List of Unsolved Murders in The United Kingdom - 1990s

1990s

Year Name of victim(s) Location body found Notes
June 1990 Leonard Gomm Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire Mr Gomm, 75, was a taxi driver found stabbed to death in the village of Hampden Gay, near Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire, at 10.50am on 13 June 1990. His Ford Granada taxi was found five yards away. Mr Gomm had radioed his employers four hours earlier (at about 6.35am) telling them he was taking a passenger to Bicester. Police believe he picked up the fare from Gloucester Green, Oxford at 6.15am. Two witnesses saw the victim driving his taxi with a passenger at around this time. No money or valuables had been taken from Mr Gomm or his taxi leaving the motive as to his murder a mystery. On the 20th anniversary of the murder, Thames Valley Police reported the uncovering of new forensic evidence which could shed light on the motive.
December 1990 Steve Johnson Mow Cop, Staffordshire On 22 December, insurance salesman and part-time taxi driver Johnson was last sighted at 3.30am collecting a fare in Hanley bound for Packmoor. His body was discovered by a dog walker four hours later with his throat cut 20 yards from his taxi.
1991 Penny Bell Perivale, London Body found in a car in Gurnell Grove Leisure Centre car park. The victim was a 43-year-old businesswoman and mother of two, who was stabbed 50 times as she sat behind the wheel of her car.
1991 Sandy Drummond Fife, Scotland Reclusive Drummond, 33, was found dead on a farm track close to the home he shared with his brother, an isolated cottage in St. Andrews, Fife, on 24 June 1991. Just days prior to his death, Drummond had withdrawn large amounts of cash from his accounts, although the money was later found in the house. He had also resigned from his job three days before his death. On the day itself, he was seen running from his house to fields opposite carrying a blue sports bag which has never been found. At 2.30pm, a man was seen on a bus near to Drummond's cottage with a blood stained bandage wrapped around his hand. This man was never traced. Several occasions before Drummond's death (and twice on the actual day), an orange Morris Marina was seen parked outside the cottage, but it is still unknown who owned this car or who visited him. Drummond's death was originally ruled as natural, but forensics later revealed he had injuries to his neck.
1991 Bolney Torso victim Bolney, Sussex In October 1991, the body of an unidentified man was discovered with its head and hands missing in woodland off Broxmead Lane in Bolney, Sussex. His head and hands had been removed to mask his identity. He was never identified and buried at Haywards Heath cemetery in 1994. In March 2009 police exhumed the body and gave a revised description of the man. He was between 5 ft 6 and 5 ft 8, aged possibly in 30s but believed to be as old as 45 and well built. They have issued pictures of his clothing, including a light-blue shirt, with a distinctive motif on its pocket. At the time of the crime, police said they were seeking the driver of a grey estate car who had been seen in the area shortly before the body was found. He was described as "Scandinavian looking" and in his 30s.
1991 Nicola Payne Coventry, West Midlands Nicola Payne, aged 18, went missing from the Wood End area on 14 December 1991. She was on her way to her parents' house from her home in Winston Avenue. She had a six-month-old son at the time of her disappearance. In June 2012 police began a search of parkland after being given new information. On 20 June 2012 two men were arrested by the police but later released.
October 1992 Nikki Allan Sunderland Seven year old Nikki Allan was battered to death in the then derelict Exchange Building. George Heron, 24, a neighbour was subsequently charged with the murder. However at his trial the case collapsed as it was deemed that his confession had been gained by coercion. In 2006 police confirmed that the Nikki Allan murder was being reinvestigated by a "cold case" review team based at Northumbria police headquarters.
November 1992 Natalie Pearman Norwich, Norfolk 16 year-old Natalie was strangled and her body dumped in woodland at Ringland Hills, on the edge of Norwich. At around 3.45am on 20 November, a lorry driver taking a short cut through Ringland Hills spotted Natalie’s body in a layby. New calls and emails about the case were received in November 2012.
December 1992 Johanna Young Watton, Norfolk On 23 December 14-year-old Johanna left her home in Merton Road, Watton, at around 7.30pm and was seen outside her local fish and chip shop half an hour later. The alarm was raised the following morning when she failed to turn up for her paper round and, on Boxing Day, her body was found in a freezing pond near her home and clothes and shoes discarded nearby.
