UK UK - Ann Heron, 44, found at home with throat cut, Darlington, 3 August 1990

[rvlvr]

Interesting, I don’t think I’ve read the Northern Echo piece before. Could the author have misremembered the direction of travel? They say in the article, published 14 years after the crime, that their recollection of the day is ‘hazy’. I’m inclined to believe there can’t have been more than one blue vehicle speeding down the driveway that day? Two would seem like a bizarre coincidence, and if it was the same vehicle sighted at different times I’m not sure that makes much sense either?

 

[Stitches]

I have NOT been in the loop, my sincerest apologies. I mulled this over in my head, and my current running theory, while slightly crazy, is that someone possibly held a grudge against Ann, maybe an Ex, And snuck in and killed her whilst wearing gloves, disposed of the knife and gloves and ran. Now, feel free to pick apart at this, I'm open to constructive criticism.

 

[Jen Jarvie]

I will try to answer a few questions raised - there are some that cannot be answered for obvious reasons.
So the car drove towards Darlington from the house which was detailed in many accounts. The fact that only Peter Heron's DNA was found on Ann does not mean anything - he lived with her. The fact no further DNA has been found can be down to a number of reasons which include the methods of forensic recovery at the time and the techniques used to extract that DNA. Peter Heron has an alibi from 2pm through to 6pm when he found Ann - there are no missing items previously stated in press releases. Accountable times with numerous witnesses that corroborate the afternoon. The clothes he was wearing were the same all day and again accounted for by those who were with him throughout different times of the day. Peter Heron went home for lunch every day as the office was a mere 3-minute drive from the house, same time every day, 1-2pm. The route taken from the meeting to the office took 22 minutes (on average), leaving the meeting at 4.20 and being back at the office at 4.45, having passed several witnesses on the way on the long way round to the office. As previously noted Peter Heron has an alibi from 2pm - 6pm and does not (a) fit the description of the man fleeing the scene and , (b) does not own or have access to a blue car.

I hope this clarifies some points.

 

[tes1984]

Peter Heron has an alibi from 2pm through to 6pm when he found Ann - there are no missing items previously stated in press releases. Accountable times with numerous witnesses that corroborate the afternoon.

Who corroborated/confirmed the witness statements though?

And what is the actual timeline of potential sightings?
Eg. 2.20pm PH seen at X by John Smith
2.50pm PH seen at Y by Joe Bloggs and Jane Doe etc etc...

 

[rvlvr]

Hi @Jen Jarvie, thanks for your contributions in this thread. For what it’s worth I have a hard time believing PH did this. He’s certainly a good suspect, any husband in a case like Ann’s would be. But I just don’t think the evidence fits.

That said, I think @tes1984 and others are right to interrogate the strength of PH’s alibi, when so much of it seems shrouded in secrecy. Who saw PH, when, and where? I appreciate witnesses have a right to privacy, so perhaps that rules out the ‘who’, but there’s surely more that could be said about the ‘when’ and ‘where’?

my current running theory, while slightly crazy, is that someone possibly held a grudge against Ann, maybe an Ex, And snuck in and killed her whilst wearing gloves, disposed of the knife and gloves and ran.

I think this is a perfectly valid theory. It’s true most murder victims know their killer, but that doesn’t restrict us to looking solely at the victim’s partner. Still, police presumably looked into and eliminated the men known to AH - though it’s possible someone slipped through the net, in the days before mobile phones and the internet it was much easier to keep your ‘private’ life private.

I actually think Jen is on the right track when it comes to the killer being a man like Benson (I’m not sold on Benson himself as a suspect). AH’s Wiki page states ‘only 13% of women murdered in England and Wales in 1988 were murdered by strangers’, but 13% is a pretty hefty chunk, imo. We know there were and are lots of dangerous men in our society capable of random acts of violence, including murder. Some of the UK’s more notorious killers could possibly be linked to this case, but it’s just as likely imo this was the work of some rage (and perhaps drug) fuelled individual, who had maybe never killed before and maybe never did again.

