The Outlines Podcast: UK True Crime

On Sunday December the 19th 1948, the body of a man was discovered in the shadow of Sopwell Nunnery in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He had been savagely beaten and left without his trousers or jacket. An extensive police investigation yielded plenty of sightings of the man, and of potential suspects and yet no one was ever caught and the case remains unsolved. 

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SOURCES USED

https://www.mynewsmag.co.uk/crime-chronicles-story-of-a-man-who-was-brutally-murdered-in-1940s-st-albans/ 22nd Octover 2023

https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/22340468.tragic-brutal-unsolved-murder-stephen-varley/ 14th June 2022

www.ancestry.co.uk 

https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-77433

Tuesday 21st December 1948, Daily Herald, pg 1

Tuesday 21st December 1948, Daily News, pg 1

Wednesday 22nd December 1948, Torbay Express and South Devon Echo, pg 1

Wednesday 22nd December 1948, Dundee Courier, pg 3

Thursday 23rd December 1948, Torbay Express and South Devon Echo, pg 1

Thursday 23rd December 1948, Daily Herald, pg 1

Friday 24th December 1948, Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, pg 1

Tuesday 28th December 1948, Nottingham Journal, pg 1

Friday 14th January 1949, Shields Daily News, pg 12

Wednesday 16th February 1949, Coventry Evening Telegraph, pg 9 

https://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/visit/sopwell-ruins

Various articles:

Herts Advertiser & St Albans Times

Watford Observer 

This is the second part of my look into the death of 15 year old Yvonne Laker, who was found with her throat slit in a train toilet on June 29th 1964. Today’s episode looks at the life, trial, and death of Derek Pye, the man accused and later acquitted of Yvonne’s murder. 

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On the 29th of June 1964, fifteen year old Yvonne Laker was murdered as she travelled home from her grandparents, with whom she had been staying for the weekend. Despite the case receiving nationwide coverage at the time, 60 years on, Yvonne and the mystery of who was responsible for her death has been almost forgotten.

PATREON www.patreon.com/theoutlinespodcast

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SOURCES

• https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/yvonne-laker-the-15-year-old-school-girl-fo- und-nachrichtenfoto/807545512

• https://imsvintagephotos.com/products/yvonne-laker-murder-vintage-photograph-1604449 

• https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/2205806.brutal-railway-murder-that-shocked-a-nation/ 17th April 2008

• Great Train Crimes: Murder and Robbery on the Railways, Oates, Jonathan

• https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/issue/straitstimes19640702-1 

Wednesday 1st July 1964, Coventry Evening Telegraph, pg 1

Wednesday 1st July 1964, Birmingham Evening Post, pg 17

Friday 3rd July 1964, Nottingham Guardian, pg 1

Friday 3rd July 1964, Liverpool Echo, pg 13

Friday 3rd July 1964, Nottingham Evening Post, pg 1

Monday 6th June 1964, Daily Herald, pg 5

Wednesday 8th July 1964, Daily Herald, pg 1

Wednesday 8th July 1964, Liverpool Echo, pg 23

Thursday 9th July 1964, Birmingham Daily Post, pg 29

Monday 14th September 1964, Staffordshire Sentinel, pg 1

Monday 14th September 1964, Gloucester Citizen, pg 6

Tuesday 15th September 1964, Birmingham Daily Post, pg 11

Tuesday 15th September 1964, Leicester Daily Mercury, pg 13

Wednesday 16th September 1964, Daily Mirror, pg 26

Thursday 17th September 1964, Nottingham Guardian, pg 6

Friday 18th September 1964, Nottingham Guardian, pg 5

Friday 27th November 1964, Daily Mirror, pg 8

Friday 27th November 1964, Nottingham Evening Post, pg 1

Wednesday 2nd December 1964, Birmingham Daily Post, pg 1

Wednesday 2nd December 1964, Western Daily Press, pg 1

Friday 4th December 1964, Aldershot News, pg 20 

Wednesday 10th March 1965, Daily Mirror, pg 2

Thursday 24th August 1967, Reading Evening Post, pg 2

Thursday 9th November 1967, Reading Evening Post, pg 6

Friday 27th November 1970, Reading Evening Post, pg 4

At around 6pm on Thursday the 14th of November 1996, 47 year old Vera Holland from Shinfield in Berkshire disappeared during what should have been a five minute walk to the local KFC. Two days later, her body was found dumped in a fly tip by the side of road. She had been beaten, strangled, and finally, in a bid to dispose of her body, set fire to. 28 years later, who killed Vera Holland, still remains a mystery. 

