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

[tes1984]

Her habit of picking up hitchhikers was also mentioned by her best friend. I doubt if she would have gone to the house alone, but you never know.

I suspect Janice was 'targeted' for financial reasons, possibly criminal ones, but that's JMO. I doubt if she would have willingly got involved with anything dodgy, as she was already wealthy, highly successful and had a spotless reputation.

As a top lawyer, she pretty much already had a legal licence to print money!

 

[tes1984]

Peter Tobin was mentioned as a possible suspect, after Operation Anagram looked into his background.

 

[CSIAngus]

Has anyone put a timeline together on this one? My previous comments are in the context of being new to this case so I'm happy to be challenged.

 

[tes1984]

There are a few decent podcasts on this case. The Outlines podcast is pretty good. There's also a Crimewatch reconstruction.

The timeline is very complex, particularly if we include the movements of Anthony Weston, and the movements of the car.

The basic timeline seems to be:

Saturday.
11.20am - Janice collects the repaired tyre for the car.
Midday - Janice goes shopping near her home.
4.15 or 4.45pm - Janice last seen at work.
9pm - possible sighting of car in layby.
11.45pm or midnight - possible sighting of man in layby.

Sunday.
9am - body found in layby.
11am - man buys registration plate.

Wednesday.
Car found back in London with repaired tyre back on car and (punctured) spare tyre missing.

 

[Westchester76]

There are a few decent podcasts on this case. The Outlines podcast is pretty good. There's also a Crimewatch reconstruction.

The timeline is very complex, particularly if we include the movements of Anthony Weston, and the movements of the car.

The basic timeline seems to be:

Saturday.
11.20am - Janice collects the repaired tyre for the car.
Midday - Janice goes shopping near her home.
4.15 or 4.45pm - Janice last seen at work.
9pm - possible sighting of car in layby.
11.45pm or midnight - possible sighting of man in layby.

Sunday.
9am - body found in layby.
11am - man buys registration plate.

Wednesday.
Car found back in London with repaired tyre back on car and (punctured) spare tyre missing.

I find it strange that by all accounts Janice went home after work, made herself dinner and opened a bottle of wine. This to me suggests she was settling down for the night.
Moments later she's on the road (with the opened bottle of wine),but didn't finish or clear up from her dinner and didn't take her handbag. I think the key to this is why she left her house in an obvious rush.

 

[tes1984]

Janice didn't really make dinner. It was a weightwatchers type ready meal, but I agree she seems to have left in a hurry.

The wine is strange, because as a lawyer, she was obviously very conscious of the law and apparently wasn't one to drink drive.

So why did she leave it such a hurry?

Was it abduction by force?
Abduction by ruse?
An associate or lover hurrying her?

Or did she leave home alone on a whim? Janice was apparently very neat and tidy, but perhaps she wasn't such a 'clean freak' when nobody else was around to see.

 

[CSIAngus]

There are a few decent podcasts on this case. The Outlines podcast is pretty good. There's also a Crimewatch reconstruction.

The timeline is very complex, particularly if we include the movements of Anthony Weston, and the movements of the car.

The basic timeline seems to be:

Saturday.
11.20am - Janice collects the repaired tyre for the car.
Midday - Janice goes shopping near her home.
4.15 or 4.45pm - Janice last seen at work.
9pm - possible sighting of car in layby.
11.45pm or midnight - possible sighting of man in layby.

Sunday.
9am - body found in layby.
11am - man buys registration plate.

Wednesday.
Car found back in London with repaired tyre back on car and (punctured) spare tyre missing.

Thanks. I watched the Crimewatch piece.

So JW took her half eaten meal and the wine, her purse with £37 (petrol money?), and the keys to her partly renovated property. Sounds like she was heading there for the night. She might just have fancied going up to see progress. The grease under her nails suggest she may have been attempting to change the wheel. Either the murderer was in the layby or nearby on the opposite carriageway (hitchhiker) and it was a chance encounter with theft of the car the motivation (perhaps she resisted a little too hard) - used to travel on to Camden. Dumped in the dark, her dark purse not seen. Or she had company and it was planned. Or she was followed and it was planned (requires 2 drivers). The registration plate might be the red herring. The missing wheel could have been picked up by anyone after the event.

