| Year |
Name of victim(s) |
Location of murder |
Notes |
| 1888 |
Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes & Mary Jane Kelly |
Whitechapel, London |
"Jack the Ripper" victims. |
| 1902 |
Rose Harsent |
Peasenhall, Suffolk |
William Gardiner, a married man who was thought to be having an affair with the pregnant victim, was found not guilty. |
| 1908 |
Marion Gilchrist |
Glasgow |
Oscar Slater was wrongfully convicted in 1909 and this conviction was quashed in 1928: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was prominent in securing his release. |
| 1908 |
Caroline Luard |
Ightham, Kent |
Known as the Seal Chart Murder. Mrs Luard was shot in a summerhouse in the middle of a wood near Sevenoaks, Kent. Her husband was accused by some, and he later committed suicide in despair. Later it was suggested that murderer John Dickman, hanged for a shooting on a train in 1910, was the guilty party. |
| 1919 |
Bella Wright |
Little Stretton, near Leicester |
Known as the Green Bicycle Case as the victim was last seen with a man owning one. A green bicycle was found in a canal and its owner Ronald Light traced. He stood trial, but was found not guilty of murder, thanks to the brilliant defence by Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC, who had Light in the witness box admitting to every allegation made against him, except her murder. |
| 1931 |
Julia Wallace |
Liverpool |
Known as The Wallace Case. Julia's husband William Herbert Wallace was convicted, but this was quashed when he successfully appealed. Recent books have named a suspect. |
| 1934 |
Unknown female |
Brighton |
Torso found in a trunk at Brighton Station. This is known as the Brighton Trunk Crime no. 1. See Brighton trunk murders |
| Year |
Name of victim(s) |
Location of murder |
Notes |
| 1970 |
Jackie Ansell-Lamb |
Mobberley, Cheshire |
An 18-year-old hitch-hiker who disappeared on 8 March 1970. Six days later the girl's body was discovered by a farmer in Square Wood, near Mobberley. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.[citation needed] |
| 1970 |
Barbara Mayo |
Ault Hucknall near Bolsover, Derbyshire |
In October 1970 Barbara Mayo set off from her London home to hitchhike north. Six days later the 24 year old's body was found in a wood by the north-bound carriageway in view of Hardwick Hall. The teacher been raped and then strangled. Twenty years later, in 1990, detectives were able to confirm using DNA that Mayo's killer was the same man who raped and strangled 18-year-old Jackie Ansell-Lamb.[citation needed] |
| 1970 |
Susan Long |
Norwich, Norfolk |
On 10th March the Norwich Union worker had been out dancing at the Gala Ballroom in Norwich and caught the last bus home to Aylsham. She arrived at around 11.10pm and began the seven-minute walk to her parents’ home, but never arrived. The headlights of a milk-float picked the shape of her body lying in a pool of rainwater in a lovers’ lane the following morning. [1] |
| 1972 |
Judith Roberts |
Tamworth, Staffordshire |
A 14-year-old girl was battered to death not far from her family home in Tamworth. A young soldier stationed at Whittington Barracks confessed to the murder and served 25 years in jail. However, he later claimed that his confession was a result of psychological problems he was experiencing at the time; there being no other evidence against him, his conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal. The real killer remains unknown.[citation needed] |
| 1973 |
Wendy Sewell |
Bakewell, Derbyshire |
A 32-year-old legal secretary was savagely beaten in a churchyard, and later died of her wounds. The church groundskeeper Stephen Downing was convicted and served 27 years for the murder, but the verdict was eventually overturned on appeal. The case was re-investigated by police, but no further arrests were made.[citation needed] |
| 1974 |
Unidentified headless woman |
Cockley Cley, Norfolk |