 

[WiseOwl]

I will try to answer a few questions raised - there are some that cannot be answered for obvious reasons.
So the car drove towards Darlington from the house which was detailed in many accounts. The fact that only Peter Heron's DNA was found on Ann does not mean anything - he lived with her. The fact no further DNA has been found can be down to a number of reasons which include the methods of forensic recovery at the time and the techniques used to extract that DNA. Peter Heron has an alibi from 2pm through to 6pm when he found Ann - there are no missing items previously stated in press releases. Accountable times with numerous witnesses that corroborate the afternoon. The clothes he was wearing were the same all day and again accounted for by those who were with him throughout different times of the day. Peter Heron went home for lunch every day as the office was a mere 3-minute drive from the house, same time every day, 1-2pm. The route taken from the meeting to the office took 22 minutes (on average), leaving the meeting at 4.20 and being back at the office at 4.45, having passed several witnesses on the way on the long way round to the office. As previously noted Peter Heron has an alibi from 2pm - 6pm and does not (a) fit the description of the man fleeing the scene and , (b) does not own or have access to a blue car.

I hope this clarifies some points.

You haven't answered any of my questions, but never mind - moving on.

There are a couple of things regarding Ann i'd like to ask.

First, the prowler:

Having an affair doesn't mean my father is guilty of murder

There was much sympathy for Peter Heron when he found his wife, Ann, murdered in their home on the outskirts of Darlington.

www.thenorthernecho.co.uk

The first line of inquiry reported in The Northern Echo was that Mrs Heron, a regular sunbather, had been disturbed the week before by a prowler who had walked up Aeolian's driveway. His presence had forced her to go inside.

Do you know where this story came from? Did the Heron's report this incident to the police at the time? Did Ann give a description of this prowler?

Then Ann Marie, Ann's daughter:

Durham Police's only unsolved murder raises questions 25 years on

The family of murdered Ann Heron remain convinced someone somewhere knows who did it

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

She had intended to travel down to see her mum from her home near Glasgow on the day she died. If she had left as planned, she would have arrived around the time of the murder.

Do you happen to know why Ann Marie's trip that day to see Ann was cancelled?

The killer that day had remarkable luck when you think about it. First, Mr Heron came home from lunch between 1 - 2, Ann's daughter should have been with her that afternoon, there were workmen in the field at the back of Aeolian House who neither saw or heard anything, after the meeting Mr Heron drove the long way back to his office instead of going past his house, where he potentially could have seen something, and Ann had also planned to go out that evening with friends to a party.

It's almost as if the perp knew exactly the right time to strike.

 

[Spoof]

Who corroborated/confirmed the witness statements though?

And what is the actual timeline of potential sightings?
Eg. 2.20pm PH seen at X by John Smith
2.50pm PH seen at Y by Joe Bloggs and Jane Doe etc etc...

So the "alibi" PH has relates to sightings? Was he not sat with or meeting specific people at specific times?

 

[Spoof]

I will try to answer a few questions raised - there are some that cannot be answered for obvious reasons.
So the car drove towards Darlington from the house which was detailed in many accounts. The fact that only Peter Heron's DNA was found on Ann does not mean anything - he lived with her. The fact no further DNA has been found can be down to a number of reasons which include the methods of forensic recovery at the time and the techniques used to extract that DNA. Peter Heron has an alibi from 2pm through to 6pm when he found Ann - there are no missing items previously stated in press releases. Accountable times with numerous witnesses that corroborate the afternoon. The clothes he was wearing were the same all day and again accounted for by those who were with him throughout different times of the day. Peter Heron went home for lunch every day as the office was a mere 3-minute drive from the house, same time every day, 1-2pm. The route taken from the meeting to the office took 22 minutes (on average), leaving the meeting at 4.20 and being back at the office at 4.45, having passed several witnesses on the way on the long way round to the office. As previously noted Peter Heron has an alibi from 2pm - 6pm and does not (a) fit the description of the man fleeing the scene and , (b) does not own or have access to a blue car.

I hope this clarifies some points.

Re: DNA, your saying that the reason for no other DNA being found at the crime scene may be down to forensic recovery methods and techniques of time? But those techniques were able to find PH's DNA all over the house so why could a technique/method be able to find one persons DNA but not other?

What about any other forensics which would identify a third party? I'm assuming that it can't just be about the body itself and the police would have looked at other areas of the scene and house? If they did, did they find any unidentified forensics linked to someone other than AH or PH?

You seem to exclude the significance of the PH DNA link on the basis that his DNA would be present because he lived there and was intimate with the victim. Surely, if no other DNA/forensics was found then PHs DNA being found is really significant?

I watched the Crimewatch video someone posted recently and couldn't the man seen running have just been a jogger? Your post says he was seen "feeling the scene." Was it ever confirmed who this was and whether they had anything to do with the crime?

Sorry, lots of questions.

Many thanks.

