Murders of Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon

On Tuesday 18 March 1975, Stratford was found dead by her partner at their flat at 61a Lyndhurst Drive, Leyton.[3][8][9] Her throat had been cut between eight and twelve times from ear to ear, with detectives stating it was one of the most horrific murder scenes they had ever seen.[3][8] She was found partially unclothed with a nylon stocking tied around one ankle and her hands were bound with a scarf.[6][10][1] There was a strong suggestion she was sexually assaulted.[2] There was no sign of forced entry to the property.[11]

Police found that on the day of her death, Stratford had visited Camden to see her agent and then went to a promotions consultancy in Bayswater,[3] but there was no sign that she had been followed.[1] She began to travel home at 3:30pm and walked from Leytonstone tube station to her flat, last being seen by a neighbour walking towards her residence while wearing a floppy hat and holding some dried flowers.[3] At 4:30 pm, the women living below her flat heard a male and female voice talking, apparently calmly, followed by a thud and then the sound of footsteps.[5][11] It was 5:20pm when her boyfriend returned to find her dead.[3]

The facts that there were no defence wounds and that no-one had heard any screams or shouts suggested she knew her attacker, but it was also considered that she could have been terrified enough to simply comply with the attacker's demands.[1] Detectives considered the possibility that her killer was a secret lover she had invited round, but considered this unlikely, as she would have known that her boyfriend could have returned home at any time.[1] However, there was also no sign of a forced entry.[1] An alternative theory considered was that the attacker was a friend or acquaintance she may have let in.[1] By 1976 all leads had been exhausted by the original investigative team and the murder inquiry was wound down.[1]

The murder of the glamorous bunny girl featured prominently in the press.[3][1]

The killer struck again later that year.[3] Sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Lynne Weedon was hit over the head with a blunt object and raped on 3 September 1975, six months after Stratford's murder and on the other side of London.[10][3] That night she had gone out to celebrate her O-level results with friends at the Elm Tree pub on New Heston Road in Hounslow, near to where she lived in Lampton Road.[3][12] She began to travel home at 11:00pm, parting company with her friends on the Great West Road before crossing over and continuing her journey home on her own through an alleyway named Short Hedges (now 'School Walk', it is used by pupils walking to the adjacent Lampton School).[3] Weedon had previously vowed never to use the alleyway after dark as it was frequented by prowlers, but on the night she decided to take the shortcut.[12] In this alleyway, at approximately 11:20pm, she was struck over the head with a heavy object similar to a piece of lead pipe, fracturing her skull.[3] Her attacker then lifted her over gates and into grounds of a power substation, before dragging her out of sight and raping her.[3] She was discovered the next morning by the caretaker of the neighbouring school, Victor Voice, and despite her injuries was still alive; she died a week later in hospital without regaining consciousness.[11][3][1][12]

Around the time of the murder, a man out walking his dog had seen a white male walking down the alleyway.[1] Other witnesses described seeing a man, believed to be the same individual, running across the Great West road into the alleyway.[1] It is believed that this man was Weedon's attacker.[1]

Police were convinced that the magazine piece Stratford had appeared in the same month she died had lured Stratford's sexually-motivated killer to her.[13] That months' magazine featured naked photoshoots of her alongside an interview in which she said that she liked to be "dominated sexually but not whipped or tied up", and she commented "I do tend to flirt and tease rather a lot, I just get a kick out of turning men on".[4] Her colleagues reportedly were shocked at her 'outspoken' comments about her sexual life.[14] Police also noted that, although she had three housemates, she said in the article that she lived alone with her cat.[14] Detectives believed she may have been spotted by her killer and followed home to her flat before being murdered.[14] Stratford was said to have been upset about the Mayfair cover, believing it made her sound lesbian.[14] Stratford was bisexual and stated in the article that she liked men and women.[14]

Other bunny girls at Stratford's club were interviewed and it emerged that some had received obscene phone calls in the lead up to the murder.[15] One girl, Marilyn Looms, had received death threats following her own nude centrefold in Mayfair.[15] Detectives discovered that Stratford had herself received three mysterious phone calls on the very day she died.[15] Each time she had answered the phone the caller said nothing and then cut the line dead.[15]

In October 1975 police in Liverpool found newspaper reports of Stratford's brutal killing smeared with lipstick in an empty bedsit.[12] Also at the scene were magazine photos of the model, which appeared to have been stabbed with a dart.[12] The landlord had discovered the items after cleaning up the flat after it was vacated by two male tenants.[12]

In 2004, the Weedon investigation was re-opened.[16] In 2007, new DNA technology unexpectedly showed that both murders were committed by the same person.[3][1] As a result of the link, Stratford's case was re-opened. Both were featured in September 2007 on the BBC Crimewatch programme, where DCI Andy Mortimer stated that "without a shadow of a doubt" both murders were sexually motivated.[1] It was noted that the attacker had, on both occasions, taken the weapon to the scene before taking it away with him, clearly indicating that they were pre-mediated attacks for sexual motivation.[1] Mortimer said that it was very unlikely that the killer had only committed these two murders and never committed another crime ever again, stating that the attacker probably committed offences both before and after the attacks.[1] Operation Stealth, the police operation which has been investigating unsolved murders since 2008, received funding to continue work until the end of 2011.[17]

On 25 March 2015, police issued a fresh appeal to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the murder of Stratford.[18] One month later, in April, the murders were again featured on Crimewatch, on which it was revealed that a new £40,000 reward was on offer for information leading to the capture of the killer.[3] Detectives noted that it was possible that the killer could have unknowingly committed crimes or gone to prison for other matters between the time of the murders and 1995, as it was only in this year that DNA began to be taken from individuals arrested of crimes.[3] It was also stated that the killer would have had good knowledge of the 'Short Hedges' ('School Walk') alleyway in which Weedon was attacked, and that he would have been a white male between the ages of 17 and 30 (between 62 and 76 in 2022).[3] It was asserted that psychiatrists, probation officers cellmates or prison guards could hold the information needed to identify the killer, as he may have made an admission or disclosure to these people over the years regarding the murders.[3] The lead detective also told The Guardian: “It’s inconceivable the killer of Eve and Lynne has kept the perfect secret for 40 years. It’s a heavy burden to carry and he must have let details slip over the years – maybe to a partner, a friend, even a cellmate – and I would appeal to anyone with information to contact us.”

In September 2015, the police made a further appeal for new information on the murders.[19]