Concealed in weeds off the Cockley Cley road, near Swaffham, the badly-decomposed and headless body of a young woman was found by a farm worker. She was wearing a pink, frilled Marks & Spencer nightdress, but a better clue was the brown plastic sheet in which she was wrapped, bearing the letters NCR (National Cash Register). Only six such sheets were made by a Scottish company between 1962 and 1968, but police never identified the woman, let alone her killer. Today, there is no grave or headstone, just an unmarked spot in a Swaffham churchyard. [2] |
| 1978 |
Genette Tate |
Aylesbeare, Devon, England |
13-year-old Genette Tate went missing at 3.35pm BST on August 19, 1978 whilst delivering newspapers. Her bicycle and sack containing the newspapers were found lying in the middle of the road, on a quiet country lane but her body has never been found and her abductor has never been brought to justice. |
| 1978 |
Carl Bridgewater |
Yew Tree Farm, Prestwood, Staffordshire |
The Bridgewater Four were originally convicted in 1979, but they were acquitted in 1997. A possible suspect is Hubert Spencer, who was convicted of a shooting murder at a nearby farm a month later.[citation needed] |
| Year |
Name of victim(s) |
Location of murder |
Notes |
| 1991 |
Roland Adams |
London |
15-year-old Roland, was set upon by a gang of up to fifteen white youths (believed to be supporters of the National Front/BNP), during which he was fatally stabbed in the neck. His family later had to move after Richard Adams (his father) started getting death threats and obscene phone calls up to ten times a night.[citation needed] |
| 1991 |
Penny Bell |
Ruislip, London |
Body found in a car in Gurnell Grove Leisure Centre car park. The victim was a 43-year-old businesswoman and mother of two, who was stabbed 50 times as she sat behind the wheel of her car.[citation needed] |
| 1992 |
Rachel Nickell |
Wimbledon Common, London |
Nickell, an ex-model, was stabbed 49 times while walking on Wimbledon Common with her young son. A local man, Colin Stagg, was brought to trial for the murder, but the case was quickly thrown out of court. In November 2007 Robert Napper, a convicted killer in Broadmoor Secure Mental Hospital was charged with the murder, based on new DNA evidence. However, it is uncertain whether Napper is mentally fit to stand trial. |
| 1992 |
Natalie Pearman |
Norwich, Norfolk |
16 year-old Natalie was strangled and her body dumped in woodland at Ringland Hills, on the edge of Norwich. At around 3.45am on November 20, a lorry driver taking a short cut through Ringland Hills spotted Natalie’s body in a layby. [3] |
| 1993 |
Claire Tiltman |
Greenhithe, Dartford, Kent |
16 year old Claire took a short cut down an alleyway on her way to meet a friend. Just 100 steps from the safety of a busy main road she was stabbed her 40 times in an apparently random attack.[citation needed] |
| 1993 |
Jean Bradley |
Acton, London |
Stabbed to death in Carbery Avenue. Victim was a 47-year-old businesswoman. A man was charged, but due to a lack of evidence the case was dropped.[citation needed] |
| 1993 |
Johanna Young |
Watton, Norfolk |
On 23rd December 14-year-old Johanna left her home in Merton Road, Watton, at around 7.30pm and was seen outside her local fish and chip shop half an hour later. The alarm was raised the following morning when she failed to turn up for her paper round and, on Boxing Day, her body was found in a freezing pond near her home and clothes and shoes discarded nearby. [4] |
| 1993 |
Karen Hales |
Ipswich, Suffolk |
Young mother Karen Hales was murdered in her own home in front of her young daughter. Karen, aged 21, was stabbed and her body set on fire during a vicious attack at her home in Lavenham Road, Ipswich, on Sunday November 21, 1993. [5] |
| 1993 |
Doris Shelley |
Martlesham, Suffolk |
Pensioner Doris Shelley died after she was attacked in her own home at Martlesham, near Woodbridge on February 11, 1993.[6] |
| 1993 |
Harry and Megan Tooze |
Llanharry, South Wales |
Shot at point blank range in their home at Ty Ar y Waun Farm. Jonathan Jones, the boyfriend of their daughter Cheryl was convicted of their murder, but the verdict was quickly overturned on appeal. Since then South Wales Police have made several attempts to solve the murder, but no further arrests have been made.[citation needed] |
| 1993 |
Stephen Lawrence |
Eltham, London |
