UK UK - Janice Weston, 36, Murdered, A1 Layby, Brampton, Cambs. / London, 10 September 1983

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Legally Bland

Legally Bland

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The unsolved murder of a solicitor whose body was found near the A1 in Cambridgeshire is being reviewed by police 35 years on.

Janice Weston, 36, lived and worked in London and was last seen at her office on 10 September 1983.

Her body was found the next day in a ditch close to the Brampton Hut roundabout, near Huntingdon. She had died as a result of blows to the head.

Police review 1983 solicitor murder case
 
This new article from Camden New Journal gives a little more detail on the case.

Janice Weston murder: Police re-open file after 35 years

Given her purse was found with her, plus none of her jewellery missing, seems to rule out robbery being the motive. I wonder it it was something/someone the husband was involved with? A shady deal gone wrong?

This link gives some of the press coverage. Also shows that she was a fairly wealthy woman at the time of her death and had been the recipient of a large sum of money from a will.

Janice Weston
 
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It's a very strange case, and it's a great shame there weren't more video surveillance cameras around in those days that might have caught the perp on camera.

The nature of how JW left London seems like she more likely had familiarity with the person she left with? So I think my first interest would be in hearing from neighbours who she'd been seen talking to in the prior few months, and phone records of who she'd been talking to.
 
Link to the original Crimewatch appeal in 1984 starts at c.3.15. I'm ashamed to say l had a little LOL moment at the e fit of the 'Manchester Bogeyman' just before


Whoops didn't see this was already posted, apologies.
 
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Seems so obvious that the murderer was in her inner circle. Someone she would trust. LE ruled out robbery and sex, but could it have been a murder by proxy. The husband being in France is a cast iron alibi but that doesn't mean it was impossible for him to be connected to her final moments. Who told her to get a new spare tyre? Who would she trust to drive her Aston Martin? Could it be a phoney tyre problem and the need for a tyre change that made them stop in the lay-by? I've been driving for more than 30 years and never had to change a tyre so it seems more than a coincidence that a tyre would feature so prominently in the case.

The husband gained by no longer having to share 50% of their assets and perhaps the relationship had soured. MOO.
 
One, if not the most fascinating UK Cold Case. So many elements to it. The spare tyre being one, the ordering ofthe car license plates post murder, Janice seemingly leaving her house in London in a rush (not bringing her handbag, but bringing the already opened bottle of wine). I would sway towards the husband setting it up, on the pretext that there was a serious issue at their property in Norrthampton, with Janice having to go there immediately. The killer may have been known to Janice, or was posing as a workman / surveyor that she was instructed to pick up on the way to the house, but still doesn;t explain the ordering of the number plates the next morning, and the murder site. The car obviously had a flat tyre, which couldn't of been the planned location for the murder.
 
Westchester76 said:
One, if not the most fascinating UK Cold Case. So many elements to it. The spare tyre being one, the ordering ofthe car license plates post murder, Janice seemingly leaving her house in London in a rush (not bringing her handbag, but bringing the already opened bottle of wine). I would sway towards the husband setting it up, on the pretext that there was a serious issue at their property in Norrthampton, with Janice having to go there immediately. The killer may have been known to Janice, or was posing as a workman / surveyor that she was instructed to pick up on the way to the house, but still doesn;t explain the ordering of the number plates the next morning, and the murder site. The car obviously had a flat tyre, which couldn't of been the planned location for the murder.
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The number plate is tricky unless there was another planned step involving another car with false plates, which either worked because it left no trace or wasn't followed through.

Perhaps the killer wanted her to stop the car for a pee and then punctured the tyre deliberately, providing the opportunity and the time to kill her. In that respect, any parking place would do and the murder scene was random.
 
Very interesting theories, but I'm not sure if I buy the husband killing off the 'golden goose', or the killer puncturing the tyre deliberately. JMO though.
 
tes1984 said:
Very interesting theories, but I'm not sure if I buy the husband killing off the 'golden goose', or the killer puncturing the tyre deliberately. JMO though.
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Having given it some more thought, I can see your point about it not being the husband. Why have her killed in that location that involved a road trip. He could of ordered the hit in London, Don't buy the deliberte puncturing of the tyre however!

Therefore ,the theory that it was a lover becomes more likely, and they had decided to have a night at the Northampton house, got into an argument and he killed her.

