Gone But Not Forgotten

Albert Porter

A man in Belfast Prison told police that the axeman who killed Albert Porter, 54, in Milton Street, Burnley, Lancashire, on Monday, February 18th, 1963, was the dead man’s son-in-law, Adrian Ayres. Quite why was difficult to say, since the judge at the Lancaster Assizes trial of the unfortunate Mr. Ayres had to tell the

Norman Rickard

According to neighbours, a “handsome” young man, about six feet tall and in his early twenties, was seen in the company of Norman Rickard entering Mr. Rickard’s Paddington, west London flat on February 10th, 1962. A week later Mr. Rickard was found dead in a cupboard in the flat. He was naked, with his hands

Eliza Worton

Two boys told the police that they knew they had seen a lorry driver near a murder scene because they had glimpsed “the shiny peak” of his cap. The lorry driver, William Oakley, was defended by the celebrated Norman Birkett QC when he was accused of murdering Eliza Worton, afterwards throwing her body into a

Vera Sidney

“Natural causes,” the doctor wrote on 40-year-old Vera Sidney’s death certificate on Friday, February 15th, 1929. Vera, who lived in Croydon, Surrey, had been ill for only a few days. It was the second family tragedy in less than a year – her brother-in-law, Edmund Duff, 59, had died only 10 months earlier. He also

Audrey Stewart

While her husband was serving abroad in the RAF middle-aged blonde Audrey Stewart supplemented her married woman’s service allowance by going on the game in London’s Piccadilly area. She had a 30-shillings-a-week room in a big boarding-house off Buckingham Palace Road, which came as near to being a brothel as was possible without breaking the

James Kelly

He may have been a soldier, he was aged about 30, he was dressed in a light trench coat and he certainly had a gun. The night of February 11th, 1920, he robbed Acton railway station’s ticket office, and as he was attempting to break open the safe he was surprised by a night watchman

Mary Judge

In Emil Zola’s novel La b?te humaine trainspotters see a murder being committed on a train as it flashes by. In Leeds, Yorkshire, on Thursday, February 22nd, 1968, the reverse happened – passengers on the 8.37 p.m. from Hull saw a woman being murdered on waste land as the train rattled past the parish church

Dora Lloyd

Life for a London prostitute has always been fraught with risks. Ten years before Peggy Richards was killed at least a dozen other prostitutes were murdered. At that time Dora Lloyd was working the West End streets – although she had convinced her landlady that she was an actress. In the early morning of Sunday,

Peggy Richards

The year was 1942. It was Friday, February 20th and London’s Waterloo Bridge was still unfinished. Suddenly, from deep within the blackout and the river mist shrouding the bridge, came the sounds of a row between two people. A shopkeeper investigated and, finding a Canadian soldier the worse for drink on the bridge, escorted him

Eileen Cook

The war was almost over, and the abandoned air raid shelters had fallen into disrepair. In early 1945, however, prostitutes found them useful, and it was in such a shelter in Bethnal Green Road, London, that police discovered on Monday, February 5th, the body of Eileen Cook, 44, known locally as Irish Molly. She had

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