UK UK- Eve Stratford, 21, Bunny @ Playboy Club, posed for mag. cover, later her mutilated & grotesquely staged body found @ home, London 18/03/75 *DNA*

[tes1984]

Did LW have any connection to the Royal Standard? speculation.

Who knows, but I don't think Lynne was the sort of 16 year old who went to a lot of pubs. She was a keen student and didn't usually go out in the evenings.

 

[lee sumner]

I referred to the person with a supposed limp from a contemporary newspaper (in a previous post), which Colin Sutton didn't, the witness was asked by the police to demonstrate how the person had a funny walk, they demonstrated that the feet were outward turned and they walked a little like someone pregnant. Abdul khawaja was said to swagger by the ex bunnies yet Sutton in the Bunny Girl Murders took a limp and a swagger to mean the same thing and assume it meant the description resembled Abdul.
I felt it was a leap too far.

iam sure i heard abdul had been eliminated by DNA. i dont believe farrow was killed by the same man who killed stratford and weedon. yes, her throat had been cut, but there was no sign of sexual assault. plus farrow was pregnant at the time of her murder. i think farrow was killed by someone hired by her husband.

 

[lee sumner]

These posts are very confusing and so is the below article:

I nailed Levi Bellfield, I'll prove serial killer is behind West End Murders

What I am getting from this is that former Detective Sutton believes Farrow's murder is linked to Eve and Lynne, despite the DNA evidence not matching?

Unfortunately, I think that Sutton is suffering from tunnel vision to try and get these 3 cases to fit together. This has resulted in this crazy assassin, hit job theory; Abdul Khawaja worked with different hitmen to kill Lynda and Eve. Ergo different DNA samples. Coincidentally, the hitman from Eve's murder also killed Lynne on his own volition some other time? Occam's Razor is not always correct, but it does seem a little outlandish to me.

In my opinion, the murder of Eve and Lynne scream lone Anger Rapist/killer.

Now, The Sun article does have some interesting points.

Interesting point #1:

There were two sets of DNA on Eve. One was Semen and a different one was on the bindings?

Why would this be the case?

1) There were two killers - One sexually assualted her and the other tied her up;

2) One set of DNA is from someone unrelated to Eve's murder:

The first set of DNA was found on the bindings. The ankle bindings were stockings and the wrist binding was a scarf. Was the DNA found on both bindings or just one? Did the killer bring these with them or were they Eves/already in her house. Could DNA on the scarf be from someone unrelated? What was the source of the DNA on this item? If it is blood (maybe killer cut themselves stabbing Eve?), then this would make it more likely that the DNA sample is the killers. If the sample is sweat or skin cells, then maybe it was left at a previous time by someone unrelated who wore the scarf? The latter being true would imply that the killer's DNA is the semen sample. However, this does not make the scarf sample useless, as it may be possible to link the owner of the scarf to the killer some how.

If there was only one assailant and the binding DNA sample is the killers, then perhaps Eve had sex at some other time during that day. According to Wikipedia, she met her agent and then a promotional company (?) before going home. Unfortunately, this was an era where the casting couch was prominent. I would like to get the DNA from the agent and whoever she saw at the promotional company to rule them out.

I would also like to know the source of the DNA from Lynne's case. Was it semen?

Interesting point #2:

In a lot of the articles and interviews about the Playboy club, we get fed the whole idea that "girls were not allowed to date or give numbers to customers." However, I think we see more of the truth in The Sun article. In some ways (or for some people at least) it was more like a hostess bar. In the club everything was above board, but I guess the right clients with the right amount of power could negotiate dates and maybe more outside of the club. It seems that this may have been Khawaja's unofficial role.

My friend worked at a Japanese style hostess club years ago. In the club, it was just conversation and flirting, but ownership would encourage outside dates with rich clients because this would keep them coming back to the club.

If all of this is true, then I say the following with no judgement. Eve may have been entertaining people outside of the club. The article says she dined with Khawaja the night before her murder. Also, she was serving a 3 month suspension from her job at the Playboy club because of her Mayfair Cover. Even if she was not doing this type of thing during her time at the club, maybe she felt financial pressure to do it because she did not have a steady income anymore.

i agree. i respect DI sutton as a detective, but i dont buy farrow was killed by the same man who killed stratford and weedon. yes, farrow had her throat cut like stratford, but farrow was not sexual assaulted like stratford and weedon were. also farrow was pregnant at the time of her murder. i think her husband hired someone to kill her.

 

[tes1984]

i respect DI sutton as a detective, but i dont buy farrow was killed by the same man who killed stratford and weedon.

Colin Sutton's theory is based around Abdul being close friends with both Stratford and Farrow.

Two women killed in a very unusual way, and a prime suspect for victim A is also a close friend of victim B...

 

[lee sumner]

Colin Sutton's theory is based around Abdul being close friends with both Stratford and Farrow.

