UK Alan Wood, 50, tortured/nearly decapitated, Edenham Road, Lound, Lincolnshire, 21 October 2009

[dotr]

Police launch new appeal 10 years after man was brutally tortured and killed
''Ten years ago, supermarket worker Alan Wood disappeared and was found three days later, tortured and brutally murdered in his home near Bourne.

Now, a decade on from "one of our force’s most serious and disturbing unsolved crimes", Lincolnshire Police have issued a new appeal for information.

The force said: "October 2019 will mark the 10 anniversary of the murder and Lincolnshire Police and their colleagues from East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) are appealing for your assistance in identifying the person(s) responsible, as beyond a possible financial motive, it is still not known why the most disturbing crime in Lincolnshire’s recent history was committed.''
''Alan suffered a deep wound to the back of his neck which suggested an attempted decapitation
Alan Wood was last seen alive on October 21 2009 at his local pub, the Willoughby Arms in Little Bytham. Three days later he was found tortured and murdered in his living room by a friend.

His bloodied body was found at his home in Edenham Road, Lound, approximately 16 miles north of Peterborough, by a friend and work colleague, who was concerned he had not turned up for his shift.

Alan's hands had been bound with sellotape and he had been stabbed repeatedly in the head. Detectives think these wounds were inflicted to torture Alan, possibly to give up his bank card pin numbers.''

Alan Wood was 50 years old at the time of his untimely death (Image: Lincolnshirepolice)

 

[dotr]

 

[dotr]

Dec 11 2019 rbbm
'New leads' in 2009 'disturbing murder'
''Alan Wood, 50, was bound and tortured before being killed at his home in Lound, Lincolnshire, in October 2009. His bank cards were also stolen.

Lincolnshire Police said it was reviewing CCTV footage from 2009.

The force said it was looking into possible sightings of a suspect using cashpoints in Bourne and Stamford.''

''Mr Holvey said the force was also following leads involving possible vehicles that were involved.

Mr Wood, who ran a small gardening business, had no known enemies and was killed in "a totally unprovoked attack", police said.

He suffered a "brutal and sustained" assault, during which he was repeatedly stabbed in the eye, had his throat cut a number of times and an attempt was made to decapitate him.
Lincolnshire Police said it was one of the force's "most serious and disturbing unsolved crimes".

''Mr Holvey said a reward of up to £50,000 was being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

At the time, DNA was recovered from the scene, which police believe could be from a suspect who may have been "visiting our country and are no longer here".

 

[dotr]

BBC
Enhanced images of murder suspect
rbbm.
''The images show a man in Bourne shortly before Mr Wood's cash was withdrawn.

The suspect, who is wearing a cap and scarf, was walking along the town's West Street at about 2100 GMT on 22 October, not long after the murder took place.

Mr Wood, who ran a small gardening business and also worked nights filling shelves at Sainsbury's, had no known enemies, according to Lincolnshire Police.''

''At the end of February, the case was featured on the BBC's Crimewatch for the second time, when detectives revealed they had a full DNA profile of one of the attackers from the scene of the crime.

Four men have so far been arrested in connection with the murder.

Three have been released from bail without further action while one, aged 20, remains on police bail.''

 

[dotr]

At this link click top of this video and (to the right), are a number of you tube video appeals in several languages including Latvian, Polish, Lithuanian and Albanian.

 

[Deadbeat]

I remember watching the original reconstruction for this at the time on Crimewatch UK. It’s always stuck with me, because of the level of violence used, the lack of a motive and the fact they never caught anyone for it.

I’ve read various articles and watched a few documentaries on this case over the years and there seems to be a couple of different theories.

The two they focussed on in the Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved documentary were that the victim Alan, who worked in a local Sainsbury’s, bore a striking resemblance to the manager of the store . A possibility is that it was mistaken identity and the perpetrators thought he had a lot more money than he did as well as perhaps a safe and keys to the store. Sadly he didn’t and perhaps that’s why he was tortured to such an extent? The second theory is based around the idea that Alan used the services of European prostitutes on occasion. It was alluded to that he may have called these out to his property. They would therefore know he lived alone and also that he had some money (not the amount they thought though).

