Medium Format London Crime Beat

g0011-ac authority file goes here; pub blast guy

2008-05-06T17:39:00.001-07:00

g0020-ac authority file goes here; David Watt sentenced to life

2008-05-06T16:59:00.001-07:00

g0009-ac authority file goes here; Mr. Vic Feather

2008-05-06T16:37:00.001-07:00

g0008-ac authority file goes here; Mr. Zorba in airport row

2008-05-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

g0007-ac authority file goes here; valli kemp, horror actress

2008-05-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

g0006-ac authority file goes here; actor kennith more

2008-05-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

g0005-ac authority file goes here; centre squatters

2008-05-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

g0010 Tina Wilson authority file goes here

2008-05-05T21:25:00.001-07:00

R.A.F. war college w/Pakistani and Indian generals authority files goe here

2008-05-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

Guildeford bomb girls authority file goes here

2008-05-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

Caroline Coon social worker authority file goes here

2008-05-04T13:39:00.001-07:00

Rosemary Lewis; girlfriend of Howard Marks authority file goes here

2008-05-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

David Watt being sentenced authority file goes here

2008-05-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

g0011-ac Mr. William Pinkerton authority file

2008-04-24T16:40:00.001-07:00

The author credit on the spine of the book clutched by Mr. Pinkerton in this photo is clearly visible as "Robert Roark." For more about this author, here is the link to Wikipedia's entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ruark

g0012--Billy Torrance; "Carlieth Farm Murders" murder victim authority file

2008-04-20T14:38:00.001-07:00

The following inquiry to a geneaology forum could be found at the link below as of 4/28/08:

"Would you know anything about the "Carleith Farm Murder" which happened in Clydesbank, Billy Torrance was murdered by his wife and her boyfriend David Watt. There apparently was a trial, the wife was not found guilty, David Watt was found guilty. This happened in the 1970-1972 range. William Torrance (known as Billy) was the son of Alexander Torrance,(1905) and the Grandson of William Forsyth Torrance and his wife Margaret Miller McLaren. I have scoured the internet and found only pictures, one of the Farm where the tragedy happened, and a couple of people who testified.
Just wondering if anyone could guide me to where I can find this story.
Thank you,
Elaine"

http://genforum.genealogy.com/torrence/messages/1143.html

g0013--mrs margaret smith goe here: home-help domestic

2008-04-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

g0001ac MASSIVE SECURITY OPERATION AS TEN FACE BOMB CHARGES

2008-04-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

14th March 1973
One of the biggest security operation sever known in Britain was mounted on Tuesday (13-3-73), when ten people appeared in court in connection with the London bomb blasts. When the accused arrived at London’s Bow Street Court, they had an escort of fifty-one policemen. Another fifty surrounded the court as inside, the then – all from Northern Ireland, and including three girls – were charged with conspiring to cause explosions. Armed detectives mingled with onlookers in the street. Everyone entering the building was searched by police.

PICTURED: Police surround Bow Street Court for the hearing, just in case some more Irish people decide to plant some more freaking bombs.

g0003-ac MURDERED MAN CLAIMED POLICE MADE HIM SPY

2008-04-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

g0014ac--Injured Cypriot Demonstrator with Bobbie

2008-04-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Real Life Day of the Jackal: The terroist known as Carlos, AKA jackal

2008-02-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

11th July 1975
Scotland Yard revealed on Thursday night (10-7-75) that they are hunting for a partner of the jackal … and that both men are believed to be still in London. The second man is said to be "equally as dangerous" as the international assassin who is being hunted by police in twelve countries. Commander Roy Habershon, who is leading the hunt for the man known as The Jackal – 25 year-old Venezualen Ilich Ramirez Sanchez – said the men had shared flats in London. Renamed "Jackal No. 2" as 45 year-old Antonio Bouvier from Qito, Ecuador. From their London bases the pair had planned assassination bids abroad for an international terrorist organization. Bouvier, who was identified from a passport found by detectives in a raid on a London flat, could be a "controller" for the movement. Meanwhile, a young London secretary has told Scotland Yard how she gave the Jackal the brush-off. The girl, Lynn Lavander, 21, revealed that the international assassin was an amorous tutor in a London secretarial college. She told detectives that Sanchez – alias "Carlos" taught her Spanish for a year from July 1972. "He wasn’t much of a teacher and was always trying to flirt with me and another of the girls. Neither of us liked him. In fact we thought he was awful, but he wouldn’t be put off. Once he offered me extra tuition at his flat. I refused because there was no doubt that Spanish lessons were the last thing on his mind."

PICTURED: Passport photo of Antonio Bouvier … AKA: "JACKAL # 2".

RHODESIA HOUSE PROTEST—roof sitting student comes down from her roost

2008-01-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

28th January 1969
Student Anne Warren clambered back to earth on Monday night (27-1-69) after keeping the Union Jack flying over Rhodesia House in London for more than seven hours. She was met with a rebuke from police – and a hug from her 25-year-old friend, Ian Middlehurst, who recently spent 17 hours on the same flagpole with a friend making a similar protest against Ian Smith’s illegal regime. Miss Warren, a 22-year-old architecture student at University College, London, refused an offer of a drink after she was helped to safety by a Rhodesia House official. But she used a cloakroom in the building to wash and put on make-up. Then she left and said: "I’d do the same climb again if I thought it would do any good." Miss Warren shinned up the pole at 9.50 a.m. she secured herself to the Union Jack. And she stayed there, despite pleas from police and firemen, until 5 pm.

PICTURED: Anne Warren, back on the ground.

True Crime Icon: Mr. Michael Caine

2008-01-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

You may know him as Michael Caine (aka "Alfie," low-profile sleuth "Harry Palmer," and London gangster "Carter") but his real name is Maurice Micklewhite.

Caine was born in 1933 to a childhood of poverty. His father worked as a fishmonger at Billingsgate Fish Market, a career that young Maurice was vehemently opposed to following himself. His mother worked as a char and later as a general cleaner to give her beloved sons, Michael and Stanley, everything she could.

Not long before his mother's death, Sir Michael found out that he had an older brother, David. His mother had given birth prior to her marriage and the baby had epilepsy which, in the 1920s, was thought to be an incurable form of madness. David had been placed in a home and his mother had secretly visited him every week.

Following his national service in Korea, the young Maurice Micklewhite tried his hand at various jobs, including being a bouncer in a brothel and a baker for Lyon's Tea Rooms, to support his acting career. He spent 10 years toiling away at his profession, touring in rep and essaying bit parts and walk-ons in British TV and film. It was during this period that he met, married and divorced one of his rep co-stars, Patricia Haines. Pat was older than Michael and she was smart enough to know that he was too restless to settle down at that point. Following the birth of their daughter, Nikki, she moved back in with her parents.

Building on his breakthrough supporting role in Zulu, he landed the starring role in Alfie (for which he won a Golden Globe and was Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated) and as agent Harry Palmer in a trilogy of spy films.

Following his divorce and with his new-found success, Caine became quite the playboy, finding himself at the centre of the Swinging London scene of the late 1960s. He once famously woke up to find a note he'd written to himself saying "Buy Rolls Royce", which he promptly set out to do (despite the fact that he didn't learn to drive until the 1980s). The staff at the showroom refused to speak to him due to his unkempt appearance. Some weeks later, he went to another dealer, bought the car for cash and was then chaffeur-driven past the first showroom, giving the salesman a well-known two-fingered hand gesture.

He first saw his second wife, Shakira, on the TV in his flat when she was a model in a Maxwell House coffee advert. Having tracked her down and pursued her, they were married two years later in Las Vegas, when Shakira was already pregnant with Caine's younger daughter, Natasha.

Russian Master Spy Leopold Trepper Comes in from the Cold: "red orchestra" condutor leaves Poland; anti-Nazi Hero

2008-01-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

Trepper arrives at Heathrow.

