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Unsolved murder at the Railway Arms: John Kennedy

John Kennedy, the 31-year-old brother of a boyband singer, was stabbed to death in Wapping, east London, on 8 February 1997.

The father-of-two was attacked during a night out with friends at the Railway Arms pub in Sutton Street at around 5.50am.

Witnesses were reluctant to talk to police at the time and the murder remains unsolved.

The case was referred back to the Homicide and Serious Crime Command following a review in 2010.

On 10 June 2013 detectives launched a fresh appeal for witnesses and offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of any suspect. The reward was later increased to £30,000.

Further appeals were made on 28 November 2013 and three days later a man handed in a note to St George’s Town Hall in Cable Street.

It read: “Around 2.55 – 3.00 early morning. Murder at the Railway Pub, Sutton Street.

“I was…waiting for someone… There was a fight. Knife was used by… The other bloke Kennedy plays football for the Falstaff pub. That’s how I recognised him.”

Detective Chief Inspector John Sandlin, said: “It is clear to us that the author of the note has some vital information that could assist the investigation into John’s murder. I would urge this person to contact the incident room so that we can speak to them. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure them they will be treated with the utmost sensitivity.”

In March 2014 the case featured on the BBC Crimewatch programme. Further appeals were made in February 2016 and February 2022.

John, a self-employed electrician and a keen local footballer, was on a night out with his friends when he arrived at the Railway Arms at around 3am.

At around 5.50pm he was confronted by a man he knew and a fight broke out in front of around 60 witnesses.

The suspect then pulled out a knife, lunged at John and stabbed him in the chest before leaving in a car with another man.

The Railway Arms pictured after the stabbing

John, who was the brother of singer Jade Jones from the 90s group Damage, died in hospital at 8.20am.

He was living with his girlfriend in Oban Street, Poplar, at the time of his death and had two children.

We would like to appeal for witnesses to come forward with any vital information regarding John’s senseless murder back in February 1997. Please help us to finally get justice for our loved one whom is forever missed and will never be forgotten. There are many people who witnessed this murder and have not spoken out due to either misguided loyalty or code of conduct. John’s life was taken away and the murderer should be held accountable for his death. Please find it in your hearts after 25 years to do the right thing and help bring the person responsible to justice.
Statement by family of John Kennedy in 2022

Detective Chief Inspector Ken Hughes, from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “John’s family have spent the past 19 years campaigning for justice and deserve to know why such a level of violence was inflicted on him, leaving his two children without a father.

“I firmly believe that there are a number of people who are yet to speak with officers and who have information that will shed light on the events of that morning.

“I would urge them to come forward and speak with my team. It is possible that allegiances have changed and that someone who previously thought that they could not talk to us can now help bring this man to justice.”

Contact the incident room on 020 8345 3985 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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‘Lawful Killing’: How a suspected triple murder was confirmed as self defence

Gurjeet Singh told police he stabbed three men to death in an east London street because he was in fear of his life. This is how the investigation unfolded. From what I remember, there were some in front of me and one behind me. When they ran towards me, they…

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Murder on the Train: Deborah Linsley

Deborah Linsley, 26, was stabbed to death on the 2.16pm train from Orpington to Victoria Station on Wednesday 23 March 1988.

She was found lying on the floor of the carriage in a pool of blood when the train arrived at platform 2 at around 2.50pm.

Debbie, who worked as a hotel manager in Edinburgh and was visiting family in London, had suffered at least five stab wounds, including a fatal injury to her heart, and defence wounds to her hands suggested she had tried to fend off her attacker.

Although detectives have a full DNA profile of her killer from blood left at the scene, nobody has ever been arrested and the case remains unsolved.