Two women killed in a very unusual way, and a prime suspect for victim A is also a close friend of victim B...

DNA cleared abdul years ago, or so i thought. Lf daughters might have been mistaken when shown that photo of monty. Lf was being watched by certain people. clearly Lf husband was behind her brutal murder. iam baffled sutton thinks there is a link with stratford/weedon cases.

 

[tes1984]

DNA cleared abdul years ago, or so i thought.

I think he was more of a fixer, than an actual enforcer.

Lf daughters might have been mistaken when shown that photo of monty.

Agree, and I would have preferred a photo line up, rather than a yes/no based on one photo.

Lf was being watched by certain people. clearly Lf husband was behind her brutal murder.

IMO it's a good theory, but it's not certain.

iam baffled sutton thinks there is a link with stratford/weedon cases.

He might be wrong, but he's basing things on his extensive experience. I'm 50/50 if there is a link, but from an investigative perspective, it make sense to presume that there is one. Eg. It's easier to look for common links with three crimes, than with two.

 

[lee sumner]

14th June 2024

Memorial held and gravestone repaired after murder of woman almost 50 years ago

A MEMORIAL service has been held in Warrington in tribute to a woman murdered almost 50 years ago.

www.warringtonguardian.co.uk

'Eve Stratford, aged just 22 and a model who worked at London’s Playboy Club, was found dead in east London on March 18, 1975, with her throat cut.'

'Shortly after the internment, not only was Eve’s gravestone in Padgate broken in two, but it was also desecrated.'

''Her family were advised at the time not to replace the stone for the fear of repeated vandalism.
Fellow Brit brats became aware of the vandalised headstone in November, after Eve’s story was shared on national TV in ITV’s The Playboy Bunny Murder.''

those scumbags messing with eve stratford gravestone. they should show some respect.

 

[lee sumner]

Also in both cases it was snowing/snow covered everywhere.
Dark clothing can hide the colour, especially as most people don't tend to stare.
In Eve's case, he may have even removed his clothes and washed.
In Lynda's case I don't think he had time.
Lynda was being watched that day by three people with connections to her husband, in a white car, they were outside her house and later in Dalston when Lynda was with her Mum at a shoe shop. One of the people that was watching Lynda and her bf later when she met him at his market stall outside Pellici's restaurant on Bethnal Green Rd
Lynda had been keeping where they were living away from her husband and associates and had been getting threatening calls.
I can't recall the type of car the three men were in, just it was white.
Only one man entered the house as there was only one set of footprints.
I'm open on whether they are linked or not, there is no evidence to say one way or the other.
I now realise there is no acknowledged DNA with Lynda Farrow and that the edits on Wikipedia saying there is have very poor sources.
It cites a magazine, which I bought and yes it says there is, but saying there is in a magazine doesn't make it so, it's weak evidence.
Someone also linked the 2009 Crimewatch reconstruction, and the police officer in the case stated there was forensic evidence, she did not say there was DNA. Forensics is much more than DNA, the palm prints and footprints are forensic evidence. The palm prints may not even be the killers too.
I am guessing the same person edited the wikipedia entry regarding Lynda to say she was followed through the doorway it was used as an example of what may have happened, because nobody was there it's not proven. In fact from what Lynda's daughter's said, it is far more likely that the killer entered through (and left) via the back door.
If the one set of footprints lead to the front door and then around the side of the house, it meant that's the way the killer went. If he entered through the front door, why would he then go out again with the risk of being seen, to walk around to the garden?! Makes no sense.
No mention of blood outside either, yet they know the person left via the kitchen door and must have gone over fences, less chance of the footprints being trampled over like the ones at the front of the house.

i think farrow was killed by the men watching her. men hired by her husband. there is no way a sex predator was responsible, and the fact she was being followed around by friends of her husband makes a stranger attack not possible.

 

[tes1984]

i think farrow was killed by the men watching her. men hired by her husband. there is no way a sex predator was responsible, and the fact she was being followed around by friends of her husband makes a stranger attack not possible.

I tend to agree, although we don't know this for certain.

 

[lee sumner]

I tend to agree, although we don't know this for certain.

when eve stratford was raped then killed, she was found wearing her underwear. did the killer force her to wear this underwear, or did eve take a shower and changed into them herself when she arrived home around 430pm.

 

[lee sumner]

Looking for various reasons for the cloying smell, some were suggested earlier in the thread like diabetes -
suggested on this thread..