5th November 1973
The long fight for freedom of former Russian superspy Leopold Trepper ended on Friday (2-11-73) when he stepped from a plane at London’s Heathrow Airport. Trepper, who conducted Moscow’s famous "Red orchestra" spy network in Nazi occupied Europe, has been trying for years to get permission to cross the Iron Curtain to the West. But the Communist authorities in Poland where he has been living refused to let him go in case he revealed secrets about the Soviet spy system failures during the war. Now at last they have relented so that Trepper, a frail sixty-nine, can receive hospital treatment in Britain that could save his life. He has a serious blood disease. Trepper was one of the great spies of the war. He ran a huge Soviet espionage network which operated throughout Europe. From his HQ in Paris he sent Stalin warning of the German invasion of Russia – but the Russians ignored it. The Gestapo reported: "There is a Red orchestra of radio operators playing direct to Moscow." In 1943 Trepper escaped from the Nazis and finally flew to Moscow. But instead of a hero’s welcome, Stalin sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment because he suspected Trepper’s loyalty. After leaving his Russian jail, he was allowed to to Poland.

MISS WORLD FIASCO—unrepentant unwed mother & home wrecker wins; gives up crown

2008-01-05T21:13:00.001-08:00

27th November 1974
Unmarried mother Helen Morgan quit as Miss World on Tuesday night (26-11-74), after a reign of just four days. Her dramatic decision followed a day of new controversy over her 18-month-old son Richard. The climax was an announcement by nightclub dancer Linda Lovegrove that she planned to name Helen as the "other r woman" in a divorce action. The 22-year-old Miss United Kingdom wept as she renounced the title that earned her 3,000 pounds and the chance of 50,000 pounds in "extras." She said: "This morning I felt on top of the world, but now that world has collapsed around me." Mrs. Lovegrove, 28, said she would see solicitors about the break-up of her marriage to nightclub worker Raymond Lovegrove, 29. She claimed that Helen was responsible. Mr. Lovegrove said that he me Helen when he was a disc jockey in
Wales, three years ago. Helen’s boyfriend Christopher Clode, 26, the father of her child, was a London’s Royal Albert Hall to see her win the title and the 3,000 – which contest organisers Mecca say she will be allowed to keep. She has said that she has no plans to marry Christopher. After the competition, when rivals protested that it was "immoral" for an unmarried mother to be Miss World, Helen replied: "We are living in 1974, not 1914."

PICTURED: Linda Lovegrove … she plans to name Helen as the "other woman" in a divorce action.

TRADE UNION GENERAL SECRETARY—walks out of an Orwell Novel into the center of bent power

2008-01-05T21:12:00.006-08:00

27th February 1969
PICTURED: Mr. Vic Feather, who is expected to succeed Mr. George Woodcock as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. A new portrait taken 1969.

MISS WORLD LEAD ASTRAYBY SEX FILM PRODUCER52 year-old smut peddler turns out 18-year-old beauty

2008-01-05T21:12:00.003-08:00

Furious Miss World contest organizer Julia Morely

November 17th 1980
The briefest reign ever by Miss World ended just 18 hours after Miss Germany won the title in London on Thursday 14th November. By Friday afternoon, the 18-year-old blonde beauty had resigned and contest organiser Julia Morely was faced with the task of offering the vacant rold to runner-up Miss Guam. Stormy scenes followed Gabriella’s abdication and the Miss World organisers are now threatening to sue her 52-year-old American lover Benno Bellenbaum, a sex film producer, for persuading her to break her contract.

IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY INFILTRATOR: Police forced him to spy; then he was discovered and killed!

2008-01-05T21:12:00.001-08:00

Here is Mr. Larry Grant of the National Council for Civil Liberties. He took Lennon’s statement.

May 1974
Irishman Kenneth Lennon spelled out his own epitaph. Three days before he was shot dead in a quiet Surry lane he poured out his troubles to jazzman George Melly. Mr. Melly said on Tuesday night (16-4-74) that 30-year-old Lennon told him: "I have come to you because you are a fair man … If you hear about my body lying face down in a puddle or ditch, you will know I have been telling the truth." The meeting with Mr. Melly, at a London jazz club on Wednesday (10-4-74), prompted Lennon to go to the National Council for Civil Liberties. He made a 5,000-word statement to Mr. Larry Grant, the council’s senior legal adviser. The following Saturday Lennon was found shot dead at Chipstead, Surrey. In his statement he said that he was lured into spying against the Irish Republican Army in England by Scotland Yard'’ Special Branch. He was told to establish IRA contacts by drinking at the Foresters Arms pub in Luton, Bedfordshire. Lennon also claimed that robberies to boost IRA funds were planned with the knowledge of the special branch. And he was involved in a plot to free one of three men jailed for an attempted payroll raid. He was cleared of this plot and later told that his acquittal had been "fixed." Five days after being freed, Lennon was dead.

Irish Ghouls Diabolical Plan: They interrupt pub service with bomb

2008-01-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a chap who had the presence of mind to take his pint with him when a Heathrow bar was evacuated. He diligently waits for the all-clear with beverage at hand.

May 1974
London’s Heathrow Airport was blasted by a 100lb terror bomb which was planted in the three-storey car park beside Terminal One on Sunday morning (19-5-74). It wrecked scores of cars, but amazingly only four people were hurt. The explosion came eighteen minutes after a man with an Irish accent had telephoned a warning to a London Press agency. The chaos which followed virtually closed the airport for three hours. Police warned later that the blast – thought to be the work of the Irish Republican Army Provisionals – could signal the start of a new campaign of terror in England.

Irish Girls from Hell: These two linked to pub blast

2008-01-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

October 1974
One wonders if it's even possible to go to one's local for a quiet pint lately. These are the faces of two girls police want to interview following the Guildford terror bomb attacks on Saturday night (5-10-74). The Photo-Fit pictures have been built up from witnesses descriptions of two girls sitting in the alcove at the Horse and Groom pub where a bomb exploded killing five people, and also at the Seven Stars, scene of another bombing. The two girls are said to be the odd ones out among Women’s Royal Army Corps girls who were at the pubs and all knew each other. One girl was 5ft 6ins tall, with long blonde hair – possibly dyed. She was very heavily made-up and wearing a light-coloured jacket. The other girl was 5ft 8ins, with long dark hair. She was wearing a sweater with coloured stripes.

TERRENCE STAMP: Odd man out pulls 1970s vanishing act in film and in London's cafe society

2008-01-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Terrance Stamp is an icon of British cinema and amongst the international film community for good reason. Known for the extensive media coverage of his romances in the 1960s with film stars Julie Christie, Brigitte Bardot, and supermodel Jean Shrimpton. His and Julie Christie's romance, and their high profiles during London's 'swinging 60s', is referenced in The Kinks' 1967 song, Waterloo Sunset, with the line about "Terry and Julie". He and Jean Shrimpton were one of the most photographed couples of Mod London.

But as the sixties drew to a close the golden touch failed him. Antonioni replaced Stamp at the last minute with David Hemmings as the lead in Blow Up and Shrimpton left him for another man. A devastated Stamp took off for an ashram in India. His search for answers would take him away for nearly a decade, including a spell working on an organic farm in Ibiza.

London's girl hooligans terrorize schoolmate TO SUICIDE

2008-01-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

This was Tina Wilson … a tormented 15-year-old girl who, her parents believe was driven to kill herself by the persecution of schoolgirl bullies.

December 11, 1973

The campaign of terror made Tina’s life a nightmare, her mother claims. Often she played truant because she was too frightened to go to school. Bullies even scrawled on a school wall: "Tina Wilson will die." And the bullies were right. Tina was found dead at her grandmother’s home in Southampton – apparently from a drug overdose. A note was by her side. A girl pupil at the school, Redbridge Secondary at Southampton, said that when the news of Tina’s death was announced at the school, on girl immediately went hysterical and cried: "I did it. It’s all my fault." Now Tina’s parents have refused to accept flowers from the school for her funeral on Friday (14-12-73). And they have complained to the city’s education chiefs. Mr. A. Leonard, Southampton’s acting chief education officer, said: "This is a tragic case and I have ordered a full investigation."

