to give bank details, stabbed more than 200 times with a barbeque fork.  If that was not enough, they were attacked with hammers and then shot.  Mrs Smith was threatened into performing a sex act on May, before he and his buddy bravely picked up a TV set and dropped it on her head as she lay severely injured.  Then they suffocated her.  But there was no escape for them.  All were arrested by Police, and Bourgeois and Rodriguez pleaded guilty in order to avoid a death sentence.  They will leave prison feet first in a box.  May was convicted and condemned.  

Larry Lamont White - Triple Killer

Killers around the world must have truly rued the day that DNA science was here to stay, and with the massive advances in the technology, more killers are being brought to justice, even decades after the crime.  One of these killers brought to book is Larry White.  He was sentenced to death by a court in Louisville, Kentucky - hometown of Muhammad Ali -  after DNA proved he was the murderer of a woman back in 1983.  White was first convicted of a terrible double murder.  The victims were Yolande Sweeney, 21 & Deborah Miles, 22.  They had been raped, then shot in the back of the head by White.  But in 1987, the Supreme Court of Kentucky, ruled that the confession he made to cops was inadmissible.  Obviously not wanting a retrial and facing the death sentence again, he decided to plea bargain.  He was then sentenced to 28 years in 1989.  Yet, incredibly, he was paroled in 2001, but could not stay out of trouble.  He was arrested a number of times for offences including theft and possession of drugs.

    Again, he could not keep on the straight and narrow, because 5 years later, in 2006, he was convicted of possession of a firearm, a serious offence for a convicted offender with two murders under his belt.  He received 15 years jail.  But his troubles multiplied when a cold case investigation was run by Police, and a DNA match proved that White was the killer of 22 year old Pamela Armstrong.  She was found raped and shot in the back of the head in an alley in June 1983.  This shortly predated the double murder.  Charged, White was convicted and again, given a death sentence.  The family of Pamela Armstrong rejoiced at the sentence.  Can you blame them?

The Murder Spree of Charles Corbett Kennedy

As a follow on to the previous post, this concerns the killing spree that Kennedy committed up in Cumbria in September 1949.  Events began on Tuesday September 13th 1949, when a large saloon car stopped outside the branch of the Midland Bank in Front Street, in the Cumbrian village of Alston.  A man emerged from the car, wearing a raincoat, blue suit and wearing a trilby hat, walked into the bank.  He was also carrying a briefcase.  There was only one bank clerk on duty, James Rush, and the man told him that he wanted to open an account.  Mr Rush ushered the prospective client into the office of branch manager Andrew Steele, and went back to his post.  About one minute later, a shot rang out and the man ran out of the bank and set off in his car.  Mr Rush found Andrew Steele with a bullet wound to his upper chest.  He quickly summoned an ambulance and Police.  On the way to the hospital, Mr Steele told the ambulance men that the man demanded to know how much money was in the bank, but Mr Steele refused to say.  The man then shot him.  Mr Steele later died in Cumbria Infirmary.  

    Police discovered witnesses outside the bank.  A lady working at an ice cream & mineral water shop opposite, witnessed the entire incident.  Ailsa Sparks had seen the car pull up, the driver go into the bank, heard the shot and the man run out and drive away fast.  Three electricity workers nearby, also witnessed the getaway.  The local Police were not used to an incident like this and  so Sergeant Mounsey called area headquarters in Penrith.  They immediately dispatched officers to Alston, and one of them was a very experienced constable named Henry Inglis, who arrived by motorcycle.  Not knowing which direction the killer took, PC Inglis patrolled the roads of all surrounding areas.  He came upon a stationary car on a road between Winskill & Melmerby.  Aware that the car could be the getaway vehicle, and the driver was armed, he took no chances.  The driver could have been hiding with the gun trained on him.  He rode into Melmerby to report the car, and was told that the driver was found dead in the car, with what was thought to be a self inflicted bullet wound.  The pistol he carried was a German Mauser.

    A card was found with his identity on it.  He was Charles Corbett Kennedy.  A trace was placed on the car, and it was found that Kennedy hired the car from a garage in Durham.  A mechanic named Ernie Ingram drove Kennedy to Stanhope, but never returned.  His body was discovered in a ditch outside Stanhope.  Mr Ingrams had been shot in the back of the head.  At an inquest into all three deaths, details about Kennedy emerged.  He was from Morpeth in the North East, and the son of a grammar school maths teacher.  He went to Queen's College, Oxford, but this was cut short by military service.  He joined the Royal Armoured Corps, then went into the 8th Hussars, rising very quickly to the rank of Captain.  Why he turned robber and murderer was never established.  The murder earlier in the year of Bristol Bank Manager George Black was thought to have been carried out by Kennedy.  Two witnesses from Bristol travelled up to Cumbria to view the body, but it is not known if they identified Kennedy as the killer.

The Unsolved Murder of George Black

Another delve into the unsolved casebook, concerns an audacious robbery and murder where the killer showed himself to witnesses in the most bizarre way.  The victim was Bank Manager George Black, head of Lloyds Bank, located in Broad Walk in Bristol.  It  was on Friday January 7th 1949 that a very smartly dressed young man wearing spectacles entered the bank.  This seemingly pleasant young man told Mr Black he was waiting for an acquaintance to show up, and that he would politely wait until his arrival, and he sat down.  He said the name of the person he was waiting for was Murray.  By 3pm, he started to write a note to the "Mr Murray" which read "See you Monday.  Missed you today. Joe".  But there was a customer in the bank, John Rowe, who was uneasy about the man sat waiting.  He felt there was something wrong about him and he may have been planning something.  Mr Rowe left the bank and dialled 999, telling Police about the man and believing something was about happen.

    At 3.30pm, a man ran out of the bank and jumped into a car.  Mr Rowe was waiting outside, and seeing the man race to this car, he ran over and leapt onto the running board in an attempt to stop him.  The driver punched Mr Rowe, to get him off the car.  He ran to a phone and again dialled 999.  When the Police arrived, they found George Black dead inside the bank.  Tills had been rifled and a haul of £1,430 taken.  John Rowe gave Police a description of the young man and details about the car.  It was an Austin 16 and its registration was JHY 812, but Police were never able to trace either.  Nine months later, another bank robbery took place, with the manager being shot to death.  This occurred in a small town called Alston, near Penrith.  The gunman however, did not escape.  He was cornered by Police, so he took his own life.  He was identified as a 25 year old former Army officer named Charles Corbett Kennedy.  Was he the man who killed George Black?  

More Historical Unsolved Murders

A point of looking back at obscure unsolved murders is to show that victims may be long deceased, they should never be forgotten, and the fact that a murderer, or murderers, have gotten away with it.  You cannot turn back the clock and get a result, Dr Who & the Tardis are not real.  But it is putting the case back into the public view.  Gone but certainly not forgotten.  The first case goes back to 1931 and the murder of Dewsbury prostitute Margaret Schofield.  Store manager John Sprentall was closing up on a cold, misty night on January 2nd.  He decided to take a shortcut through a yard that was close to his shop.  But it was then he spotted two bare legs.  It was a woman.  He immediately called the Police, and soon they identified her as Margaret Schofield.  She was naked from the waist down and some of her upper clothing was missing.  She had been repeatedly struck over the head.  A bloody beer bottle was found by her body, as was an axle from a pram, but these were determined not to be the murder weapon.  She had a fur trimmed coat, which was later discovered in the nearby River Calder.  

    Then Police had two men confessing to the crime.  One was a cobbler who was now in desperate circumstances and a man with a history of mental health issues.  Both were quickly established as innocent.  Cynical old Scousers would have undoubtedly said that if they had confessed to Bert Balmer, both would have hung, as he had a reputation of just needing an admission, rather than evidence of guilt.  A suggestion was made that the killer may have been a woman.  Could it have been a fit of jealousy over a whore owning a very fashionable coat?  Possible.  But why was she naked from the waist down?  And why were some of her top clothes missing?  Miss Schofield would have had to have been a very hardy person to go fur coat, no knickers, on an extremely cold night.  Plus, her extremities being cold, would that have not helped dampen the ardour of a potential client?  Another possible explanation is, to strip a woman to humiliate her, but she was not totally nude.  Was it a jealous wife finding out her husband has been places he should not have been?  Then again, it could have been a freak with odd sexual proclivities.  A killer who had a taste for clothes worn by prostitutes.  Knickers and such.  The choices are endless.  But this is only speculation, and anybody who says they never speculate or offer an opinion on a subject, is an out and out liar.  

     The second case does not have much going for it information wise.  It took place on January 5th 1947.  The victim was a shop owner, John Brown.  His store was in College Road, in Harrow, and as was the norm in those days, the shop owner lived above the shop.  But on this night, it was deemed by Police that it was twp perpetrators that broke in.  They savagely attacked Mr Brown.  He was discovered the next day, horrifically beaten.  Police scientists scoured the crime scene, and discovered fingerprints that obviously belonged to the killers.  But there was no match on record, despite a very extensive search of records.