 

[tes1984]

It's possible that the killer took the spare tyre and got rid of it (if it had his fingerprints on it).

Can you change a wheel wearing gloves? When discovered, the car was clean of fingerprints.

Did the killer take some or most of Janice's cash, leaving £37 behind? Unlikely perhaps, but possible. He didn't take Janice's watch, which was very expensive, so I'm not sure about theft as the major motivation.

 

[CSIAngus]

There are a few decent podcasts on this case. The Outlines podcast is pretty good. There's also a Crimewatch reconstruction.

The timeline is very complex, particularly if we include the movements of Anthony Weston, and the movements of the car.

The basic timeline seems to be:

Saturday.
11.20am - Janice collects the repaired tyre for the car.
Midday - Janice goes shopping near her home.
4.15 or 4.45pm - Janice last seen at work.
9pm - possible sighting of car in layby.
11.45pm or midnight - possible sighting of man in layby.

Sunday.
9am - body found in layby.
11am - man buys registration plate.

Wednesday.
Car found back in London with repaired tyre back on car and (punctured) spare tyre missing.

It's possible that the killer took the spare tyre and got rid of it (if it had his fingerprints on it).

Can you change a wheel wearing gloves? When discovered, the car was clean of fingerprints.

Did the killer take some or most of Janice's cash, leaving £37 behind? Unlikely perhaps, but possible. He didn't take Janice's watch, which was very expensive, so I'm not sure about theft as the major motivation.

I didn't mean general theft as a motivation. I meant specifically the theft of the vehicle as a means of transport to Camden. According to Car Theft Statistics UK, 243 people have been killed during aggravated vehicle theft in the UK in the last 20 years alone. I'm not saying that happened, but it is a possibility.

 

[CSIAngus]

I believe the A1 at that point has been significantly widened in recent years and the layby is no more. Back in the 80s, it would be relatively easy to cross the A1 at that point and to see the opportunity of a lone woman changing a tyre in a layby on the opposite carriageway. I hitchhiked down that road the following year on my way to the Stonehenge Free Festival. There were a lot of people hitching on that road in those days. A crime of opportunity IMO to steal a vehicle and get to London that night. The owner being bludgeoned in the process. Stranger murders are the most difficult to solve. I don't think this one will ever be solved short of a death bed confession.

 

[CSIAngus]

Lastly, Janice Weston's murder has been linked to Peter Tobin who had an association with the A1. Did Tobin kill nine more women? Police piece together murderer's horrific past. However, his crimes were sexually motivated and there is no evidence the JW was sexually assaulted. Perhaps she just happened to meet another bogey man that night, who wanted her car and wouldn't take no for an answer.

 

[tes1984]

I believe the A1 at that point has been significantly widened in recent years and the layby is no more. Back in the 80s, it would be relatively easy to cross the A1 at that point and to see the opportunity of a lone woman changing a tyre in a layby on the opposite carriageway. I hitchhiked down that road the following year on my way to the Stonehenge Free Festival. There were a lot of people hitching on that road in those days. A crime of opportunity IMO to steal a vehicle and get to London that night. The owner being bludgeoned in the process. Stranger murders are the most difficult to solve. I don't think this one will ever be solved short of a death bed confession.

That's really interesting. I was under the impression that the layby was much less accessible.

The hitchhiking and festival stuff is also interesting, although mid September was probably a bit late in the year for festival season. I wonder what other events were going on nearby that weekend. Cambridge United Football Club were playing Chelsea that afternoon, but the match was in London, not Cambridge.

I wouldn't be surprised if Peter Tobin has additional victims, but I can't really see him being Janice's killer.

Tobin was also put forward for Barbara Mayo and Jacqui Ansell Lamb in 1970 (despite there being DNA and a fingerprint in the Mayo case). Both women were hitchhikers and IIRC both murders coincided with Manchester City Football Club playing matches in London.

 

[tes1984]

I still remain hopeful that advances in DNA testing techniques will solve this case.

It depends how the evidence was stored, particularly the windscreen of Janice's car (as the killer may have wiped it by hand to clear away mist before driving away).