THE SWINGING NUNThis sister sits with hippys at rock concerts

2008-01-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

August 1975
It was the tale of two "pop" cities on Sunday (24-8-75). For Britain’s two big Bank Holiday festivals suffered widely differing fortunes. There was more flop than pop about the controversial Watchfield free festival. About 4,000 fans – instead of the expected 20,000 – scattered across the half-empty field, all alone and feeling blue. The Oxfordshire beauty spot village which feared a hippy invasion, was quiet – although things did liven up the following day. Meanwhile, they were singing the blues at Reading, Berkshire … but in a happier key. Nearly 30,000 fans turned up for the big jazz and blues festival, and many spent hours queueing to get in.

PICTURED: Her church is an open field, her congregation are into heavy rock rather than religion … but the swinging nun quietly moves among her flock. She was at Watchfield where the Bishop of Reading held a communion service. Nuns and other helpers handed out hymn sheets.

YOUNG LOVE ON THE RUNWorcestershire townsfolk in cahoots with couple on the lam who want to go legal

2008-01-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

Back then this kind of story was quaint. Today it seems, this guy would have tattoos on his neck and be wanted for some heinous crime. My how times have changed.

14th September 1972

Wednesday (13-9-72) brought a happy ending for Vera Zeiner and Oswald Unterleichner, the 19-year-old students who ran away from home in Vienna, Austria, to get married in Scotland. On their way they had stopped at the Worcestershire town of Evesham, and had promptly been "adopted" by the townsfolk. Local people arranged the wedding for them, provided a hairdo for Vera, a wedding reception for twenty guests, and the loan of a dress. The wedding took place at Evesham Register Office on Wednesday, and after the reception the couple were leaving for a short honeymoon – also provided by the people of Evesham.

PICTURED: Yet another touch of friendship – a policeman holds up the Evesham traffic for Vera and Oswald after their wedding.

The Kray Brothers: Overbosses of Swinging London's Sordid Underbelly

2008-01-04T14:27:00.001-08:00

From a young age, the Kray twins were in constant run-ins with police. Ronald and Reginald ran protection rackets in the rough East End of London until 1960 when they branched out and opened a gambling club in Knightsbridge. They developed a reputation for extraordinary violence. Both brothers -- Ronnie, a homosexual and known psychopath, and Reggie -- were feared.

The Krays were finally arrested by the same Scotland Yard officials who had been trailing their exploits for years. Along with other members of their gang, including their older brother Charlie, they were found guilty of two murders in their trial. It was the longest murder hearing in British criminal history. Police with walkie-talkie radios patrolled the Old Bailey and guarded entrances to Court No 1 as the defendants came, one by one, into the dock to hear the verdicts.

Ronnie died of a heart attack in prison in 1995. Reggie was released on compassionate grounds a month before his death from cancer in October 2000.

RAPE VICTIM DETAILS HER DEPRAVED ORDEAL--it's sickened her on Men

2008-01-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

This gutsy young gal fough off her attacker--to no avail. Suffering a fate worse than death, she bared her soul for this exclusive interview.

PICTURED: Carol Maggs in torment.
22 June 1977
Sex attack victim Carol Maggs spelt out the appalling cost of her ordeal at the hands of brutal guardsman, Tom Holdsworth. She was hospitalized for 8 months with broken ribs, severe internal injuries and a mass of cuts and bruises. But it’s the mental scars which will take a long time to heal. "I can’t face an audience or strangers," she said. She has now found a job in a fish ship where there is a counter between her and the public. Her rising face as a soul singer 5 nights a week with a band is over." I wanted to marry and raise a family, but I can’t feel any trust for men," she said.

Paging Doctor Rymer:your wife would like a divorce, stat

2008-01-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

With a wife this hot-looking, all Dr. Dipstick over here could think about was chow. That's very sad. Whoever wound up with her got lucky.

April 1974
A judge championed hard-working mothers who have to keep their husbands waiting for their evening meal, on Monday (29-4-74). South African-born Doctor Jolyon Rymer, 46, a consultant radiologist, of Sevenoaks, Kent, had complained that although he was home at 5 pm, by the time his wife had got the children to bed it was 8 pm before he sat down to eat. Mr. Justice Dunn said, in London’s High Court: "Many a husband, I should have thought, would have found it pleasantly relaxing to chat for an hour with his wife and children, then put the children to bed so that they could dine together quietly- but not this husband. His primary thought was what a hard day he had had and how much he wanted his evening meal. It never occurred to him to consider that his wife had also had a hard day doing the household chores, the shopping and a great deal of washing with three children to look after." The judge granted a decree nisi to the wife, Swedish-born Margarets, 38.

PICTURED: Mr. & Mrs. Rymer. She made her husband wait for his meals.

FERGIE UNDERCOVER?Princess Margaret's son at Heathrowwith girlfriend

2008-01-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

Is this the woman who became known as Sarah Fergusson, the so-called Duchess of York? We wonder if these Fleet Street hacks got it right on this one. Maybe Suzannah Constantine is her doppelganger. They must enjoy having so much money and taking so many fancy airplanes.

February 20, 1987
Viscount Linley’s lady friend Suzannah Constantine certainly knows her place. She trailed three paces behind him when they flew back to London yesterday (19.2.87) after two weeks holiday with his mum, Princess Margaret, in the Caribbean. But it probably had more to do with perplexing the press than pandering to royal etiquette. Suzannah, 23, skillfully wielded a straw hat to shield her fingers—rumoured to carry a ring marking her engagement to the 24-year-old Viscount. The bronzed couple had no VIP treatment at Heathrow and left in a battered van.

PICTURED: Viscount Linley and girlfriend Suzannah Constantine arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport.

BLOODY WOGS—ill tempered Greek Cypriots seek political redress in foreign lands to the grief of innocent citizens

2007-01-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

15TH AUGUST 1974
Thousands of Greek Cypriot demonstrators battled with police outside the Turkish embassy in London on Wednesday night (14-8-74), following the new flare up of war in Cyprus. Fifteen demonstrators were arrested and seven people – including three policemen – had to have hospital treatment. The demonstration began peacefully outside the Greek embassy. Then the chanting, banner-waving crowd marched down Park Lane past the Grosvenor House Hotel, where deposed Cyprus president Archbishop Makarios is staying. Wild scenes broke out when Makarios stepped from the barricaded hotel doors to wave to the crowd. Then the 4,000 police had formed ranks outside the building, with a dozen mounted officers behind them. Within seconds the battle had started.

PICTURED: Captured ...one of the demosntrators is grabbed by the police.

JUST IN TIME FOR A NEW TV SHOW PROMOTION—a chance to deadline-pimp my sickly triplets off to drunken Fleet Street hacks: TV-mum

2007-01-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

17th February 1988
They’re a picture of health and happiness. But time was on the side of TV Angel Erin Geraghty’s triplets when they were born, weighing only 2lb apiece, five years ago. "They might have died if they’d been born now," says Erin who played a nurse in the old twice-weekly Angels series. "The girls were very premature and terribly ill. The hospital where they were born are now turning babies away because they don’t have the staff and facilities to look after them." Erin hugged her triplets, Fionuala, Andrea and Ciara, as she spoke. Erin will be returning to television soon in the ITV Sunday programme Small World.

PICTURED: Miracle girls Fionuala, Andrea and Ciara pose with their publicity-whore mum, Erin Geraghty.

HELEN SMITH—Dutch sex victim thrown from balcony?

2007-01-01T15:59:00.001-08:00

March 25, 1982
The father of dead nurse Helen Smith walked out of a High Court hearing in London on Thursday March 25, calling the proceedings a "farce." Ron Smith, an ex-police officer, has been calling for an inquest into his daughter Helen’s death. She was found at the foot of a block of flats in Saudi Arabia on May 20, 1979. Mr. Smith believes that the 23-year-old nurse was murdered and her body placed to look as if she had fallen to her death. The original, official statement also suggested that Helen had been making love to a Dutchman on the balcony during a party at the flat of fellow Briton Richard Arnot. The autopsy report he ordered after inspecting her body in Jeddah was retained by Foreign office despite 55-year-old Mr. Smith’s requests for a copy. And when it was finally issued, a vital page was missing. That has recently been released. The High Court hearing is to decide if West Yorkshire coroner Philip Gill is correct in refusing to hold an inquest on the grounds that Helen’s death occurred outside his jurisdiction. A Home Office pathologist, Michael Green has already said that Helen’s injuries included a series of blows to the head and face. Two other pathologists – one Danish, one British – have concluded, after carrying out their own post mortems, that the girl could not have fallen in the alleged manner. In the High Court, Lord Justice Ormrod and Mr. Justice Forbes reserved judgement because of the "complexities" of the case.

