Hi all
I am new to this site, and this is my very first post.
Here are some of my views on this case;
The white male seen on the CCTV image entering the building at 22.31pm is the killer.
Joy was expecting him to come to her flat, and she was familiar enough with her killer to allow him into her flat that late at night without the need to get dressed back into her clothes beforehand.
Joy was in her nightclothes and seemingly ready for bed, and yet the 2 coffee cups found in the living room indicate that Joy had stayed up to wait for the man to arrive; ergo, she hadn't gone to bed yet.
Joy lets her killer into the building, and then into her flat. Note that she needed to have voluntarily unhooked the chain on the inside of her door before the man could enter. Joy also had a peephole in her door, meaning that she let the killer into the building, and then into her flat after her using the peephole and unlatching the chain.
The killer enters the building at 22.31pm and takes approximately 3 minutes to walk up to the 6th floor. He doesn't use the lift, because there would have been too many unknown parameters that would have been out of the killer's control; namely, the lift breaking down, or another resident using the lift at the same time.
Walking up 6 flights of steps and going to Joys flat, and then being let into the flat by the victim, all support the fact that Joy knew her killer.
That should have formed the basis of the initial investigation.
The murder weapon was never found, and there was nothing to support the idea that anything was missing from the flat; i.e. a kitchen knife. That suggests that the killer had the murder weapon on his person when he entered the building, which in turn strongly implies that the killer had some intent to kill before he was let into the flat.
The killer goes into the flat around 22.34pm, and Joy asks him if he wants a drink. She has likely already boiled the kettle because she was expecting him, but if not, then the time taken for the generic "do you want a drink?" conversation, plus the time taken for the kettle to boil, the coffee to be made, then cooled enough to be subsequently drunk, would then add another 12 to 15 minutes, taking the approximate time the killer finished his coffee to be around 22.45pm to 22.48pm.
Once the killer finishes his coffee, it then provides us with an approximate time for when things started to go wrong. Joy was found in her bedroom, and so at some point, she has to move from the living room, and then physically transfer into her bedroom.
Due to there being no sign of a physical struggle, it seems that Joy entered her bedroom of her own free will. This is when the killer chooses to strike. After they finished their drinks, Joy may have told her killer to see himself out, as she was going to bed. But rather than leave, the killer feigns leaving by opening the door, but rather than exit, he instead closes it from the inside. This gives Joy the impression that the man has left. But rather than leave, he walks towards Joys bedroom, just as she is coming out to go and bolt the door. He startles her, but before she can react, the killer strikes by pushing her back into her bedroom and overpowering her.
This occurs around 22.50pm, just a few minutes after the killer finishes his coffee.
The entire assault takes no more than 3 minutes, and so at just before 22.53pm, Joy is deceased.
The killer then realises the severity of what he's done and then just panics and runs. But just as he runs towards the door, he grabs Joys house keys. He is then overheard running down the stairs by the couple who claim they heard a man running down the stairs.
This occurs around 22.55pm, despite the couple stating an earlier approximate time.
But knowing that there's no CCTV on the back entry door to the flats, the killer flees through the exit at the rear of the building and directly into the quiet side road. It takes him no longer than 2 minutes to flee from Joys flat and reach the rear exit. He leaves the building at around 22.57pm.
But then he realises he must have left some evidence at the scene and he considers going back into the building as he now has the key. But he can't risk being seen.
So he decides to leave the scene, but instead of leaving it to chance, he calls in a favour, and asks someone to help him out.
Despite the killer being long gone, at around 23.07pm the killer's friend arrives. He picks up the keys left by the killer near the rear exit, and walks up the stairs to Joys flat. He goes into the flat around 23.10pm and sees that Joy is deceased. But his instructions are to destroy the evidence. He then tries to start multiple fires to try and destroy the evidence as quickly as possible. He spends no more than 4 minutes in the flat, before he replaces the key and leaves at 23.15pm.
He then goes down the stairs, leaves the building via the front door at 23.17pm, and is nearly run over by a car, but not caught on CCTV. He heads straight across the road and heads east towards the junction of Fulbourne Road and Forest Road, where he reaches the phone box at 23.18pm to make a call to say that he has seen "Flames" (not smoke) coming from one of the floors.