There's also a chance that the killer moved Janice without wearing gloves, and left touch DNA. It's perhaps unlikely (given the heavy rain etc) but let's not give up just yet!

 

[CSIAngus]

The other thing that stands out to me are the three London locations: her flat in Notting Hill, and her office in Lincoln Field and where her car was found by Regents Park Estate. The latter two are only a mile apart. Could it be that her car never left London. That she wasn't going far so didn't need her handbag. It seems to be an assumption that she arrived at the A1 layby in her own car. The murderer would have been covered in blood but none was found in the car. MOO

 

[CSIAngus]

The other thing that stands out to me are the three London locations: her flat in Notting Hill, and her office in Lincoln Field and where her car was found by Regents Park Estate. The latter two are only a mile apart. Could it be that her car never left London. That she wasn't going far so didn't need her handbag. It seems to be an assumption that she arrived at the A1 layby in her own car. The murderer would have been covered in blood but none was found in the car. MOO

Was she capable of changing tyres? I've never had to change one in 30 years of driving. To get a new/repaired tyre on the same day she went missing and the new/repaired tyre to be on the car the next day(s) is a significant fact. I had a slow puncture for nearly a year before I got it changed at a garage. Pumped it up every other day. Perhaps the wine was meant to be a thank you for the tyre change, and £37 enough in her purse if there was a charge/gift. Did the Police explore any connections that JW had around Regents Park Estate? Seems to me that the layby on the A1 was just a convenient spot to get her out and dispatch her. She was a black belt in Judo which might explain the extreme blunt force trauma to the head as getting it in first. I'm coming to the conclusion that she didn't leave London willingly, but knew her killer.

 

[CSIAngus]

The answer lies in or around Redhills Street. IMO

 

[tes1984]

The other thing that stands out to me are the three London locations: her flat in Notting Hill, and her office in Lincoln Field and where her car was found by Regents Park Estate. The latter two are only a mile apart. Could it be that her car never left London. That she wasn't going far so didn't need her handbag. It seems to be an assumption that she arrived at the A1 layby in her own car. The murderer would have been covered in blood but none was found in the car. MOO

I've never considered the idea that the car didn't leave London. It's an interesting idea, although the police seem pretty sure Janice's car made it to Brampton.

There was a small amount of blood on the windscreen of the car.

 

[tes1984]

Was she capable of changing tyres? I've never had to change one in 30 years of driving. To get a new/repaired tyre on the same day she went missing and the new/repaired tyre to be on the car the next day(s) is a significant fact. I had a slow puncture for nearly a year before I got it changed at a garage. Pumped it up every other day. Perhaps the wine was meant to be a thank you for the tyre change, and £37 enough in her purse if there was a charge/gift. Did the Police explore any connections that JW had around Regents Park Estate? Seems to me that the layby on the A1 was just a convenient spot to get her out and dispatch her. She was a black belt in Judo which might explain the extreme blunt force trauma to the head as getting it in first. I'm coming to the conclusion that she didn't leave London willingly, but knew her killer.

The tyre stuff is very strange. I'm no car expert, but it does seem really weird to get two punctures in such quick succession.

IIRC the wine was purchased after Janice left the garage. It was a cheapish bottle.
She also had a part finished (more expensive) bottle at home, which a visitor had brought round a few days earlier. I don't think either bottle had anything to do with the garage.

 

[tes1984]

The answer lies in or around Redhills Street. IMO

This is possible. Most criminals are lazy and operate close to home.

 

[CSIAngus]

I've never considered the idea that the car didn't leave London. It's an interesting idea, although the police seem pretty sure Janice's car made it to Brampton.

There was a small amount of blood on the windscreen of the car.

What's the source for the blood on the windscreen? Given the extensive bludgeoning of the victim, it would be surprising that none was transferred to the car's interior when the killer drove off in it, presumably covered in her blood. As far as I'm aware from what I have read of the case, there was no evidence of anyone other than JW recovered from inside the car.

A cheap bottle of wine is something you might give to a friend for, say, changing your tyre. It would be interesting to know who JW knew in the Regents Park Estate area.