Homicide Investigation
| Author | Thomas Lockley |
| Published date | 01 October 1967 |
| Date | 01 October 1967 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X6704001008 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THOMAS
LOCKLEY,
O.B.E.
We invited Mr. Lockley to review Homicide Investigation by
Le Moyne Snyder, published by Charles C. Thomas, Springfield,
Illinois, U.S.A., at $14. His article was so interesting that we
decided not to relegate it to our book section. Mr. Lockley,
prior to his retirement, was assistant chief constable of Stafford-
shire, and will be known to many of our readers as a former
Deputy Commandant of the Police College, head of the British
Police Unit in Cyprus during the emergency, and chief of the
Staffordshire C.I.D.
HOMICIDE
INVESTIGATION
By a strange coincidence I received this book the day the
news broke about the kidnapping of seven-year-old Christine
Darby at Walsall, Staffordshire,
and
these words were written
the day her body was found on the famous Cannock Chase which
is an area of scrub land and dense forest about 25 square miles
in extent. And, most significant of all, the body was found
about three miles from the spot where the bodies of two other
kidnap victims were discovered in January last year. These
victims were also little girls - Margaret Reynolds, aged six,
who was kidnapped in Birmingham,
and
Diane Tift, aged five,
who was kidnapped in Walsall.
The finding of the bodies of Margaret and Diane resulted in
world-wide publicity and one of the most intensive murder in-
vestigations ever mounted in this country.
That
the investi-
gation did not result in the preferment of charges, and the
possible prevention of the latest crime, was not the fault of
the investigators.
It
would be quite improper at this stage to give details of
the investigation or comment on the evidence which was collected
and
collated. Suffice it to say that some of the best brains
and
experience of Scotland Yard, the resources of Scotland Yard, the
brains, resources
and
enthusiasm of the Regional Crime Squad and
local C.LD.,
and
the assistance of neighbouring forces were
utilized to the full, and the fact that that combination did not at
the time produce the little that was necessary was not for the
want of trying.
Disappointing and indeed distressing as the latest development
is. one can only hope that the hard work which was put into
the cases of Margaret and Diane will at least help in the case
of Christine.
One can imagine the present feeling of those who were directly
concerned in the first investigation. but are no longer in the
Service (and these include three very senior officers). The latest
October 1967 461
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