    Burglary has always been rife, never more so these days with junkies and crackheads desperate to get money for their non-addictive habits.  It can be a truly frightening experience to confront an intruder in your home, and every year, dozens of people are killed by intruders.  Does it register as important, to authorities?  Apparently not.  But god help you if you kill a burglar that attacks you.  Then YOU will be hit with the full force of the law.  In Birkenhead, during the 80`s, it was common for burglars to break in, and the first thing they did, was boil a pan of water.  To throw over the victim if they disturbed them.  Not very nice.  Of course this would not matter to the bleeding hearts and whingers, it would be the price the occupants would have to pay for disturbing the poor, deprived, penniless scum who think robbing homes is justifiable.  John Brown was an occupant who lost his life.

Solved: The Murder of Yolande Waddington

Another tale to warm the hearts of the law abiding and cause rivers of tears for the bleeding hearts and do-gooders.  After 46 years, a brutal killer finally paid the price for his act of evil.  He was jailed for a minimum of 27 years, and will be in his nineties before he could be considered for release.  Cue sobs from the do-gooders, civil liberties and human rights scumbags.  The fact that this bastard is also a double child killer, will, of course, make no difference to them.  This waste of sperm is David Burgess.  His three victims were Yolande Waddington, Jeanette Wigmore & Jacqueline Williams.  Naturally, their names will be conveniently forgotten by the aforementioned scumbags.

    This sick tale stretches back to 28th October 1966.  17 year old Yolande Waddington, had just gotten a job as a nanny, working at a farmhouse.  It was the night of October 28th that Yolande visited the Six Bells pub in Beenham, to buy a few small items.  That was the last time she was seen alive.  Reported missing, a search by Police found her body.  She had been stripped, her hands tied behind her back, twine tightly wound around her neck, and her body dumped in a ditch.  She had also been stabbed a number of times.  Bits of bloody clothing was discovered in a barn, that belonged to Yolande.  Police questioned Burgess as he sustained a cut finger, had scratch marks on his face and owned a knife exactly like the murder weapon.  He denied any involvement.  Police began a blood screening of all males in the village, but there was no match, mysteriously, to Burgess.  But at that time, there was no DNA technology.  That was twenty years away.  With no firm evidence, the case was wound down in 1967.

    Then in April 1967, the bodies of two nine year old girls were found by a gravel pit known as Blakes Pit, off Webb Lane in Beenham.  A huge search had been undertaken by Police and the public.  One volunteer was David Burgess.  One girl had been drowned, the other had her throat cut.  Questioned by Police, Burgess claimed he saw a man he called "McNab" standing over the body of a child.  He was charged with two murders and convicted in July 1967, being jailed for life.  In 1996, Burgess escaped from an open prison, Leyhill, at Wooton - Under - Edge in Gloucester, and was on the run for 18 months.  He was recaptured after an armed robbery in Havant, Hampshire.  Then, more than ten years later, the case was re-examined by Thames Valley Police.  He was interviewed about it, but started taunting cops, saying to them "Prove it!"  Yes, all the hallmarks of an innocent man.  Prove it they certainly did.  The clothing of Yolande had been preserved, and DNA was lifted from it.  It matched to Burgess.  Convicted in July 2012, he appeared bored by all the proceedings and had a good laugh when taken from the dock.  There is a cure for shit like this; the Chinese method.  A bullet to the back of the head.  A punishment proposed by a tradesman I know, who was questioned three times over the Ripper murders, because he had tools, and popped up in places where cops were investigating.  He was a freelancer, and travelled about but was no killer, as he was able to prove.

    The families of all three victims now know Burgess will only come out of prison in a box.  But with the whingers and bleeding hearts, that could just change.  A frightening thought.

The Murders of Claire Woolterton & Deidre Sainsbury

 It really is heartwarming to hear that a long unsolved murder has been solved, thanks to the huge advances in forensic science, and the scumbag responsible has been locked away.  In this case, the scumbag in question, Colin Campbell, 66, had already been locked up for another extremely savage murder.  Now he should die behind bars.  Good.  No doubt the Prison Reform Trust and Liberty were shedding masses of tears for this evil bastard but none for the families of Claire & Deidre.  This tragic story begins in August 1981, when an early morning commuter discovered the brutalised body of 17 year old Claire, on a promenade in Barry Avenue, by the Thames in Windsor.  Police had no clues and only the fact that Claire had last been seen alive and well in Hanwell.  Tape was used to hopefully get trace evidence from her body and stored for future testing.  The case sadly ran cold for 30 years.  But that was to change in 2011.

    Peter Beirne was the Senior Investigating Officer for the Thames Valley Police's Major Crime Review Team and he submitted the stored evidence for further examination, and with advances in technology, they were to find traces of DNA on the tape.  Matched to the national database, they were rewarded with a match to one Colin Campbell.  He had been questioned by Police in the mid 80`s investigating the murder of deidre Sainsbury, but Campbell denied any involvement with Claire`s murder.  Now they had the proof.  The savage murder of Deidre occurred in December 1984, when she was hitchhiking on the South Circular Road in Roehampton.  She accepted a lift from a travelling salesman.  Campbell.  He drove Deidre, from Greenham, to Hayes, where he strangled her and grossly mutilated her body.  One young officer on this case was Peter Beirne.

    Campbell claimed that he could not remember whether he killed Deidre, due to a history of Epilepsy.  He was convicted of murder in 1985 and jailed for life, but this was downgraded to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, due to his Epilepsy.  By 2011, he was being allowed out on licence 5 days a month, but now Peter Beirne arrested him and charged him with the murder of Claire.  The deep feeling of satisfaction he would have felt at tying a killer into another murder.  Campbell was jailed for a minimum of 24 years, and was told he will probably die in prison.  

    Did Campbell conveniently have an epileptic fit when he came into contact with the victims?  Surely his condition did not hamper his work as a travelling salesman.  After all, what do these people spend much of their time doing?  Driving.  And did he ever have a "blackout" behind the wheel whilst in traffic?  This would have ended his job, as he would have been a risk to other road users.  My view is that he was simply a sadistic bastard who used epilepsy as a defence when he was now finding himself in shit street.  Throw the key away, I say.

Bartholomew Binns - Bungling Hangman

Hanging was long a tradition of execution in this country, but for more than 150 years, it was basically a case of the hangmen doing everything their way. There were no set procedures for drops, condemned men and women simply strangled to death very slowly.  At times, people would pull on their feet to speed up the death.  William Calcraft was the most notorious exponent of the short drop not being enough to kill quickly.  It was his successor that started the process.  This was William Marwood, who introduced the longer drop, although he was not without bungled executions himself.  His last job was bungled because he was very drunk.  He died days later.  His most famous client was killer Charlie Peace, whom he hanged at Armley Prison in Leeds.

    There were numerous applications for the vacant post of hangman, and the post was to be handed to a former Bradford Policeman, James Berry.  But members of his family objected, so the job was offered to a foreman of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company, Bartholomew Binns, a plate layer from Dewsbury. (All the qualifications you need to hang people!)  But Binns` reign would stretch from November 1883 to March 1884, and he would become notorious for bungled executions.  Binns was born around 1840 in West Yorkshire and worked on the railways.  His introduction to the post of public executioner started when he was elected as an assistant to William Marwood, but obviously working with Marwood did not give him proper insight into the tasks he was to do.  When given the job in November 1883, his first client was Henry Powell, dispatched at Wandsworth Prison on November 6th.  At this time, there was no set table of determining length of the drop, taking into consideration the weight of the condemned.  It was the execution of Henry Dutton on December 3rd 1883 at Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool, that questions about his competence were raised.  Dutton was condemned for murdering his grandmother at her home in Athol Street in Liverpool.  Dutton was a very light man at just 128 pounds.  Binns gave a drop of 7" 6`, but the rope was too thick, and the eyelet, through which the noose ran, was placed at the back of the neck.  The most suitable spot was behind the left ear.  Dutton did not die instantly but slowly strangled to death, a most unpleasant experience witnessed by the prison doctor, James Barr.  He suspected Binns had been drinking.

    The most infamous of Binns` eleven clients were the Liverpool sisters, 55 year old Catherine Flanagan and 41 year old Margaret Higgins.  They poisoned their own children and anybody else in their household for insurance money.  Eventually, the luck for these two serial killers ran out and they faced the horror of being hanged by Binns at Kirkdale Gaol.  It seemed that on this day, Binns may have got it right.  But it was his last job, again, at Kirkdale, that saw him dismissed.  It was the execution of 18 year old Michael McLean on March 10th 1884.  The prison governor, Major Leggett, questioned whether Binns knew anything about doing this very grim task, and he claimed that when Binns arrived at the gaol, he was drunk.  Very unhappy about this situation, he sent for a local man named Sam Heath, to assist.  However, Binns would have none of it and told Heath not to interfere.  He got everything wrong, and McLean dangled for 13 minutes, strangling, before his heart gave out.  Major Leggett complained to authorities, and days later, Binns was dismissed.  Questions over his competence were raised in the House of Commons.  The new hangman was James Berry.

