Murder

Tamil Nadu Police have launched a high-level investigation, headed by an officer of additional director general rank, into the role of seven constables from the 8th battalion of the state’s Special Police (TNSP) in the recent murder of gangster Tillu Tajpuriya in Tihar jail’s high-risk ward. The move is aimed at preserving the credibility and remarkable track record of the TNSP in maintaining security at Tihar, top officials said.

One of the highest-profile cold cases in Canadian history has finally been solved after nearly 50 years.

On Tuesday, cops said they have finally linked the 1975 rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl to a West Virginia man who died more than 40 years ago.

Police in Longueuil, Quebec, said that DNA evidence allows them to be 100 per cent certain that Franklin Maywood Romine murdered teenager Sharron Prior in the Montreal suburb.

The body of Romine, who was born in 1946 in West Virginia’s second largest city of Huntington and died in 1982 at the age of 36 in Verdun, Montreal under mysterious circumstances, was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery in early May for DNA testing intended to confirm his link to the crime.

Longueuil police say the DNA of Romine – who had a long criminal history – matches a sample found at the murder scene. He also matched a witness’ physical description of the suspect.

The rape and killing of Prior had gone unsolved since she disappeared on March 29, 1975, after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlor near her home in Montreal’s Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood.

Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, on Montreal’s South Shore.

Law enforcement investigated more than 100 suspects over the years, but never made any arrests. Yvonne Prior, the teenager’s mother, is now in her 80s, still lives in Canada, and has spent her life searching for her daughter’s killer.

Romine’s name didn’t come up in investigation until last year, according to WCHS-TV of Charleston, West Virginia.

When Longueuil police said started looking through criminal records, they found an extensive history of violence and attempts by Romine to evade law enforcement by moving between West Virginia and Canada.

Romine first attempted escape from the West Virginia Penitentiary in 1964 and later escaped in 1967, according to records obtained by WCHS. Two years later, Romine already had a Canadian rap sheet.

In 1974, he was arrested for breaking into a house and raping a woman in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

He was released on a $2,500 bond two months later and fled to Canada, according to an Associated Press story from the time.

Just months after Prior’s murder in 1975, Romine was captured by Canadian border officials and extradited back to West Virginia, where he was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison for sexual assault in the Parkersburg case.

He died in Canada in 1982, shortly after his release, although officials say they haven’t been able to find a death certificate detailing the circumstances that lead to his death.

His body was returned to his mother in West Virginia, where his family buried him in the Putnam County, West Virginia Pine Grove Cemetery.

When Romine was exhumed last month, local prosecutor Mark Sorsaia called the crime against Prior “the most evil element in the human race.”

“It’s a combination of the most evil element in the human race, contacting the most innocent element in the human race – a child,” he told WCHS.

“Some things are worse than death – losing a child like that, for a family, for a mom. To know that your child died that way.”

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A ripper-style killer has been convicted of the horrific rape and murder of an escort – 30 years after he was cleared of the crime.

Lorry driver David Smith mutilated and murdered two sex workers after carrying out rape attacks on two other women.

The 66-year-old was convicted of killing Amanda Walker, 21, defiling her body and dumping it near the Royal Horticultural Gardens at Wisley, Surrey, in 1999.

Eight years before, the 6ft 3in loner who was obsessed with call girls, murdered Sarah Crump, 33, a chiropodist’s secretary who made extra money working as an escort.

He sliced open the pregnant victim down the length of her body, cut her breasts off and disembowelled her.

Smith was tried for the murder of Ms Crump in 1993 but was cleared by a jury to the horror and disbelief of the victim’s family.

He walked free to kill again – murdering sex worker Ms Walker at a notorious ‘dogging’ site – the car park of the Royal Horticultural Society.

On the night of the killing he had been to an orgy at a brothel in Ilford.

The party featured a ‘love dungeon’ complete with all the instruments of sexual torture.

