True crime anniversaries in August
Every month, Crime+Investigation looks back over the previous years of history and details some of the most notorious crimes. From a high-profile murder acquittal to the world’s most famous train robbery, read on to discover some of the true crime anniversaries for August.
1st August: Jill Dando’s murder suspect acquitted (2008)
Who murdered Jill Dando? Even now, more than 25 years after the television presenter’s death in 1999, it’s a question that continues to remain eerily unsolved.
For many years, however, it was believed that Barry George was her killer. He lived only 500 yards from Dando’s house, and had a history of stalking women, sexual offences and other antisocial behaviour. He seemed a logical culprit.
The jury at his first trial agreed. George was convicted in July 2001 at a majority of ten to one, and sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment.
However, it wasn’t long before concerns about his conviction began to arise. He appealed the decision unsuccessfully twice, but in November 2007, his conviction was quashed. The argument had centred around discredited firearm discharge residue forensic evidence.
A new trial began, lasting eight weeks, and resulted in his acquittal on 1st August 2008.
Barry George was a free man again, but the damage to his life and reputation had already been done. As for Jill Dando’s family and friends, it was the start of an agonising, ongoing wait for justice.
4th August: Soham Murders took place (2002)
The Soham Murders, which saw the abduction and killing of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both just 10 years old, remain one of the most chilling examples of child murder in history.
Ian Huntley, a caretaker at their school, lured them to his home before murdering them and disposing of their bodies near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The girls’ bodies were not discovered until almost two weeks later.
Throughout the time of their disappearance, police activity and media coverage were extensive, with the search recognised as one of the most extensive in British criminal history. Huntley was convicted of murder in December 2003, with his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, convicted of perverting the course of justice by providing him with a false alibi.
6th-11th August: England riots following the shooting of Mark Duggan (2011)
When 29-year-old Mark Duggan was shot and killed by the Metropolitan Police on 4th August 2011, few could have imagined the chain of events it would result in. Within days, large swathes of the country were rioting, resulting in major cities burning and the deaths of five people.
Duggan, a black man, had been fatally shot by police who believed he was planning an attack and was in possession of a handgun. However, social media fuelled stories of a racially motivated unlawful killing. Tensions ran high, and peaceful protests in Tottenham, where Duggan had lived, soon turned violent.
The civil unrest spread to other parts of London, and then around the country. By the 8th August, cities including Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester were rioting. Homes and businesses were attacked and set alight. Five men would lose their lives, three while trying to protect their Birmingham neighbourhood from rioters and looters.
Another, 68-year-old Richard Mannington Bowes, died after being attacked while trying to stamp out a litter bin fire in Ealing.
Eventually, the ugly scenes died down and calm returned to England’s streets. But the aftermath of the country’s worst rioting for decades would continue to be felt for much longer.
8th August: The Great Train Robbery (1963)
One of the most notorious crimes in world history, the Great Train Robbery saw a Royal Mail train robbed of around £2.6 million. The train was travelling from Glasgow to London when the criminal gang struck.
The story of the gang’s lives since the crime has also become part of the legend. The story of Ronnie Biggs in particular has become a remarkable piece of British criminal history.
8th August: The gang murder of Jermaine Groupall (2017)
Jermaine Groupall was a 15-year-old student murdered in a premeditated attack in August 2017. He was stabbed to death by a group of teenagers and drill music videos posted to YouTube were used as part of the prosecution in one of the first cases of its kind. The prosecution suggested that Jermaine’s murder had been foreshadowed in the video.
Jermaine was apparently chosen at random when he and a group of friends were ambushed by masked members of the CR0 gang. The trial for Jermaine’s murder took place in January 2018 with three gang members convicted of premeditated murder and one further convicted of manslaughter.
9th-10th August: Tate-LaBianca murders perpetrated by the Manson Family (1969)
On the night of 8th-9th August 1969, terror descended on a quiet home in Los Angeles. Members of Charles Manson’s cult, the so-called 'Manson Family', broke into the home of actress Sharon Tate, eight months pregnant, and brutally murdered her along with four others. The next night, they struck again – this time killing wealthy couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their Los Feliz home.
The killings were savage and chaotic, with messages like 'death to pigs' and 'Helter Skelter' scrawled in blood on the walls. Manson, who didn’t physically take part in the murders, had manipulated his followers into believing a race war was coming and that these killings would help ignite it.
The sheer brutality and senselessness of the crimes shocked America, forever marking the end of the 1960s era of peace and idealism.
10th August: The racially aggravated murder of Mushin Ahmed (2015)
Mushin Ahmed was an 81-year-old grandfather racially abused, attacked and murdered in Rotherham. His attackers, Dale Jones and Damien Hunt, began by hurling abuse at Mushin before punching, kicking and stamping on him. Mushin was in hospital for 11 days before eventually passing away due to his injuries. DNA and forensic evidence saw both attackers convicted, Jones of murder and Hunt of manslaughter.
25th August: Shana Grice murdered by her stalker ex-partner (2016)
Shana Grice was a British teenager murdered by her ex-partner Michael Lane, despite multiple attempts to warn the police that he was a significant danger to her. Shana’s murder led to criticism of the local Sussex Police as they failed to take her complaints of stalking seriously. Shana repeatedly informed the police that Lane was stalking and threatening her.
On 25th August he let himself into her home once again, slit her throat and set fire to her bedroom. He was quickly caught and convicted of her murder in 2017.
31st August: Body of Mary Ann Nichols, Jack the Ripper’s first victim, discovered (1888)
In the early hours of 31st August 1888, cart driver Robert Paul and carman Charles Allen Cross made a grim discovery.
They found the body of a woman who had been brutally murdered. She’d suffered multiple stab wounds and severe abdominal injuries, and her throat had been cut twice. The attack on her throat was so severe that she had almost been decapitated.
The woman was Mary Ann Nichols, also known as Polly, who is today considered one of the canonical five victims of infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper.
Her murder was unlike anything that had been seen before, and it marked the beginning of a vicious crime spree in the Whitechapel district of London. Only a week later, the Ripper would strike again, murdering his second victim, Annie Chapman.
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