Lawrence, an 18-year-old son of Jamaican parents, was attacked and stabbed to death by a gang of white youths (who screamed "What? What! Nigger!" as they accosted him). Numerous witnesses identified five individuals as the attackers; but failings (and possibly corruption) on the part of investigating officers have thwarted all attempts to prosecute them. In contrast back in February 1991 15-year-old Roland Adams who had be known by Stephen was fatally stabbed in the neck at the hands of youth supporters of the National Front/BNP. His case is also yet to be solved. |
| 1994 |
Lindsay Jo Rimer |
Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire |
Teenager, Lindsay Jo Rimer, lived with her parents at Cambridge Street, Hebden Bridge. She was a pupil at Calder High School. At around 10pm on 7 November 1994 she left home to visit the local Spar Supermarket in Crown Street, Hebden Bridge, to buy cornflakes. On the way to the shop she visited the Trades Club in Holme Street. According to CCTV footage in the supermarket Lindsay paid for the cornflakes at 10.22pm. Five months later on 12 April 1995, her body was recovered from the Rochdale Canal, approximately one mile upstream from Hebden Bridge town centre.[citation needed] |
| 1994 |
Tracey Mertens |
Eaton, Macclesfield, Cheshire |
Aged 31, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, died 24 hours after being left on the steps of a church by her killers, who abducted her when she returned to pick up belongings from her former home in Nechells, Birmingham. She suffered horrific burns and was found by a man who heard her cries as he walked past the churchyard on December 23, 1994. It was a bitterly cold evening but her clothes were still smouldering. A petrol can was found nearby. Mertens was taken to hospital but died in the early hours of Christmas Eve. |
| 1995 |
Janet Brown |
Hall Farm, Spriggs Holly Lane, between Radnage and Chinnor, Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border |
Aged 51, a mother of three who worked as a nurse in Oxford, was found gagged and handcuffed at her home.[citation needed] |
| 1996 |
David Spencer & Patrick Warren |
Chelmsley Wood, West Midlands |
Thirteen-year-old David Spencer and 11-year-old Patrick Warren went missing on Boxing Day 1996 after going out to play on Warren's new bike. In the afternoon, the boys went ice skating with a group of friends on Meriden Lake. At 3.40pm, a policeman warned them off. They went to a friend's house and eventually returned to Spencer's house at 11.30pm, but didn't stay long. They said they were going to stay at Warren's brother's flat, but they never arrived. They were last seen at 12.30am scrounging for biscuits in a petrol station. The bike was found behind the petrol station. They were reported missing at 4am. No bodies have ever been found.[citation needed] |
| 1996 |
Richard Watson |
East Grinstead, Sussex |
On the evening of December 10, business tychoon Richard Watson was shot dead by an unknown gunman as he arrived home. Charges were brought against the victim's wife and stepdaughter, but these were eventually dropped. (Sussex Police later apologised to the two women and acknowledged their total innocence.) Another suspect has since been identified, but no charges have yet been brought.[citation needed] |
| 1997 |
Billie-Jo Jenkins |
Hastings, East Sussex |
Foster father Sion Jenkins was originally convicted of murder in 1998. This conviction was quashed in 2004 and a retrial was ordered. The first retrial in 2005 and a second retrial in 2006 both ended when the juries were unable to reach a verdict. Jenkins was formally acquitted. |
| 1997 |
Kate Bushell |
Exeter, Devon |
Schoolgirl Kate Bushell was murdered as she walked a neighbour's dog a short distance from her home in Exwick, on the outskirts of Exeter. Bushell, aged 14, set off from her home in Burrator Drive, at 4.30pm on 15 November 1997. When she failed to come home, her parents called the police. A search located her body in a field next to Exwick Lane at 7.35pm that evening. She had been brutally murdered.[citation needed] |
| 1998 |
Julia Webb |
Sandiway near Northwich, Cheshire |
Housewife Julia Webb, 52, was battered with a blunt instrument while walking her dog near her home in Sandiway on 22 July 1998.[citation needed] |
