This is another update on the John Riley murder at Oakwood, Leeds on 27/28th (Fri/Sat) October 1978.
I have made further enquiries and sort information from former colleagues about the murder. I also spent another fruitless afternoon at the Leeds Reference Library searching through the 1979 editions of the Yorkshire Evening Post and Yorkshire Post for any information about the trial, the motives for the murder and details of the sentencing.
I found that the two suspects were Colin Stuart Huckerby and Mark Gerrard Grasby. I do not know exactly when, where or how they came to be arrested but their apprehension was very quick (within 24 hours).
Paul Briggs (deceased) was the Detective Inspector at Chapeltown Police Station at the time of the murder and it is probably the reason for him charging the suspects. I was unable to identify any other investigating officers.
The motive for the murder was very likely a case of homophobia, or as it was called in those days ‘Queer Bashing’.
The Oakwood toilets were situated about 50 yards from Oakwood Clock. Apparently Oakwood Clock was a meeting point for the youth of the day to congregate as it was a focal point and had seating all around the clock tower. Huckerby and Grasby were aged 20 years and 21 years in 1978 and I thought, personally, that they were a bit old to be congregating with youths. As previously mentioned, I have no idea why John Riley went to Oakwood toilets after a nights drinking in the Nag’s Head Pub at Chapel Allerton and I have no idea about the confrontation with the suspects.
Apparently, Huckerby was well known in the Chapel Allerton area, having attended Chapeltown (now Chapel Allerton) Primary School and Roundhay High School and he was the stronger character of the two suspects.
I sent off for information and details of the Leeds Crown Court convictions from the Coroner’s Office, the National Archives, the West Yorkshire Archives and the West Yorkshire Police. I also did a lot of research on the local Facebook sites.
As I mentioned, weeks ago, when there was a query over the death being registered twice - in October 1978 and July 1979, I thought that it was likely that the second registration followed a criminal trial.
Because most records have been destroyed or are unavailable, the most useful information that I got was from the Coroner’s Office. It stated that one person was convicted of murder and received a sentence of life imprisonment and the other person was convicted of manslaughter and received 6 years imprisonment. The Coroner’s Office could not provide me with any names. I was told that the conviction date would probably have been in July 1979 but this has not been confirmed (I think that it could possibly have been in late June).
I have spoken to former colleagues and I learned that both defendants were to plead ‘not guilty’ to the murder charge at Crown Court. I also learned that there must have been some ‘plea bargaining’ going on during the trial and, in the end, Grasby gave evidence against Huckerby, and his plea to manslaughter was accepted. Therefore, Huckerby got the life imprisonment sentence for murder and Grasby got the 6 years imprisonment sentence for manslaughter.
As mentioned, I have tried to verify this information by searching the newspapers but, to date, without success. I might try again in the future but it is soul destroying and very time consuming using the ’slow’ equipment at the Reference Library (I have considered trying the British Library at Boston Spa).
Because the murder involved local people - the deceased and the suspects, and was detected very quickly, details may not have appeared in the National Press but only in the local newspapers on 28th (Sat) and 30th (Mon) October 1978, as previously mentioned. Again, I am surprised that details of the trial and convictions, around July 1979, do not appear to have been mentioned in the National Press because of the seriousness and nature of the case.
At that time, I knew two elderly brothers who were Crime Reporters for the Yorkshire Evening Post and the Yorkshire Post called Billy and Tony Hunter. I knew them quite well professionally and socially and I would be very surprised if they had not reported on the murder trial as they spent much of their time sitting in on cases at Leeds Magistrates and Leeds Crown Courts.
As far as I am aware, both Huckerby and Grasby still live locally, one in North Leeds and one not far away in North Yorkshire.
This topic was raised on Secret Leeds before, in 2015, and there are some photographs of the area and the toilets:
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