    After being dismissed, Binns was back in the headlines in November 1884, when he accused his mother-in-law of stealing a watch belonging to him.  But it was what his daughter told the court, that grabbed the attention of the newspapers.  She said that he experimented at home by hanging cats and dogs.  He did work at the turn of the 20th century in executions, but it was as an assistant to Tom Scott, carrying out jobs in Ireland, with the last one Binns assisted at being John Toole, on March 7th 1901.  Binns died in 1911.

Chester Turner - Serial Killer

Chester Turner.  Not a household name in the annals of serial murder, yet with fourteen victims, he shows that he is as ruthless as they come.  Turner is currently on Death Row, with two death sentences passed on him.  He had his own killing field, a four block zone in Los Angeles, but it was DNA that finally put paid to him, once and for all.  Turner came from Warren in Arkansas, and was born on November 5th 1966.  He and his mother moved to Los Angeles when he was 5 years old, but never completed school.  He simply dropped out.  He did various jobs such as a pizza chef and deliveryman but eventually, his mother moved on to Utah and Turner spent considerable time living in homeless shelters, hostels and missions.  He began his killing spree in 1987, and it was generally centred around Figueroa Street, stretching from Gage Avenue to 108th Street.

     His first victim was 21 year old Diane Johnson, whose partially nude body was found on a construction site near Harbor Freeway.  She had been strangled.  Then, over an eleven year period, the death toll mounted.  Annette Ernest, 26, was found strangled and partially nude on a road side in October 1987.  Next victim was Anita Fishman, 31.  She was strangled and left partially nude by a garage in an alley of Figueroa Street in January 1989.  Regina Washington, 27, found strangled and partially nude, inside a garage of Figueroa Street in September 1989.  She was also six months pregnant.  The cops ruled the death of her foetus as a homicide, judging by how far her pregnancy was.  Andrea Trippett, 29, found strangled and partially nude behind an empty building on Figueroa Street in April 1993.  Desarae Jones, 29, was found strangled  by an empty apartment building in May 1993.  The next victim was Natalie Price, 31, again, strangled and partially nude, found dumped next to an empty apartment block.  Then it was the turn of 45 year old Mildred Beasley, strangled and partially nude, dumped by bushes alongside Freeway 110 in November 1996.

    Then the murders switched to Los Angeles County, and the murder of 28 year old Paula Vance in her place of work, Olympia Tool, in Asuza, in February 1998.  However, the killer had a problem; the murder was witnessed by a person living at a trailer park, next to the store.  Then in April 1998, Brenda Bries, 39, was found murdered in a portable toilet in the Little Tokyo area.  The Police did not have a name to put to this killer, and Turner was still operating below the radar.  He was jailed a number of times for petty offences, between 1995 & 2002.  His most serious crime was for assaulting an officer and animal cruelty.  But it was in March 2002, that he committed a very serious crime that led him to Death Row.  He viciously sexually assaulted a woman of 47, and repeatedly threatened to kill her if she ever spoke about it.  She went straight to the Police.  He was convicted and jailed for eight years.  Going into prison for a serious offence meant a DNA sample was taken and entered into the CODIS database.  It threw up a DNA match to the Paula Vance &  Mildred Beasley murders.

    Detectives now started examining other unsolved murders and comparing DNA results.  There was a match in nearly all the murders.  He was charged with the killings, plus an additional four.  He was convicted in April 2007 of ten murders and sentenced to death.  Then in June 2014, he was convicted of the other four murders, and received a second death sentence.  The DNA analysis proved the innocence of a mentally impaired man, convicted of three murders that happened in Turner`s killing field.  28 year old Janitor David Jones, who was not a literate man, and questioned without a lawyer, admitted to cops that he did drugs with the victims.  Jones was jailed for a rape in 2000, but now DNA proved he was innocent of two murders.  The other was the death of Tammie Christmas in September 1992, found dead at 97th Street Elementary School.  The D.A. now believed that Jones was probably innocent of the death of Tammie and that Turner was responsible.  He was released in 2004 and filed a lawsuit against authorities.  He received compensation of $720,000.

    Turner had a number of traits.  He stuck mainly to a small specific area.  He was a strangler.  He left most of his victims partially nude.  What was his motive?  Did he need one?  Considering the time lapses between killings, I believe it was simply a case of "today, I want to kill!"  No fancy theories, no bollocks about "disenfranchised and marginalised people" just a guy who decided to sexually assault women, then kill them if he felt like it.  At least he is now out of the way.

The Jefferson Davis Parish Murders

A long running unsolved multiple homicide case that has thrown up serious and sinister allegations that local Police are responsible for the murders of eight women between 2005 & 2009.  The women were all involved in prostitution and drugs, and their bodies were dumped in swamps and canals around the town of Jennings, in Jefferson Davis Parish, in Louisiana.  Most of the victims were to decomposed to determine the cause of death.  One story that ran, was that a serial killer was on the loose, but investigative work by author Ethan Brown, has thrown a very sinister light on the whole case.  

    The roll call of victims is as follows; Lynn Lewis, 28, found by a fisherman in a river on May 20th 2005.  Ernestine Patterson, 30.  Her throat had been slit.  Kristen Lopez, 21.  Whitnei Dubois, 26.  Laconia Brown, 23.  Her throat had been slashed.  Crystal Benoit, 24.  Britney Gary, 17, & Necole Guillory, 26.  She was found dumped beside Interstate 10 in 2009.  All the victims knew each other, some shared rooms, and some were related.  It has been said that all were informants for local Police, which could initially supply a motive.  But in a small town, what sort of super crimes would be going off to justify killing so many women?

    Then another story was that victim Kristen Lopez, along with others, witnessed Police shoot dead drug pusher Leonard Crochet.  An investigation by a Grand Jury, cleared Police with a recommendation of no charges.  A State Police investigation decided that Crochet was not armed when he was killed.  Now, all these women were being killed by cops to silence them over the shooting of Crochet.  Not made clear was the fact that did all the rest of the alleged witnesses to the shooting, start popping up dead.  One woman telling others simply does not add up.  If ALL witnesses were mysteriously dying, then there is most definitely something going on.  Ethan Brown uncovered many mistakes in the Sheriff`s Office investigations, that was leading to evidence being destroyed or lost.  Bungled murder hunts are nothing new.  They have been going on ever since we had Police forces.

    A person did emerge into the mix, and that was Frank Richard, a crackhead, strip joint owner and a man who admitted having sex with most of the victims.  In other words, he was a frequent user of prostitutes.  A claim made, was that evidence was destroyed at the request of Richard, but no explanation as to WHY.  Brown believes there are multiple offenders at large here, and that can be extremely likely.  One piece of evidence obtained, was that all the victims frequented a house.  A story was told that one man who was there, acted aggressively to one of the women later killed.  If so, then why did they not come forward straight away?  All this bullshit about not talking to cops, is exactly that; bullshit!  If some nutcase looks like he could have killed your friend, then you do something about it.  You tell the cops.  By being "staunch" you could be the next victim!  As bodies pile up around you, by keeping quiet, do you expect people to stand up and applaud you?  No.  It quite simply will never happen.

    The case was covered in "Dark Minds" by Matthew William Phelps, and in an interview with the brother of one of the victims, Phelps was told that this man believes the cops had them killed because they were provided for politicians or powerful people, for their gratification.  Their silence was paramount.  I find this completely ridiculous.  Why?  If you were a politician and was being given a hooker for your pleasure, then surely you would expect a high class girl.  Not a drug using street walker who will entertain anybody, so as to get the money for their next fix.  This is commonsense.  What would you think of a politician who caught a dose and has to get treatment because he likes to fuck any type of hooker?  Imagine this "Hey Police Chief, go down to skid row and find me a whore.  I`m horny!"  Yeah right.

    Are the cops involved?  If so, why?  What can be so bad that a number of women are killed over a four year period?  Why not eliminate them as as soon as possible?  My belief?  A couple of killers at large who like what they do, and prostitutes are disposable victims.  Not very nice to say, but it is the truth.  Many people will not care, so long as it does not encroach on their lives.  Regardless, people should stand up and see the actual killers brought to justice.

Cold Case : The Murder of Kathy Lynn Gloddy

Forty three years on, there are still hopes that this old case may yet be resolved.  The chief suspect is dead.  But is he guilty?  There is much that is very circumstantial, but nothing solid to say that this man was responsible for an horrific crime.  The story starts off at around 5pm on Sunday 21st November 1971, in Franklin, New Hampshire, when 13 year old Kathy Gloddy sets off to a convenience store to buy some candy.  She takes with her the family dog, Tasha, a German Shepherd.  She is seen at the store, but after that she seemed to have vanished.  The dog returns home alone, an act that causes great alarm.  After visiting the store, Kathy was planning to walk to the local high school, where her sister is attending a banquet.  Her family notify Police, and the following day, a grim discovery is made.  Her body is found three miles away near woods, where there is a popular small lake for swimming.  Kathy is naked except for her socks.

