Twenty-nine-year-old Vincent Shaw was an unemployed plumber who lived in a flat on Reigate Road in Downham, South East London. He was known to have a drug problem, but according to friends was a nice guy who largely kept to himself.
At about six p.m. on October 23rd, 1999, Vincent’s friend Thomas Rossiter came over for a visit as he did every week. The two were hanging out and doing drugs, and at one point Vincent left the flat but returned after half an hour.
Not long after he came back, at approximately eight p.m., there was a knock at the front door. When Vincent went to answer it, at least five men wearing ski masks burst into the apartment, pushing Vincent down into a chair and starting to beat and stab him. Thomas Rossiter was also stabbed in the arm.
The attack was short and frenzied, and the perpetrators fled almost as quickly as they’d arrived. Thomas ran to a neighbor’s residence and called an ambulance. Both men were taken to Lewisham Hospital.
Thomas survived the assault, but Vincent’s injuries were far too severe; he had been stabbed multiple times in the thighs and legs, wounds which had pierced his arteries. Medical staff were unable to resuscitate him, and he died of massive blood loss.
Authorities have surmised that the murder was possibly related to Vincent’s drug use, but the investigation seems to have stalled as soon as it began. As of August 2024, the men who killed Vincent Shaw remain unidentified.
Crime Immemorial 