UK - UK- Eve Stratford, 21, Bunny @ Playboy Club, posed for mag. cover, later her mutilated & grotesquely staged body found @ home, London 18/03/75 *DNA*

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002481/19780420/048/0007?noTouch=true Gazette and Post April 20, 1978 Described as 15 years old in this piece, Michelle calls the man who attacked her "ugly man" I really need to find more on this man as he is also referred to as the...

www.websleuths.com

Heroin (or similar) drug addicts might leave a cloying smell behind, someone who works as an exterminator and no insult to anybody, but some actors and dancers take pride in their smelly rehearsal outfits because it represents how hard they have worked. complete speculation, imo. fwiw

Murders of Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

''A peculiar cloying scent was left by her attacker in the room where she was found.[20]''

heroin kills your sex drive. i was an addict for yrs, and all you care about is the next fix, not sex. so i dont think the killer was a drug addict.

 

[tes1984]

Did this killer commit sexual assaults and rapes before he started murdering?

Or was the murder of Eve his first major crime?

 

[TheRockingRev]

when eve stratford was raped then killed, she was found wearing her underwear. did the killer force her to wear this underwear, or did eve take a shower and changed into them herself when she arrived home around 430pm.

IMO she came home, and was probably either changing or going in the shower. It's not entirely impossible, but I think that the short time frame between her coming home and her boyfriend discovering her, wouldn't have given the killer much time to start deviating away from the main task of her murder.
Can anyone recall if the boyfriend came home at that same time every day? The killer was obviously working against the clock if so. It would IMO add to the fact that if he was coming home at a set time (I think it was in a factory/warehouse - so his shifts were probably pretty clockwork) then this wasn't opportunistic and the killer knew the routine. Whoever it was was also able to gain entry into the flat - did the flat have an intercom to be buzzed in? - if so Eve must have been sure she knew them, particularly if she had stripped to her underwear by then or 2). was she comfortable in their presence she stripped down whilst they were in the flat? or 3). did whoever it was get in by means of deception (delivery/policeman/workman etc.) and then strip her once they had got in.
This could be the case, as with a knife they could've threatened her enough once in to make sure she didn't shout out.

JMO - but whoever this was seemed to know the amount of time they were playing with before the boyfriend came home.

 

[tes1984]

JMO - but whoever this was seemed to know the amount of time they were playing with before the boyfriend came home.

Could someone have called round to visit the boyfriend? She tells him (or them) Tony won't be home for half an hour, but you're welcome to come in and wait?

That way the killer or killers would know the amount of time they were playing with

 

[dotr]

Random speculation, imo.
The killer in the DNA associated LW case, attacked her very close to her home, ES was attacked right in her home.

Eve recently had her pic on the front page of a magazine, Lynne had just celebrated finishing her A levels.

Did the perp want to 'destroy' them out of jealousy? Could repeatedly cutting a throat, suggest the perp is 'saying' shut your mouth', and the battering of LW's head, shut your brain?

Anthony France @NewsFrenchTony 18 March 2025

London murders of Playboy bunny, 22, and girl, 16, marked 50 years on

DNA links killings of Eve Stratford, 22, and 16-year-old Lynne Weedon in 1975

www.standard.co.uk

Playboy bunny girl Eve Stratford was found at her home in Leyton with her neck cut 12 times
Metropolitan Police

''Miss Stratford’s killer then raped and murdered 16-year-old Lynne Weedon six months later.
The schoolgirl had been battered with a blunt instrument before being bundled over a fence surrounding an electricity sub-station as she walked home in Hounslow on September 3 of that year.''

Schoolgirl: Lynne Weedon was beaten and left for dead
Metropolitan Police
''The killer is a white male, aged between 17 and 30, but now likely to be in his 70s or 80s.''

 

[tes1984]

I don't think LW was carrying a takeaway curry when she was attacked. IIRC that was Sally Shepherd in Peckham a few years later. A very similar kind of murder to LW, so easy to mix up.

 

[dotr]

I don't think LW was carrying a takeaway curry when she was attacked. IIRC that was Sally Shepherd in Peckham a few years later. A very similar kind of murder to LW, so easy to mix up.

Thank you, edited my post!

 

[TheRockingRev]

Could someone have called round to visit the boyfriend? She tells him (or them) Tony won't be home for half an hour, but you're welcome to come in and wait?

That way the killer or killers would know the amount of time they were playing with

It's a good shout - and it again opens the question as to whether she knew whoever it was who entered the flat. The times of the boyfriend coming home are key. If it was the same time each day then I get they knew what time they had, but if it differed or had he come home early then they must have been prepared to deal with him too.

 

[sportstergirl]

What happened to the monster responsible for 2 horrendous murders within a few months of each other? Nothing else (as far as we know) after the Lynn Weedon murder. I find it difficult to believe he turned over a new leaf and lived a law abiding life for the past 50 years.
Was he so sickened by his murders he took his own life?
Emigrated for a new start?
There was talk of the Lynda Farrow murder being linked though its since disproved.
I haven't seen proven links to other similar murders.

 

[tes1984]

There was talk of the Lynda Farrow murder being linked though its since disproved.
I haven't seen proven links to other similar murders.

I don't think a link with Lynda Farrow has been completely ruled out.