Smith went into a steam room with a woman – but left without having intercourse and drove to Wisley where he would murder Ms Walker in 1999.

He was convicted of murdering Ms Walker by an Old Bailey jury later that year and bragged to a cellmate that he had murdered Ms Crump – and got away with it.

Smith stood trial again for the murder of Ms Crump and today at Inner London crown court he was unanimously convicted of the crime he should have been jailed for 30 years ago.

The tattooed killer, who appeared in the dock wearing tinted sunglasses, showed no emotion as the verdict was announced after two hours and 35 minutes of deliberations.

Ms Crump’s two sisters and niece burst into tears of joy in the public gallery.

Smith will return for sentence on May 26.

He was cleared of murdering Ms Crump by an Old Bailey jury in 1993 after his barrister argued that the real killer had left his fingerprints on the bedroom door handle and on the drawer under her bed.

But those fingerprints have now been identified as belonging to the previous owner of the flat.

Six years later Smith bragged to a cellmate about killing Ms Crump and the Court of Appeal finally ordered that he could stand trial a second time for the killing, despite his earlier acquittal.

William Boyce, KC, prosecuting, said there ‘new and compelling evidence’ against the ripper.

Smith, then aged 34, lived with his parents in Hampton, Middlesex and had the week off work when he arranged to meet Ms Crump on 29 August 1991 at her home in west London.

Ms Crump had previously been a psychiatric nurse at St Bernard’s Hospital in Ealing and lived in a one-bedroom flat at 4 Joyner Court, Lady Margaret Road, Southall.

“It was in that flat that she was murdered, almost certainly in the early hours of 29 August 1991,” said Mr Boyce.

She was working as a personal secretary in the chiropody department at Wembley Hospital and left work at 2pm on August 28.

Escort agency boss Lisa Pegg spoke with her at 2am but the victim did not attend work at the Wembley Hospital the next day.

Her boyfriend Mohammed Younis reported her missing on September 1 and police found her ‘brutally mutilated’ body in the bedroom.

Mr Boyce told jurors: “During the day she worked as a secretary in the chiropody department of the hospital, but in the evenings, she worked from time to time as an escort, which involved her engaging in sexual encounters for money.

“She would receive male clients to her flat for that reason.”

Smith was someone who used escorts frequently, particularly in the days and weeks leading up to 28 August 1991.

“He developed fascinations and obsessions with some of the women he met in this way,” said Mr Boyce.

“After a series of telephone calls on 28 August 1991, the defendant went to the deceased’s home.

“It is, now, undisputed that at one stage he left the premises to withdraw some cash.

“At approximately 2am on 29 August 1991, the deceased made a final call to Lisa Pegg to say that the defendant had left.

“The conversation was unusual in that it was short and abrupt, and Ms Crump failed to follow the usual procedure for a call of that sort.

“The call was part of the safety procedures devised by the agency to ensure that nothing untoward had happened.

“It may be in this case that Sarah Crump was being forced to make that call when Mr Smith was still there. It was unusual in format, but it wasn’t picked up – tragically.

“The defendant’s significant experience of escort agencies, of course, had made him aware that of procedures of this kind were frequently adopted in these circumstances.

“This was the last occasion anyone is known to have spoken with Sarah Crump, save for the defendant.

“Smith, using the false name ‘Duncan’, was the last person known to be inside Ms Crump’s flat.

“He went there as a paying visitor, and it would follow that for such a visitor, she would have taken off her clothes and laid on the bed where she was found, naked.’

Mr Boyce added: “The murder was one part in a timeline of escalating violent and sexual offending against women by the defendant, which stretched from his teenage years in the mid-1970s, until his commission of the murder of another sex worker in 1999.

“That other murder of a woman called Amanda Walker, bore a number of similarities with the murder of Sarah Crump, not least the substantial mutilation to which the victim’s body had been subjected after death.”

A Royal Horticultural Society employee had discovered Ms Walker’s decomposing body partially covered in leaves and dead branches on 1 June 1999.