This however doesn't explain however the following:

1) Her rushed exit from the flat in London. She didn't bring her handbag which I presume contained her money and bank cards, but brought a opened bottle of wine. Not sure if an overnight bag was packed, or was discovered in the car later.
2) Why drive 70 miles in bad weather on a dark evening when they could of gone to a hotel in London if the
intention was to get away. Also, I believe the Northampton house was only in the early stages of renovation. There would of been no heating, water etc.
 
I am somewhat familiar with the area where her car was found. It's in a little backstreet maze in between Regents Park and Euston and there are a lot of old fashioned council flat blocks there (some have been knocked down since for HS2 works). It's not a through road at all and the only reason you'd probably go there is if you lived around there or had friends/relatives who did. There is also an army barracks not too far away (which is now bristling with cameras but probably was not then).

I wonder if that speaks to some local knowledge of the person who dumped the car.
 
Westchester76 said:
Having given it some more thought, I can see your point about it not being the husband. Why have her killed in that location that involved a road trip. He could of ordered the hit in London, Don't buy the deliberte puncturing of the tyre however!

Therefore ,the theory that it was a lover becomes more likely, and they had decided to have a night at the Northampton house, got into an argument and he killed her.

This however doesn't explain however the following:

1) Her rushed exit from the flat in London. She didn't bring her handbag which I presume contained her money and bank cards, but brought a opened bottle of wine. Not sure if an overnight bag was packed, or was discovered in the car later.
2) Why drive 70 miles in bad weather on a dark evening when they could of gone to a hotel in London if the
intention was to get away. Also, I believe the Northampton house was only in the early stages of renovation. There would of been no heating, water etc.
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A lover is definitely a possibility. That might explain why Janice didn't take her cheque book or credit cards. Perhaps she didn't want to leave a paper trail, or maybe her gentleman caller was the sort who would insist on paying.

However, there's no evidence that Janice was unhappy in her marriage. It also seems unlikely to me that she would risk a lover calling at her home. She had an observant neighbour, who had noticed she had a visitor a few days earlier.

Janice was somewhat spontaneous, but had apparently never been to the Northampton house on her own. She seems to have taken some already opened wine, half a loaf of bread and some grapes with her, which is strange. Was this for a night of passion and an incredibly basic breakfast? Or was it staging by the perp or perps?

Travelling in bad weather is also weird. There were also major roadworks and traffic issues that night on the route to Northampton.

She was reported (by her husband and her best friend) to have a habit of giving lifts to hitchhikers, which adds to the mystery. Janice was a black belt in judo, and apparently a very confident woman, not a scaredy cat type.

The Northampton house was being renovated, but it was divided into apartments, and one of them was already finished. Janice and her husband had stayed there quite a few times at weekends. The house was on an estate (with a caretaker often present) so possibly wasn't the most private place for her to visit with a lover.
 
tes1984 said:
A lover is definitely a possibility. That might explain why Janice didn't take her cheque book or credit cards. Perhaps she didn't want to leave a paper trail, or maybe her gentleman caller was the sort who would insist on paying.

However, there's no evidence that Janice was unhappy in her marriage. It also seems unlikely to me that she would risk a lover calling at her home. She had an observant neighbour, who had noticed she had a visitor a few days earlier.

Janice was somewhat spontaneous, but had apparently never been to the Northampton house on her own. She seems to have taken some already opened wine, half a loaf of bread and some grapes with her, which is strange. Was this for a night of passion and an incredibly basic breakfast? Or was it staging by the perp or perps?

Travelling in bad weather is also weird. There were also major roadworks and traffic issues that night on the route to Northampton.

She was reported (by her husband and her best friend) to have a habit of giving lifts to hitchhikers, which adds to the mystery. Janice was a black belt in judo, and apparently a very confident woman, not a scaredy cat type.

The Northampton house was being renovated, but it was divided into apartments, and one of them was already finished. Janice and her husband had stayed there quite a few times at weekends. The house was on an estate (with a caretaker often present) so possibly wasn't the most private place for her to visit with a lover.
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Interesting tidbits of information there, which I haven't heard before. The neighbour seeing a visitor to Janice's place a few days before, the Northampton house (with caretaker, and some apartments already completed), and Janice's habit of picking up hitchhikers. On the final point, I am guessing the husband provided that information. If he was involved in the murder, he would be saying that to focus the police on the scenario that Janice picked up her murderer. Still can't see her going away without her handbag, even if someone else said they'd pay, and if it was a hitchhiker, it doesn't explain why she was going up to the house on her own, as that would rule out the suspect being someone she knew
 
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