Retired crane driver Alec Christopher was sixty-two years old and lived alone in a bedsit in Southall, Middlesex, England. He was described as a quiet family man who always kept to himself and never went looking for trouble.
Early on the morning of June 20th, 2001, Alec left his flat for his morning walk, as he did nearly every day. On this day, however, he would never return home.
Passersby found him shortly before seven a.m., lying in the road at the intersection of Cambridge Road and Avenue Road with a single stab wound. He was taken to the nearest hospital but died of his injuries at approximately ten p.m. on that same day. Medical personnel noted that he had defensive wounds on his hands.
Though the area where the crime occurred was covered by CCTV, it failed to capture the stabbing itself, and only showed the aftermath.
Police were keen to track down a group of five Somalian men who had been out drinking all the previous night and were seen in Southall Park less than half an hour before the murder. Officers managed to locate and interview four of the men, none of whom were charged. The fifth man, described as a slim, dark-skinned man of average height in his thirties, with black thinning hair and a black moustache and goatee, was never found.
The CCTV cameras had captured a woman walking in the opposite direction as Alec not long before the murder, and investigators attempted to find her as well, hoping she might have some useful information. She was likewise never identified.
It was suspected that Alec’s murder may have been linked to a similar crime that had occurred a few hours earlier, in which a man had been stabbed in the head but survived. The five Somalian men had had an altercation with this man hours before the attack on Alec Christopher.
Both law enforcement and the family of Alec Christopher are still hopeful that the seemingly random slaying will someday be solved.
Crime Immemorial 