Smith was convicted of Ms Walker’s murder on 8 December 1999 by a unanimous verdict and sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge Michael Hyam at the Old Bailey.

Judge Hyam said: “Anyone who has heard what you did to that unfortunate woman must have been horrified and revolted by what you did to her.

“It is evident you killed her to satisfy your perverted sexual obsessions and your are a man without pity and without remorse.”

While serving his life sentence at HMP Highdown, Smith admitted to inmate Steven Williams that he murdered Ms Crump.

In a witness statement, Williams wrote: “I would probably see Smith twice a day during association or meal times. He would talk about S&M clubs in London, parties he used to go to and things like that.

“He said he likes to see girls in a lot of pain and tie them up. He had told me that he was responsible for another murder [other than the murder of Amanda Walker], where he said he cut a woman’s breasts off or sliced her breasts.

“He kept saying about how the blood actually came out and that it was really sexy and stuff. When he told me about this he showed me how he would cut around the breasts.

“He didn’t tell me much about this incident other than that it was about seven years ago, that he was on remand for 18 months, that he went to the Old Bailey and that he walked. He said that they got no evidence on him and that he got away with it.”

Smith was jailed for four years for raping a housewife at knifepoint in front of her two children in Hampton in 1976.

He spotted his victim fixing curtains in her living room and knocked on her door brandishing a seven-inch knife.

Smith was also accused of attempting to rape a sex worker after putting a Stanley knife to her throat in a hotel room on 18 August 1991 – eleven days before the murder of Ms Crump.

He was given a suspended sentence in 1987 for false imprisonment after he dragged a girl into his cab.

In his original police interview Smith had told police we went to see Ms Crump, who went by the name ‘Angie’, at her apartment in Southall.

Smith said she told him that she was having difficulty having children, and that she feared that her boyfriend did not love her anymore.

He told police that he only went for a massage, and did not have sex with her.

In his interview from 12 February 1992 he told detectives: ‘I had nothing to do with this murder at all’

He claimed he initially did not tell police he had been with Ms Crump because he was scared.

‘Someone murdered her and I’m getting the rap for it,’ he said.

‘I’m scared stiff, that’s why I didn’t say anything.’

Smith, of no fixed address, denied murder.

The scrapping of the 800-year-old double jeopardy law in 2005 meant Smith could be tried again for the crime, despite his acquittal by a jury 30 years ago.

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An innocent man falsely accused of schoolgirl Nikki Allan ‘s murder has spoken of how his life was ruined, on the day her real killer was finally sentenced.

The rare public statement from George Heron followed a sentencing hearing for 55-year-old David Boyd , who was convicted of the young girl’s horrific murder earlier this month.

Today at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Mrs Justice Lambert said Boyd must serve at least 29 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.

Nikki was seven-years-old on October 7, 1992, when she was savagely killed by Boyd, who stabbed her 37 times in the chest and smashed her over the head with a brick. Her body was found in the derelict Old Exchange in Sunderland’s East End building the following morning.

A Northumbria Police investigation led to the force wrongly accusing innocent Mr Heron of her murder, and he was arrested, charged and tried for the offence two years later before being cleared on the directions of the judge.

The neighbour lived in the same block of flats as Nikki’s family in the Wear Garth area of the city.

Mr Heron was subjected to oppressive questioning and denied having any involvement in the murder 120 times, during three days of interviews, before he made a ‘confession’.

The transcript of that interview is now used with police recruits to show them how not to deal with a suspect.

Mr Heron, now 56, was forced to leave his home, and eventually fled to Ireland after police said they were ‘not looking for anyone else’ in their inquiry when he was cleared at Leeds Crown Court.

Following Boyd’s sentencing, Mr Heron said: “I lost what little honour and property I had as a result of being falsely accused of Nikki Allan’s murder.

