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

[forensicswannabe]

Based on Penny's on edge behaviour that day it does seem like something was going on in her life weather that's blackmail or an affair we don't know but given the brutality of how many times Penny was stabbed the case has to be personal and I don't believe she happened to come across some random psychopath on a day where her behaviour was not the norm and she lied about meeting a client. I do find the Husbands behaviour odd since the murder though the way he pushed his children out of his life completely as soon as they became adults and has not wanted contact with them again this is a man who loved Penny and the children are part of her and the last part of her he has so I just find his behaviour odd to completely cut himself off from their lives.

 

[tes1984]

"Give me ten grand or I'll send the photos to all your neighbours, work colleagues and clients, and to the parents at your children's school?"

What photos? Penny and her husband had been married for years. If someone had photos of her husband with another man, either that person must have kept the photos for years or her husband had been having an affair after marrying Penny.

The idea of incriminating photos is pure speculation on my part. I was trying to show a potential blackmail type scenario, but there's no actual evidence of any photos.

JMO but if there was a blackmail scenario, I think it would be more likely related to something recent, rather than from something over a decade earlier.

 

[davidt]

Based on Penny's on edge behaviour that day it does seem like something was going on in her life weather that's blackmail or an affair we don't know but given the brutality of how many times Penny was stabbed the case has to be personal and I don't believe she happened to come across some random psychopath on a day where her behaviour was not the norm and she lied about meeting a client. I do find the Husbands behaviour odd since the murder though the way he pushed his children out of his life completely as soon as they became adults and has not wanted contact with them again this is a man who loved Penny and the children are part of her and the last part of her he has so I just find his behaviour odd to completely cut himself off from their lives.

It would certainly be a big coincidence if none of that was connected with her death in some way.

 

[davidt]

The idea of incriminating photos is pure speculation on my part. I was trying to show a potential blackmail type scenario, but there's no actual evidence of any photos.

JMO but if there was a blackmail scenario, I think it would be more likely related to something recent, rather than from something over a decade earlier.

This happened in 1991. In 1991 there was still a lot of prejudice around, whether that be around sexuality, race, gender etc. I was working in an office in 1991 and one colleague for example would flatly refuse to be alone in a room with a gay person. "Gay bashing" was also still very much a thing. Someone I know who is gay was regularly harassed, threatened and on occasions attacked just for being gay.

In ABs case it seems his sexuality was well known but its possible in certain circumstances it might still have caused issues for him. Then there's Penny's personal life. Her first "turbulent" marriage and divorce. The relationship described as an affair leading to the birth of her son. In turn meeting and marrying AB. Of course there may have been other relationships we don't know about. Perhaps one of them had a current relationship at the time. There's no known evidence of this but also no other answers either.

 

[Hustling01]

How on earth was the neighbour released? He was in the car and said he recommended a hitman ffs

 

[Professor Moriarty]

How on earth was the neighbour released? He was in the car and said he recommended a hitman ffs

Former neighbour. He seems to be an odd person. Why was he in the car?

 

[tes1984]

How on earth was the neighbour released? He was in the car and said he recommended a hitman ffs

IIRC he didn't say anything much in police interviews, and his 'confessions' were from a journalist who secretly recorded a meeting.

 

[davidt]

Former neighbour. He seems to be an odd person. Why was he in the car?

Ages ago I read something about him having claimed to have had a lift or something. Problem is I've never been able to find it again to the point I've wondered if I ever saw it in the first place! He certainly seems extremely odd and the police seem to have decided he was a fantasist and had nothing to do with it.

 

[tes1984]

He said that PB dropped him off that day at the Polish War Memorial, and that was the last time he ever saw her.

He also said he had Sunday lunch with PB and AB a few weeks before the murder, and was in the car then.

 

[davidt]

He said that PB dropped him off that day at the Polish War Memorial, and that was the last time he ever saw her.

He also said he had Sunday lunch with PB and AB a few weeks before the murder, and was in the car then.

That must be it. I knew I saw something!

 

[Rookie D]

He had no choice but to say he had been in the car, because if his DNA was ever found in the car, it then provides him with plausible deniability.

If however, he had stated that he'd never been in the car, and was later found to be lying, then he would have likely been considered the prime suspect in PB's murder.

By saying he had been in the car, it provides him with a form of defence.