| The Dream Solution
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29/01/02 - SO, DID THEY DO IT?
Real Issue 2/2002
Last year, Scotland Yard announced that the case was being
reviewed. Advances in DNA techniques mean that a drop of
blood found on one of Michelle's jackets too small to be
tested 10 years ago can be analysed. A suspected murder
weapon will also be tested, but no further details have
been released.
YES
WEAK ALIBI
The sisters said they were shopping. But they weren't caught
on CCTV and police could find no receipts.
PROSECUTION WITNESSES
Dr Michael Unsworth-White reported seeing two young girls
hurrying out of 41 Vardens Road, Battersea, at around 5.45pm.
In his second and third police interviews, he claimed both
were white and one had fair hair tied in a ponytail an accurate
description of Lisa. The girls were carrying what appeared
to be a plastic laundry bag.
Carol Healy, a nurse at the clinic, saw Michelle drive out
of the car park just after 4pm, with a passenger fitting
Lisa's description. She was certain of the time as she was
coming off duty, so Michelle couldn't have been in Bromley.
Valerie McDonald, a clinic employee, said she saw Michelle
and Lisa return there at 6pm. She was sure of the time as
she was finishing her shift.
Jeanette Tapp originally told police she arrived at the
clinic at 5pm and saw the Taylors shortly afterwards. She
later claimed she returned no earlier than 7.15pm, alleging
that Michelle had pressurised her into giving a false alibi.
Jeanette claimed the Taylors asked to leave a laundry bag
in her room. She let them and they later collected it.
FORENSIC
By touching Alisons body and washing her hands, Michelle
destroyed any potential forensic evidence as her fingerprints
were now all over the scene. She was covered in Alisons
blood and clothing fibres.
POSSIBLE WEAPON
In August 1991, the sisters' father, Derek Taylor, was fined
£100 for possessing a sharpened metal ruler found
in the handle of his cleaning mop. He'd kept it as an 'anti-mugger'
device. Perhaps it was the murder weapon?
TIMING
A pathologist claimed the attack at 5.35pm could have taken
just two to three minutes. Police estimated the drive from
Vardens Road to the clinic took 11 minutes, 20 seconds:
ample time to return by 6pm.
NO
UNRELIABLE PROSECUTION WITNESSES
Key witnesses changed their stories by the time of the trial:
Dr Unsworth-White originally told police that the two women
were walking and that one of them might have been black.
After changing his story, he applied for a £25,000
reward offered by Alisons employer, Barclays.
Jeanette Tapp, who told the court she had not seen the sisters
on the afternoon of the murder, originally made three detailed
statements to police insisting they were with her all the
time. She changed her story only after police threatened
to charge her with conspiracy to murder.
DEFENCE WITNESSES
A neighbour remembered events of that evening and suggested
that Alison had not arrived home until after 6pm. Christina
Wright, 74, said she saw Alison walk past her window between
6pm and 6.30pm. 'I was sure of the time because I watched
the BBC1 six o'clock news, which was not yet over.'
LACK OF FORENSIC
There was no direct evidence to link the sisters to the
murder, no blood on their clothes, no skin beneath the victim's
nails, no weapon or eyewitnesses.
Home Office pathologist Dr Bill Hunt, who was hired after
the trial to study Alisons wounds, concluded that her killer
had stood behind her with one hand over her mouth and stabbed
down into her chest with the other. It was clear from the
wounds, he said, that the killer was taller than her. The
sisters were both an inch shorter at 5ft 2in. He concluded
the killer was probably a man, around 5ft 10in.
TIMING
There was doubt about the time of death, as there was evidence
to suggest it was after 6pm, which would have ruled the
Taylor sisters out. And how could the sisters have killed
Alison, cleaned themselves and their clothes, and driven
back to the clinic within the 23 minutes suggested by the
police? |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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