“I have had to read and hear (both online and offline) malicious lies being spread about me and my family – some of whom are now deceased and whose funerals I didn’t get a chance to attend (in some cases, I didn’t even find out about their deaths until months later).

“When I was arrested and interviewed in October 1992, my DNA was taken and has been held on record since then. The police would have been able to check it against any new developments/advances in science.

“Moving around several times and trying to rebuild what is left of my life hasn’t been easy – learning to trust anyone is difficult and I haven’t even felt that I could trust in any professional to get help. I have had to learn how to adapt on my own.

“Trusting the police has taken a long time – they still make me nervous to the point of feeling nauseous if I am alone with them.

“I don’t understand why the original officers couldn’t have admitted they made a mistake, apologised and looked at the case again – instead of having a blinkered view and not trying to put things right.

“Originally, I was angry and upset at how I was treated – to the point that I had a drink issue for years (which I have dealt with on my own). I survive because I have to – like everyone else, I would like answers as to why it took so long to find out the truth.

“Finding out about the current investigation has been difficult – so many details and negative memories; bringing up mixed emotions about what happened back in 1992 and since. I feel sadness, disgust, anger, betrayal by people I expected to tell the truth (especially the original investigating officers).

“It is really difficult to put in words what I have felt since 1992 – going from trying to look out for my family to having my life flipped upside down.

“ Nikki Allan’s murder destroyed so many people’s lives – I am just one of those people. I could be angry about being unfairly treated from day one, but this isn’t about me – it is about getting the real truth out into the open, so her family (and what is left of mine) can have some closure and finally try to move on.

“I hope that people don’t blame the present officers for the mistakes that were made in 1992/1993 – it is not their fault. It was probably as difficult for them reopening the case and they should be given credit for the work they have done trying to get it solved.”

Boyd meanwhile remained free and indecently assaulted a nine-year-old girl in a Teesside park in 1999, later confessing to his probation officer he had previously had sexual fantasies about naked “young girls”.

The Mirror told how he used seven different names in his bid to escape justice – but Nikki’s mum Sharon Henderson refused to give up. Northumbria Police’s then chief constable in 2017, Steve Ashman, met her in 2017 and gave a fresh start in the inquiry.

New DNA techniques extracted traces on Nikki’s clothing and that breakthrough ultimately led police to Boyd, but also involved more than 850 Sunderland men volunteering to give DNA samples so they could be eliminated from the inquiry.

As part of the sentencing exercise, Newcastle Crown Court heard victims’ statements from George Heron and Nikki’s campaigning mother .

It comes after police issued an apology to Mr Heron following the conviction of Nikki’s real killer.

Northumbria Police Assistant Chief Constable Alastair Simpson confirmed that he had written to say how “truly sorry” he was to Mr Heron for the “mistakes that were made”.

“I am truly sorry for the mistakes that were made during the investigation and I am sorry for the length of time it has taken to get justice for the family. I can’t imagine the impact on them over the last 30 years.”

One part of the letter states: “On behalf of Northumbria Police, I would like to apologise for the mistakes that were made in the investigation and I hope, as you express in your statement, that the conviction of Mr Boyd will finally bring closure on this matter for you and allow you to move on with your life.”

An apology was also issued to Nikki’s family for the length of time it has taken police to bring Boyd to justice.

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A children’s agency which was involved in the decision to hand Finley Boden back to his parents weeks before they murdered him has said that “everyone involved” thought the pair had changed.

The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) also said that “no-one could have predicted” Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden would murder their 10-month-old son after he returned to their care.

Little Finley fatally collapsed on Christmas Day 2020, just over a month after he returned to his parents’ home in Old Whittington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, after a Family Court ordered his return on October 1 that year.

Court documents show that Finley was ordered to be returned within eight weeks despite Derbyshire County Council asking for a four-month transition to address “some concerns” it had over Marsden and Boden’s parenting and use of cannabis.

In a statement a Cafcass spokesman said: “Our first thoughts are with those who knew Finley and especially those who loved him and are affected terribly by what happened to him.

