UK UK - Josephine Backshall, 39, murdered, Bury Green, near Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 1974

[Damo]

Reports give two locations where Josephine's body was left - Little Hadham and Bury Green. They are some distance apart - see map - does anyone have a precise location that they can share?

I lived in Little Hadham at the time of the murder, was a 10 YO, and of course something like this sticks in the memory
The body was found in BURY GREEN and not LITTLE HADHAM.

I think at this grid ref (or close to), but Acremore St, Bury Green
Google Maps shows the entrance to field with gates, there were no gates back then and as I recall it was a manure dump with some concrete partitions used to retain the heap.

51.8697799, 0.0977728

 

[Damo]

Reports give two locations where Josephine's body was left - Little Hadham and Bury Green. They are some distance apart - see map - does anyone have a precise location that they can share?

also note that the pin marking Little Hadham on your map is not Little Hadham. But the point is still a good one, Little Hadham and Bury Green although very very close to each other, are not the same place.

 

[trendsetter]

also note that the pin marking Little Hadham on your map is not Little Hadham. But the point is still a good one, Little Hadham and Bury Green although very very close to each other, are not the same place.

You are quite right about the location of Little Hadham (Bing Maps put it in the wrong place for me). I have found your co-ordinates on a map (blue arrow on the attached) - is this correct?

The BBC reported: "He(sic) body was discovered in a field off Bury Green Lane, which leads to Bury Green, on the morning of 1 November." BBC NEWS | UK | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | Police in hunt for 1974 strangler I can't find Bury Green Lane on any map - perhaps it's been renamed since 1974.
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Returning to the odd report (earlier on in this thread and referred to by me in a later post) that, on the night of her disappearance, she was going to a photoshoot in Cheltenham (why Cheltenham? why at night?). It seems that the only source for this is at: https://www.truecrimelibrary.com/crimearticle/josephine-backshall/; so, unless there is another more reliable source that someone can point to, this can almost certainly be discarded.

All the other news sources say merely that she left home to meet 'Peter' in Witham at 6:30 pm on the day she disappeared.

The truecrimelibrary also says: "There was a possibility she might have been alive when she was thrown out of a car." I find this claim totally implausible; again truecrimelibrary is the only source for this.

The truecrimelibrary also reports that her body was found in a shallow pond and I have circled the ponds in the area on the map - some are not close to roads or tracks so they can probably be discounted. However, again, I cannot find any other source for the 'pond' reference and confirmation or otherwise would be welcome.

 

[tes1984]

I lived in Little Hadham at the time of the murder, was a 10 YO, and of course something like this sticks in the memory
The body was found in BURY GREEN and not LITTLE HADHAM.

I think at this grid ref (or close to), but Acremore St, Bury Green
Google Maps shows the entrance to field with gates, there were no gates back then and as I recall it was a manure dump with some concrete partitions used to retain the heap.

51.8697799, 0.0977728

The locations of interest seem to be Maldon (her home), Witham (alleged appointment, potential seen broken down sighting, car found in a car park), Good Easter (potential pub sighting) and Bury Green (body found).

Can anyone with better mapping skills than mine try to plot a map?

As has been mentioned, it's around 35 miles from Josephine's home to where she is found. I don't know the area well at all, but Good Easter seems to be en route to Bury Green.

Her car was apparently found in a car park in Witham (and had been broken into). Do we know where this car park was, and how far it was from Collingwood Road, Witham, where the car breakdown potentially occurred?

 

[tes1984]

The composite sketch seems to depict a man older than early 30s. One newspaper article suggests he was in his 40s.

Josephine was reported to be wearing knee high black boots. Was that common attire in the mid 70s?

Josephine drove a red Ford Cortina Mark 3. The Mirror article (from earlier in this thread) suggests the killer drove a dark Ford Cortina Mark 2. Is it misreporting, or a coincidence that the killer has a very similar car?

Apparently Peter/Dave offers her £100 for the photoshoot. The average wage in 1974 was £48 a week. Does she think it's too good to be true?

