UK UK - Penny Bell, 43, Ealing, London, 6 June 1991

[dotr]

2024 rbbm.

Verifying Device

''Now, 33 years on from the murder, a new name is in the frame for the brutal slaying after her daughter Lauren Bell teamed up with a retired detective who led the original hunt for Penny’s killer.

They say they have uncovered a raft of new evidence, including a fresh motive, which is among a comprehensive dossier Lauren has put together with former Detective Superintendent Brian Edwards.''

“So many historical crimes are now being solved thanks to huge advancements in DNA science and we hope this will apply to Penny’s murder too.”

 

[lee sumner]

It's not an unresolved case though, so as far as the Metropolitan Police today are concerned, it's still unsolved.

true, but i would love to know who did it.

 

[greenwoodlad]

why would she pick a man up on a quiet country lane with all that money ? seems she was hiding something - could she have been trying to pay him off? maybe something to do with her business - but then why kill her ? why not just demand more money the following week if it was someone she was paying to keep quiet over something perhaps? or maybe he demanded more money - she refused and then he killed her ..... thoughts?

 

[tes1984]

why would she pick a man up on a quiet country lane with all that money ? seems she was hiding something - could she have been trying to pay him off? maybe something to do with her business - but then why kill her ? why not just demand more money the following week if it was someone she was paying to keep quiet over something perhaps? or maybe he demanded more money - she refused and then he killed her ..... thoughts?

All very good questions, although it's not certain that she had the money with her that morning.

 

[davidt]

Watching the video I hadn't realised that Penny received a phone call prior to telling the builders she had a meeting. Also I don't think there's any certainty where and when the man got in to the car.

 

[CSIAngus]

For me, the overkill of the murder seems deeply personal and perhaps sexual also in the multiple penetrations of the blade. This is someone being rejected and if they can't have her no one can. I have only one name in mind who has been frequently referenced in this thread. MOO.

 

[davidt]

I still puzzle over the missing money. Penny seems to have been more than a little cavalier with large sums of money. In the Crimewatch reconstruction when her daughter moves towards her bag she tells her to be careful as there's lots of money in it. All that right in front of the nanny. Makes me wonder how many others may have known she was carrying large sums of cash around. One way of making yourself a target. We don't even know if the money is connected with her death, only that it remains unaccounted for.

 

[JennieM]

Watching the video I hadn't realised that Penny received a phone call prior to telling the builders she had a meeting. Also I don't think there's any certainty where and when the man got in to the car.

whatever her concerns were, apparently she was very stressed leading up to her murder, she never shared them with her husband

 

[davidt]

whatever her concerns were, apparently she was very stressed leading up to her murder, she never shared them with her husband

Yep, that's yet another area for which there's no explanation and which may or may not be connected with the cash withdrawal. It's one of those cases where there's loads of unanswered questions and lots of potential leads and yet none has yet produced anything of note.

If she did get a call that morning was that in respect of the mystery appointment or something else? If the former then it would at least confirm there was a real appointment. Its mentioned twice in The Sun video but that's not necessarily a reliable source. I don't ever recall ever hearing about a phone call that morning before.

 

[tes1984]

whatever her concerns were, apparently she was very stressed leading up to her murder, she never shared them with her husband

IIRC he said she was on good form that morning.

She didn't tell him she had withdrawn the money, yet she didn't keep it any great secret either.

Presumably he would have at least monitored their joint account somewhat, and would eventually notice the account was 8.5k down.

Maybe the 8.5k withdrawal was for a surprise gift for Alistair. Buying him his dream gift at knockoff price and it all goes wrong?

 

[JennieM]

IIRC he said she was on good form that morning.

She didn't tell him she had withdrawn the money, yet she didn't keep it any great secret either.

Presumably he would have at least monitored their joint account somewhat, and would eventually notice the account was 8.5k down.

Maybe the 8.5k withdrawal was for a surprise gift for Alistair. Buying him his dream gift at knockoff price and it all goes wrong?

At 18:13 of the video, the husband says when he was leaving at 8:30am with their son, she did not wait to wave them goodbye like she always did. Maybe it’s because she was preoccupied with the builders, he said. But that morning she did not behave like she normally did.

D

UK Post in thread 'UK - Penny Bell, 43, Ealing, London, 6 June 1991'

Dec 5, 2024

The Crimewatch reconstruction shows the envelope of cash sticking out of Penny's handbag, when she arrives home on Tuesday at 6pm.

When she is shown leaving the house at Thursday at 8.50am, the handbag is closed and the envelope is no longer visible.

Video featuring PB's case starts approx. @ 16:30 envelope with cash sticking out from purse, approx. @ 17:55
"Don't touch that it has got a lot of money in there"

• dotr

• 

 

[JennieM]

IIRC he said she was on good form that morning.

She didn't tell him she had withdrawn the money, yet she didn't keep it any great secret either.

Presumably he would have at least monitored their joint account somewhat, and would eventually notice the account was 8.5k down.

Maybe the 8.5k withdrawal was for a surprise gift for Alistair. Buying him his dream gift at knockoff price and it all goes wrong?

You are right, he said she was in good form.

Her demeanour had been described as "bright and chirpy" by her husband, who noted that there was nothing unusual about her that morning aside from the fact that she did not wave him off as usual.