18 January 1993 Claire Tiltman Greenhithe, Kent 16-year-old Claire took a short cut down an alleyway on her way to meet a friend. Just 100 steps from the safety of a busy main road, she was stabbed 40 times in an apparently random attack.
1993 Peter Stone Cottenham, Cambridgeshire Postman Peter Stone of Cottenham, a father of 2, was attacked near the Chequer's pub where he had been drinking on a Saturday night. He was found with serious head injuries in the early hours of the following morning. Mr Stone was taken to Addenbrooke's hospital where he died.
1993 Jean Bradley Acton, London Stabbed to death in Carbery Avenue. Victim was a 47-year-old businesswoman. A man was charged, but due to a lack of evidence the case was dropped.
1993 Karen Hales Ipswich, Suffolk Young mother Karen Hales was murdered in her own home in front of her young daughter. Karen, aged 21, was stabbed and her body set on fire during a vicious attack at her home in Lavenham Road, Ipswich, on Sunday 21 November 1993.
1993 Doris Shelley Martlesham, Suffolk Pensioner Doris Shelley died after she was attacked in her own home at Martlesham, near Woodbridge on 11 February 1993.
1993 Harry and Megan Tooze Llanharry, South Wales Shot at point blank range in their home at Ty Ar y Waun Farm. Jonathan Jones, the boyfriend of their daughter Cheryl was convicted of their murder, but the verdict was quickly overturned on appeal. Since then South Wales Police have made several attempts to solve the murder, but no further arrests have been made.
1994 Chris Little Stockport Shot while driving his car. Arran Coghlan was charged but cleared; the next decade Coghlan went on to be charged and cleared in two other murders and with cocaine smuggling.
1994 Lindsay Jo Rimer Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire Teenager, Lindsay Jo Rimer, lived with her parents at Cambridge Street, Hebden Bridge. She was a pupil at Calder High School. At around 10pm on 7 November 1994 she left home to visit the local Spar Supermarket in Crown Street, Hebden Bridge, to buy cornflakes. On the way to the shop she visited the Trades Club in Holme Street. According to CCTV footage in the supermarket Lindsay paid for the cornflakes at 10.22pm. Five months later on 12 April 1995, her body was recovered from the Rochdale Canal, approximately one mile upstream from Hebden Bridge town centre.
1994 Tracy Mertens Eaton, Macclesfield, Cheshire Aged 31, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, died 24 hours after being left on the steps of a church by her killers, who abducted her when she returned to pick up belongings from her former home in Nechells, Birmingham. She suffered horrific burns and was found by a man who heard her cries as he walked past the churchyard on 23 December 1994. It was a bitterly cold evening but her clothes were still smouldering. A petrol can was found nearby. Mertens was taken to hospital but died in the early hours of Christmas Eve.
1994 Dr Michael Meenaghan (Spike) Blackbird Leys, Oxford A lecturer at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University, Dr Meenaghan, 35, was shot at about 4.30pm at his end-terrace home on the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford. Police called it an apparently motiveless attack. He was shot through the kitchen window of his home at 4.30pm on 10 December by person or persons unknown.
1995 Janet Brown Hall Farm, Spriggs Holly Lane, between Radnage and Chinnor, Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border Aged 51, a mother of three who worked as a nurse in Oxford, was found gagged and handcuffed at her home.
1995 Ian Stewart Grant Cambridge Ian Grant was a night club doorman working in Cambridge. He was shot dead on some waste ground near Fulborne Hospital in November 1995.
1996 Alan Holmes Camden Found fully clothed and tied face-down to his bed by police on 4 January after being there for ten days; he died in hospital the next day. Several people had used his bank cards to steal £1,000.
1996 David Spencer & Patrick Warren Chelmsley Wood, West Midlands 13-year-old David Spencer and 11-year-old Patrick Warren went missing on Boxing Day 1996 after going out to play on Warren's new bike. In the afternoon, the boys went ice skating with a group of friends on Meriden Lake. At 3.40pm, a policeman warned them off. They went to a friend's house and eventually returned to Spencer's house at 11.30pm, but did not stay long. They said they were going to stay at Warren's brother's flat, but they never arrived. They were last seen at 12.30am scrounging for biscuits in a petrol station. The bike was found behind the petrol station. They were reported missing at 4am. No bodies have ever been found.
