Britain's Unsolved Murders


Book Description

This true crime history spans a century of murder, exploring 13 of the UK’s most notorious cold cases from the Victorian Era to the 1950s. This book examines some of the most horrifying, mystifying, and fascinating murder cases in British history. Expertly researched by true crime author Kevin Turton, these stories have endured and confounded both police and law courts alike. With a chapter devoted to each story, Turton examines the circumstances surrounding the crime, the people caught up in the investigation, and the impact it had on their lives. Though they span a century—from 1857 to 1957—these murders share one chilling fact in common: despite various accusations, arrests, and trials, no one has ever been proven guilty. The volume begins with notorious cases from the Victorian Era, such as the questionable trial of Scotland’s accused murderess Madeleine Smith, and the failed investigation into the murder of John Gill—possibly by Jack the Ripper. It then moves into the 20th century with the murders of Caroline Luard, Florence Nightingale Shore, and others. In each case, Turton sifts the facts and poses the questions that mattered at the time of each murder.




Unsolved Murders


Book Description

Ever wondered who murdered JonBenét Ramsey, or who terrorized San Francisco as the Zodiac Killer? Puzzled over the notorious Black Dahlia murder, or the shootings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls? This true crime anthology collects together some of the most intriguing unsolved murders in the world-cases that have baffled investigators for decade after decade. Sorting the facts from the speculation, Unsolved Murders: True Crime Cases Uncovered concisely explores each case, detailing essential evidence, profiles of suspects, and the twists and turns of police investigations. From domestic tragedies to sadistic serial killers, this book will have you returning to these cases again and again. Examine the evidence and decide for yourself: Who could have done it?




Ten Most Wanted


Book Description

Looks at 10 unsolved murder cases in the 21st century.




Britain's Forgotten Serial Killer


Book Description

This true crime biography reveals the full story of a remorseless serial killer once proclaimed the most dangerous man in Britain—and where he is now. For a few days in the winter of 1975, it looked as though police had unmasked a serial killer whose reign of terror was unprecedented in British crime history. Convicted of three killings, suspected of another eight, Patrick Mackay was dubbed the Monster of Belgravia, the Devil’s Disciple, and simply The Psychopath. The Nazi-obsessed alcoholic had stalked the upmarket streets of West London hunting for victims, and gruesomely murdered a priest he had once befriended in Kent. Yet many of his suspected murders remain unsolved to this day. Not long after his conviction, the public outrage at his crimes faded. Now, after more than forty years behind bars, Mackay has been allowed to change his name and transfer to an open prison—steps that put him closer to freedom. For the first time, Britain’s Forgotten Serial Killer reveals the full, untold story of Patrick Mackay and the many still-unsolved murders linked to his case.Serial killer Patrick Mackay was dubbed the most dangerous man in Britain when he appeared in court in 1975 charged with three killings, including the axe murder of a priest. The Nazi-obsessed alcoholic had stalked the upmarket streets of West London hunting for victims and was suspected of at least eight further murders. Now, after more than 40 years behind bars, where he has shunned publicity, Mackay has been allowed to change his name and win the right to live in an open prison - bringing him one step closer to freedom. For the first time, Britain’s Forgotten Serial Killer reveals the full, untold story of Patrick Mackay and the many still-unsolved murders linked to his case.




Unsolved Murders In and Around Derbyshire


Book Description

There is no such thing as the perfect crime. Yet within these pages are thirteen twentieth-century murders whose perpetrators have - so far - escaped justice. Some may still be alive, cold cases awaiting new forensic leads but others have taken their chilling secrets to the grave.Read about the strange theatrical vagrant found brutally murdered in a brick works. Also about the unfortunate girl strangled to death in a derelict building at Christmas; a taxi driver killed by his passenger on a lonely road; a police officers girl friend who was sexually assaulted and murdered on moorland; the dreadful killing of a servant girl; two men shot dead on a quiet highway; the discovery of mysterious and suspicious skeletal remains; and, not least, the callous murderers who allowed innocent men to be stand trial. Famous modern cases are also explored, based on new research. The Barbara Mayo murder is still in the memory of many Derbyshire people as is the Stephen Downing miscarriage of justice. A compelling read for anyone interested in true crime.




The Wallace Case


Book Description

'It is a formidable, indeed a damning indictment and Wilkes presents the result of his detective work with journalistic panache' P. D. JAMES, Times Literary Supplement 'Roger Wilkes's seminal book lays out the facts . . . one of the great unsolved murders of the century' CRAIG TAYLOR, Guardian 'I call it the impossible murder because Wallace couldn't have done it. And neither could anyone else. The Wallace case is unbeatable, it will always be unbeatable' RAYMOND CHANDLER Who really killed Julia Wallace? The final verdict. Ever since that terrible night in January 1931, when the body of Julia Wallace was found in her Liverpool home, her head crushed by violent blows, the identity of her killer has remained a mystery. Her husband, William, was accused, tried, convicted and sentenced to hang for murder, but he was then acquitted in a sensational appeal court judgement. Yet the police refused to reopen their investigation. So who did kill Julia? When Roger Wilkes started researching a dramatised radio documentary for Liverpool's Radio City, he uncovered new evidence which suggested a disturbing story - a crucial witness ignored by the police, even a suggestion of a deliberate cover-up. Finally, he provides compelling evidence as to the identify of the real killer.




