Eighteen-year-old Nicola Payne lived in Henley Green, an area of Coventry, England. Her son, Owen, born in June 1991, was the center of her world. Described by family as “bubbly” and “full of life,” Nicola lived with her partner, Jason Cooke, in a modest home on Winston Road. The couple’s relationship was typical for the … More Nicola Payne
Diane McInally grew up in the Gorbals, one of Glasgow’s toughest neighborhoods, where poverty and addiction cast long shadows. By her early 20s, she was making her living as a sex worker along Cadogan Street, the heart of the city’s red-light district in the early 1990s. Battling drug addiction, Diane’s choices were born of desperation, … More Diane McInally
Seventy-three-year-old Lady Brenda Cross had been born Brenda Megan Powell in 1917. She married Sir Kenneth Cross, a decorated Air Chief Marshal who had risen through the ranks during World War II, commanding RAF Germany in the post-war years. The couple, childless but deeply devoted, settled into a comfortable retirement in Chelsea, London, England, where … More Lady Brenda Cross
Forty-one-year-old Kathleen Waugh, known affectionately as “Kath” to her family, was born with profound physical and mental disabilities that left her with the communication skills of a young child. She expressed herself through hand gestures, delighted in soft toys, and found joy in simple tunes played on a tape recorder. Unable to walk more than … More Kathleen Waugh
Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Gerald Elphick was born into comfortable middle-class surroundings in Surrey, England, the son of Albert Elphick, an executive at a furnishings company, and his wife. The family enjoyed the trappings of suburban success: a detached home in Normandy, near Guildford, and a new car every few years. Andrew attended St. Peter’s Roman Catholic … More Andrew Elphick
On the afternoon of May 24th, 1992, three-year-old Carl Kennedy, a lively toddler wearing an Aston Villa football shirt, was playing outside his home on the Willenhall Estate in Coventry, West Midlands, England. Around four-thirty p.m., he went missing. His family and neighbors, along with police, launched an immediate search. The community rallied, combing the … More Carl Kennedy
On a seemingly ordinary day in April 1992, fifty-three-year-old Michael Schallamach, a businessman from the Bitterne area of Southampton, Hampshire, England, vanished without a trace. What began as a missing persons inquiry quickly evolved into one of Britain’s most mysterious cold cases, with police later concluding that Schallamach was the victim of murder. Despite strong … More Michael Schallamach
Forty-year-old mother of two Jacqueline Palmer-Radford, described by neighbors as part of a somewhat secretive family, had separated amicably from her husband around 1990 after eighteen years of marriage. She continued living in the family home with her sons, aged seventeen and six, and was in the process of planning a move to a smaller … More Jacqueline Palmer-Radford
Nineteen-year-old Sharon Hoare had grown up in Bristol, England, where she lived with her family in areas like Bedminster and later Yate. After leaving school, she completed a secretarial course and worked as a typist. Ambitious and drawn to the glamour of the fashion world, Sharon moved to London in pursuit of a modeling career. … More Sharon Hoare
Thirty-eight-year-old scientist Nicholas Hanscomb had been born in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, and was the son of prominent local Conservative politician John Hanscomb, a former leader of Bolton Council. Nicholas had excelled academically, earning PhDs in physics and biology and carving out a career in scientific research. At the time of his death, he lived … More Dr. Nicholas Hanscomb
Crime Immemorial 