Unsolved murder of a woman found stabbed 50 times in her Jaguar

She was stabbed 50 times in her car and was found in the car park of a leisure centre

www.mylondon.news

 

[JennieM]

Lauren Bell, 23, does not have a single memory from before the age of nine.

Her earliest memory is of coming home from school with her dad, pulling into the driveway and a stranger opening the front door.

[…]

"I do not remember my mum at all," said Lauren.

"Everything I know about her is from what my dad has told me - it is not a lot. From all accounts though, she was incredible."

[…]

"To this day, people still say he did it," Lauren says of her father, now 56, who still lives in their family home.

"It's heartbreaking. Losing my mum has ruined his life."

Penny Bell juggled family life with her catering recruitment agency

Police are offering a £15,000 reward for information on Mrs Bell's killer

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | The day I lost mum and my memory

 

[greenwoodlad]

I think the fact she didn't wave her husband off is very significant - he noticed it so presumably it was a ritual - clearly she had a lot on her mind that morning ....enough to distract her from her norm. I think she could put on the "bright & chirpy" ...but I'm thinking she was having a secret affair with someone who became controlling and possibly blackmailing her...could she have been paying the lover off ? but one thing that puzzles me - surely the husband knew she had the cash in her bag ..he just left the house with her there and the cash - unless she concealed it from him - but she was quite open about having a bag of cash after the husband had left?

 

[davidt]

I think the fact she didn't wave her husband off is very significant - he noticed it so presumably it was a ritual - clearly she had a lot on her mind that morning ....enough to distract her from her norm. I think she could put on the "bright & chirpy" ...but I'm thinking she was having a secret affair with someone who became controlling and possibly blackmailing her...could she have been paying the lover off ? but one thing that puzzles me - surely the husband knew she had the cash in her bag ..he just left the house with her there and the cash - unless she concealed it from him - but she was quite open about having a bag of cash after the husband had left?

There were a couple other things that morning that she didn't do as usual. Make up the beds and I think she left a towel or something on the floor. Stuff she'd never normally leave. Her husband did say in the days beforehand she wasn't her usual self. Although he also said she was okay on the morning itself.

 

[tes1984]

I think the fact she didn't wave her husband off is very significant - he noticed it so presumably it was a ritual - clearly she had a lot on her mind that morning ....enough to distract her from her norm. I think she could put on the "bright & chirpy" ...but I'm thinking she was having a secret affair with someone who became controlling and possibly blackmailing her...could she have been paying the lover off ? but one thing that puzzles me - surely the husband knew she had the cash in her bag ..he just left the house with her there and the cash - unless she concealed it from him - but she was quite open about having a bag of cash after the husband had left?

The cash was last seen a couple of days earlier. It's not certain that Penny still had the money when she left for work that day. The husband said that Penny took care of the finances during the build. He didn't take much interest in the building work, so perhaps he didn't take much interest in the joint account either. Penny was the one who was good with money, so maybe he just let her get on with things.

 

[Kittypoo]

I think the fact she didn't wave her husband off is very significant - he noticed it so presumably it was a ritual - clearly she had a lot on her mind that morning ....enough to distract her from her norm. I think she could put on the "bright & chirpy" ...but I'm thinking she was having a secret affair with someone who became controlling and possibly blackmailing her...could she have been paying the lover off ? but one thing that puzzles me - surely the husband knew she had the cash in her bag ..he just left the house with her there and the cash - unless she concealed it from him - but she was quite open about having a bag of cash after the husband had left?

Could it have been one of the builders she was having an affair with? There would be opportunity I imagine whilst the children at school.
I have been following her case recently although I don’t remember it in 1991.

 

[tes1984]

Could it have been one of the builders she was having an affair with? There would be opportunity I imagine whilst the children at school.
I have been following her case recently although I don’t remember it in 1991.

It's possible, but from the sound of things, Penny spent a lot of her time at work.

She was one of the bosses though, so nobody would be checking up on her. She definitely seems to have been out of the office during working hours on the Monday (when she withdraws the cash).

According to her business partner, Penny had a 10.30am appointment at work on the Thursday. She was very conscientious, so the timeline doesn't really allow much space for a lengthy appointment, or romantic rendezvous, earlier that morning.

 

[davidt]

It's possible, but from the sound of things, Penny spent a lot of her time at work.

She was one of the bosses though, so nobody would be checking up on her. She definitely seems to have been out of the office during working hours on the Monday (when she withdraws the cash).

According to her business partner, Penny had a 10.30am appointment at work on the Thursday. She was very conscientious, so the timeline doesn't really allow much space for a lengthy appointment, or romantic rendezvous, earlier that morning.

There's the dodgy neighbour who has claimed all sorts but I don't think the police take him seriously.

 

[Tombel]

I agree. If it's planned, why risk guiding her there, and why chose a busy car park for a murder location in the first place?

The car park is shown as almost empty in the Crimewatch reconstruction, but the newspaper reports mention that it was busy that morning.

There were well over a hundred parking spaces at the leisure centre. I wonder how many of them were free. How does the killer know he's not guiding his victim into a car park which is already completely full?

I've always suspected that two people were involved. One had a car/ van already parked in a pre selected secluded spot in the car park, which the perp knew about. As Penny's car approached the pre parked car/van. It pulls out of the space to allow Penny's car in. After the attack, the perp gets into the pre parked car/van and is driven away. This would also help to explain why nobody bloodstained was seen leaving the scene. IMO.