Forty-four-year-old Ian Murray Erskine worked as a senior economist at the Bank of England and lived at Norland Square in Notting Hill, West London. He was described by his neighbors as very pleasant and quiet; he was also a wine connoisseur and a regular attendant at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
Additionally, Ian was a fixture at the Norland Arms pub, which was around the corner from his home. According to the landlord there, Ian would often sit and drink with a couple who were also regulars at the pub, and in October and November of 1989, he would regularly meet another man, who he would usually leave with. Later investigation suggested that Ian had met this man through the personals in a gay magazine.
On December 13th, Ian had a friend over to his flat for dinner, and reportedly told this friend that he was meeting another man he had met through the magazine; this individual was originally from Zimbabwe and had served in the Army there before moving to England. Ian told his friend that this man was coming over for dinner on the upcoming Friday evening.
Two days later, on December 15th, Ian left for the bank in the morning and worked his usual day. However, after leaving his office on that Friday, he completely disappeared.
No trace of him was discovered until Sunday, March 25th of 1990, when two men sailing on the River Cam in Cambridgeshire found a decomposed body wrapped in a black plastic bag and floating in the water. Dental records later confirmed that these were the remains of Ian Murray Erskine. The body was far too degraded to determine the cause of death.
After the remains were identified, police began an investigation, at which point they realized that someone had been using Ian’s credit card and checkbook with some frequency in the months after his disappearance. For instance, on December 16th of 1989, a man with a beard and a trimmed mustache bought a £200 Seiko 8M35 Yacht Timer watch at the Austin Kay jewelry store in The Strand, West London. A man of the same description rented a car using Ian’s card on December 18th and returned it on the 21st, having put more than one hundred fifty miles on the odometer.
Additionally, a number of cash withdrawals were made in the days before Christmas, and on January 8th, someone attempted to use the card to purchase a five-day return ticket to the Netherlands. However, in this instance, authorities realized that Ian’s signature had been forged and blocked the transaction. This was more than two months before Ian’s body was found.
Investigators have been trying to locate several persons of interest in the case, including the man Ian regularly met at the Norland Arms pub, the Zimbabwean man whom he was supposedly meeting on the day he disappeared, and the bearded man seen using Ian’s credit card on at least two occasions. The murder remains unsolved, but the investigation is still open.
Crime Immemorial 