PICTURED: Mr. Ron Smith, fighting for an inquest into his daughter’s death.

[True Crime Confidential commentary: Before there was Natalee Holloway, there was Helen Smith]

ROYAL CAVALRY RUMP RACKET—queer magazine scandal sullies queen

2006-06-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

October 1975
Sensational claims about a Guards vice ring are being put to Defence Minister Roy Mason. The homosexual racket is said to involve up to 100 soldiers of the elite Household Cavalry. According to an informant, clients would make telephone arrangements to meet guardsmen for homosexual activities. The informant has named the man behind the racket as 29-year-old Tom Pitman, a Corporal of Horse in the Life Guards. The scandal came to light with the publication of an article called "Sex and Violence" in "Him," a magazine for homosexuals. The article was illustrated by photographs of Corporal Pitman in uniform and three men in underwear, in a variety of poses. The men have been identified as members of the Life Guards. Sets of the pictures, taken by cameraman Charles Koetser, are being sold through the magazine.

PICTURED: Charles Koetser, who supplied pictures of guardsmen to the homosexual mazine "Him."

PRIVATE EYE ON THE TRAIL OF SUPER SWINDLER—crooked judge goes south

2006-06-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

July 8, 1974
A tough-talking American private detective is in Britain to hunt down the man believed to be the world’s greatest swindler. Ed Stanton has spent more than four month pursuing his quarry through Central and South America. The man he has been ordered to find is former court judge Glen Bryan Smith. Smith was jailed for three years in Atlanta, Georgia for his part in a giant loan swindle. A state prosecutor said businessmen had been fleeced of 40 million pounds. Last February he was released on bail pending appeal. He promptly vanished with his wife Joy. With them went an attaché case said to have been packed with 40 thousand pounds in cash. No Ed, a former police chief, believes that Smith has setup his headquarters in London and is travelling through Europe making contacts for another gigantic fraud. The private eye, who has made his base in a London hotel, said on Sunday night (7/7/74): "Smith knows I am going to be on his back until I catch up with him." Smith, 46, is know as a big spender. He is fluent in five languages, and is an accomplished yachtsman and pilot. Stanton, hired by an insurance company which lost money to Smith, said: "I understand he has bank accounts in London and Switzerland."

PICTURED: The hunter and the hunted…Private eye Ed Stanton with a picture of Glen Smith and his wife, Joy.

SWARTHY "COMPOSER" REFUSES MEDICAL ATTENTION AT AIRPORT—‘Zorba the Greek’ musician put in his place by hardworking Immigration men

2006-06-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

24th June 1970
Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis was held up for two hours by immigration officials in Britain on Tuesday (23-6-70). The immigration men, at London Heathrow Airport, insisted that he should have a medical examination. But 44-year-old Theodorakis, pictured here at the airport, refused. After a long argument with health officials, Theodorakis, who wrote the title music for the film "Zorba the Greek," was given a visa for a week’s stay. He is to conduct a London concert on Sunday (26-6-70). Theodorakis, who was suffering from tuberculosis after Greece’s military regime imprisoned him for two year, said the officials had made him feel "like a criminal."

PICTURED: There’s your precious "composer,’ go on… free to roam about the country infecting anyone he pleases. Cheers.

HELEN SMITH—Dutch sex victim thrown from balcony?

2006-06-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

POP STAR SEX ATTACK VICTIM—through with men for good

2006-04-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

22 June 1977
Sex attack victim Carol Maggs spelt out the appalling cost of her ordeal at the hands of brutal guardsman, Tom Holdsworth. She was hospitalized for 8 months with broken ribs, severe internal injuries and a mass of cuts and bruises. But it’s the mental scars which will take a long time to heal. "I can’t face an audience or strangers," she said. She has now found a job in a fish ship where there is a counter between her and the public. Her rising face as a soul singer 5 nights a week with a band is over. " I wanted to marry and raise a family, but I can’t feel any trust for men," she said.

PICTURED: Carol Maggs in torment.

MISS WORLD LEAD ASTRAY BY SEX FILM PRODUCER—52 year-old smut peddler turns out 18-year-old beauty

2006-04-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

November 17th 1980
The briefest reign ever by Miss World ended just 18 hours after Miss Germany won the title in London on Thursday 14th November. By Friday afternoon, the 18-year-old blonde beauty had resigned and contest organiser Julia Morely was faced with the task of offering the vacant rold to runner-up Miss Guam. Stormy scenes followed Gabriella’s abdication and the Miss World organisers are now threatening to sue her 52-year-old American lover Benno Bellenbaum, a sex film producer, for persuading her to break her contract.

PICTURED: Furious Miss World contest organizer Julia Morely.

POLICE INFORMANT SHOT DEAD—cops made him spy, witness claims

2006-04-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Irishman Kenneth Lennon spelled out his own epitaph. Three days before he was shot dead in a quiet Surry lane he poured out his troubles to jazzman George Melly. Mr. Melly said on Tuesday night (16-4-74) that 30-year-old Lennon told him: "I have come to you because you are a fair man … If you hear about my body lying face down in a puddle or ditch, you will know I have been telling the truth." The meeting with Mr. Melly, at a London jazz club on Wednesday (10-4-74), prompted Lennon to go to the National Council for Civil Liberties. He made a 5,000-word statement to Mr. Larry Grant, the council’s senior legal adviser. The following Saturday Lennon was found shot dead at Chipstead, Surrey. In his statement he said that he was lured into spying against the Irish Republican Army in England by Scotland Yard'’ Special Branch. He was told to establish IRA contacts by drinking at the Foresters Arms pub in Luton, Bedfordshire. Lennon also claimed that robberies to boost IRA funds were planned with the knowledge of the special branch. And he was involved in a plot to free one of three men jailed for an attempted payroll raid. He was cleared of this plot and later told that his acquittal had been "fixed." Five days after being freed, Lennon was dead.

PICTURED: Officials of the National Council for Civil Liberties give details of the Lennon case at a Press conference. From left: Jack Droney, Larry Grant (who took Lennon's statement), general secretary martin Looney and Catherine Scorer (Northern Ireland Officer).

IRISH ON TRIAL FOR EXPOLSIVES—they like to plant bombs in London and drink, the bastards

2006-04-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

CRACKSHOT, OR CRACKPOT?—barnstorming couple pull William Tell stunt

2006-04-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

18th April 1977
It could be a stunt from television’s Monty Python. But this is a real—life spectacular from a completely different Flying Circus. Out of the clouds roars an old Tiger Moth with a young crackshot perched perilously on its top wing. Down below his fiancée waits on a target board surrounded by balloons. READY: Pilot Barry Tempest homes in on the target. STEADY: Graham Tyson measures aim with his Colt 38. FIRE! A balloon burst inches away from blonde Christine Good. She smiles as the plane wheels round. Graham fires again – and incredibly, pop goes another balloon. No doubt about it, "Colonel Crackshot" Graham is clever with it. For he can easily ride questions like: Were the holes found in the board really made by your gun? Is there a hidden partner in the act? How’s it all done? Graham replied: "You don’t get a conjuror answering such questions." The magical mystery show was performed by the Barnstormers Flying Circus before a 10,000 crow Sywell, near Northampton. Christine, a librarian, said: "Taking part in the act is the best way I can prove how much I love Graham – I’d do anything for his sake."

PICTURED: Christine raises a laugh as the balloons burst.

THE JACKBOOT KILLER

2006-04-13T06:29:00.001-07:00

PICTURED: Mr. Matthews, Chief Constable of Surry, showing the holdall that Von Bulow was carrying the night he killed P.C. Schofield.