Gone Fishing


Book Description

Angus Robertson Sinclair, one of the worst killers the UK has ever seen, was convicted of four murders. His first took place in his home city of Glasgow in 1961, when he raped and murdered his seven-year-old neighbour Catherine Reehill when he was just sixteen. But after spending a mere six years in prison, he was released in his early twenties to kill again. Teenagers Helen Scott and Christine Eadie were last seen at the World's End pub on Edinburgh's Royal Mile in October 1977. The next morning both were found murdered; not together, but a few miles apart on the East Lothian coast. They had both been raped before they were killed. The largest investigation in Scottish police history didn't find their killer. Several years later, in 1982, Sinclair was jailed for life after he was charged with and admitted eleven charges of rape and indecent assault. However, twenty years after this, as Sinclair was beginning to be hopeful about being released on parole, a cold case review showed that Sinclair's DNA had been found on the body of 17-year-old Mary Gallagher, a 1978 Glasgow murder that had been previously unsolved. These discoveries lead detectives to examine the link between Sinclair and several other unsolved cases. Scientific advances put Sinclair and his brother-in law Gordon Hamilton who died in 1996 firmly in the frame for the World's End pub murders of Helen Scott and Christine Eadie. In 2007 Sinclair stood trial for these murders, but a lack of evidence saw the case collapse. But following the change in Scotland's double jeopardy law, Sinclair again faced trial for the World's End murders in 2014, and this time was found guilty. The judge said the words 'evil' and 'monster' were not enough to describe Sinclair, as he sentenced him to a minimum of 37 years in prison for the murders of the two teenagers. This is the longest sentence issued to anyone in a Scottish court, and ensured that Sinclair would die in jail. But there were more victims. Many more. Sinclair was convicted of four murders, but we believe he murdered at least twelve people, maybe fourteen. And in this book, we tell their stories.




Yorkshire Ripper - The Secret Murders


Book Description

In 1981, Peter Sutcliffe, the 'Yorkshire Ripper', was convicted of thirteen murders and seven attempted murders. All his proven victims were women: most were prostitutes.Astonishingly, however, this is not the whole truth. There is a still-secret story of how Sutcliffe's terrible reign of terror claimed at least twenty-two more lives and left five other victims with terrible injuries. These crimes - attacks on men as well as women - took place all over England, not just in his known killing fields of Yorkshire and Lancashire.Police and prosecution authorities have long known that Sutcliffe's reign of terror was far longer and far more widespread than the public has been led to believe. But the evidence has been locked away in the files and archives, ensuring that these murders and attempted murders remain unsolved today.As a result, the families of at least twenty-two murdered women have been cheated of their right to know how and why their loved ones died: the pain of living with that may diminish over time, but it never fades away completely. Five other victims survived his attacks: their plight, too, has never been officially acknowledged.Worse still, police blunders and subsequent suppression of evidence ensured that three entirely innocent men were imprisoned for murders committed by the Yorkshire Ripper. They each lost the best parts of their adult lives, locked up and forgotten in stinking cells for more than two decades.This book, by a former police Intelligence Officer, is the story not just of those long-cold killings, of the forgotten families and of three terrible miscarriages of justice. It also uncovers Peter Sutcliffe's real motive for murder - and reveals how he manipulated police, prosecutors and psychiatrists to ensure that he serves his sentence in the comfort of a psychiatric hospital rather than a prison cell.




Rivals of the Ripper


Book Description

When discussing unsolved murders of women in late Victorian London, most people think of the depredations of Jack the Ripper, the Whitechapel Murderer, whose sanguineous exploits have spawned the creation of a small library of books. But Jack the Ripper was just one of a string of phantom murderers whose unsolved slayings outraged late Victorian Britain. The mysterious Great Coram Street, Burton Crescent and Euston Square murders were talked about with bated breath, and the northern part of Bloomsbury got the unflattering nickname of the 'murder neighbourhood' for its profusion of unsolved mysteries. Marvel at the convoluted Kingswood Mystery, littered with fake names and mistaken identities; be puzzled by the blackmail and secret marriage in the Cannon Street Murder; and shudder at the vicious yet silent killing in St Giles that took place in a crowded house in the dead of night. This book is the first to resurrect these unsolved Victorian murder mysteries, and to highlight the ghoulish handiwork of the Rivals of the Ripper: the spectral killers of gas-lit London.




Victorian Murders


Book Description

This book features fifty-six Victorian murder cases from the files of the Illustrated Police News.