True crime anniversaries in June
Each month, we look back at the crime anniversaries of some of the most significant cases in recent history. Join us at Crime+Investigation as we explore the criminal history of June.
1st June: The abduction and murder of Mark Tildesley (1984)
Mark Tildesley was a seven-year-old boy who went missing at a funfair in Wokingham, Berkshire. His disappearance sparked a widespread search across the area, with the British army brought in to assist. A national campaign also saw Mark’s photo displayed in every police station in the country, but he was still not found.
It later emerged that Mark had been abducted, tortured, raped and murdered by a London-based paedophile gang whose members included Sidney Cooke, often recognised as the UK’s most dangerous paedophile. Gang member Leslie Bailey was charged with Mark’s murder in 1991.
6th June 2020: Sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman are murdered by Danyal Hussein
Sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman celebrated Bibaa's 46th birthday with friends in Fryent Country Park, London.
After their friends had left the park, the sisters stayed behind to enjoy the rest of the birthday celebrations. Tragically, they were attacked and fatally stabbed by 18-year-old Danyal Hussein, who had been lurking in the park.
Hussein later claimed that the murders were part of a ritualistic pact intended to bring him wealth and power.
10th June 1966: The Ku Klux Klan murdered Ben Chester White (1966)
Ben Chester White, a 67-year-old African American man, was lured into the woods in 1966. Members of the Ku Klux Klan in Natchez, Mississippi murdered him. The killing was part of a plot to attract civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. to the area, where the Klan intended to assassinate him.
White's murder underscored the extreme measures white supremacists were willing to take to oppose the civil rights movement.
12th June: The Pulse Nightclub shooting (2016)
A typical evening at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, soon turned into a devastating mass shooting that’ll never be forgotten.
On 12th June 2016, a popular LGBTQ+ venue in Orlando, Florida, became the site of a heinous massacre.
Omar Mateen opened fire inside the club, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others. During the attack, Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. He was later killed by law enforcement.
This tragedy was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time and remains a sombre reminder of the impact of hate-fuelled violence.
16th June: The murder of Arthur Lambinjo-Hughes by his stepmother (2020)
Arthur Lambinjo-Hughes was a six-year-old boy living in the West Midlands when his stepmother murdered him. Arthur’s short life had been significantly affected by the national lockdowns and many of the agencies involved in his care were not as closely involved as they should have been at the time of his death.
Both his father and stepmother’s behaviour became abusive, and his stepmother Emma Tustin killed him through a severe assault. Tustin and Arthur’s father, Thomas Hughes, were convicted of murder and manslaughter respectively.
19th June: The Finsbury Park terrorist attack (2017)
The 2017 Finsbury Park Attack saw Darren Osborne driving his van directly into a group of pedestrians in Finsbury Park in London. At least nine people were injured, and one man, Makram Ali, was killed.
The attack took place near to the Muslim Welfare House and just 100 yards from Finsbury Park Mosque. It was investigated by counter-terrorism police and recognised as an act of terror. Darren Osborne was charged with terrorism-related murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
23rd June: Levi Bellfield was found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler (2011)
Milly Dowler’s murder is one of the most famous cases in the UK today. The teenager vanished in Walton-on-Thames as she was walking home from school in 2002. Sadly, her remains were discovered six months later in Hampshire.
Levi Bellfield was convicted of murdering two other women in London in 2008. But it wasn’t until June 2011 that the Old Bailey jury found him guilty of murdering Milly Dowler.
It was discovered that Dowler had walked past his home just before she went missing.
28th June: The Nightstalker murders his first victim in LA (1984)
On 28th June 1984, Richard Ramirez, later dubbed the "Night Stalker", committed his first known murder in Los Angeles, California.
This marked the beginning of a series of brutal crimes, including home invasions, sexual assaults and murders, that terrorised Southern California until his capture in 1985.
Ramirez's crimes were known for their randomness and brutality, leaving a lasting impact on the communities affected.
29th June: The stabbing of Ben Kinsella (2008)
Ben Kinsella was a 16-year-old student who was randomly stabbed to death. Three men in Islington attacked Ben, and his murder led to a renewed focus on knife crime in London.
Ben’s death was the 17th stabbing murder of a teenager in London in 2008 and led to a significant increase in anti-knife crime demonstrations and a review of the sentencing laws. The three men who attacked Ben were unanimously found guilty of his murder in June 2009.
30th June: The murder of three-year-old Rosie Palmer (1994)
Rosie Palmer was a three-year-old girl living in Hartlepool, County Durham. She was abducted, raped and murdered after buying an ice pop from a van just 20 metres from her home. She was found on 3rd July and her murderer was unfortunately already well-known to the police and social services.
In March 1993, social workers warned that the perpetrator, Shaun Armstrong, was likely to be a risk to any child he came into contact with, yet this report was not acted on. Shaun Armstrong was convicted of the murder of Rosie Palmer on 27th July 1995 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
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