MANIAC ROMEO WHO DARED TO LOVE DANGEROUSLY—fails in bid for hand of 19-year-old-beauty, falls on the wrong side of the law

2006-04-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

13th March 1980
Lovesick Barry Chick, 19, was so upset when his girlfriend’s father told him to leave his daughter alone that he kidnapped her and drove around with his captive for three days, trying to persuade her to marry him. 19-year-old Collette Hinz was unable to escape or pass any message to the police until a regular road check uncovered the dramatic plot. Collette told police that Chick had a knife when he met her near her home in Handsworth, Birmingham, and forced her into the car. He had removed the inside handles and was determined to win her love by force if necessary. Judge Black gave Chick a six-month suspended sentence at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday 12th march and was fined 75 pounds for unlawfully taking away two motor cars. Afterwards, Collette said; "….now all I want to do is keep him out of my life."

PICTURED: KIDNAPPER....Barry Chick, kept telling Collette he loved her.

LOVESICK BARRY CHICK FLIPS——kidnaps girlfriend, loses everything

2006-04-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

13th March 1980
Lovesick Barry Chick, 19, was so upset when his girlfriendÂ’s father told him to leave his daughter alone that he kidnapped her and drove around with his captive for three days, trying to persuade her to marry him. 19-year-old Collette Hinz was unable to escape or pass any message to the police until a regular road check uncovered the dramatic plot. Collette told police that Chick had a knife when he met her near her home in Handsworth, Birmingham, and forced her into the car. He had removed the inside handles and was determined to win her love by force if necessary. Judge Black gave Chick a six-month suspended sentence at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday 12th march and was fined 75 pounds for unlawfully taking away two motor cars. Afterwards, Collette said; "Â….now all I want to do is keep him out of my life."

PICTURED: ColletteÂ…the kidnap victim.

BLOODY WOGS—ill tempered Greek Cypriots seek political redress in foreign lands to the grief of innocent citizens

2006-04-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

THE FARM MURDER—site of Billy Torrance's demise

2006-04-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

PICTURED: Carleith Farm, where the Torrance family lived, and also where Billy Torrance was murdered.

ANGRY GREEK CYPRIOTS DEMONSTRATE IN LONDON—calling attention to the need to have them removed from the country

2006-04-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

15TH AUGUST 1974
Thousands of Greek Cypriot demonstrators battled with police outside the Turkish embassy in London on Wednesday night (14-8-74), following the new flare up of war in Cyprus. Fifteen demonstrators were arrested and seven people – including three policemen – had to have hospital treatment. The demonstration began peacefully outside the Greek embassy. Then the chanting, banner-waving crowd marched down Park Lane past the Grosvenor House Hotel, where deposed Cyprus president Archbishop Makarios is staying. Wild scenes broke out when Makarios stepped from the barricaded hotel doors to wave to the crowd. Then the 4,000 police had formed ranks outside the building, with a dozen mounted officers behind them. Within seconds the battle had started.

PICTURED: Terrified…a weeping child is rescued by the police.

THE FARM MURDER—Mrs. Pinkerton has her say

2006-04-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

PICTURED: Mrs. Pinkerton leaving the court after giving evidence at the trial of Mrs. Betty Torrance and David Watt.

FATHER & SON VICTIMS, 500,000 LOOT BURIED ON MOUNT PLEASANT FARM?—murder squad on country dig

2006-04-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

13th October 1976
Acting on information received from an underworld informer, police are digging up tons of concrete at Mount Pleasant Farm at Hornchurch in Essex. They have been told that the concrete covers the graves of haulage contractor George Brett and his ten-year-old son Terry, who vanished together nearly two years ago. They also hope to find some loot – perhaps as much as 500,000 pounds – from armed robberies in the London area in recent years.

PICTURED: Murder Squad detectives taking part in the dig at Mount Pleasant Farm.

SEX KILLER JAILED FOR LIFE—got lucky when he found innocent victim waiting for secret lover, now the animal is behind bars for good

2006-04-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

April 28 1983
Voices of evil guided sex murderer Alan Pinkerton, the man who chanced upon a woman waiting for her secret lover. But for Mrs. Katin Hopkins, the illicit meeting turned to tragedy, for instead of her lover she met 19-year-old Pinkerton – a madman obsessed with violet sex and drugs. Minutes earlier he had split up from his girlfriend Melanie Beasley, saying to her: "Whatever you do don’t follow me." Pinkerton, engaged to Melanie for six months, loved watching horror videos and according too Melanie, "became obsessed with the mutilation of animals and humans." His unnatural sex demans were too much for Melanie and on the night of the murder they had argued. Pinkerton then stormed off, discovered Mrs. Hopkins, 36, then beat, raped and strangled her before dumping her naked body. At Reading Crown Court on Friday April 22, Pinkerton, from Iver in Buckinghamshire, was jailed for life.

PICTURED: Lucky Escape….Pinkerton’s ex-girlfriend Melanie Beasley, 18

WATER SKI COMPETITION PROVIDES CHANCE TO SEE YOUNG BEAUTIES NAKED AND WET—as well as an open bar in the press room

2006-04-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

18th June 1967
Among the competition at the Wills Water Ski International held at the Ruislip Lido on Sunday (11-6-67) was 16-year-old World Champion Liz Allen of the U.S.A.

PICTURED: Liz Allen removing her water skis, on leaving the water.

FORMER DAILY MIRROR HACK WASHES BACK ONTO BRITISH SHORES—liver intact, wife still accounted for, able to stand a round…welcome home old chap

2006-03-25T20:24:00.000-08:00

23rd July 1971
John Wilcock, the Englishman who could be said to have created what we now call the underground Press, has fled America. He says: "It may sound pompous but really I have done all I can there. All the things I was pushing – get out of Indo-China, legalise pot – all the important issues are nearly achieved. Anyhow, nobody can live in the cities there any more." Wilcock, 43, comes from Sheffield. He worked on the Daily Mirror before going to New York seventeen years ago. Lately he has taken to writing travel books. He and his wife Amber are now to love on permanent tour of Europe, publishing an occasional issue of his personal sheet Other Scenes whenever they can. Of the British Underground Press (Oz, Ink and such) he says: "It is marvellous. So British. However vulgar, however naughty, the papers are still British, basically nice."

PICTURED: John Wilcock and his wife Amber.

PRETTY NURSES NEED MORE PAY—in bed with hungover Fleet street hacks in need of story to hand in by deadline

2006-03-25T20:18:00.000-08:00

May 1974
Thousands of nurses – the angry angels of Britain – went on the march on Monday (13-5-74). They gathered in London for a mass rally in support of their call for more pay. The big march started at the Royal College of Nursing headquarters in Cavendish Square. Then the nurses, chanting slogans and waving banners, marched along Oxford Street to Hyde Park a mile away. Dozens of shoppers, shopgirls and street traders cheered and applauded the pretty faces of protest. More than 3,000 nurses from all over the country and from every kind of hospital helped to spell out the loud and clear message from the rally: "We want more pay."

PICTURED: A big smile – but nurses like third-year student Angela Wetmacott here, are far from happy with their present pay.

JUST IN TIME FOR A NEW TV SHOW PROMOTION—a chance to deadline-pimp my sickly triplets off to drunken Fleet Street hacks: TV-mum

2006-03-25T20:15:00.000-08:00

2006-03-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

JAIL FOR THE "CASANOVA CORPORAL"—bad guy extrasordinaire

2006-03-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

November 1, 1977
After a sensational trial, the "Casanova Corporal," Reginald Booth, was sentenced on October 28 to 12 months in jail for tricking two virgins into having sex with him and conning 310 pounds from a widow bedmate. Booth, a 37-year-old Royal Engineers army corporal, promised all three women he would marry them, though he had already been married for 18 years and had five children. The three were among at least 30 women Booth had corresponded with – and generally seduced – after inserting and replying to lonely hearts advertisements. Police found more than 400 letter from them since 1970 at his Wiltshire home. The judge said that despite increased sexual equality for women, "the law recognizes that women do need protection – or at least some women." He said it was a serious matter when a woman gave her body through trickery "because when a woman gives herself, in a sense she gives everything." Ironically, despite Booth’s constant womanizing, two of his former lovers said he wasn’t very good in bed.