    A Pathologist report gives the gruesome details.  Kathy has been run over a couple of times by a car.  Her liver is ruptured and her skull fractured.  She has also been raped.  Police have a couple of suspects on the radar but they do not pan out.  One of the suspects is very good for the crime, but everything is circumstantial, plus DNA technology was not even thought of back then.  The case goes cold for decades, but is revived by claims made by the main suspect, who then retracts them.  He later dies in a hospice.  Was he the killer?  Let us examine the evidence.  His name was Edward Earl Dukette, aged 28.  He lived with his wife in an apartment above the Gloddy  home.  But they were later evicted.  This could have been a motive for revenge, but Police were unable to prove it.  Kathy`s father, Earl, served on a jury that convicted Dukette`s father for Statutory rape - underage sex.  (Like father, like son?)  This type of crime will resonate throughout Edward Dukette`s life.

    Months before, Dukette was living in California, and he asked a 14 year old girl if she could babysit for him.  But the girl claimed to Police that it was a ploy and that Dukette repeatedly beat and raped her.  He then moved to New Hampshire, but now he moved again, this time to Texas.  He was extradited back to California to stand trial on the rape charges.  He was convicted and jailed for 5 years.  Nothing was heard of Dukette until March 2006, when he found himself in jail in Dixie County, Cross City, Florida.  His crime?  The rape and attempted murder of a young girl.  Whilst in jail, he spoke about the death of Kathy.  Florida authorities checked it out with Police in New Hampshire.  Now Dukette claimed that he was "petting, fondling & lovemaking" with Kathy in the front of his car.  A convicted paedophile claiming a very young girl was a willing partner to a grown man?  A man serving a sentence for raping and attempting to kill a young girl?  A man with a predilection for schoolgirls?  Then he claimed that Kathy got out of the car, and "he did not know what happened next" but found her dead in water.  He puts her body in the trunk of his car and drives her away, and buries her.  No attempt at CPR, no rushing her to the nearest ER?  He decides to bury her?  Would you believe any of this?

    But the story actually did not fit the facts, and then Dukette retracted his story.  Kathy was exhumed in 2006 in order to see if any information could be gathered from her remains but this was not to be.  Then they hoped DNA evidence could be gleamed from samples taken by the Pathologist in 1971.  Then in August 2006, Dukette died in a hospice.  Was he the killer of Kathy or not?  As shown, there is much circumstantial, but there seems to be no answer as to the hoped for DNA analysis.  To this day, the family hope that the answer will be found.

The Wigwam Murder

The Wigwam Murder was one of the celebrated homicides solved by Scotland Yard during WW2, and by one of their star detectives Ted Greeno.  The victim in this case was a teenage runaway named Joan Wolfe, and the motive for her callous murder was that she, like hundreds of other women, fell pregnant to a visiting serviceman.  This sorry tale began on October 7th 1942, when a member of the Royal Marines, Bill Moore, was carrying out a routine patrol at Hankley Common, close to Godalming, in Surrey.  Something sticking out of mud, caught his eye.  He thought at first it was a hand.  Then he spotted a foot protruding.  He had found a shallow grave.  He returned to his barracks and informed his superiors of what he had discovered.  They in turn, called Police, who brought in Scotland Yard, led by Chief Superintendent Ted Greeno.

    An exhumation showed she had massive injuries to her head, plus stab wounds to her head and arm.  There was no doubt she had been there for some time.  She was quickly identified as 19 year old Joan Pearl Wolfe, a runaway who had taken to sleeping rough.  Police scoured the common and discovered a letter written by Joan, to a Canadian soldier named August Sangret.  He was based at a nearby camp, Witley Camp.  The letter stated that she was pregnant by him and she expected him to stand by her.  Here was a very obvious motive for a murder.  The search also found the murder weapon, a piece of birch wood, that had hairs stuck to it that resembled the hair of Joan.  Sangret was immediately questioned.  He admitted that he had been having sex with Joan, but had not seen her for some time, and had no idea of her whereabouts.  He made a very long statement over 5 days.  Sangret was of Red Indian heritage and unable to read and write.  When he was told she was dead, he replied that they must have found her and that he would naturally be blamed.  There was insufficient evidence to charge him, so he was released.

    Then, towards the end of November, a knife was found in a blocked drain at the camp.  The knife was of the kind that was used to stab Joan.  Police rearrested Sangret, and now he made incriminating remarks.  Enough for him to be charged with murder and he went on trial at Kingston Assizes in February 1943.  The Prosecution contended that after she confronted Sangret and told him of her pregnancy, he killed her.  He buried her in a grave on high ground, after dragging her body for 400 yards, as in Red Indian custom.  He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.  The Jury gave a recommendation of mercy.  This was disregarded and Sangret was executed at Wandsworth Prison on 29th April 1943.

Peter Storey - "The Bastard`s Bastard"

Soccer was notorious in the 60`s and 70`s for teams having a particular hard man defender ready to dish stick out to the opposing teams forwards.  Chelsea had "Ron "Chopper" Harris, Liverpool had Tommy Smith, Leeds had Norman "Bite your legs" Hunter & Terry Yorath, Derby had Roy Mcfarland, Nottingham Forest had Big Kenny Burns.  Other notables in midfield were Jimmy Case of Liverpool and Dave Mackay of Derby.  Hands up those who remember when Mackay got a grip of Leeds "Firebrand" Billy Bremner, and Bremner shit himself!  Arsenal certainly had one hard nut.  A man christened "The bastard`s bastard!"  This was defender and midfielder Peter Storey.

    Storey was born Peter Edwin Storey on September 7th 1945, and was a regular at matches with his father.  Good enough to get trials at clubs, he joined in 1962, the club where he was to achieve fame AND notoriety; Arsenal.  He eventually made it into the first team in October of 65, and became well known for his very aggressive style of tackling.  He later said it was to intimidate the opponents.  He won honours for Arsenal with the Fairs Cup in 1970, the League & FA Cup double in 1971, losing League Cup finals in 1968 & 1969.  I can still remember watching the 69 final against Swindon, and Don Rogers rounding Bob Wilson, to score his second, and Swindon`s third.  He was also a loser in the 1972 Cup Final against Leeds.  He went to earn 19 caps for England.  In 1977, he was given a transfer to Fulham, but retired at the end of the year.  Fulham at that time had legends like Bobby Moore & George Best, plus Rodney Marsh, but they were long past their best.

    Storey went into running a pub, but over the years, he was in and out of court, and was jailed for counterfeiting.  He was on bail for the counterfeiting charge, so he was involved in running a brothel, to make money.  That ended up in another charge.  He was jailed for three years over the first charge, spending his sentence in Wandsworth Prison & Spring Hill Prison.  After release, he was charged with smuggling pornography into the country, which was concealed inside a spare tyre.  He also copped for stealing two vehicles, disorderly conduct & Contempt of Court, for failing to appear in court over Bankruptcy charges.  He at one time was a taxi driver for a firm run by none other than Tommy Adams.

    Storey has been married 4 times, has 4 children and lives in the South of France.  He wrote his autobiography "True Storey - My Life & Crimes as a Football Hatchet Man".  Other footballers that have gone down were Mickey Thomas & Duncan Ferguson.  I wonder how Ferguson would have coped against the likes of central defenders like Kenny Burns & David Webb?  Just a thought.

Walking Tall - Buford Pusser & The Dixie Mafia

Do you remember the hard hitting 1973 film "Walking Tall" starring Joe Don Baker, as a club wielding former marine?  In the film, he has a scuffle with local crooks and ends up getting carved up, but recovers to become sheriff and takes on the villains.  His character was called Buford Pusser, and was actually a real sheriff.  He operated in Tennessee, and fought what was called the Dixie Mafia.  These were not part of the traditional Italian Mafia but a collection of organised villains whose activities, particularly in bootlegging, stretches back to before Prohibition.  The areas of operation are generally Atlanta, and Mississippi.  Particularly in Biloxi.  After the Government used the Biloxi Country Club as a military training ground during WW2, around half a million military personnel passed through it.  This provided a very rich source of income for local villains, with booze, gambling, money lending and hookers.

    After the war, a man called Jack Hathcock ran a restaurant and dance hall in Phoenix City.  Nobody should be surprised that this "eating establishment" was simply a brothel and gambling club, serving bootlegged Moonshine.  The games were inevitably crooked and any complaints were dealt with extremely violently.  With crooked cops on the take Hathcock for many years, ruled the roost.  Then, a very tough new Sheriff was elected; Buford Pusser.  He took on Hathcock.  Then Hathcock was killed by another villain named Carl White, but he was never convicted of murder after he stated that he acted in self defence.  Whilst he was about it, he took up with the wife of Hathcock, Louise.  She showed her propensity for violence when one day Pusser went to arrest her for robbery in February 1966.  She shot at him and was not firing warning shots.  Pusser returned fire, killing her.  White waited then in the following year, he organised an ambush, firing repeatedly at Pusser and his wife, as they made their way to church in New Hope.  Pusser was seriously injured but his wife died.  
    White was never charged with this attack, but in 1969, he too, met a violent death, at the hands of Berry Smith.  He also took the White line of defence, claiming self defence.  Pusser cited a man named Kirksey Nix as being involved in his wife`s death but Nix was never faced any charges.  Buford Pusser was to die in a car crash in August 1974 in his hometown of Adamsville.  A remake of "Walking Tall" was made starring The Rock.