The motive appears to be money, they did steal his card and a man was spotted on CCTV using it, but the levels of violence used also make it seem as though there may have been a personal grudge too?
The CCTV image is very clear despite the man having his face covered with a scarf, there was also a footprint left at the scene from a rare foreign Converse trainer. My belief is that the person (or persons) responsible for this have likely fled the country.

 

[Al Ka]

First time I am hearing about the case and how awfully horrific.

Majority of stabbings occur in torso area and sometimes in legs or arms by accident when stabbing is frantic. But being repeatedly stabbed in the head and face? Eye? Ugh. Very rare and unhinged.

I have to read up but I am surprised his gardening business is not mentioned more or as primary link. My assumption would be that he hired seasonal or even one off help with his recent gardening job.

Murder happened inside of his own house, so he probably let those people in himself.
Did they come to get paid for their work and were not happy or felt cheated? I can see someone with short fuse totally loosing it in this scenario. It would also explain ransacking place and taking his bank cards.

===
A witness at one of the cash machines has helped the police create this picture of the suspect

CCTV of murder suspect.

Well, I would not call this shot very clear.

 

[Deadbeat]

Some very good points indeed. You’re right regarding his gardening business, he was self employed but as you say he may well have been hiring people to help him. I haven’t heard it mentioned in articles I’ve read or docs as a motive but I assume it’s something the police have looked into??

The CCTV images aren’t really that clear, you’re right. I have recently been looking into the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence too and was comparing them to the CCTV captured in that case. In the grand scheme of things though you’re right, they’re not the clearest images. They do however give us an idea of his walk, height, build and clothing if nothing else.

A few other things of note regarding the ATM man -

• 5ft 9in to 5ft 11in tall
• He seems to be dressed in a "smart casual" manner. From the CCTV images we have he appears to be wearing a distinctive striped scarf
• Previously unreleased CCTV footage appears to show the offender smoking.
• We believe he uses, or has used Delaine buses. (Bus ticket found at crime scene)
• We believe he may wear Converse trainers. (Footprint found at crime scene)
• He has local knowledge - demonstrated by seemingly deliberate avoidance of the CCTV systems in Bourne and Stamford. Use of Delaine buses also increases the likelihood of being local or having local knowledge.
• He has an unusual walk. Experts outside the force have analysed CCTV footage and come to the conclusion that that he limps due to his right leg being slightly longer than his left leg. The offender may or may not be aware of this condition.
• One offender would have been injured after the crime as his blood was found at the scene. That injury could be to his hand.
• Around the time of the crime the offender may have had a few hundred pounds more than normal.
• It also seems unlikely he has offended since. A world-wide search has been carried out but no match has yet been found on any police DNA database.
• 
  This link has a good detailed account of everything : Who Murdered Alan Wood?

 

[dotr]

Donal MacIntrye: Unsolved, Episode 02
Video.
Donal MacIntrye: Unsolved, Episode 02

''Alan Wood was bound, tortured, and mutilated at his home in the tiny rural Hamlet of Lound, near Bourne in Lincolnshire, in October 2009. His case is being reopened by a team of investigative journalists to find out why no one has paid for this crime.''

 

[Novosti]

Horrific attack. The evidence does point to robbery being the motive - probably more than one offender, some degree of preparation for restraint (tape etc) and what appears to have been a long period of torture while they tried harder and harder to get information about money, and presumably got more and more frustrated, and therefore violent.

There are other cases of Eastern European robbery gangs using extreme violence and torture in people's homes. But usually where they knew the victim had a cash safe with business takings, large jewellery collections etc. In this case, it seems they got something badly wrong : either mistaken identity, or misleading information on Alan's access to liquid wealth. Both Sainsbury and prostitution seem plausible reasons why the robbers alighted on Alan. Maybe also something to do with his business (did an ex employee know about cash takings?). Although on Sainsbury they might have needed to drive him back to site to open safes etc, so it seems a more complicated plan.

I was a bit surprised by Clive Driscoll focusing on mood swings and drugs. The cash point guy was reasonably evidence aware e.g. the scarf and the hat. They plausibly left the country. And the MO seems much more consistent with extreme violence as a tool of robbery - not a disorderly psychotic episode (which probably wouldn't involve more than one perpetrator, with preparation).

