UK UK - Amala Ruth De Vere Whelan, 22, Maida Vale; 12 November 1972

[tes1984]

it would be rather hard to have an orgy in a bedsit so i think papers must exagerated a tiny bit

The papers definitely had a different way of describing things in the 60s and 70s.

They say Amala was into free love, and inviting men back to her flat, but I wonder if that could be a polite way of suggesting something else.

 

[mrC]

race relations were not good in the met at the time so im wondering weather there cliam that the evedence sugested the suspect was black should be taken seriously i mean what item could you leave behind that tell them what race you were i cant think of any

 

[tes1984]

race relations were not good in the met at the time so im wondering weather there cliam that the evedence sugested the suspect was black should be taken seriously i mean what item could you leave behind that tell them what race you were i cant think of any

Based on how they looked at forensics in the 70s, I would guess they found hairs in the flat.

 

[mrC]

the press are not normally shy about nameing women as prostiutes in murder cases even somtimes when it isnt true so if was a prostitute i dont see why they wouldent of said so and just implied it so i suspect she was not one

 

[tes1984]

the press are not normally shy about nameing women as prostiutes in murder cases even somtimes when it isnt true so if was a prostitute i dont see why they wouldent of said so and just implied it so i suspect she was not one

Amala might not have been a sex worker, but she was a high risk victim if she invited random men she met in the street back to her place.

 

[mrC]

the guy seemed pretty clued up about forensics the way he washed the body i wonder if he read true dective magztiines did they have them back then there wernt half the true crime shows then that there are now so im wondering were he could of gained such knoeledge

 

[TheRockingRev]

the guy seemed pretty clued up about forensics the way he washed the body i wonder if he read true dective magztiines did they have them back then there wernt half the true crime shows then that there are now so im wondering were he could of gained such knoeledge

True crime magazines have been around since the 40s/50s. He also only washed the body in washing-up liquid, so it wasn't something overly technical or specialist

 

[TheRockingRev]

The papers definitely had a different way of describing things in the 60s and 70s.

They say Amala was into free love, and inviting men back to her flat, but I wonder if that could be a polite way of suggesting something else.

There has always been a shift in the press / police way of reporting certain things. Had she been older, with kids, less attractive etc. IMO they would've referred to her as a prostitute. Being young and attractive they went down the wanton, promiscuous route - at that time, moral standards were all about the anti-hippy leanings, and anyone into free love would've been tarred the same way. It's just a way of making a warning about not conforming.

 

[mrC]

but he knw he needed to do it most people at the time wouldent of done

 

[mrC]

i suspect hes comited a simlar less serious crime before and got cought and he has learnt from his mistakes so he washes the body i thinkhe has probely been conivicted of rape before or a simlar crime

 

[TheRockingRev]

but he knw he needed to do it most people at the time wouldent of do

but he knw he needed to do it most people at the time wouldent of done

I'm not sure I completely agree - I think most people would have an idea that by washing you could get rid of evidence. There may not have been the internet, but in 1972 there was more than enough sources ranging from books to TV to give you that info.

 

[mrC]

well the thing is most killers dont do it even now very few killers clean body most of them arnt thinking that far ahead there only thinking geting away

 

[Melquiades]

the press are not normally shy about nameing women as prostiutes in murder cases even somtimes when it isnt true so if was a prostitute i dont see why they wouldent of said so and just implied it so i suspect she was not one

There has always been a shift in the press / police way of reporting certain things. Had she been older, with kids, less attractive etc. IMO they would've referred to her as a prostitute. Being young and attractive they went down the wanton, promiscuous route - at that time, moral standards were all about the anti-hippy leanings, and anyone into free love would've been tarred the same way. It's just a way of making a warning about not conforming.

Between her very posh name ('de Vere' is an old/significant surname in the English aristocracy), the fact that she had been studying English Lit. at university before dropping out, and the fact that she was referencing 'going to Switzerland' in conversations with her mother, it's a pretty safe bet that the victim came from at least an upper middle-class background and possibly more than that.

Given the class structure and how things were treated in the UK back then (and still now, but especially then), had she been an upper-class prostitute of some sort, its *extremely* unlikely that the press would have reported it as such, in the same way they would have for an Annie Butcher from West Ham or whatever. That isn't to say that she wasn't just a hippie girl doing the free love thing of the time, but it's really hard to tell.

 

[mrC]

the fact she had men in her flat doesnt mean she was haveing se that was just an asumption the witnesses made i doubt they were in the room

 

[mrC]

im thinking for a girl of her class and conections wasnt bar work a bit bentneath her i mean shes clever from a well off background she has well of contacts but shes working behind a bar
couldent she have got a better job