Note that he somehow knows the name of the building, but none of the streets around it.
This supports the idea that the killer told the man specifically to come to "St David's Court."
Note that the man who started the fires at around 23.13pm, makes a call to emergency services just 5 minutes later.
This is important because if the killer had started the fires at around 22.55pm when the murder likely took place, then why wasn't the flat totally obliterated?
The fire damage evidence virtually proves that the fires had to be started no earlier than 23.10pm, or possibly 23.05pm at the very earliest.
When we consider that the average response time for the fire crew would have been around 4 minutes after the call was received at 23.18pm, and that the crew in attendance were there to clear the lower floors before they attempted to reach the sixth floor, it means that the crew got to the building around 23.22pm at the very earliest, and wouldn't have entered the flat until at least 10 minutes later by the time they had cleared the lower floors and reached the 6th floor. that's an entry time of around 23.32pm.
If the fires were started by the killer before 22.55pm, then why was the fire damage to the flat not more extensive by the time the fire crew entered the flat at 23.32pm at the very earliest? That's 37 minutes.
For multiple fires to have been started and left to rage for 37 minutes, it would have resulted in the flat being totally incinerated. But if the fires only burned from 23.13pm to 23.32pm, that's only 19 minutes instead of 37 minutes.
In other words, the fires couldn't have been started too early.
And the reason why the fire-starter who made the 999 call never came forward? Because he likely spoke to the killer afterward and the killer warned him that his DNA would be present in the flat and that he would get the blame for he murder instead.
The other scenarios being that the killer took Joys life just before 23.00pm, but chose to wait for 10 minutes before starting the fires, or he took Joys life just moments before he started the fires, and the flames were then somehow seen by a passing driver as he looked up at a 6th floor flat to see "flames" and not smoke.
Ultimately, the fires had to have been started not long before the 999 call was made.
The killer may have spent from 22.31pm to 23.15pm at the flat, but 45 minutes is a particularly long duration for someone who chooses to commit a murder, to spend with their victim.
So, that's my underlying theory (condensed version)
I do hope my very first post on this site has been favourable to read.
many thanks, from Rookie D
I am new to this site, and this is my very first post.
Here are some of my views on this case;
The white male seen on the CCTV image entering the building at 22.31pm is the killer.
Joy was expecting him to come to her flat, and she was familiar enough with her killer to allow him into her flat that late at night without the need to get dressed back into her clothes beforehand.
Joy was in her nightclothes and seemingly ready for bed, and yet the 2 coffee cups found in the living room indicate that Joy had stayed up to wait for the man to arrive; ergo, she hadn't gone to bed yet.
Joy lets her killer into the building, and then into her flat. Note that she needed to have voluntarily unhooked the chain on the inside of her door before the man could enter. Joy also had a peephole in her door, meaning that she let the killer into the building, and then into her flat after her using the peephole and unlatching the chain.
The killer enters the building at 22.31pm and takes approximately 3 minutes to walk up to the 6th floor. He doesn't use the lift, because there would have been too many unknown parameters that would have been out of the killer's control; namely, the lift breaking down, or another resident using the lift at the same time.
Walking up 6 flights of steps and going to Joys flat, and then being let into the flat by the victim, all support the fact that Joy knew her killer.
That should have formed the basis of the initial investigation.
The murder weapon was never found, and there was nothing to support the idea that anything was missing from the flat; i.e. a kitchen knife. That suggests that the killer had the murder weapon on his person when he entered the building, which in turn strongly implies that the killer had some intent to kill before he was let into the flat.
The killer goes into the flat around 22.34pm, and Joy asks him if he wants a drink. She has likely already boiled the kettle because she was expecting him, but if not, then the time taken for the generic "do you want a drink?" conversation, plus the time taken for the kettle to boil, the coffee to be made, then cooled enough to be subsequently drunk, would then add another 12 to 15 minutes, taking the approximate time the killer finished his coffee to be around 22.45pm to 22.48pm.
Once the killer finishes his coffee, it then provides us with an approximate time for when things started to go wrong. Joy was found in her bedroom, and so at some point, she has to move from the living room, and then physically transfer into her bedroom.