 

[trendsetter]

The final part of the Sunday Mirror story says:

"Police are convinced the strangler took her to the Fountain Pub at Good Easter, Near Witham, before driving to the murder spot in his dark Cortina Mark II."

Convinced? If they were then they are not now. They knew where she was murdered? I think not. The story is more flowery journalism than reliable reporting. It says the killer was "smooth-talking"; how did they know this or was this 'fact' just another invention?

 

[sportstergirl]

The Ford Cortina was Britain's best selling car for many years & they could be seen on virtually every street from the 60s til well into the 80s long after production ceased. I had 2 of them. I was 16/17 in 1974 & knee boots were popular, especially when the weather started to get colder in Autumn.
A bit of a long shot but a possible ID for "Peter" could be Geoffrey Graham Jones who committed the dreadful murder of Marian Terry in Birmingham & filmed & photographed her death by hanging in 1985. He fits the description of "Peter" .

 

[trendsetter]

A bit of a long shot but a possible ID for "Peter" could be Geoffrey Graham Jones who committed the dreadful murder of Marian Terry in Birmingham & filmed & photographed her death by hanging in 1985. He fits the description of "Peter".

I have found almost no information on the Jones case. The only significant source is this YouTube video:

and as such, at the moment, we will have to take its accuracy on trust. It is surprising not to have more because it is a most bizarre case, perhaps more of it was made at the time but, if so, it seems to have been entirely forgotten. It reminds me of Peeping Tom (1960) and I would have thought the popular press would have picked up on this.

I can see why you say that 'Peter' may have been Jones. Both men were photographers. Both used small ads in local papers to find their victims. Both used a form of strangulation and they were of a similar age.

But: their photographic interest were in different fields - in the case of Jones it was movies and in the Backshall case it was still photography (or, at least, we assume that to be so). Even though they both used small ads, in case of Jones it was he who placed the ad; this means that he would be easily identifiable and he made no attempt to conceal his identity whereas the killer of Backshall was adept of concealing all personal information. Also Backshall's killer seemed well-organised and his crime may have been pre-planned; Jones seems to have had no plan to cover up the crime which may even have been perpetrated on the spur-of-the-moment.

And: did Jones have any connection with Essex in 1974? If not, how did he come to read Backshall's ad in a small local paper? Also Backshall's murderer seems to have good local knowledge especially in the disposal of the body and so was very likely a local man.

 

[tes1984]

A bit of a long shot but a possible ID for "Peter" could be Geoffrey Graham Jones who committed the dreadful murder of Marian Terry in Birmingham & filmed & photographed her death by hanging in 1985. He fits the description of "Peter" . View attachment 536993

He is an extremely interesting possibility. Big build. Offers a fee of £100. No sign of sexual assault. Victim found clothed.

Jones was impotent and could only get aroused by females in black dresses. IIRC Josephine was wearing a black and white dress.

He worked for a ceramics company, who produced an advanced ceramic material.

A company advert from 13 June 1985 in The Daily Telegraph has them looking for a sales engineer, company car provided.

 

[tes1984]

Jones stopped working for the ceramics firm in 1981.

I'm not sure where he was based in 1974, or if he had started working for them at that stage.

 

[sportstergirl]

He had worked as an insurance salesman (date unknown) he could have been travelling throughout the UK & made visits to Essex/Hertfordshire area

 

[trendsetter]

The cord used to bind and strangle Backshall is the only material evidence left by the killer. He was remiss for not removing it prior to the disposal of the body and the police are even more remiss for not exploiting its potential. Probably neither the killer or the police thought the cord had any evidential value and, as far as I can see, in none of the police appeals for information has anything been said about this. I presume it's a lightweight rope that's meant rather than an electrical cord but even that isn't clear.

I understand a cord to be about 2mm - 6mm in diameter (heavier than string or twine and lighter than rope) and either twisted or woven. It's not the sort of material the majority of people would have lying around in their homes (unless it's used to hold up their pyjama trousers) and I wonder if the type of cord could point to a particular trade or hobby; furthermore, the types of knots used could also point to a trade or hobby.

Unfortunately I doubt we will ever get any useful information about this evidence.