A personal/relationship motive also seems unlikely - for similar reasons.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I come from near to that area. I would be surprised if prostitutes were involved. It isn't the sort of place where escort agencies operate, as it is rural. I suppose some freelance women might operate, but if one visited Alan's home, surely she would have seen that he was not wealthy.

Boston Lincolnshire went from being a sleepy Lincolnshire town to the murder capital of the UK. This was solely because of the arrival of large numbers on Eastern Europeans, some of whom have been involved in very violent knife murders. (Many of these murders have been Poles murdering fellow Poles etc)

Alan had a Jaguar, but it was an old one, worth very little. Someone not familiar with Jaguars and UK car registrations (indicating age) might have thought that he was wealthy. If they thought he was manager of Sainsburys too, that might explain things.

If the police have DNA, wouldn't that indicate where the murdered came from to some degree? (Albania is some distance from the Baltic states.) But appeals have been recorded in different languages. I suppose though that the DNA could come from a native of one country. but his accomplice comes from another.

 

[dotr]

https://www.lincs.police.uk/police-forces/lincolnshire-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/alan-wood-murder/what-we-know/

''It is not clear how many people carried out this attack, but one of the offenders did injure themselves, leaving blood at the scene. Forensic analysis has given detectives a full male DNA profile. This has been run through the national DNA database in the UK which has not provided a match. Similar database searches have been done around the world and to date there have been no matches.

Detectives also found suspect footprints at the scene that match Converse trainers. With the help of Converse in the USA the print type has been narrowed down to a particular upper, which is available in two styles and was largely sold in Europe and North America at the time.''

It was established during the early stages of the investigation that Alan's bank cards had been used in Bourne and Stamford over a couple of days after his murder at ATM cash points. A trawl of thousands of hours of CCTV revealed images of a person who can be seen below.

''The person appears to be 5ft 9in to 5ft 11in tall , dressed in a "smart casual" manner and from the CCTV images they appear to be wearing a distinctive striped scarf. The person has an unusual walk and experts outside of the force have analysed CCTV footage and come to the conclusion that that he limps due to his right leg being slightly longer than his left leg. The offender may also have been injured after the crime as blood was found at the scene. That injury could be to their hand.''

 

[WhateverForever]

While I am not at all implying that there is any relationship between these cases, I am struck by how similar some of the details are in this case with the 2004 unsolved murder of Al "Oakey" Kite (attack on a man in his home, binding and torturing, near decapitation, a suspect who walks with a limp who may be Eastern European, suspect captured on camera withdrawing money from an ATM, etc).

Denver Gazette Brutal Killing of Colorado Homeowner

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Yes. (In the Al Kite case, the murderer almost certainly acted alone. In the Alan Wood case, there were possibly two murders.)

The police could rule out the possibility that the murderer is the same person as, in both cases, there is DNA. However, they might have a similar background.

 

[Deadbeat]

Does anyone know where I could watch the Donal McIntyre, Unsolved episode online? I can’t find a working link anywhere.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Does anyone know where I could watch the Donal McIntyre, Unsolved episode online? I can’t find a working link anywhere.

Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved aired on CBS Reality often repeated

Freeview channel 67, Freesat channel 135, Sky channel 146, and Virgin Media channel 148 in the UK

 

[dotr]

2019

Sister of tortured and murdered supermarket worker makes tearful plea for information 10 years after killing

The sister of a supermarket worker tortured and murdered at his home near Peterborough ten years ago has made a tearful plea for information to bring closure for his family.

www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk

“He was a very gentle, kind lad, he liked his quiet life, watched his old films, listened to music, reading a book.

“When we found out what happened to Alan, originally we didn’t know how he had been murdered. It was originally very upsetting just to find that he’d been murdered in his home. But when we found out what had actually happened to him, the brutal way that he was tied up, tortured for hours, and left to die on his own living room floor with his throat cut. Hopefully you will never have to find out how that feels. To know your brother was terrified for hours, and knowing he was going to be killed.”