Due to there being no sign of a physical struggle, it seems that Joy entered her bedroom of her own free will. This is when the killer chooses to strike. After they finished their drinks, Joy may have told her killer to see himself out, as she was going to bed. But rather than leave, the killer feigns leaving by opening the door, but rather than exit, he instead closes it from the inside. This gives Joy the impression that the man has left. But rather than leave, he walks towards Joys bedroom, just as she is coming out to go and bolt the door. He startles her, but before she can react, the killer strikes by pushing her back into her bedroom and overpowering her.
This occurs around 22.50pm, just a few minutes after the killer finishes his coffee.
The entire assault takes no more than 3 minutes, and so at just before 22.53pm, Joy is deceased.
The killer then realises the severity of what he's done and then just panics and runs. But just as he runs towards the door, he grabs Joys house keys. He is then overheard running down the stairs by the couple who claim they heard a man running down the stairs.
This occurs around 22.55pm, despite the couple stating an earlier approximate time.
But knowing that there's no CCTV on the back entry door to the flats, the killer flees through the exit at the rear of the building and directly into the quiet side road. It takes him no longer than 2 minutes to flee from Joys flat and reach the rear exit. He leaves the building at around 22.57pm.
But then he realises he must have left some evidence at the scene and he considers going back into the building as he now has the key. But he can't risk being seen.
So he decides to leave the scene, but instead of leaving it to chance, he calls in a favour, and asks someone to help him out.
Despite the killer being long gone, at around 23.07pm the killer's friend arrives. He picks up the keys left by the killer near the rear exit, and walks up the stairs to Joys flat. He goes into the flat around 23.10pm and sees that Joy is deceased. But his instructions are to destroy the evidence. He then tries to start multiple fires to try and destroy the evidence as quickly as possible. He spends no more than 4 minutes in the flat, before he replaces the key and leaves at 23.15pm.
He then goes down the stairs, leaves the building via the front door at 23.17pm, and is nearly run over by a car, but not caught on CCTV. He heads straight across the road and heads east towards the junction of Fulbourne Road and Forest Road, where he reaches the phone box at 23.18pm to make a call to say that he has seen "Flames" (not smoke) coming from one of the floors.
Note that he somehow knows the name of the building, but none of the streets around it.
This supports the idea that the killer told the man specifically to come to "St David's Court."
Note that the man who started the fires at around 23.13pm, makes a call to emergency services just 5 minutes later.
This is important because if the killer had started the fires at around 22.55pm when the murder likely took place, then why wasn't the flat totally obliterated?
The fire damage evidence virtually proves that the fires had to be started no earlier than 23.10pm, or possibly 23.05pm at the very earliest.
When we consider that the average response time for the fire crew would have been around 4 minutes after the call was received at 23.18pm, and that the crew in attendance were there to clear the lower floors before they attempted to reach the sixth floor, it means that the crew got to the building around 23.22pm at the very earliest, and wouldn't have entered the flat until at least 10 minutes later by the time they had cleared the lower floors and reached the 6th floor. that's an entry time of around 23.32pm.
If the fires were started by the killer before 22.55pm, then why was the fire damage to the flat not more extensive by the time the fire crew entered the flat at 23.32pm at the very earliest? That's 37 minutes.
For multiple fires to have been started and left to rage for 37 minutes, it would have resulted in the flat being totally incinerated. But if the fires only burned from 23.13pm to 23.32pm, that's only 19 minutes instead of 37 minutes.
In other words, the fires couldn't have been started too early.
And the reason why the fire-starter who made the 999 call never came forward? Because he likely spoke to the killer afterward and the killer warned him that his DNA would be present in the flat and that he would get the blame for he murder instead.
The other scenarios being that the killer took Joys life just before 23.00pm, but chose to wait for 10 minutes before starting the fires, or he took Joys life just moments before he started the fires, and the flames were then somehow seen by a passing driver as he looked up at a 6th floor flat to see "flames" and not smoke.
Ultimately, the fires had to have been started not long before the 999 call was made.
The killer may have spent from 22.31pm to 23.15pm at the flat, but 45 minutes is a particularly long duration for someone who chooses to commit a murder, to spend with their victim.
So, that's my underlying theory (condensed version)
I do hope my very first post on this site has been favourable to read.
many thanks, from Rookie D
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