SUPPORT THE SHOW

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Sources Used

https://youtu.be/474cJNOjQjk?si=6U9xvuRp2I8me4yT

Monday 18th November 1996,  Reading Evening Post, pg 1

Wednesday 20th November 1996,  Reading Evening Post, pg 3

Thursday 21st November 1996, Reading Evening Post, pg 1&3 

Friday 22nd November 1996,  Reading Evening Post, pg 7

Monday 25th November 1996,  Reading Evening Post, pg 1&3 

Tuesday 17th December 1996, Reading Evening Post

Thursday 19th December 1996, Reading Evening Post, pg 3

Tuesday 4th February 1997, Reading Evening Post, pg 1

13th February 1997, Reading Evening Post

Wednesday 24th February 1997, Reading Evening Post, pg 3

Thursday 25th February 1997, Reading Evening Post pg 1 & 3

Wednesday 12th March 1997, Reading Evening Post, pg 3

Monday 23rd June 1997, Reading Evening Post, pg 3

Wednesday 23rd July 1997, Reading Evening Post, pg 5

Friday 17th October 1997, Reading Evening Post, pg 1&3

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/14882976.vera-holland-was-found-dead-20-years-ago/ 

https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/14908226.vera-holland-murder-police-review-case-into-callous-killing-of-mum-in-1996/ 

https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/14908226.vera-holland-murder-police-review-case-into-callous-killing-of-mum-in-1996/ 

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/people-come-forward-information-20-12512965.amp 

This episode was first released on Patreon in January 2023. 

This is part 2 of my look into the 1993 murder of David Watkins. Today I look deeper into the life of the man accused of the murder, Andrew Everson, and how a 2003 change to the law made it possible for him to be retried for the crime, twenty five years after he had first been acquitted of David’s murder.

Tiernan Coyle's paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665910720300918 2nd December, 2020, Forensic Science International Reports

This episode was first released on Patreon in January 2023. I look forward to returning with some new cases soon. 

Just after 9 pm on the 14th of January 1993, 30 year old delivery driver and small time drug dealer David Watkins was shot and killed in a remote area on the outskirts of Reading. Despite a man being arrested and taken to trial, it would take 25 years before David's murderer would finally be brought to justice. 

Please enjoy this previously Patreon exclusive episode of Outlines. I'll hopefully be back properly soon. 

On the evening of the 9th of July 1982, 27 year old artist Keith Church was killed during a street knifing attack on the High Road in Hoddesdon. Hertfordshire. Despite the public nature of the incident- it occurred just meters from a police station, no one has ever been charged with Keith's murder. 

This case was previously released on Patreon in September 2022. As Patreon is on hold until after my maternity leave, if you are enjoying the bonus episodes then please consider donating via [email protected] on Paypal. I can’t stress enough how much your contributions help towards ongoing show costs at the moment. 

On March 29th 1967, 14 year old Ruth Bradbury was shot and killed while walking through woodland close to her family's countryside home near the villages of Crowthorne and Finchampstead in Berkshire. Despite evidence that the area around where she was found had been used for target practice, no one ever came forward to claim responsibility and to this day, no one knows whether it was accident or malicious intent, which saw Ruth's life cut short. 

This case was previously released on Patreon in March 2022. As Patreon is on hold until after my maternity leave, if you enjoy these bonus episodes and wish to donate you can do so by giving to [email protected] via Paypal. 

Today’s episode recounts the case of 21 year old mother Karen Hales from Ipswich in Suffolk who was repeatedly stabbed and then set on fire in front of her 18 month old daughter sometime around 4:30pm on Sunday November 21st 1993. Despite anniversary appeals and continued media interest in Karen’s case, there have been few suspects and police have remained unable to answer the question: who would want to kill a woman with no known enemies?

Today's episode was previously released on Patreon in July 2022. As Patreon is on hold until after my maternity leave, if you enjoy these bonus episodes and wish to donate you can do so by giving to [email protected] via Paypal. 

Today's episode is part 3 of 3. In the early hours of September 23rd, the body of a woman in her twenties was discovered in the dunes of Great Yarmouth's South Beach. Initially known as Mrs Hood, the woman had been staying with her young daughter at a local boarding house. Subsequent investigations however, revealed that Mrs Hood was not who she seemed to be. But who was she really? And what part did a man named Herbert John Bennett, who would later be hanged for the crime, have to do with her murder?

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