New York`s East River - A Dumping Ground?

The East River in New York was thought by cops to have been used as a burial site for victims killed by a notorious Mafia assassin named Edward Esposito.  This killer was the nephew of Joe Colombo, the head of one of the five mob families that operated in the city.  Esposito hanged himself in a wood in New Jersey after he was suspected of killing detective Richard Snyder.  He was said to have come across Snyder with his estranged wife, something that Italians, especially mob guys, hate very, very much.  How many women they have on the side is irrelevant.  Snyder`s car was seen by a cop being driven in the river area by Esposito.  The small area was known as Hell`s Gate.  Then he was spotted walking away from the area. It was October 1984.

    Police sent in divers to search that area of the river, and they came across a number of cars.  One was towed out, and a body was found wrapped in a blanket in the boot.  But it was not Snyder.  The body was that of a missing Philadelphia villain named Robert Fratello.  More cars were pulled out.  They found the body of Richard Snyder.  Another car had a human bone in it, sparking the fears that it was a dumping ground for Esposito.  So the NY Harbour Police were tasked in dragging all the cars found by divers, but it is not known if any more remains were found.

The Murders of Kay Wyllie & Nancy Nicol

These two murders took place in the mid 1980`s in Scotland but the killer was apprehended by the Police, convicted and originally sentenced to 20 years but a ruling by Europe in 2002 decreed that a minimum sentence should be imposed on killers before parole is considered.  The sentence for the killer, Andrew Cameron, was set at 30 years.  His first victim was 19 year old Kay Wyllie.  She had left her boyfriends` home in Drybridge, Dundonald, and drove home in her Mini, to the hotel her parents owned.  She never made it home.  She was last seen on July 4th 1984, and found two days later, in a ditch, in Wellington Lane, Dunure, 500 yards from her parents hotel.  She was half naked and had been strangled with her own bra.

    Police soon received an anonymous letter with keys belonging to Kay inside.  A note stated that the writer looked into Kay`s abandoned car and helped himself to keys and a digital clock.  Cameron who was known to Police, was questioned and admitted he took the digital clock.  Police took the step of asking through a newspaper, for the person who may have taken the clock to come forward.  Two men did, admitting they took it from the empty car.  This seriously undermined the story of Cameron but they had nothing to charge him on.  Then in May 1985, Nancy Nicol, from Kilmarnock, vanished.  Cameron was questioned on this and he confessed to strangling the 18 year old, then dumping her body into the sea.  He also said, "It was like that girl last year as well," no doubt referring to Kay.  He was convicted on majority verdicts on both charges.

    One person who believed in the complete innocence of 19 year old Cameron, was his mother.  Cameron came from a well off family and lived in a very plush and expensive home, but this in way means that a person cannot be a killer.  Background, wealth, connections, etc, mean absolutely nothing.  Everybody has the propensity to commit heinous crimes, but there are those who see absolutely no wrong in their offspring and they had to have been fitted up by the Police.  Love is blind.

The Trials & Tribulations of the Obscenity Laws

Laws have been passed for centuries dealing with articles, drawings, pamphlets & books on that great subject that has been the lifeblood of Sunday newspapers for decades; sex.  But over the years, certain books had attracted some notoriety.  Going back to 1885, and "My Secret Life" was thought to have been the autobiography about a man and his very active sex life.  The author was anonymous, and it caused quite a stir at the time.  I once saw a paperback reprint in a second hand bookshop in Chester.  But we Brits did have a man whose works did spark outrage, and that was D.H.Lawrence.  His novel, "The Rainbow" was brought before Bow Street Magistrates in 1915, with a destruction application.  The publishers simply apologised for printing it, but it was his work "Lady Chatterley`s Lover" that made the real headlines, decades later in 1960, in a famous trial.  The prosecuting counsel Mervyn Griffiths-Jones made the infamous remark as to whether the jurors would allow their servants to read it!  Showing just how much out of touch he was with real life.  The book was cleared and enjoyed huge sales.

    One woman was to write a book, autobiographical, that did result in an obscenity trial in 1928, and this was "The Well of Loneliness" by well known lesbian Radclyffe Hall.  It was essentially a plea for tolerance towards lesbians, referred to as "Inverts" by the newspapers and the authorities.  Her long lasting relationship was with Lady Una Trowbridge, former wife of a high ranking naval officer, Admiral Sir Ernest Trowbridge.  The campaign was led by the editor of the Sunday Express, expressing outrage that young boys and ladies could read this filth.  Hall had renowned barrister Sir Norman Birkett in her corner, but he made a couple of errors in his defence work and was dismissed.  Hall lost the case  His partner, J.B. Melville took over for the appeal, but here, he lost as well.  It was more than twenty years before it was printed again in the UK.

    James Hadley Chase came to grief with two of his books.  The first one, and his most famous was "No Orchids For Miss Blandish" written in 1938 and made into two films, "No Orchids...." in the UK in 1948, and "The Grissom Gang" in 1971.  A gangster story dealing with the kidnap of an heiress, and her rape and subjection to drugs by the evil character Slim Grissom was such a magnet that it sold extremely well, and was a favourite reading material for troops in WW2.   Chase then released in 1942 "Miss Callaghan Comes to Grief" another gangster story that made "No Orchids..." pale in comparison.  Some offending parts featured "negroes" (shock horror).  The publishers pleaded guilty in London.

    In the 60`s "Fanny Hill" was deemed to be a corrupter of morals, ONLY when it appeared as a paperback, being cheap enough for young boys & girls to purchase.  It was after arguments between the DPP & the publishers, that Fanny Hill faced an order for destruction.  The publishers wanted a charge of obscenity and therefore have a jury trial.  But no doing, it was to be pulped.  Then came "Last Exit To Brooklyn" by Hubert Selby and "Naked Lunch" by William Burroughs.  In the film version of "Last Exit..." what I found utterly distasteful was the mass rape scene at the end.  

    With the changing of attitudes starting from the 60`s, many years back, I came across some details about an underground book entitled "The Man Who Raped San Francisco", written around 1967, about a man with a very large penis, attacking women in the city.  If any of my US readers know anything about this book, please contact me.  What about "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage?  Does the basic storyline about bondage and other sexual practices sound a bit familiar with a book that was the rage last year?  Yes, I`m talking about "50 Shades of Grey".  Amazingly, people do not see that it reads like a porno version of Barbara Cartland or Mills & Boon.  That is my opinion.  

Gypsy Joker MC

This outlaw motorcycle club is an old and established one that stretches back to the mid 1950`s.  As ever, these clubs are said by Law Enforcement to be involved in Organised Crime, something they have always refuted.  There could be a lot of truth in what author and journalist Yves Lavigne said about the Hells Angels, and this could be true about all other OMGs, is that they are NOT a criminal organisation, but an organisation of criminals.  Meaning that not all are involved in illegal activity.  The GJ club has denied any illegal activity.  The origins of the club go back to being formed in 1956 in San Francisco, and built up a number of chapters throughout California.  But the main rivals they had were the Hells Angels, who were the powerfulest club in the country.

    The HA applied pressure to the GJ to move out of California, as they regarded that as their turf, and theirs alone.  So the club moved out of state and settled in 1967 in both Oregon & Washington.  Over the years, members of the club have been jailed or killed but they state that they cannot be held responsible for the actions of a few.  A line all the OMGs take.  They expanded the club around the world, by establishing chapters in Norway, South Africa, Australia & Germany.  The total number of chapters is around 35.  The GJs in Australia were involved in the car bomb murder of former top cop Don Hancock.  It was said to have been in retaliation for a shooting of a club member, in which it is believed that Hancock pulled the trigger.

    One incident which caused a storm of controversy in Oregon, was when a 25 year old woman named Jacklynn Rashaun Ford was shot dead by Police in Salem, Oregon.  She had a dog set upon her and she screamed for it to be pulled off.  As she got up, according to witnesses, she was shot.  They stated that she was unarmed.  Police said a gun was found at the scene.  They said that Jacklynn Ford had some sort of connection to the GJ MC, but what that connection was, was never made clear.  The whole incident enraged the biker community.  A club that has been expanding into Oregon, their territory, is the Mongols, from California.  This club has been at war with the HA for many years and had been recruiting extensively.  They fear and back down from nobody, a stance that has propelled them into the biker bigtime.  