1996 Melanie Hall Bristol Melanie Hall, a 25-year-old psychology graduate from Bradford Leigh, Wiltshire, disappeared in June 1996 after a night out in Bath. Her remains were found on a motorway slip road near Bristol in 2009.
1996 Damien Nettles Isle of Wight The 16-year-old vanished in Cowes. The disappearance remains under investigation as murder and in 2011 several men were arrested and released on bail.
1996 Richard Watson East Grinstead, Sussex On the evening of 10 December, business tychoon Richard Watson was shot dead by an unknown gunman as he arrived home. Charges were brought against the victim's wife and stepdaughter, but these were eventually dropped. (Sussex Police later apologised to the two women and acknowledged their total innocence.) Another suspect has since been identified, but no charges have yet been brought.
1997 Patricia Grainger Sheffield, South Yorkshire Mother aged 25, murdered and dumped in a brook close to woodlands.
1997 Billie-Jo Jenkins Hastings, East Sussex Foster father Sion Jenkins was originally convicted of murder in 1998. This conviction was quashed in 2004 and a retrial was ordered. The first retrial in 2005 and a second retrial in 2006 both ended when the juries were unable to reach a verdict. Jenkins was formally acquitted.
1997 Kate Bushell Exeter, Devon Schoolgirl Kate Bushell was murdered as she walked a neighbour's dog a short distance from her home in Exwick, on the outskirts of Exeter. Bushell, aged 14, set off from her home in Burrator Drive, at 4.30pm on 15 November 1997. When she failed to come home, her parents called the police. A search located her body in a field next to Exwick Lane at 7.35pm that evening. She had been brutally murdered.
1998 Elsie Viva Freeman Cambridge The body of Elsie Viva Freeman was discovered on her bed at her home address at Mill Road, Impington at about 1212hrs on Saturday 7 March 1998 by a member of the family.
1998 Julia Webb Sandiway near Northwich, Cheshire Housewife Julia Webb, 52, was battered with a blunt instrument while walking her dog near her home in Sandiway on 22 July 1998.
1998 Lyn Bryant Truro, Cornwall Lyn Bryant was murdered as she was walking her dog along a country lane at Ruan High Lanes near Truro in Cornwall on 20 October 1998. Her body was found at 2.40pm. She had been stabbed several times.
1998 Surjit Singh Chhokar Overtown, North Lanarkshire Chhokar was fatally stabbed in November 1998. Prosecutions were brought, but no convictions secured. Allegations of "institutional racism" were made after inquiries. As of August 2012 Strathclyde Police are reinvestigating the case in the light of legal reforms meaning those previously cleared could be tried again.
1998 Saul Nahome Finchley, London Nahome was shot at his home several times in the back; upon collapsing, he was shot again in the head. The case is believed to be linked to the disappearance earlier in 1998 of business associate Gilbert Wynter.
1999 David Scott London Scott, 30, was stabbed to death in a Tottenham underpass. In 2012 prosecutors dropped a case against Kwame Appiah for the murder on the basis of scientific evidence.
1999 David Barnshaw Stockport The 32-year-old drug dealer was abducted and forced to drink petrol. He died in a burning car on 20 September 1999. Arran Coghlan - previously cleared of the murder of Chris Little - was prosecuted but cleared after it emerged the prosecution held undisclosed evidence concerning another possible suspect. Coghlan went on to be charged and cleared with a third count of murder and cocaine smuggling.
1999 Vicky Hall Trimley St Mary, Suffolk Seventeen-year-old Victoria (Vicky) Hall went missing at about 2.30am on Sunday, 19 September 1999, as she walked towards her home in Faulkeners Way, Trimley St Mary. Vicky’s body was found, about 25 miles away, in a stream near Creeting St Peter (near Stowmarket) at 7.30pm on Friday, 24 September 1999.
1999 Jill Dando Fulham, London On the morning of 26 April 1999, Dando left the home of her fiancé, Dr. Alan Farthing, and returned to her house in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, West London. As she reached her front door at about 11:30, she was shot once in the head. Her body was discovered shortly afterwards by a friend, local resident Helen Doble, and she was taken to the nearby Charing Cross Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival at 13:03 BST. After a huge amount of press coverage and a 13 month investigation police arrested Barry George, a convicted sex offender, for her murder. Originally convicted on 2 July 2001 to life imprisonment George appealed the conviction in November 2007. Following an eight week hearing he was acquitted on 1 August 2008.

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