Seven military bandsmen were killed by an IRA bomb in Regent’s Park on 20 July 1982.
Serjeant Major Graham Barker, 36, Serjeant Robert Livingstone, 31, Corporal John McKnight, 30, George Mesure, 19, Keith Powell, 24, Laurence Smith, 19, and John Heritage, 29, were all members of the Royal Green Jackets.
They were performing music from the musical Oliver! at the bandstand before a crowd of 120 people when the bomb exploded at around 12.55pm.
Regent’s Park Bandstand
Six of the bandsmen were killed instantly and at least eight civilians were injured. John Heritage died in hospital on 1 August.
The bombing took place two hours after four soldiers were killed in a bomb at Hyde Park.
In a statement referring prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s words in relation to the Falklands War, the IRA claimed responsibility for the terror attack.
Now it is our turn to properly invoke article 51 of the UN statute and properly quote all Thatcher’s fine phrases on the right to self-determination of a people. The Irish people have sovereign and national rights which no task or occupational force can put down.
IRA statement, issued under the name “P.O’Neill”.
While two suspects were charged with the Hyde Park bombing, nobody has ever been charged in relation to the Regent’s Park Bomb.
Lynne Weedon, 16, was raped and beaten to death near her home in Hounslow, west London, in 1975.
Her case remains unsolved but has been linked to the killing of Eve Stratford six months earlier.
Lynne was on her way home after an evening out with friends and was attacked after entering an alleyway called The Short Hedges of the Great Western Road at around 11pm on 3 September.
She was hit with a blunt instrument and thrown over a fence into the grounds of an electricity substation. She was then raped.
Lynne was still alive when she was found by a local school caretaker whose house overlooked the sub-station. She never regained consciousness and died a week later in hospital on 10 September 1975.
Lynne Weedon
The cause of death was a single blow to the head which caused a skull fracture. The weapon was never recovered.
In 2004 officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Murder Review Group re-examined Lynne’s case and recovered a DNA profile. Further checks revealed a match to a DNA profile linked to Eve’s murder.
A £40,000 reward is on offer for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.
On the 40th anniversary of the murder, investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh, from the Homicide and Major Crime Command, made a direct appeal for the killer to come forward.
He said: “I firmly believe there is someone out there who has information about who carried out these murders. It is 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. The families of Eve and Lynne had spent decades not knowing who brutally killed their loved ones and they surely deserve some answers.
“The man who carried out these murders is now of a different, older generation. I would imagine he must have reflected upon his actions every day over the past 40 years.
“Does he feel guilt, remorse, a need to explain what happened? Sadly Eve’s parents have passed away but this man has a chance to bring peace to Lynne’s mother and father, now in their 80s.
“I am directly appealing to that person to come forward and speak to us and make things right for the sake of the families affected.
“One phone call to the incident room could be all that it takes to bring two bereaved families closer to some closure or justice.
“I urge you to examine your conscience and if you are wavering on making that call, think of Eve’s family who have now passed away and Lynne’s parents who are in their 80s and have endured 40 dreadful years not knowing who murdered their daughter. Perhaps the person who killed Lynne and Eve confided in you? Please do not keep their secret for a day longer and come forward.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room on 020 8785 8099 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
1975 seems so long ago and it is. We have missed out on so much; she missed out on life, no relationship or marriage, no career or children or even just travelling the world, all taken from her. We are left wondering what it would have been like. A true life sentence.
We are well aware that whoever murdered Lynne also murdered Eve Stratford. That young lady also had her life snubbed out. Her family have died now. Another true life sentence. The hurt eases but the pain still sits deep somewhere inside. There are so many questions. So many thoughts. So much heartache.
I will make a mother’s plea for anyone who can tell us some information about the person who took my daughter and Eve Stratford’s lives to come forward. Please, please give us some sort of closure.
Lynne’s mother Margaret Weedon, speaking in March 2015
The murder of 21-year-old model and club hostess Eve Stratford in 1975 remains unsolved but has been linked to the killing of a schoolgirl six months later.