| 1998 |
Lyn Bryant |
Truro, Cornwall |
Lyn Bryant was murdered as she was walking her dog along a country lane at Ruan High Lanes near Truro in Cornwall on 20 October 1998. Her body was found at 2.40pm. She had been stabbed several times.[citation needed] |
| 1999 |
Vicky Hall |
Trimley St Mary, `Suffolk |
Seventeen-year-old Victoria (Vicky) Hall went missing at about 2.30am on Sunday, September 19, 1999, as she walked towards her home in Faulkeners Way, Trimley St Mary. Vicky’s body was found, about 25 miles away, in a stream near Creeting St Peter (near Stowmarket) at 7.30pm on Friday, September 24, 1999. [7] |
| Year |
Name of victim(s) |
Location of murder |
Notes |
| 2001 |
unknown boy |
River Thames |
Torso in the Thames victim |
| 2002 |
Amanda Dowler |
Walton-on-Thames, Surrey |
Amanda "Milly" Dowler, was 13 years old when she was abducted from Walton-on-Thames on 21 March 2002. At 4.08pm a school friend waiting for a bus saw her walking along Station Avenue towards her home. This was the last confirmed sighting of her alive. Her body was discovered on 18 September 2002 by a couple picking mushrooms in Yateley Heath Woods, near Fleet in Hampshire. |
| 2002 |
Michelle Bettles |
Norwich, Norfolk |
Mother of three small children, none of whom were in her care, Michelle was last seen alive in the Queens Road area of Norwich in March 2002. Her fully-clothed body was founded in woodland off Podmore Lane, Scarning, three days later. [8] |
| 2003 |
Shafilea Ahmed |
Warrington, Cheshire |
Ahmed disappeared on September 11, 2003 and had been missing for a week before her teachers informed the police; subsequently there was a major campaign to urge people who had any information to come forward. Actress Shobna Gulati was persuaded to front the media campaign, and read some of her poems on television. In February 2004, Ahmed's corpse was found in the River Kent near Sedgwick, in proximity to Kendal in the Lake District (70 miles away from Warrington). Police believed that members of her family knew something about the case but were withholding evidence, her parents were arrested and later released and 8 of her extended family are currently awaiting trial for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice[9] in relation to the case, in addition there is still confusion regarding exact events of the trip she made to Pakistan regarding an arranged marriage. |
| 2004 |
Jenny Abbot |
Eastbourne, East Sussex |
Jenny Abbot was 15 years old; she was last seen alive getting into a car just 100 yards from her house. Wearing cropped blue tracksuit bottoms, trainers and a baggy white top. She was on her way home from a gym club when she got into a blue transit van, with the number plate missing. Her body was discovered on 6 June 2004, 30 miles away left in a ditch. her body was battered and her hands tied behind her back. 4 days later a blue transit van that was believed to be the same van that abducted Jenny was spotted by CCTV in Birmingham.[citation needed] |
| 2004 |
Alistair Wilson |
Nairn, Inverness |
Alistair Wilson, 30, was shot dead on the doorstep of his home in Nairn near Inverness in November 2004. He was shot in the head at his home in Crescent Road one Sunday evening after his wife opened their door to the killer. Police have stated there appears absolutely no motive for the murder.[citation needed] |
| March 2006 |
Carlton Alveranga and Richard Austin |
Salford |
The pair had been hired as hitmen to murder David Totton and entered the Brass Handles public house to carry out their contract. Though Totton was shot, he survived. Further, his assailants were disarmed and shot dead by persons unknown within the pub. Alveranga and Austin's accomplices were convicted of murder in 2007, the person who shot them dead has, as of 2007, not been identified.[10], [11]. |
| 2006 |
Jesse James |
Moss Side, Manchester |
Jesse was murdered in a drive by shooting in October 2006. It is believed his murder was a case of mistaken identity. Police have been worried about the lack of witnesses coming forward, possibly due to fear of the repercussions.[citation needed] |