When Debbie was murdered the Senior Investigating Officer described the attack as savage and brutal. She was stabbed at least five times and because of the severity of the attack he was of the opinion that it was unlikely that this was the culprit’s first violent offence. Debbie had deep defence wounds on her hands but despite this she injured him during the struggle. As a result of this a full DNA profile has subsequently been obtained of the attacker. So here we have a probable repeat violent offender and we have his full DNA profile but he is not on the DNA Database. I find that very puzzling. There must be a partner, relative or friend out there who knows of someone who returned home with an unexplained injury and we are appealing for that person or persons to come forward. After all we only need one phone call if it is the right one.”
Debbie’s father, Arthur Linsley, speaking in 2018

A £20,000 reward is on offer for information leading to the arrest, charge and prosecution of the person or persons responsible for the murder.

Debbie had been visiting her parents and her brother Gordon in southeast London as part of the preparations for Gordon’s wedding a few weeks later.

She caught the train at Petts Wood and boarded a six-person compartment with doors at each side of the carriage.

A French passenger later told police she heard screaming on board the train after it left Brixton.

The murder weapon has not been recovered but is thought to have been a heavy bladed knife between five and seven and a half inches long.

In 2018 the Metropolitan Police said state of the art DNA techniques were being used to try and identify the killer through his relatives.

DI Susan Stansfield of the Met’s Special Casework Investigation Team said: “Our efforts to trace the perpetrator continue. We will do everything in our power to identify the killer and bring them to justice.

“We have a DNA profile of the suspect and this remains a key piece of evidence that we are following up on. As well as the physical evidence at our disposal, we would be keen to hear from anyone who has information that might assist the inquiry.

“Have you had an unusual, out-of-the-blue conversation with someone about the murder in the intervening years? Has someone confided in you with information only the killer would know?

“Although this happened 30 years ago, you may recall being on that train or at a station on the route and seeing something which at the time you thought nothing of but in light of what happened was out of place and suspicious, and might be significant.”

Contact the incident room on 0207 230 4294 or 0207 230 0992, or to remain anonymous ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Femicide in London

The murder of Sarah Everard by a police officer in London has prompted much greater public interest in the issue of ‘femicide’, normally defined as the killing of a woman or girl by a man. Following the court case, the Guardian and Sunday Times newspapers both published a gallery of the 80 or so women vicitms across the UK since March 2021.*

Many of these cases would otherwise have received little or no attention, ironically because they are not felt to be ‘unusual’ or remarkable enough. By contrast, the murder of Sarah Everard became a national issue because of its relatively rare nature: a young woman walking home along a busy street one evening was targeted at random by a stranger who not only worked as a police officer but also used his status to kidnap her from a public place.

In London there have been 18 such alleged ‘femicides’ since the murder of Sarah Everard (plus one alleged killing of a woman by another woman). However it is difficult to examine these cases in detail because they have not yet gone through the justice system. So, in an attempt to look more closely at the nature of fatal violence against women and girls, we decided to focus on the 29 female victims of homicide in London in the calendar year of 2019.

Female victims accounted for 19.2% of the total that year (29 out of 151), according to our statistics*. The figures can vary quite a lot each year as they are relatively low numbers (see table below), but the proportion of female victims tends to be between 20 and 25 per cent of the total. In 2020 there were 28 female victims out of a total of 123 (22.6%).

Year	Female Victims #	Female Victims %	Total Homicides
2016	19	17.4	109
2017	26	19.6	133
2018	31	23.1	134
2019	29	19.2	151*
2020	28	22.6	123

Based on murdermap figures, which may be slightly different from police. *We have removed one 2019 case where the police have not confirmed the sex of the child victim.

Looking at the cases in 2019, we can try and distinguish between them based on a number of features such as age, weapon, location (of the attack), and relationship with the killer or suspect.

Here’s a graph comparing male and female homicide victims by location of attack.

London Homicides in 2019, by location of attack

It’s clear that most (86 per cent) female victims in 2019 were killed at a residential address – either their own home or someone else’s. It’s striking that the only female street homicide involved a fight between two women which ended in a fatal stabbing. By contrast male homicides mostly (66.4%) take place in the street.