Eve, who worked as a ‘bunny girl’ cocktail waitress at the Playboy Club in Mayfair, was found at her first-floor flat in Lyndhurst Drive, Leyton.
She was last seen by a witness walking alone through the snow near her home at around 3.58pm on 18 March 1975.
Eve Stratford
Half an hour later another resident of the building heard the voices of a man and woman in conversation followed by a loud thud noise coming from her flat.
Her body was found in her bedroom by her boyfriend Tony Priest when he returned home from work at around 5.25pm. Her throat had been cut between eight and 12 times and she had a nylon stocking tied round one ankle and a scarf round her hands.
A post-mortem examination held at Walthamstow mortuary gave cause of death as knife wounds to the throat.
There was no sign of forced entry to the flat and no weapon was ever recovered.
The case was investigated by Leyton CID but nobody was ever charged and the inquiry was wound down after a year.
However a review of the case in 2004 led to the recovery of a DNA profile from Eve’s clothing.
In July 2006 this profile was linked to the DNA profile of the unidentified killer of 16 year-old Lynne Weedon in Hounslow on 10 September 1975.
Both cases were featured in a public appeal on BBC’s Crimewatch programme in 2007.
In a renewed appeal in 2015, investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh said: “I firmly believe there is someone out there who has information about who carried out these murders.
“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.
“The families of Eve and Lynne had spent decades not knowing who brutally killed their loved ones and they surely deserve some answers.”
Detectives said in 2015 that they believed the suspect for both murders may have known Eve, who had a huge circle of friends and acquaintances and had appeared as a centre-fold model in Mayfair magazine shortly before her death.
The man who carried out these murders is now of a different, older generation. I would imagine he must have reflected upon his actions every day over the past 40 years. Does he feel guilt, remorse, a need to explain what happened? I am directly appealing to that person to come forward and speak to us and make things right for the sake of the families affected.
DCI Noel McHugh, speaking in 2015
Police also reportedly investigated possible links to the murder of Lynda Farrow, who also had her throat cut in her own home, in Woodford Green, east London, on 19 January 1975, but no DNA was recovered from that case.
Amala Ruth De Vere Whelan, 22, was found dead at her home in Maida Vale, west London, on 16 November 1972.
She had been raped, beaten and strangled with a stocking.
There was no sign of forced entry at the flat at 61 Randoph Avenue and the word ‘ripper’ had been sprayed on to the wall of the front room with detergent from a bottle of washing up liquid.
Detectives believed she either knew her attacker or let him into the flat, but no suspect was identified and the case remains unsolved.
Amala had worked and lived at The Bar Lotus on Regents Park Road in Camden before moving to the Randolph Avenue flat about three weeks before her death.
She was an active member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and had a wide circle of friends, including many in the art world.
Amala Whelan
The original appeal poster stated that she was last seen alive at 10.30pm on 12 November 1972 at the Warrington Public House in Sutherland Avenue, Maida Vale.
She was described as 5ft 5 inches tall with long brown hair and wearing a purple coat and multi-coloured long dress.
In January 2017 a new appeal for information was launched by Detective Inspector Susan Stansfield, from the Met’s Special Casework Investigation Team at the Homicide and Major Crime Command.
She said: “I am convinced that someone, somewhere, knows the circumstances of her brutal murder. It was a long time ago but I’m sure there are people in the local area who remember Amala’s murder.
“Did you live in the vicinity of Randolph Avenue in the early 1970s? Did you see or hear anything suspicious on 12 November 1972?
“Amala suffered a brutal death and the identity of the suspect has remained a mystery. She was a very popular and attractive female who had a wide social network of friends.
“If you have any information, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, please come forward. Maybe you didn’t contact police at the time as you were too scared, but with the passage of time now feel able to tell us what you know in confidence.”
Police said they were keen to trace friends and relatives of Amala. At the time of her death, Amala had a younger sister aged around 12.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 020 7230 4294 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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