Laid Bare: The Nude Murders and the Hunt for 'Jack the Stripper' by Dick Kirby

Author:Dick Kirby [Kirby, Dick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750969383
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2016-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

One officer was paired with a woman officer during these observations and her boyfriend, who was also a local uniformed police officer, was erroneously convinced that they were taking this heaven-sent opportunity to have an affair. One night when the officers were carrying out their observation at Duke’s Meadows, the emotions of the boyfriend boiled over and, in an Othello-like moment, he leapt into the station van and with headlights blazing and blue light flashing, roared into Gobbler’s Gulch. With the exception of the guiltless male officer on observation, this undoubtedly resulted in sudden and painful impotence of many of the males in the immediate vicinity and the jealous officer was duly upbraided and directed to return to the station, driving at a far more respectable speed in a built-up area, with headlights dipped and the blue light firmly extinguished. History does not record if his liaison with the chaste woman police officer prospered thereafter.

If a man – or vehicle – was seen loitering in a secluded spot or cul-de-sac, did this mean that the murderer was waiting for an opportune moment to dispose of yet another body? No chances were taken and men in these circumstances were stopped, questioned and their vehicles checked.

Terry Babbidge recalled being called to Duke’s Meadows by a prostitute who claimed she had refused to fellate a lieutenant in the United States Army because his penis was too big and who had pushed her out of the car and driven off. Rather than draw attention to a possible suspect, it was far more likely that the reason for the prostitute calling the police was because she had left her handbag in the car; the officer was traced and questioned, the handbag was restored to its lawful owner and the lieutenant was returned from his tour of duty in England to the United States, rather quicker than he had anticipated.

This area of London was effectively ‘shut-down’ during the hours of darkness; every conceivable avenue of entry and exit was the subject of observation and investigation. And as well as the officers employed on this task who were instructed to report anything, no matter how remotely suspicious and innocuous, on the instructions of the commander of No. 1 District, all night-duty uniform beats were to be covered as full as possible. Those officers were also issued with pro formas on which they noted the details of vehicles they saw at night; these completed forms were handed in at their respective stations as they went off-duty to be collected by a murder squad officer each morning.

Prior to taking up their patrols at night, officers – and this included women officers, on both day and night-duty – were instructed to visit public houses (particularly near to closing time) as well as cafés and clubs used by prostitutes in these areas, in addition to the then popular coffee bars and clubs in the Soho area. It produced much useful data. Information was also forthcoming from the local vice squads at Notting Hill and Shepherd’s Bush; in fact, any intelligence was recorded, actioned and filed.

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