Thirty-three-year-old Paul Stevens had worked as a bartender in London, England, but in 1990 was unemployed and actively looking for work. He lived in a house on Belvedere Road in Hounslow West with his brother, but often stayed with a female friend, sleeping on her couch.
On the morning of August 22nd, 1990, he left his friend’s house, telling her he was going to see a man about a job.
However, later in the evening, he was drinking at the Tankerville pub and then the Chariot pub when he ran into his friend, and he told her that the man had been lying to him, and that there was no job. At this time, he also told his friend to leave the front door of her house unlocked for him when she got home; she thought this was strange, as Paul never failed to knock to be let in, even if it was late at night.
Paul Stevens was last seen leaving the Chariot pub at around ten p.m. The barman later told authorities that he had served Paul two pints of lager, which was more than he usually drank. After leaving the pub, Paul was never seen alive again.
Shortly before six o’clock the following morning, his body was found floating in the Grand Union Canal near the Hayes Bypass, behind the Nestlé factory. He had been beaten savagely in the back of the head with a blunt instrument, and his skull was fractured. There was a large quantity of blood on the path above where his body was found, indicating that this was where he had been attacked. As there was no sign of a struggle, it was suspected that he had been taken by surprise. According to the post mortem, he had been murdered about two hours before his body was discovered.
The motive was clearly not robbery, as Paul still had £20 in his pocket. Police surmised that he may have been targeted in a homophobic attack, as he had a “feminine” voice and mannerisms.
Investigators attempted to track down several men and women Paul had been talking to at various points during the night at the two pubs he was drinking in, and were also keen to find a man he had sexual relations with the night before he was killed. One man who was sought in particular was named Martin; he was in his mid-twenties, over six feet tall, blond, and athletic, and was possibly an Australian or New Zealander. None of these individuals, however, was ever located.
As of this writing in October 2024, the brutal murder of Paul Stevens remains unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 