 

[Spoof]

Hi @Jen Jarvie, thanks for your contributions in this thread. For what it’s worth I have a hard time believing PH did this. He’s certainly a good suspect, any husband in a case like Ann’s would be. But I just don’t think the evidence fits.

That said, I think @tes1984 and others are right to interrogate the strength of PH’s alibi, when so much of it seems shrouded in secrecy. Who saw PH, when, and where? I appreciate witnesses have a right to privacy, so perhaps that rules out the ‘who’, but there’s surely more that could be said about the ‘when’ and ‘where’?



I think this is a perfectly valid theory. It’s true most murder victims know their killer, but that doesn’t restrict us to looking solely at the victim’s partner. Still, police presumably looked into and eliminated the men known to AH - though it’s possible someone slipped through the net, in the days before mobile phones and the internet it was much easier to keep your ‘private’ life private.

I actually think Jen is on the right track when it comes to the killer being a man like Benson (I’m not sold on Benson himself as a suspect). AH’s Wiki page states ‘only 13% of women murdered in England and Wales in 1988 were murdered by strangers’, but 13% is a pretty hefty chunk, imo. We know there were and are lots of dangerous men in our society capable of random acts of violence, including murder. Some of the UK’s more notorious killers could possibly be linked to this case, but it’s just as likely imo this was the work of some rage (and perhaps drug) fuelled individual, who had maybe never killed before and maybe never did again.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but surely the theory of anyone else committed the crime, other than PH is almost completely implausible because of the DNA? I know someone has noted that crimes can be committed without leaving DNA/forensic trace and whilst I don't know the details and practicalities of this, I'm assuming it would take significant skill, planning and luck?

How would the person have known when to commit the crime in such a narrow window of opportunity, not cause a struggle, not steal anything, leave no trace of DNA and have no reason for targeting the victim?

What is the evidence behind a third person being responsible? Again, apologies if this has already been covered but I don't think it has.

 

[rvlvr]

The strongest evidence is the blue car. A blue car was seen parked by the house around 4.45pm, and at least one other witness saw a blue car speeding down the driveway away from the house shortly after 5pm - around about the time AH is believed to have been killed. Who was driving this vehicle, and why in that manner?

AH was wearing nothing but a bikini, so there’s little in the way of clothing available to be tested for DNA. If the killer didn’t cut themselves in the act, they wouldn’t have left behind any blood. No sexual assault took place. Was obtaining touch DNA on skin even a consideration in 1990? So the lack of DNA evidence isn’t surprising imo.

I don’t think the window is narrow - there’s a 4 hour gap between PH returning to work then coming home at the end of the day. Imo it wouldn’t have taken much skill to observe a slight woman in her 40s sunbathing alone in her front garden on a working day with only one vehicle on the driveway and the front door probably open and deduce she was both alone and vulnerable.

I don’t know why people murder people who they don’t know and for apparently no reason, but unfortunately it happens.

 

[tes1984]

So the "alibi" PH has relates to sightings? Was he not sat with or meeting specific people at specific times?

He spent some of the afternoon at work and in a meeting, but also did IIRC an hour or so of driving around on his own.

Presumably some of the sightings relate to him being seen driving. Otherwise there are periods that afternoon when he's unaccounted for.

 

[rvlvr]

So the "alibi" PH has relates to sightings? Was he not sat with or meeting specific people at specific times?

These are the timings JJ gave a while back:

To clarify Peter was called to an unexpected meeting at 3.15pm and left for the meeting at 3.45pm what lasted till 4.20pm. From there he left and took the long way back to the office arriving at about 4.45pm. The journey was witnessed by several people. I hope that clarifies.

There’s also another post by JJ in which she says one of the witnesses was an off duty police officer.

 

[rvlvr]

A criminal profiling study conducted in 2019

Similarly, it has been found that, as the aggressor’s age increases, there is a greater tendency to use bladed weapons and blunt objects [32]. Likewise, Khoshnood and Väfors Fritz [33] revealed that perpetrators between the ages of 37 and 59 are associated with non-premeditated-approach methods, thus these homicides tend to be triggered by arguments.

[...]

Finally, it has been shown that in the case of perpetrators who previously knew their victims, there tends to be a greater number and seriousness of injuries [41], with the homicides tending to take place indoors and most often using bladed weapons or blunt objects [32,42]. In addition, they tend to be triggered by an argument [33,43]

[...]