    

Michael Alig & The Killing of Andre Melendez

There are always underground scenes all over the world, but the story today concerns a scene centred around the Limelight Nightclub, and one man in particular; Michael Alig.  This was a club in New York that catered for what many would call the "oddballs"; people who dressed outrageously and were consuming drugs by the bucket load.  Alig was the focal point for these people, but his inner circle of friends was very exclusive.  Nobody could approach and be accepted.  The outrageous dressing up attracted the attention of TV and led to appearances on shows like Geraldo & Phil Donaghue, getting the ire of "decent conservative people" but the truth, as revealed by a reporter, was that these "Clubkids" were "trustfund kids", offspring of wealthy parents who have unlimited funds for their children to indulge themselves as much as they want.  One man tried to get into that inner circle, but it ended in his violent death and dismemberment.  His name was Andre Melendez.

     Michael Alig was born on 29th April 1966 in South Bend, Indiana, and he went to Fordham University in New York but ended up dropping out.  He did what jobs he could but then he befriended a socialite James St. James, remaining close friends.  He made a reputation as a party organiser.  Then he started nights at the Limelight, which turned into a huge success with him as the centre of attention.  He would dispense drugs to whoever he decided to.  On the go were heroin, cocaine, crack & ketamine.  Not hard to see addictions coming there but who cares.  Andre Melendez and his family moved to the States from Colombia and settled in New Jersey.  As he grew into a young man, his moods and attitudes changed.  The reason for this was he accepted that he was homosexual, a bit of a taboo matter with macho Colombians.  He found his calling card when he eventually managed to get entry into the Limelight.  He soon realised Michael Alig was the centre of it all, but was not allowed into his circle.  He hit upon a persona.  Dressed in white with wings attached, he became "Angel" which caught the eye of everybody, including Michael.  But the reason why he could not get in that circle?  He was a kid from the streets, whereas these people were middle and upper class.  They do not mix.  That snobbery is as prevalent over there as it is here.

    He then started pushing drugs, and soon became the main man in the club.  He was allowed in the inner circle, but some believed Alig only allowed this so he could use Angel as he saw fit.  Alig hated the fact that Angel did not consume drugs.  To him, the pusher was there to liven up the party and be part of it.  In this respect, did Alig have the perceived ideals of the so-called "counter culture of the 60`s - share and indulge, whereas pushers in the 60`s & 70`s only wanted the money.  ( amazing how this part of capitalism is ignored by hippies spouting their shit!)  How many were addicted to their own products?  But then another pusher arrived on the scene, Robert "Freez" Riggs.  He was now the favourite of Alig, and Angel felt pushed out.  Then one day, Angel disappeared. Angel`s brother started extensive searches for him.  He went to the cops, who were not interested. All he got from Alig and his circle of friends was denials of anything.  Then reports started in newspapers hinting that Alig had admitted to killing Angel.

    It was in 1996 that a box washed ashore on Staten Island, containing body parts.  The torso was identified as Andre Melendez.  Now cops started to take an interest.  Alig fled to New Jersey but was arrested by cops.  Robert Riggs was taken in for questioning and immediately cracked, telling the story.  Then Alig confessed.  They said that Angel had an argument with Alig over a drug debt, and in a struggle with them both, Angel was hit over the head a number of times with a hammer.  As he lay, he was smothered with a pillow, had Drano allegedly poured down his throat.  Not knowing what to do, they put his body in a bath of water.  Then they went out doing their usual thing.  After a week, the body was smelling, so it was said that Alig took drugs then sawed off the legs of Angel and put them in garbage bags.  The torso was put in a box and dumped in the river.  Both were convicted of 1st degree manslaughter in October 1997.  Riggs served 15 years before being released in 2012.  Alig served 17 years before being released in 2014.

The Battering Ram Gang

This team of armed robbers showed that whatever London blaggers can do, so can any team around the country.  Their modus operandi was to to use a flatbed truck with a battering ram firmly attached, to smash their way into any security vans, and even the depots where the cash was stored ready for delivery.  They were not wasting their time storming into banks.  When they burst into the depots, staff were held at gunpoint, and compliance was soon received with a gun to the head.  They really meant business.  Staff ended up extremely traumatised after these raids.  The first raid took place in Liverpool, at a Tesco store when a security van was delivering.  The van was rammed and cash taken.  Then another robbery took place in Salford, at an Armaguard depot, which a hole was smashed through a wall.  The two robberies combined came to £750,000.  Two very substantial hauls.  The Police set up Operation Jaguar, targeting the gang.

    Police had a stroke of luck after considerable time was spent getting nothing.  The flatbed truck was traced to an industrial estate in Bolton, and a welder named David Fletcher.  A hidden camera recorded everybody going into the unit.  But suddenly the gang was active again.  They went all the way down to Dartford in Kent, and struck at a Securicor depot, smashing their way in with a battering ram.  They fired shots to frighten the staff away and escaped with £435,000.  Police had already started to identify individuals, including Lawrence Brown, Kevin Kennedy, Graham Dorrian and a man from Birmingham named Scroggie.  One of the gang being closely watched, was seen climbing onto a roof of an industrial unit in Salford, and breaking in.  Surveillance was kept on the unit, and soon a lorry was driven inside.  Over time, various members were seen going in and out.  More preparations were in order.  Cops broke in at night to check what was happening, and found that a ram built inside the back, ready to be extended for use.  But where were they going to strike next?

    The target was another Securicor depot, this time down in Poole, Dorset.  Police contacted security companies in the area and found there were three potential depot targets.  Staff were warned to secure everywhere, lock themselves in Secure rooms with telephones ready.  The robbers struck, but as they burst in, they found a security door, firmly down.  Nobody was about.  They fired shots at the door in order to intimidate staff, but they stayed out of harms reach.  Police were unable to arrest the team as the truck blocked the way, and the robbers jumped into a BMW they used as a getaway vehicle.  But the car inexplicably broke down, so they ran through the streets until they came across a car with two men and a woman in it.  They forced them out at gunpoint.  These were actually local cops who were armed, and the woman initially thought of drawing her gun but quickly changed her mind.  The robbers did not know that the boot was full of powerful weapons and ammunition.  This car was abandoned and they made their way back to the north.  Two were seen getting on a train at Euston Station.  

    Police officers joined the train at Crewe station and actually sat next to them.  They left the train at Wilmslow, but cops lost them.  They were spotted in Manchester, near Oxford Station, and it was here that they were arrested.  Two members of the gang fled but were extradited back to England and seven stood trial in Manchester.  The mastermind was a man called David Hill, and as the organiser, he drew the heaviest sentence; 20 years.  Police were able to recover over £1.1,000,000.  The gang used a man called Jason Metcalfe to help launder the money through betting shops and at race meetings.  He was jailed for his part.  What would have been funny, was seeing Norman Parker standing on the sidelines at these raids, screaming, "all robberies outside London, HAVE to have a Londoner on them!"  He spouted bilge that nobody could pull a blag outside the Capital without a London villain on it.  Yeah right.

More Unsolved Vermont Murders

Back to the unsolved murder casebook, and this is about two cases that have long run cold.  The first case concerns 42 year old Cheryl Peters.  Cheryl was separated and had taken to renting an apartment in Morrisville, Vermont, and had taken in a room-mate to help out with bills.  This was a man named Richard Fitzgerald, and things were fine between the two of them.  But Richard was to come home to a horrific sight on 2nd September 1993.  He found Cheryl shot dead, with a head shot.  He immediately called Police and canvassing the area, found a witness.  The night before, the witness saw a man, with dark hair and moustache, weighing 170 - 200 pounds, enter the apartment.  This mystery man left five or six minutes later, carrying a large bag.  Police have been unable to trace this man, and 21 years on, it remains an open case.

    The second case involves the murder of 31 year old Angela Blouin, in the spring of 1993.  Her body was found dumped on Side Road, in the town of Derby, in Vermont.  Miss Blouin was last seen leaving a store in nearby Newport, but nobody seems to have seen if she met somebody, or was accosted or accepted a lift from somebody.  Information on this case is thin on the ground, but as ever, if anybody knows anything, call it in.

Tommy "Tacker" Comerford

Opinion differs as to the influence that Tommy Comerford held in Liverpool.  Some cops saw him as the first real big time organised villain in Liverpool, whilst other cops and villains saw him as a loud mouth who talked himself into the big time.  What is indisputable, is that Comerford was a pioneering criminal in a couple of ways.  First off, he organised the Water Street bank job over the August Bank Holiday Weekend in 1969.  It was the first time thermal lances had been use to burn the way into a bank.  They removed £140,000, but Comerford was caught and convicted.  He was one of the first, if not the first, professional criminal to venture into the drug trade.  This led to more jail sentences.

