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12/06/93 - Four apparently motiveless
and savage stabbings of london women baffle police
The Guardian
THE freeing of the Taylor sisters raises the immediate question:
who did kill Alison Shaughnessy? One theory that was to have
been a possible ground for appeal concerned a homeless man
who had been sleeping rough in the Strand, where Alison worked,
and squatting in Battersea, where she lived.
Two days after the murder, a volunteer social worker had contacted
the police to say that the man had claimed to have stabbed
a woman. He was known as an unstable character who carried
a knife. But police say that the report was checked at the
time and the man eliminated from the inquiry.
The social worker to whom the man allegedly made his semiconfession
now says that he believes the issue is a red herring. This
week he rang the Guardian to say he hoped he had "not
raised any false hopes" and that there was no possibility
of the man being the murderer.
The murder is one of four unsolved cases where a woman has
been stabbed to death in south or west London for no apparent
reason. On June 6, 1991, Penny Bell, aged 43, was stabbed
to death in her car in west London.
The case received maximum
publicity but two years later no one has been arrested for
the crime. On July 15 last year, Rachel Nickell, aged 23,
was stabbed to death on Wimbledon Common while out walking
with her two-year-old son.
A man was seen washing his hands in a nearby stream. Several
men have been held for questioning but there have been no
charges. On March 25 this year, Jean Bradley, aged 42, a businesswoman,
was stabbed to death as she opened her car door in Acton,
west London.
Again a large investigation was launched but there has been
no arrest. Police say that although there are similarities
between the killings, there are no direct links. |
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