Pictured: Booth and widow Dorothy Simpson on a dinner date.

WEMBLY WOMEN MARCH TO DOWNING STREET, DELIVER DEMANDS AT No. 10—against killing they say

2006-03-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of women some men and children on Sunday (18-2-68) marched in silence from The American Embassy, Grosvenor Square to Whitehall, London. The silent march in black, was a rally organised by two housewives, Mrs. Dorothy Myers and Mrs. Jessie Scarr, from Wembley, Middlesex against the Killing in Vietnam, After handing a letter in to the American Embassy they marched to Downing Street where they handed in another at No. 10.

PICTURED: Leaning the American Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London after handing in their protest letter, left to right Mrs. Kathy Rudolph, Mrs. Jessie Scarr and Mrs. Dorothy Myers.

1500 BRITISH SOLDIERS ATTACK PEACE CAMP—military operation silences lazy protesters

2006-03-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

13th October 1976
A sleepy village woke yesterday to an invasion by 1500 soldiers. The troops, backed by hundreds of police, moved in to clear peace campaigners from Britain’s second Cruise missile site. Convoys of Army trucks rumbled through the narrow streets of Molesworth, Cambridgeshire. Roads were sealed off and bulldozers began clearing the homes and vehicles of 200 protesters camped on Defecnce Ministry land at the edge of the village. Five demonstrators who tried to cut the fence were arrested and held in custody. Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine spent over an hour at the base and later defended the secret operation. He said it was supported by 90% of the local residents and had been carried out without anyone getting hurt. Sixty-four Cruise missiles are due to be installed at RAF Molesworth in 1988.

PICTURED: Defiant Defence Minister Michael Heseltine.

THE RIDDLE OF THE CONCRETE COFFIN—loot and limbs possibly buried on farm: Underworld Informer

2006-03-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

HIPPIES ROUTED FROM PICCADILLY 'CASTLE'—dirty drawings found amid squatter squalor and filth

2006-03-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

22nd September 1969
The battle is over. The fortress has fallen. It’s psychedelic banner has been hauled from its roof. And at the windows of Hippy Castle, 144 Piccadilly, appear policemen, signaling a victory for British law and order. On Sunday (21-9-69) an "invading" army of some 80 police swooped on the fifty-room mansion and routed the occupying force of squatters and down-and-outs. The policemen lived up to their reputation for efficiency; the final scrap lasted less than five minutes. And the hippies, who had held the strongly-barricaded building for six days, were either unceremoniously ejected or detained for questioning. A crowd of 2000 onlookers cheered. A tiny era had ended. Only memories and momentoes remained – missiles, lead piping weapons, drug-takers’ syringes…and the smell of filth. In every room of the stately London home, next door to where King George VI once lived before he took to the throne, were drawings. Some obscene. Some splattered with slogans. There was paper and broken glass everywhere. But London is still not rid of the problem. Later in the day, squatters evicted from Piccadilly took over another empty house in Russell Square. Police visited the premises and questioned the occupants, but made no attempt to forcibly evict them. It looks like the prelude to yet another legal battle.

PICTURED: Police bring a hippy out of 144 Piccadilly after they had re-captured the building.

SILENT PEACE MARCHERS—best thing, really, on a sunday afternoon

2006-03-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

19th February 1968
Hundreds of women some men and children on Sunday (18-2-68) marched in silence from The American Embassy, Grosvenor Square to Whitehall, London. The silent march in black, was a rally organised by two housewives, Mrs. Dorothy Myers and Mrs. Jessie Scarr, from Wembley, Middlesex against the Killing in Vietnam, After handing a letter in to the American Embassy they marched to Downing Street where they handed in another at No. 10.

PICTURED: Leaning the American Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London after handing in their protest letter, left to right Mrs. Kathy Rudolph, Mrs. Jessie Scarr and Mrs. Dorothy Myers.

CASANOVA CORPORAL's INNOCENT SEX VICTIM—cried for two days

2006-03-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

November 1, 1977
PICTURED: Spinster Joan Finney, 45, was a deeply religious virgin and wept for two days after Booth seduced her two years ago. She later went to bed with another man while upset about Booth. When the case became public she was banned from her fundamentalist church. The judge said she may have been injured "beyond any measure of repair."

CASANOVA CORPORAL's ONLY TRUE LOVE—deflowered joan collings

2006-03-02T17:20:00.000-08:00

November 1, 1977
Pictures: Joan Collings, 32, was a virgin in 1971 when she was seduced by Booth. Now married, she is the only woman he ever loved, Booth says.

THE HUNT FOR IRA BOMBERS—the dirty little bastards

2006-02-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

November 17 1981
Twenty thousand policemen are hunting for an IRA cache of explosives in Britain’s biggest anti-terror drive. In London alone officers will search 100,000 lock-up garages for 500 pounds of gelignite. The massive operation, which swung into action on Monday November 18, follows a tip off from Ireland that the bombers plan to step up their terror campaign. It is believed that they may use their hidden explosives for attacks on Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

PICTURED: Two police officers check on some lock-up garages in London.

BRIXTON GUNS—Rogue M.P. goes with his hands in the air

2006-02-25T22:48:00.000-08:00

July 1975
Runaway Member of Parliament John Stonehouse and his secretary, Mrs. Shelia Buckley, arrived back in Britain on Friday (18-7-75) after their extradition from Australia. For the former Labour Minister it marked the end of a trail that began 240 days earlier when disappeared from a Miami beach. They were taken straight to London’s Bow Street police station to be charged. Mr. Stonehouse faces twenty-one charges of fraud and theft involving 172,000 pounds and Mrs. Buckley, six charges involving 42,000 pounds. After remaining in custody overnight, both appeared in court the next morning. Mr. Stonehouse was further remanded in custody while Mrs. Buckley, a 28-year-old divorcee, was granted bail on condition that she lives at her parents’ home in South London.

PICTURED: The prison van carrying Mr. Stonehouse arrives at Brixton Jail.

IRISH ON TRIAL FOR EXPOLSIVES—they like to plant bombs in London and drink, the bastards

2006-02-25T22:37:00.000-08:00

14th March 1973
One of the biggest security operations ever known in Britain was mounted on Tuesday (13-3-73), when ten people appeared in court in connection with the London bomb blasts. When the accused arrived at London’s Bow Street Court, they had an escort of fifty-one policemen. Another fifty surrounded the court as inside, then – all from Northern Ireland, and including three girls – were charged with conspiring to cause explosions. Armed detectives mingled with onlookers in the street. Everyone entering the building was searched by police.

PICTURED: Police surround Bow Street Court for the hearing, just in case some more Irish people decide to plant some more freaking bombs.

MURDER MOST FOUL—smart couple on dock for killing innocent but in-the-way wife

2006-02-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

April 28 1983
Surgeon Paul Vickers and former beauty queen Pamela Collison were both charged with the murder of Vickers’ wife Margaret, at Gateshead police station on Tuesday 7th October. Both will appear at Newcastle-upon-Tyne magistrates court. Margaret Vickers died in hospital in Newcastle fifteen months ago aged 44. The death was certified as due to natural causes. Mr. Vickers is consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. Miss Collison, whom he met six years ago, is a political researcher.

PICTURED: Pamela Collison ….The 33-year-old political researcher charged with murder.

FORMER MP STONEHOUSE STUCK IN THE BIG HOUSE—birthday boy behind bars

2006-02-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

July 28 1975
Former Minister John Stonehouse was back in jail on his 50th birthday on Monday night (28-7-75) after failing in an impassioned pleas for freedom. For nearly three-quarters of an hour he had argued his case for bail from the dock at London’s Bow Street Magistrates Court. He attacked the House of Commons, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Scotland Yard, Attorney General Sam Silkin and the Press. He had several clashes with the chief Metropolitan magistrate, Sir Fran Milton – the man who signed the original warrant for his extradition from Australia. And finally, as he stalked out of the dock after being remanded in custody for another week, he turned to his daughter Jane, 26, and said: "It’s a put-up job. You can tell everyone that." Stonehouse, Member of Parliament for Walsall North, faces 21 charges alleging forgery, theft, conspiracy and fraud. He turned up in Australia after faking a suicide bid from a Miami beach in America.