    Comerford was born in the early 1930`s and soon fell into a criminal way.  By the early 60`s, he was thought of as a top villain in the city.  Well known Liverpool cop Albert Kirby was saved from a severe beating by three men, after Comerford heard a commotion near a club he had interests in.  He sent his bouncers out to get the men beating the young cop.  They fled, but Kirby ended up at an address, where Comerford`s boys were attempting to get in.  The men that attacked Kirby had left the city.  Comerford was a man who accepted the Police had a job to do, which involved putting the likes of him away, and never held anything personal.  Whilst accumulating wealth illegally, Comerford had two homes.  One was a very plush house, the other was a council flat.  On top of that, he was claiming benefits whilst travelling around the world on cruises!  Then came the Water Street job.  What brought him down was that a gold cigarette case stolen from a box, he handed to a lawyer friend, and it was noticed.  Comerford and a couple of his associates were charged with theft from a counting house.  He drew ten years.

    After he emerged from prison, he went into the drug business, as he realised that there would be much more money to be made and much safer than robbing banks or security vans.  Some believe he started dabbling in drugs in the late 60`s.  This could indicate that he knew where the future of organised crime lay and as drugs were in the hands of middle class hippies, how would they stand up to hardened villains?   He set up deliveries of drugs to be brought to the docks, but Police swooped on Comerford and his gang.  He went down for seven years.  Coming out of prison, he went straight back into drugs, importing cannabis, heroin, LSD and cocaine.  His tentacles stretched beyond the UK, and in the mid 80`s, he was under very close scrutiny by the Regional Crime Squad.  They arrested one of his drug runners and then they received word that he would be flying into Heathrow Airport with drugs and money.  He arrived on a flight from Germany and allowed to go through unchecked.  He and the people waiting to pick him up were then arrested.  He was carrying denominations of foreign currency, plus the big prize; heroin.  They stood trial at the Old Bailey, accused of importing £1,000,000 worth of heroin, conspiracy to import, plus Comerford faced attempted bribery.  He was acquitted of bribery but received 14 years for the other charges.

    Albert Kirby saw him as a major villain but others did not.  DI John Ralphson, who stuck a gun under the chin of Reg Kray, did not see him as such.  He saw Comerford as a big mouth who always talked himself into trouble, and that other villains saw through him but let him think he was "Top Cat".  Charlie Siega viewed him as an outsider always trying to worm his way in.  Whatever you think, the Water Street robbery and getting into drug importation long before other professional villains did, does set him apart.

    

Neddy Smith - Sydney Gangster & Killer

Neddy Smith was one of those villains that played both sides of the fence.  He was a major player in the Sydney Underworld, but what made him stand out was his association that completely upstanding protector of Law & Order, Detective Roger Caleb Rogerson.  He stands in the annals of big time crooked cops like Ray Kelly, Don Fergusson & Fred Krahe.  Involved in every type of crime, Smith was eventually jailed in 1990 for the murder of a trucker named Glen Flavell.  During a traffic altercation, he stabbed Flavell to death.  But the shit really hit the fan, when Smith was covertly recorded talking to a cellmate, and he dropped a huge bombshell.  He had committed six murders, including the murder of a prostitute named Sallie-Anne Huckstepp.  Miss Huckstepp was murdered, because he, Smith, hated for being an alleged Police informer.  He also was said to to have despised her lifestyle!  She was a junkie also.  Hmmm!  A man who later co-operated with authorities that required segregation in prison, committed every crime under the sun, including murder, and he disapproved of the way she lived.  Dear kettle, yours sincerely, pot!

    Another bothersome part about Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, was that her lover was Warren Lanfranchi, who was shot dead on the street by none other than Smith`s great friend, Roger Rogerson, who claimed Lanfranchi reached for a weapon.  Sallie-Anne frequently said that her lover had been set up to be killed, so it seemed inevitable that she had to be silenced.  Another murder he confessed to, was that of Brian Alexander, a Law clerk, on December 22nd 1981.  A story was that he was attached to a heavy fireplace and thrown off a boat into the sea - portrayed in the OZ series "Underbelly".  His revelations led him to face numerous more murder charges.  The victims were Harvey Jones, who ran brothels, Bruce Sandery, an armed robber, Lewton Shu, a drug pusher & Sallie-Anne.  The graves of Sandery & Jones were discovered close together on Botany Bay.  He was convicted of murdering Jones and remained in jail.  Then, like many other villains, he went into autobiography, and did speak about his relationship with Rogerson.  Naturally, he was rather vague about certain details about murdering Jones, but then again, do these people stand up and say, "I killed him because I am an evil bastard, I rob because I am workshy and when cops get bothersome, I pay them off because jail scares me."  No, did not think so.

The St.Gerard`s Day Massacre

This was a French version of the infamous Chicago massacre in 1929, that will never garner the attention of the other despite the fact that there were more victims.  Varying reports put the number of bodies as 8 or 9, and was speculated that it was a result of an Underworld war between the associates of a jailed armed robber and a suave night club owner.  ( I remember reading the story in the Daily Mirror.)  This slaughter commenced on St Gerard`s Day, 3rd October 1978, in a district of Marseille.  Four masked and armed men walked into the Bar Du Telephone in the area of Canet.  The victims included the owner, Andre Leone and seven customers.  Some of them were minor villains.   But was it a war between two villains for control of the Marseille Underworld?

    Another theory, but not mentioned by the newspaper article, was the massacre was over control of a fake banknote scam worth millions.  Certainly enough to commit mass murder.  And they do not fuck about in Marseille.  One man who managed to avoid the slaughter, had told cops about the racket, and had also survived an assassination attempt just before the murders.  This man was 28 year old Roland Luperini, who believed he was a big time villain.  He was with an associate, Jean Pagano, were ambushed by a gunman, exiting a bar in Cassis.  Luperini managed to evade the gunfire but Pagano was not so lucky.  He was killed outright.  But time was running out for Luperini, and the end came for him and another associate on 27th October 1978.  Luperini and a friend named Bouchon went to a club called Coves Club in the west of Marseille, but never left.  Both were executed with shots, and their bodies loaded on to a stolen fishing boat and taken out to sea.  The boat was found about a mile from shore, with blood in the bilges.  Police searched the club and found a not very good attempt at a clean up.  Some hasty redecorating had also been undertaken.  Was the case ever solved?  It seems not.   Just one of many extremely bloody occurrences in the French Underworld, and in particular, Marseille.

The Murder of Leonard Naylor

It was in April of 2001 that 46 year old Len Naylor was returning to his home in Bracondale close, Istead Rise, near Gravesend in Kent, that a man in dark clothing, stepped forward and shot Mr Naylor 3 or 4 times, as he emerged from his car, on the driveway of his home.  A white Bedford Rascal van drove up quickly and the assassin jumped in and then it sped off.  It was found burned out in an underpass by the A2, about a mile away from the scene of the crime.  Mr Naylor, a former taxi driver, was dead.  The killing was witnessed by members of his family.  Police now had to establish a motive for what was called a "professional hit" and they soon had some background on the victim.

    Len Naylor had been arrested in East London in 1996 for an attempted murder with a machete, but this was dropped as the victim completely refused to co-operate with Police.  Then he served a couple of years in jail for drug offences.  One claim made was that Len Naylor had a habit of not paying for goods received or services provided, and this could have provided another motive.  Len Naylor was the son of Stan Naylor, a man who had received 12 years in the early 70`s for his part in a war between the Tibbs family and the Nicholls family and their associates.  

Peter McNeil - You Reap What You Sow

James Lawson was a man who could not stop drawing attention to himself.  It appeared that he thrived on being flash, making very loud hints about himself, and making sure everybody knew who he was.  On this last point, he was spectacularly right.  On 10th February 1988, he opened the door of his home in Hook, Hampshire, to be met with a hail of bullets.  He was rushed to North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke, where a couple of hours later, he was pronounced dead.  But why should somebody blast this unpleasant but seemingly law abiding car salesman.  The truth was more revealing.  His real name was Peter McNeil, aged 40, a professional criminal who had turned supergrass against some very dangerous people.  This included a Colombian drug cartel and the Detroit Mafia.  A couple of Londoners also went down, due to his testimony.

    McNeil found himself in very deep trouble, after being arrested in Colombia in 1985, setting up a £20,000,000 Cocaine deal.  He decided to turn informant for the American DEA, and arranged a deal with two Mob men from Detroit.  They came over to England, and one of them, David Medin, was arrested en route to Grays in Essex.  He had 37 kgs of Cocaine in his car.  This was enough to put him behind bars for a long time, so he decided to roll over for the authorities.   On trial at the Old Bailey went 59 year old John O`Boyle from Detroit, and two men from London; Lloyd hibbert, 56, & David Raferty, 49.  They both received ten years each, whilst O`Boyle received 18 years.  McNeil was put into the Witness Protection Programme, and relocated to Hook in Hampshire.  His behaviour attracted attention, and there were claims that he openly boasted that he was an informer and frequently flashed large amounts of cash in the locals faces.  But then again, it may not have been a Mob hit.

    McNeil had made a number of enemies in the car trade, was said to have been involved in drugs, and supposedly supplied security for pubs and clubs in the Midlands.  Most dangerous of all, he was an out and out womaniser, who upset many husbands and boyfriends.  All of these are realistic reasons for his murder.  And one point to remember. If it was a Mob guy who shot him, why did he not put one or two in the head?  He would have had the time, and it would of made sure he was dead.  Just a thought.

