UK UK- Joy Hewer, 50, Teacher/church volunteer, sexually assaulted & fatally stabbed in chest, apartment set on fire, Walthamstow, 17 Oct.1995 *REWARD*

[Konstantin]

When she wasn't volunteering for her church, Joy volunteered for local charities, helping homeless people and drug addicts.

So perhaps the connection to her killer could have been more charity than church related.

Did any of the people she helped ever visit her at home?

It seems very reckless to me for a single woman to give out her address to strangers, particularly those who might be unstable, mental health issues, and so on but who knows.

My guess is she did not do so but the killer might have simply found out her address and turned up - but then would Joy really have let such a person in and late at night as well? What did those who knew her best think about that?

 

[tes1984]

Did any of the people she helped ever visit her at home?

It seems very reckless to me for a single woman to give out her address to strangers, particularly those who might be unstable, mental health issues, and so on but who knows.

Joy was a committed Christian and tireless charity worker for the poor and needy.

I can't see her turning away someone with a sob story, or seemingly valid reason, but who knows?

 

[tes1984]

Did the CCTV only capture the man entering the building? There’s a back entrance/exit (seen in the first Google maps link I posted), perhaps he left that way and that exit wasn’t covered by a camera?

Is the man captured on the CCTV aware that he's on camera?

 

[rvlvr]

Is the man captured on the CCTV aware that he's on camera?

Interesting one isn’t it, I’m guessing that’s the best ‘still’ of the video they have of him, and even in this shot his face isn’t seen, so has he deliberately avoided looking at the camera perhaps, or was he just lucky?

I’m not sure what sort of intercom system the flats had, whether it was audio only or could Joy see the video too? I suspect as it was the 90s it was the former but that’s just a guess, if once at the flat he sees a set up like this one or even just a sign saying CCTV is in use perhaps he decides to leave via the rear door hoping not to be recorded again, and obviously the back way is away from the main road so he’d be less likely to be seen.

I tried to answer my own query about the murder weapon and a few sources say it was never found but I can’t find any quotes from police saying that. I think it definitely matters whether the killer brought his own weapon or used something from Joy’s home, but perhaps this is information police want to hold back.

 

[dotr]

2022 rbbm

The unsolved murder of a Walthamstow teacher found stabbed in her burning flat

Joy Hewer was found with stab wounds by firefighters who only came because of a fire in her Walthamstow flat

www.mylondon.news

''The case left the police baffled. There was no apparent motive, no murder weapon, no obvious suspects.''

 

[rvlvr]

Yeah, that was one I came across, but I can’t find the primary source for that claim, the BBC have run a fair few articles about this case over the years with quotes from the police but I’ve not seen one in which they’ve talked about the weapon, a lot of these local news sites are mostly just churnalism sadly.

 

[Konstantin]

Is the man captured on the CCTV aware that he's on camera?

I'm guessing not given how easy it would be to wear a scarf over his face and a hat.

 

[tes1984]

If the CCTV man wasn't the killer, then he's never come forward to explain what he was doing there, and why he left using the rear exit.

This killer was incredibly lucky. The CCTV at the rear exit wasn't working that day. On any other day, he would have been caught on camera whichever exit he used.

 

[rvlvr]

Thinking about the 999 call, if he exited out the back would he have doubled back on himself to head past the building and across Forest Road to the phone box to make the 999 call, or would it have been more natural for him to keep heading south towards Wood Street tube?

My hunch is this is what he did and the call came in from someone unconnected with the crime.