The anonymous phone call to Hampstead, London, police was timed at 2.45 a.m. There is a dead man hanging from a tree on Hampstead Heath, the caller said, and then rang off. Hampstead Heath being a rather large area, it wasnt until more than five hours later on Friday, December 13th, 1991, that a woman walking her dog saw the body hanging from a tree in West Heath Road.
Giebre Luul Kassa, an Ethiopian refugee, had been bound with white washing-line rope and blindfolded with a red silk tie. He was apparently killed close to where his body was found and then hanged. His briefcase was found nearby, opened and with its contents scattered.
The area was known at night-time as a meeting point for homosexuals, prostitutes and criminals. But in this case homosexual activity was ruled out. One theory was that this was a case of a mugging that had gone wrong, another was that Kassa was on Hampstead Heath about 10 p.m. waiting for someone.
The previous day he had told his brother that he had started working as chauffeur to a wealthy Arab family. He made several calls to a garage where he said his employers Mercedes was being repaired, but subsequently the police could find no trace of the wealthy Arab family or the garage.