Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

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volvojack
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by volvojack »

I lived in the Barkleys and my friend and i went down to the Portakabin near the bottom of Dewsbury Road and when they took mine they immediately destroyed them but my pal Harry who only had very small fingers they seemed to take a slightly longer to do the same.

jma
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by jma »

My late brother was in Dewsbury Road CID then and as one of the fingerprinting team undertaking what was in those days a newsworthy operation, the Times newspaper illustrated its report with a pic of him taking somebody's prints.

A couple of years before this murder when I was in Plain Clothes at Dewsbury Road I investigated some allegations involving violence at what was then Parkside School IIRC and which I think is now Cockburn ie in the Southleighs behind what was once the Rex cinema. After nearly fifty years my memory is a bit vague but those involved were cautioned by what was then the newly-formed Juvenile Bureau. Some of the people involved were later involved with this crime.

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tyke bhoy
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by tyke bhoy »

Yes it was Parkside and is now Cockburn for JMA's benefit.
living a stones throw from the Leeds MDC border at Lofthousehttp://tykebhoy.wordpress.com/

JanG
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by JanG »

Gosh. I was only talking about this to a friend a couple of weeks ago. I was at Hugh Gaitskell school and remember the police taking over the dining hall to interview all the kids (in pairs). My friend was aghast that parents weren't up in arms about this, but as I recall it was because so many kids in the area used to go to her shop that it was thought we might have seen something. The thing I remember most about her was that she always gave a bag with a few penny sweets for your birthday so she was always popular. We moved away from Beeston in 1977 and so I wasn't aware of subsequent news, besides parents had a nasty habit of not talking about such things in front of their children. Jan.

volvojack
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by volvojack »

Quite a few of my pals who lived in Beeston were Postmen and usually knew all the local news and gossip but they did not have a clue even though most of them knew the old lady. BUT they did know all about the little shop near by "Books 'n Belts, a Sex shop where everything was delivered in plain wrapping, that certainly caused a stir at the time.
(Apologise forgoing off subject)

iansmithofotley
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by iansmithofotley »

Hi Jack,

In the late 1960's/early 1970's, I was once involved in raiding the shop for selling 'obscene publications'. The shop owner was prosecuted for selling obscene material 'under the counter'. After the court case, an order was made for all of the obscene material to be confiscated and destroyed. I remember taking all of the seized items to the Leeds City Council Destructor, at the bottom of Armley Road, and burning everything.

When we raided the place, there was a sign outside, on a table full of hardback and softback books. The sign originally read 'Dirty Books' but had been altered to read 'Old Books'. It was quite funny to see, at the time.

Ian

Leodislion
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by Leodislion »

jma wrote:
Sun 05 May, 2019 11:32 am
My late brother was in Dewsbury Road CID then and as one of the fingerprinting team undertaking what was in those days a newsworthy operation, the Times newspaper illustrated its report with a pic of him taking somebody's prints.

A couple of years before this murder when I was in Plain Clothes at Dewsbury Road I investigated some allegations involving violence at what was then Parkside School IIRC and which I think is now Cockburn ie in the Southleighs behind what was once the Rex cinema. After nearly fifty years my memory is a bit vague but those involved were cautioned by what was then the newly-formed Juvenile Bureau. Some of the people involved were later involved with this crime.
Hi are you still around as im making a documentary abkut this

Leodislion
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Joined: Tue 18 May, 2021 5:18 am

Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by Leodislion »

Hi. Can you send me an email to leodiselectrical@gmail as i would lobmve to talk to you for my upcoming documentary on this subject

jma
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by jma »

Hello

It's a "No" I'm afraid.

Although I was a detective constable at the time of the murder, I remained on sub-divisional cover elsewhere and I don't really know anymore about the murder than was published in the media. It did attract national publicity because of the extent of the elimination fingerprinting and there was a prominent picture in The Times newspaper of my late brother taking a set of elimination prints.

That elimination fingerprinting was based on the likelihood that those responsible lived locally and I think that turned out to be the case, but it was initially evaded by somebody else giving their own fingerprints twice. As all the elimination fingerprints were immediately destroyed when they had been compared and eliminated, this deception went undetected. I think the murder was detected sometime later when the person who was eventually convicted was arrested for an entirely different matter, their fingerprints were routinely taken and they matched those from the murder scene.

A couple of years before this murder was committed I was a member of Dewsbury Road Plain Clothes Department (not the same as the CID) and when the details of the murder and the aftermath became public I realised that I had dealt with some of those involved. That's now fifty years ago and I don't remember much more. I think one of those I had dealt with was the person who was reported to have given their fingerprints twice.

jma
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Re: Murder in Beeston, ca. 1974?

Post by jma »

There's an echo of this case in the current decision to release Colin Pitchfork on parole. Nothing directly to connect it with the Beeston case but the investigators had DNA evidence and conducted a mass screening of men living in the area. In an attempt to prevent ringers giving specimens, the Leicestershire Police checked ID so Pitchfork is reported to have put somebody else's picture in his passport so they could impersonate him. All went well till either he or his saviour was overheard bragging about what they'd done.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-l ... e-57384393

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