UK UK - Bernard Oliver, 17, Muswell Hill, London, 6 Jan 1967

[Mark747Eagle]

Point of law, which might not be appreciated from across the pond.
Whatever this crime might be - murder, rape, desecration of a body - Bernard Oliver was not a minor in the eyes of English law, when the age of consent was, and is, sixteen.

There was no age of consent at the time, homosexuality was still illegal, and considered a mental health condition.

 

[FOXINBOX]

There was no age of consent at the time, homosexuality was still illegal, and considered a mental health condition.

I was originally pointing out that this case [No pun intended] was not one for one of the internet paedophile hunting groups. However, I had a look at the facts re. the UK and homosexuality.
The UK legalised homosexuality for consenting adults i.e those over 21 in 1967 - the very year of this murder, so I was wrong. If he were a gay man, he would be considered a minor.
Unlike the USA, the UK never seems to have regarded homosexuality as a mental health issue. 18 May 1965 [2 years prior] The People newspaper "Under the present law, any man who performs a homosexual act however trivial and even in the privacy of his own home, has committed a crime for which he can be sent to prison for up to two years."
By 1967 I would say the police viewed any homosexual activity with poor Bernard as rape, because of his youth, because of he wasn't the sharpest knife in the box and because of the way in which the body was disposed.