PICTURED: M.P.’s incredibly beautiful daughter Jane Stonehouse in London on Monday.

GET A SEX CHANGE OR DIE!—doctor’s dire orders in tropical disease shocker

2006-02-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

23rd July 1971
Company boss Keith hall arrived for work wearing a skirt and a blonde wig and told astonished staff: "Call me Stephanie." The he asked them into his office and told them he was now a woman. Balding Keith, 37, revealed that his sex change started when he went abroad and fell seriously ill with a tropical disease. The treatment was a massive dose of female hormones. The cure did not work properly and Keith was warned by doctors that he would die within two years unless he agreed to a full sex change. The 10,000-pound operation was carried out under the National Health Service. Now Stephanie intends to enjoy life to the full – as a woman. Before, she was married and the father of three children but divorce came before her operation and the children no longer live at home in Greater Manchester. Now she says: "As a man I never cried. But now if I break a nail or snag my stockings it’s a disaster. But I’m no women’s libber. I expect men to open doors for me. I want to be treated like a lady."

PICTURED: Ladylike ….Stephanie.

READY, TEDDY, GO!—pop tarts tour London hospitals

2006-02-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

December 101985
Handing out Teddy Bears was a picnic for Bucks Fizz girls Shelley Preston and Cheryl Baker yesterday. The pop pair helped to deliver hundreds of toys to leukaemia victims in the children’s wards of several London hospitals.

PICTURED: Teddy Girls…Shelley Preston & Cheryl Baker.

LONDON’S STREETS OF FEAR—statistics show blacks make the best scapegoats

2006-02-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

March 11 1982
Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Gilbert Kelland announced on Wednesday march 10 that London was in the grip of its worst-ever outbreak of violent crime. For the first time, the Yard has published a racial breakdown of violent incidents. Of the 18,763 offences, 10,399 were carried out by blacks, 4,967 by whites and 704 by mixed gangs. Worst hit was lambeth, which includes Brixton – the scene of last summer’s riots. Next highest were Hackney and Lewisham-Bromley. The Daily Mirror recently followed police in Stoke Newington, London, to a variety of violent incidents, including a theft, a mugging, a fight and a car crash.

PICTURED: a man faces police questions after an incident.

WIFE WHO WHACKED HUSBAND WALKS—Mrs. Errington not in error in ending her ex via evisceration

2006-02-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

February 5 1981
A bride of just three months who stabbed her violent husband to death walked free from Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday 5th. February. Sandra Errington, 23, was cleared of murdering her husband Michael, and the jury also found her not guilty of manslaughter. She knew that 31-year-old Errington was a dangerous psychopath with several convictions when she married him, but love conquered her fears and the beatings to which she was subjected, both before and after the wedding. The tragedy occurred after Errington had been drinking. He grabbed Sandra by the throat but she managed to struggle free and in self defense she stabbed him through the heart. After the trial her brother Georffrey Davies said: "She has had a dreadful ordeal. All the wants to do now is to go back into the arms of her family and try to forget." The couple lived of Pontyclan in mid-Glamorgan, where Errinton was a factory worker.

PICTURED: Not guilty…."I didn’t want to hurt him – I loved him so much," sobbed Sandra Errington at her trial for murder.

SEXY BEAST—unlikely love interest ruins boys lives

2006-02-13T23:27:00.000-08:00

October 5th 1979
Schoolmistress Lynn Brough 35 said on Thursday 4th October that if he is willing she wants to start again with her jailed lover 19 year-old Robert Bedford. Bedford was jailed for 3 years after stabbing a 15 year-old schoolboy he suspected of sleeping with Mrs. Brough, his lover of three years.

PICTURED: The cow that launched a thousand sorrows...would you go to jail for this woman?

SCHOOLBOY IN DISGRACE—could have had hot-looking gals his own age, decided he wanted a cow spinster instead

2006-02-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

October 5th 1979
Schoolmistress Lynn Brough 35 said on Thursday 4th October that if he is willing she wants to start again with her jailed lover 19 year-old Robert Bedford. Bedford was jailed for 3 years after stabbing a 15 year-old schoolboy he suspected of sleeping with Mrs. Brough, his lover of three years.

PICTURED: Mad-stabber schoolboy Bedford...went to jail for three and half years because he was jealous of his cow of an old-maid teacher. The lout.

SCHOOLMISTRESS’ NAUGHTY BOY LOVER—stabs imaginary rival in the back

2006-02-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

October 5th 1979
Schoolmistress Lynn Brough 35 said on Thursday 4th October that if he is willing she wants to start again with her jailed lover 19 year-old Robert Bedford. Bedford was jailed for 3 years after stabbing a 15 year-old schoolboy he suspected of sleeping with Mrs. Brough, his lover of three years.

PICTURED: Steven O’hare …. Victim of Mrs. Brough’s teasing deception and four stab wounds in the back from her jealous lover, Bedford.

COUPLE JAILED OVER STARVED TOT—how could they?

2006-02-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

April 1974
The parents of "Belsen baby" Max Piazzani went to jail on Monday (29-4-74). They were sentenced to two years each at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex. The court had been told of the tragic life – and death – of little Max. Neighbours warned health officials of his plight. But nothing was done until it was too late. When four-year-old Max died of a brain haemorrhage and malnutrition last August, he weighed just over 15-lbs. He was like a skeleton. Judge Peter Greenwood, passing sentence, told Max’s 33-year-old mother Pauline, and his Italian father, Fanesto, a 44-year-old bank interpreter: "I have seen and looked with care at the photographs of your poor little boy. These pictures remind me of some of the photos of concentration camps. That child needed your love, your care and your understanding. You deserve no pity. What pity did you give that child? The maximum sentence is one of two years. I do not think that maximum sentence is one day, one hour, one minute too long." The couple had pleaded guilty to cruelty by neglect.

PICTURED: Mrs. Pauline Piazzani … sentenced to two year.

FLEET STREET BLUES—union boss nailed with 10,000-pound strike fine

2006-02-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

August 16 1982
Union leader Sean Geraghty must pay more than 10,000 pounds for a strike which stopped national newspapers being printed in Fleet Street. The electricians’ leader was fined 350 pounds for defying a High Court order to call off Wednesday’s 24-hour strike, which itself was called as an act of sympathy with the health workers who are campaigning for higher wages. Mr. Geraghty, 46, who works for the Daily Mirror, was ordered to pay court costs estimated at more than 10,000 pounds.

PICTURED: Early Riser….Mr. Geraghty at home before the hearing.

IRA BOMBER OR HARMLESS NUT BAG—you be the judge

2006-02-12T00:41:00.000-08:00

November 17 1981
The Irish Republican Army set Judith Ward to England with a message of hate. She wrote it in blood through a series of dreadful explosions. On Monday night (4-11-74), 25-year-old Miss Ward was jailed for thirty years and given a life sentence for her part in three bomb blasts, at the end of a three-week trial at Wakefield, Yorkshire. The worst of the bombings was on the M62 Motorway on February 4. A concealed bomb ripped apart an Army coach returning from weekend leave. Nine young soldiers, a soldier’s wife and two young children died. For her part in causing that outrage, Miss Ward was jailed for twenty years, and was also given a life sentence for the murder of the twelve victims. Although born in England, Miss Ward adopted Ireland as her country and developed an obsessive hatred of England and everything English. She became involved with the IRA while working as a stable girl in Ireland. Later she joined the British Army and gained much information of use to terrorists before deserting.
PICTURED: In her terrorist uniform … Judith Ward pictured wearing the uniform of the IRA at a political demonstration in Birmingham.