The Baker Street Robbery

This audacious and meticulously executed robbery of Lloyds Bank on the corner of Baker Street & Marylebone Road in London, in September 1971 resulted in the conviction of four of the gang, and virtually none of the stolen haul, ever recovered.  Many myths have grown around this job, with conspiracy theorists working overtime to justify their delusions, and excuses to counter unfortunate truths.  A man called Robert Rowlands started the downfall of the gang.  Mr Rowlands was a radio ham, at that time, considered by the authorities to be a danger to the safety of the nation, and should not be listening in to broadcasts.  Even from criminals!   He phoned his local Police station after hearing conversations that indicated something illegal was going on.  His local Police were not interested, so he started recording the conversations, obviously through walkie-talkies.  These recordings became crucial during the trial.  He decided to phone Scotland Yard, who definitely took an interest, who dispatched a couple of officers, who after listening for some time, called in their superiors.

    From the conversations, they believed the target was a bank.  But which one?  There were 750 throughout the London borough.  Many officers were sent out to check on premises, bring in bank officials to open up and check.  They actually did visit Lloyds in Baker Street, but the robbers naturally, must have heard the doors being opened, and remained quiet.  They did have a lookout or lookouts on nearby roofs, so they could have alerted the men in the vault.  On the next working day, the manager of the bank received the biggest shock of his life, to see nearly 270 safety deposit boxes opened and empty.  Inside the vault was a hole in the floor.  They had tunnelled their way in.  The tunnel stretched for forty feet, to an empty shop two doors away.  They had spent considerable time digging their way in, and burned a hole in the vault floor with a thermal lance. 

    Checking out the empty shop, found that it had been leased to a man called Ben Wolf, a leather goods dealer in his mid 60`s, from East Dulwich.  Long and intensive surveillance led the Police to Reg Tucker, 37, a company director, Tony Gavin, 38, a photographer from Dalston & Tom Stephens, 35, a car dealer from Islington.  Despite that there had to be more involved, including a woman, whose voice was taped by Mr Rowlands, these four were the only people charged.  All except Wolf, pleaded guilty and received 12 years apiece, Wolf pleaded not guilty but received 8 years, on the account of his age.  The participants were not exactly a roll call of the Underworld elite, which shows that many big and well planned jobs are not the sole preserve of the name villains.

    The biggest load of bollocks about this crime was the allegation that they found compromising photos of Princess Margaret, and so the Government & Security Services orchestrated a cover up.  No pictures have ever surfaced.  A claim was made that the names and sentences of the accused was kept secret.  REALLY?  Somehow, Michael X has been thrown into the mix, now elevated to a "well known underworld figure", yet, this "well known...." was nothing but a small time pimp, pusher and would be Peter Rachman.  The conspiracy theorists claim that he was framed for murder in Jamaica in 1975 on the orders of the Government and executed.  In 1975.  He did murder a British woman, and they still had the death penalty there.  She was an MI6 agent they claim.  Where is the proof?  The files on Michael X are closed until 2054.  More proof of a cover up, they claim.  All these people have to do is look into murder cases, no matter how old and obscure, and you will find many have extended closure on them.  Doing research, I have found obscure cases with closure ranging from 75 years to nearly 100.  I wonder what the conspiracies are, here?  A "D" Notice was issued to the newspapers, yet there is no proof of this.  And in fact, a D Notice is only a request to withhold reporting, as it may give warning to the villains how much the Police have uncovered.  Do you remember the kidnapping of young Lesley Whittle?  The cop in charge, Bob Booth, admitted later, that he should have issued a D Notice on this case, as the media swamped them and even followed them as they tried to bargain with the kidnapper.  Do you remember seeing hordes of reporters and TV crews besiege a phone box where a message was to be left by the kidnapper?  What would the conspiracy have been here?  In reality, a D Notice is not as sinister as it could imply.  To finish off, do you see a stranger being introduced to the villains who pulled the job and them showing the stranger the "photos" of Margaret being poked?  This would also be common knowledge amongst the criminal fraternity, and as for somebody allegedly possessing highly compromising photos, worth a fortune to pornographers on the Continent and the USA, or as claimed a "get out of jail free" card, how long would it be before the big time villains moved in, took the prize and eliminated all of them?  It never happened.  Why?  because the premise of the "Bank Job" film is bollocks.  Through and through.

Colin Pitchfork - The First Man Convicted Through DNA

The single biggest breakthrough in criminal history was when Dr Alec Jeffreys and two other colleagues were able to identify people specifically through blood, saliva & semen.  They got to prove their work in court which led to the conviction of sex offender and killer, Colin Pitchfork.  It also led to the exoneration of another suspect.  Events started on November 21st 1983 when 15 year old Lynda Mann, left her home to visit a friend`s house, in Narborough, Leicestershire.  Tragically, she was found the next day by a footpath known as the Black Pad.  The young girl had been raped and strangled.  Body fluids were found on the body but only gave a blood type.  The case ran cold and the evidence was put in storage.  It was nearly three years before the killer struck again.  The victim was another 15 year old schoolgirl, Dawn Ashworth, who decided to take a shortcut home.  Days later, her body was found in a wooded area near Ten Pound Lane.  She had been beaten, raped and strangled.  The same MO as the earlier murder.  Again, samples were obtained, but now these had been handed to Dr Jeffreys for analysis.

    A suspect emerged named Richard Buckland aged 17.  He seemed to be a little too knowledgeable about the body of Dawn, and was arrested.  After intensive questioning, he admitted killing Dawn but not Lynda.  He was tested by the scientists and conclusively cleared of both murders.  They stated that the same man killed both girls.  Now Police moved for a wide ranging DNA testing of all males in a certain area, but after six months, there was no match made.  But that was to change.  A bakery worker was heard telling people in a pub of how a colleague paid him £200 to take a test in his place.  The man had a previous conviction for indecent exposure, and claimed to be afraid that Police would target him.  This was heard by another customer who reported it to Police.  The bakery worker admitted that he did it for his workmate.  His name was Colin Pitchfork, a married man with two children.  Tests proved that Pitchfork was the killer, to which he admitted guilt, plus another sexual assault, and being a serial flasher since his teens.  He was jailed for a minimum of 28 years, and is up for parole in 2015, which no doubt will have the bleeding hearts screaming that he is now reformed.  Tell that to the families of the victims.

Views From The Soapbox PT2

Today I found out that one of my customers has started a near three and a half year jail sentence for unlawful sex - underage - and assault on the girl.  It comes as a shock that you find somebody you start to know is doing things that will lead him to be segregated.  You cannot help but feel a bit unclean, particularly as he received a 7 year sentence in 1990 for the very same offence. This was long before I came here, but in the first segment of my duty, there has been 5 drug raids, one immigration raid, one suspected dead body, two sex offences, a guy who tried to set fire to his girlfriends` house with her trapped inside, then he intended to commit suicide whilst she burned....  He was locked up in a secure hospital.

    How about money laundering?  You should be able to discern the sarcasm that is to follow.   Crooks need to hide money and show a legitimate source for it if need be.  So why not stash it in your bank account?  Who would dream of looking for it there?  Then transfer it to an overseas account, and bring it back in carrier bags.  Customs are not to know.  But the "launderer" is now a guest of Her Majesty.  I wonder if his acolytes were saying "Oh Don Corleone, what a genius you are!"  Me, I cannot understand financial matters, but to hide money or attempt to launder it, I would have opened business accounts in Dublin, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey & Sark.  Also would have been very careful how much was put into the accounts, as over a certain amount has to be reported to authorities.  The Channel Islands are hot spots for laundering and shoving money offshore.  Dublin is not subject to UK laws, and the IoM has it`s own banking laws - unless that has changed recently.  But if you have to go onto the Continent, then you go no further than Luxembourg or Lichenstein.   They have taken over from Switzerland as the "go to" country for hiding money.  But then again, I am not a criminal genius like "Don Corleone".  The judge said he displayed a degree of professionalism!!!!!!  

    The one subject that does get my back up, and that is drugs.  You get the people who cry for decriminalisation but these fucknuts never want to see the ugly side.  As I have stated before, I challenge anybody to take in my stepson, late 20`s and drugs has always been his world.  If it is so cool, then unless you have a bottomless pit of money or supply of free drugs, you will not have him there very long.  Another academic or somebody has called for legalisation.  Is this fucker going to lecture kids in school on how to inject safely?  Is he going to say "You can go to the official Government pusher for anything, but if you cannot get the money, do what they have always done.  Rob your family, mug the pensioner on pension day, burgle homes, mug people in the street.  We do not care how, just give us the money!"  This sends the message out that drug addiction is ok.  It is not for those thousands of families who have been torn apart by addicted family members.  It is a nightmare.  But as long as some cunt who is up his own arse does not have it, why should he care?