''She said: “They must have singled him out for some reason, because you wouldn’t turn up where he lived randomly, and knock on someone’s door and do what they did. They must have followed him back to his house at some point for a reason, whether they thought he was somebody he wasn’t, or they thought he had more money than he did. So that is the biggest ‘why.’ Not even ‘who’ because there is a lot of horrible people in the world. Burt why pick on him, that is the biggest question we would like to have answered.”
rbbm.

https://www.lincs.police.uk/police-forces/lincolnshire-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/alan-wood-murder/what-we-know/

''Many people from various different nationalities and communities lived and worked in the area and it may be that someone from within these communities has information that will help bring the guilty party to justice and provide answers to Alan’s family as to why the murder happened. It may be that some of these people have since returned to their home countries.''
''It is not clear how many people carried out this attack, but one of the offenders did injure themselves, leaving blood at the scene. Forensic analysis has given detectives a full male DNA profile. This has been run through the national DNA database in the UK which has not provided a match. Similar database searches have been done around the world and to date there have been no matches.''

 

[Professor Moriarty]

2019

Sister of tortured and murdered supermarket worker makes tearful plea for information 10 years after killing

The sister of a supermarket worker tortured and murdered at his home near Peterborough ten years ago has made a tearful plea for information to bring closure for his family.

www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk

View attachment 621700
“He was a very gentle, kind lad, he liked his quiet life, watched his old films, listened to music, reading a book.

“When we found out what happened to Alan, originally we didn’t know how he had been murdered. It was originally very upsetting just to find that he’d been murdered in his home. But when we found out what had actually happened to him, the brutal way that he was tied up, tortured for hours, and left to die on his own living room floor with his throat cut. Hopefully you will never have to find out how that feels. To know your brother was terrified for hours, and knowing he was going to be killed.”

''She said: “They must have singled him out for some reason, because you wouldn’t turn up where he lived randomly, and knock on someone’s door and do what they did. They must have followed him back to his house at some point for a reason, whether they thought he was somebody he wasn’t, or they thought he had more money than he did. So that is the biggest ‘why.’ Not even ‘who’ because there is a lot of horrible people in the world. Burt why pick on him, that is the biggest question we would like to have answered.”
rbbm.

https://www.lincs.police.uk/police-forces/lincolnshire-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/alan-wood-murder/what-we-know/

''Many people from various different nationalities and communities lived and worked in the area and it may be that someone from within these communities has information that will help bring the guilty party to justice and provide answers to Alan’s family as to why the murder happened. It may be that some of these people have since returned to their home countries.''
''It is not clear how many people carried out this attack, but one of the offenders did injure themselves, leaving blood at the scene. Forensic analysis has given detectives a full male DNA profile. This has been run through the national DNA database in the UK which has not provided a match. Similar database searches have been done around the world and to date there have been no matches.''

What puzzles me is: doesn't the DNA indicate the likely ethnicity of the person who left that DNA?

 

[Deadbeat]

What puzzles me is: doesn't the DNA indicate the likely ethnicity of the person who left that DNA?

I think the Lincolnshire police are probably keeping a lot of info back. They did use Lativian and Polish in a YouTube videos they posted about the case though, which gives us some hints. Also, at one point they wanted to speak to a Polish man, who they claim wasn’t a suspect but may have information regarding the case. I’m not sure if they ever did track him down.

Alan Wood murder: Detectives seek Polish Pawel Wrzyszcz - BBC News

Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved aired on CBS Reality often repeated

Freeview channel 67, Freesat channel 135, Sky channel 146, and Virgin Media channel 148 in the UK

Thank you, I will keep an eye out for it! I have seen it before but many years ago.

 

[Hexe]

He seems to be dressed in a "smart casual" manner. From the CCTV images we have he appears to be wearing a distinctive striped scarf

I seriously suspect this scarf is not a fashion statement. It seems to me to be a football (soccer for Americans) club scarf. If I was forced to guess, I'd say these are the colours of Celtic Glasgow, still popular among Poles in 2009 because they had Polish goalue, Artur Boruc, or some Polish clubs, Legia Warszawa maybe? Lechia Gdańsk? Lech Poznań? Hard to say.

I would not be surprised if at least one of the perpetrators is Polish. It reminds me a type of murder that occurs in Poland way too often, when a group of men, usually avid booze drinkers, not fond of hard work, but loving some fast cash targets a person that usually lives alone and is not very fit, so makes an easy target. The violence used is usually on horrible levels far exceeding what is needed to incapacitate or kill the victim. If there were any rumours of Alan having some hidden savings or riches then yeah, it is very very possible he was targeted by the type of perpetrators described above.