[True Crime Confidential Commentary: 18 years after her conviction and imprisonment, Miss Ward was released, it being found that she wasn’t an IRA bomber after all, just a nut bag who had admitted guilt when really innocent, a fact known to prosecutors all along.]

SPORTS MINISTER'S FAMILY SAVED BY A THREAD—maniac IRA car bombers blow the job

2006-02-11T21:53:00.001-08:00

October 1974
The wife of Sports Minister Denis Howell miraculously escaped injury on Monday night (28-10-74) when a bomb blasted their family car. Windows in houses nearby were shattered by the explosion as Mrs. Howell backed the car out of their drive. But she and her ten-year-old son David, who was with her in the car, escaped with only a bad shaking-up. Their escape was a miracle. For as Mrs. Brenda Howell backed the car into Moor Green Lane in Briminghan’s, Warwickshire, smart Moseley suburb, a thin cotton thread was all that stood between them and sudden death. It broke – and saved their lives. The cotton had been holding a 2-pound gelignite bomb to the exhaust pipe of the Howell’s with Ford Cortina. When the cotton broke, the bomb fell away from the car and exploded in the drive, the bomb fell away from the car and exploded in the drive as the car began to pull away. Instead of blasting the car’s occupants to almost certain death, the bomb ripped a hole in the drive and scorched paving slabs.

PICTURED: Detectives examine the damaged car outside Mr. Denis Howell’s house in Moor Green Lane.

BURNED OUT GETAWAY CAR FOUND—used in IRA kidnap plot

2006-02-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

June 1974
Terrorists are holding the kidnapped Earl of Donoughmore and his wife in a remote mountain hide-out in Southern Ireland. Security chiefs came to the conclusion that they were holed up in mountains south of Dublin after the kidnappers’ burned-out getaway car was found nearby. On Wednesday night (5-6-74) a massive search by troops and police was concentrated on the area. Detectives believe that the gang who dragged the earl and coutness into a car outside their mansion in Tipperary early on Wednesday are members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. No ransom has yet been named – but it is expected that the gang will demand that the Price sisters and other IRA hunger-strikers should be sent to serve their sentences in Northern Ireland.

PICTURED: The burned out getaway car discovered by the police in County Wicklow, seventy miles from the Donoughmore mansion.

THE FARM MURDER—detective inspector gives evidence, takes a smoke break

2006-02-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

PICTURED: Detective Inspector Ian Robinson, leaving the court after giving evidence at the trial of Betty Torrance and David Watt.

DAY OF THE JACKASS PART TWO—'girl crazy' South American terrorists strike out with chicks

2006-02-09T22:08:00.000-08:00

CULOTTES ARE IN—grrrrrrrr, baby!

2006-02-07T20:28:00.000-08:00

9th April 1980
Practical and classical – that’s the new autumn look from designers in Milan. The weird and wonderful outfits that have contributed to the recent slump in the rag trade have been consigned to the cutting room floor, to be replaced by clothes that are simple and attractive. Colours are cream, brown and black: hemlines are on the knee for all styles barring a few minis and trousers are three-quarter length. Short jackets replace blousons and berets are back.

PICTURED: Knitted culottes and matching sweater by Maricci Mandelli.

BOOZE QUEENS REIGN SUPREME—new Campari girl begins her reign

2006-02-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

3rd October 1979
A new Campari girl was elected at Luton Airport on Tuesday 2nd October when 23 year-old Joanna Longley from Braclmell in Berkshire won 5 thousand pound in prizes. Pictured wither her was Lorraine Chanse the Cockney model who became famous with her London accented advertisements for Campari.

PICTURED: Lorraine Chase (right) and Joanna Longley.

MISSING: ANGEL OF THE SNOW—woman in white, lost in the great white North

2006-02-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

16th November 1972
A massive air hunt is under way for an English nurse lost with two Eskimo patients in frozen Arctic wastelands. On Wednesday (15-11-72), survival hopes rose dramatically after faint radio bleeps, believed to come from their crashed plane, were picked up. The tiny six-seater plane vanished a week ago as the nurse, blonde Judy Hill, 27, flew on a mission of mercy with her patients. Judy, from Kingsbridge, Devon -- known as "The Angel of the Snows" to the tiny Eskimo community at Spence Bay, 250 miles North of the Arctic Circle in Canada – had decided that the pair needed emergency treatment. In sub-zero temperatures, Judy and pilot Martin Hartwell took off with the patients to fly the 900 miles to the nearest hospital, at Yellowknife. Nothing was heard, and hopes were fading until the radio signals were picked up.

PICTURED: Judy treating an Eskimo before her ill-fated plane trip.

SEXY MACHINE OPERATOR—ties union big in knots

2006-02-04T23:02:00.000-08:00

18th July 1972
The girl adjusting Vic Feather’s tie so expertly is Maureen Dodds. She is rather good at organising men, and played a leading part in building up union membership to a hundred per cent at the tobacco factory in Newcastle upon Tyne where she works as a cigarette packing machine-operator. Maureen, a 22-year-old shop steward for the Tobacco Workers Union, met the Trades Union Congress General Secretary in London on Monday (17-7-72), when it was announced that she was to receive the TUC Award for Yourth at the September Congress in Brighton. Being so good at the job, Maureen, from Dudley, Northumberland, has naturally organized a man for herself – a lboratory technician called Ricky Anderson. She marries him in October.

STUNT BUN STUNNER—Hollywood's hottest stand-in?

2006-02-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

February 14th 1980
Cis Rundle is the Charlie’s Angel who always gets the tough parts to play, but fans won’t recognise the name because London-born Cis is the stand-in for Cheryl Ladd. When the action calls for anything remotely dangerous, the fragile and expensive Miss Ladd is removed to a safe distance while her 29 year-old lookalike steps in. Cis has also appeared in the Rockford Files and Chips, but her main role is on the football field, for she is a full-time cheerleader for the Los Angeles Rams.

PICTURED: Undercover Angel …Cis Rundle.

[True Crime Confidential Commentary: This broad was married to Nils Lofgren at one time, the Mayor of Montgomery Mall, genius of Old Georgetown Road. Hey Nils—nobody bothers me either!]

UNDERCOVER SHAH—king of Iran on the lam

2006-02-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

August 30th 1979
Leonard Pountney, the world-famous hair transplant expert has been approached by two Americans responsible for the Shah of Iran’s safety, and asked to suggest ways in which the exiled king could be disguised. The agents arrived at Pountney’s clinic in Hounslow, W. London, with sketches of the Shah, a bundle of 20-pound notes, and got in return a preliminary answer to their security problem.

PICTURED: Future Shah? ….How the exiled ruler could appear in disguise.

CROSS-EYED CUTIE—pretty in prep

2006-02-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

14th February 1980
Alisa Edwards is in a class of her own. The 15 year-old-girl from Wallasey on Merseyside has already appeared in he local paper, and of course the Sunday Mirror, but she’ll have to wait a bit before her modelling career can truly begin because she’s still attending St. Mary’s College in Walllasey. Teacher shave been critical of her for adding touches of style to her uniform but her mother, Sheila is certain that once her full-time schooling ends, Alisa’s form will take her right to the top.

PICTURED: TRAIL BLAZER….Alisa has begun her career while still at school—acting and looking like a weirdo.

[True Crime Confidential Commentary: This must be some hack’s Valentine’s Day pay-off for some long-forgotten pub wager.]

ACCUSED MERCENARY MAKES ROOFTOP ESCAPE—from his own home!

2006-02-01T20:49:00.000-08:00

4th June 1975
Mystery man Jon Banks made a dramatic exit from a Press conference on Tuesday (3-6-75) after denying that he is recruiting an army of mercenaries to fight the Smith regime in Rhodesia. In an attempt to avoid photographers he crawled across a rooftop on his hands and knees. Then he was driven away. During the conference, at his home in Sandhurst, Berkshire, he said the men he was recruiting were going to work as security guards in Middle East oilfields. Banks, 32, who was discharged from the Parachute Regiment five years ago, added: "The men will guard oilfields in Iraq. The story of the mercenary army for Rhodesia was just a ruse."

PICTURED: John Banks flees from his home.