“The details of the trial will have renewed their trauma and distress at his loss.

“On the basis of what was known at the time and during the proceedings, including the efforts of the parents to persuade everyone involved that they loved Finley and had made changes so they could care for him, Finley’s social worker and guardian agreed that he could be placed in their care.

“Everyone involved believed that Finley’s parents had made and sustained the changes necessary to care for him safely.

“There was nothing to suggest at the time that they would be capable of such cruelty, let alone murder him.”

The Cafcass guardian represents the child in Family Court hearings and makes independent assessments as to what is best for them.

A transcript of the Family Court hearing has shown Finley’s Cafcass guardian was “not satisfied that that [four-month] transition plan is in the interests of [Finley] or necessary to be drawn out for such a long period”.

Instead, they advocated the child returning to their parents within eight weeks but asked for the case to return to court after a four-month extension to ensure the council was happy with Finley’s rehabilitation.

The court had also seen evidence of Marsden and Boden clearing up their home, and decreasing their use of cannabis in the weeks prior to the hearing, with social workers reporting “positive” interactions between the pair and their son in supervised contact sessions.

The lay magistrates later ruled that an eight-week transition period was “reasonable and proportionate” to rehabilitate Finley into his parents’ care.

Speaking on Tuesday, Cafcass said the guardian felt it was “imperative” that the court reviewed the arrangements once court proceedings had concluded.

They said: “It was her view that as long as everyone was agreed that his parents had made the necessary changes, that unification with his parents was in his long-term best interests and that there was ongoing oversight by the local authority, then prolonging the transition plan where he would pass backwards and forwards… was unnecessary and would be unsettling for him.

“It is not possible to say whether a longer transition plan would have prevented Finley’s death.

“What led to his death was the ability of his parents to deceive everyone involved about their love for him and their desire to care for him.

“This deception included their own extended family.

“No-one could have predicted from what was known at the time that they were capable of such cruelty or that there was a risk that they would intentionally hurt him, let alone murder him.”

The Family Court hearing also heard from the council about how the parents had lied about their use of cannabis.

The council said that while the pair were decreasing their usage, they should be made subject to regular drug testing as part of the transition to Finley returning to their care.

The Cafcass guardian remained neutral on the issue.

Magistrates later ruled that drug testing “may be beneficial, it is not necessary”, instead encouraging Boden and Marsden to engage with local drug recovery services.

Cannabis use later became a key theme of the criminal trial, with the jury hearing details of drug deals being made days before Finley’s death before unanimously convicting the pair of murder.

But the Cafcass spokesman said that the guardian “shared the concerns” of Derbyshire County Council regarding drug use, but felt Finley could return to his parents if they continued to engage with professional services.

They said: “Finley’s guardian shared the concerns of the local authority about the parents’ use of cannabis and had previously advocated for testing.

“Her final view was based on the father’s positive engagement with the Probation Service and with the drug service.

“The local authority assessment showed that the parents had also made sustained improvements in the condition of their home.

“Prior to the hearing on October 1 2020, it was the guardian’s understanding that the local authority would be undertaking drug testing as part of their unification plan.

“At the court hearing, the local authority sought court orders for the testing. While the guardian was neutral on the issue of an order for drug testing at the hearing, she agreed that their use of cannabis should continue to be monitored as part of the transition plan and ongoing engagement with specialist drug services.”

Finley’s case is now subject to a serious case review, being led by the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

A spokeswoman for the DDSCP said: “We are aware that the courts have approved the release of documents related to a Family Court hearing in the case of Finley Boden.

“Key partner agencies are currently involved in completing an independent Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review and these documents will be considered as part of that process.

“The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership will publish the findings of the review in the latter part of 2023. This will include a full description of actions taken, along with evidence of the improvements to local safeguarding arrangements.”

Boden and Marsden will be sentenced for Finley’s murder on Friday.

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