In homicides taking place between couples, the victims tend to be females, aged between 19 and 50, means are commonly used to control the victim, and bladed weapons and blunt objects are most often used [39,44].

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Interesting stuff but to be fair this doesn’t really tell us how common it is for someone to cut the throat of their partner?

In the UK - given the scarcity of guns - knives and blunt objects are obviously going to be the items most likely used to control a partner in the home. Perhaps I missed it, but I didn’t see a breakdown of the two, between being stabbed vs being battered with a blunt object? I feel like this is important. And then, of the stabbings, how many target the throat versus, say, the torso?

If during the return home at lunchtime the Herons had argued, PH had grabbed a knife, and had stabbed AH, then I could well imagine and believe that. But that didn’t happen.

Or at least, the stabbing didn’t - but perhaps they did argue. He returns to work. Maybe he’s stewing on it. But he has to compose himself to attend a meeting. He does and this passes off apparently normally. A couple of hours have now passed since the supposed row. Now what? A murderous rage descends? He morphs into a cold, calculated killer? Either way, he seizes the opportunity and drives home, stabs his wife in the throat, leaves again and finishes his working day, without raising any suspicion?

As a bonus, soon after PH has supposedly killed his wife a blue car is observed outside of his house, and later a blue car is seen departing suspiciously from it, and this car is never traced?

Imo the killer is more likely to be whoever was driving that car at speed away from the Herons’ home.

 

[dotr]

Wondering if AH ever complained about DV in the home, was she ever partially strangled by PH when in a fight? speculation, imo. rbbm

https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/news/strangulation-is-a-significant-indicator-that-domestic-abuse-will-turn-deadly-experts-say.aspx#:~:text=The%20Training%20Institute%20on%20Strangulation%20Prevention%20reports%20that%20many%20offenders,%27

“A person who has suffered a non-fatal strangulation incident with their intimate partner is 750% more likely to be killed by the same offender.”

“The most dangerous domestic violence offenders strangle their victims. The most violent rapists strangle their victims. We used to think all abusers were equal. They are not. Our research has now made clear that when a man puts his hands around a woman’s neck, he has just raised his hand and said, ‘I’m a killer,” says Gwinn, and he adds, “So, when you hear ‘He choked me,’ now we know you are at the edge of homicide.”

''In Canada, non-fatal Strangulation is a criminal offence of Assault Causing Bodily Harm, and where evidence presents, strangulation may lead to criminal charges of attempted murder.'

 

[rvlvr]

I think we have to be careful speculating about DV when there’s really no evidence - AFAIK, anyway? - that PH was an abusive or controlling partner. Ann was apparently unhappy in Darlington, but she had young grandchildren 3 hours up the road in Glasgow - it’s possible there were more ‘pull’ factors at play than ‘push’ ones.

As much as I probably wouldn’t want to go for a pint with PH I’ve not seen anything in his character or history that suggests he’s anything other than a little bit flawed, but who isn’t? It’s true PH was cheating on Ann, but Ann herself was married when she first met PH (and of course he too was married at the time, to his first wife) - people having flings and affairs, and relationships breaking down, are all unfortunately just a part of life.

 

[Jen Jarvie]

I want to state very clearly that there was no evidence of DV at any point, and in any marriage to any spouse or child with regard to Peter Heron -NONE WHATSOEVER.

 

[dotr]

I want to state very clearly that there was no evidence of DV at any point, and in any marriage to any spouse or child with regard to Peter Heron -NONE WHATSOEVER.

Exactly why i posted about DV often leading to murder, hard to imagine a non-violent person literally 'going for the throat.' imo.

 

[Spoof]

Why do the police feel that PH can't account for his exact whereabouts if there's a claim that he has an alibi?

 

[WiseOwl]

Exactly why i posted about DV often leading to murder, hard to imagine a non-violent person literally 'going for the throat.' imo.

It wasn't necessarily a slashed throat though - this report is saying that Ann was stabbed in the neck:

Having an affair doesn't mean my father is guilty of murder

Mr Heron, her husband of four years, had returned from work at about 5.50pm to find her body in the lounge. She had been savagely stabbed in the neck and her bikini bottoms had been removed, although there was no evidence of a sexual attack. Nothing in the house had been touched. There were no signs of a struggle.

If this report is correct then the perp wouldn't need to be an expert with a knife, anyone could have stabbed her in the neck with whatever choice of weapon they had.

 

[GamesAfoot101]

Did Benson have any history of sexual abuse towards women I wonder and if not why not ransack the house ?.