One reason for this disparity is that a large proportion of male homicides involve fights between young males (between the ages of 15 and 30) in public places, whereas the ages of female victims are not as concentrated in this range.

This difference is mostly due to the closer relationship between female victims and their killer and, as we have already seen, the fact that most female victims are attacked indoors.

In 2019 the vast majority of killers/suspects in female homicides were male. This is generally the case every year, as well as in the UK as a whole. If we exclude the four cases where a relationship is not known (two are unsolved murders and two are ongoing investigations into baby deaths), then 23 out of the 25 victims (92%) were killed by men. The two female suspects were a mother who killed her child and a woman who killed a ‘rival’ after an argument in the street.

Suspect relationship to female homicide victims

Of the 25 confirmed ‘femicides’ (female victims killed by men), 12 out of 25 (48%) victims were killed by a partner or ex-partner and 5 (20%) were killed by a relative.

To end, here’s the chart of female victims by weapon used. While knives are still the most common weapon used (38%), the percentage is much less than for male victims (68%), and ‘None’ – which mainly involves the use of hands and feet (including manual strangulation – is much higher (28% compared to 12%).

If you have any questions then please comment below and we will try to answer them, either in the comments or with an addition to this post.

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Adam: The Torso in the Thames

On the afternoon of Friday September 21, 2001, passers-by spotted an brightly-coloured object floating in the water past the Tower of London and under Tower Bridge.

It was recovered by the Metropolitan Police near the Globe Theatre and found to be the body of an African boy, aged five or six. His head and limbs had been severed from his body and he was still wearing a pair of orange shorts.

The boy was later named Adam, after police were unable to identify him.

Police graphic of torso found in the River Thames

Detectives said they believed he was the victim of a ritual murder and had been paralysed with an extract from the carabar bean. A £50,000 reward was offered for information leading to a conviction.

In April 2002 an international appeal was made by apartheid campaigner and former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Police arrested Nigerian Joyce Osiagede in Glasgow in 2002 and found clothing similar to that found on Adam in her tower block flat. She was later deported.

One of her Nigerian associates, Kingsley Ojo, was also arrested and later charged with people trafficking. Police found a video of mock-up ritual killings and a rat’s skull, thought to be a voodoo talisman, but said there was no evidence linking him to the death of Adam. He was jailed for four years and six months in July 2004 and was deported in 2008.

The orange shorts worn by the boy ‘Adam’

In March 2011, London Tonight broadcast an interview with Ms Osiagede in which she claimed that the boy’s name was a six year-old boy called Ikpomwosa. She said she had looked after him for a year in Germany before handing him to a man named ‘Bawa’.

Then in February 2013 Ms Osiagede told the BBC the boy’s name was in fact Patrick Erhabor and ‘Bawa’ was Kingsley Ojo, the convicted people smuggler.

The case remains unsolved and Adam’s true identity remains unknown despite regular reviews of the evidence.

A new appeal for information was made in September 2021.

DCI Kate Kieran, a homicide detective from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “It is incredibly sad and frustrating that Adam’s murder remains unsolved. The homicide command have been working tirelessly over the years to find out who is responsible.

“We recognise people may not have wanted to speak up at the time and may have felt loyal to the person or people involved in this.

“However, over the past 20 years, allegiances and relationships may have changed and some people may now feel more comfortable talking to us. We implore them be bold and come forward if they know something so that we can finally deliver justice once and for all.

“No matter how old or small that information may seem, it really could make all the difference.

“This young boy has not and will not be forgotten. He deserved better and we will not give up on him.”

To provide information, call police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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Links:

‘Adam’ has an entry in Wikipedia with links to articles and videos related to the case.

See also the London Tonight interview with Joyce Osiagede and the reporter’s account of the investigation in the Daily Mail ‘Voodoo and human sacrifice: The haunting story of how Adam, the Torso in the Thames boy, was finally identified‘. The BBC story ‘Torso case boy identified’ was published on 7 February 2013.