Kenneth Erskine

by Paul Sutherland

The London borough of Stockwell, South London, is a favoured place for elderly folk to retire to. In the summer months of 1986 however, a serial killer known as The Stockwell Strangler began a reign of terror amongst this community, leaving seven people dead and a further 4 suspected of being victims of him.

The murders started with the death of 78 yr old Nancy Emms, found dead in bed in her unkempt basement flat in West Hill Rd, Wandsworth, on 09 April 1986. At first, the cause of death was thought to be of natural causes, as Nancy was found lying in her bed, with no obvious marks on her body. A doctor called to the scene thought she had been dead about 3 days and signed a death certificate certifying natural causes. It was only when Nancy’s home help, who had found the body, noticed that a portable TV set was missing, that police were called in.

A post mortem revealed that Nancy had been strangled by bare hands. There was also heavy bruising to her chest, suggesting that her killer had kneeled on her whilst he throttled her. The killer had left virtually no signs of a break in, but police forensic scientists found one minute clue; a short Afro - Caribbean head hair on a bed sheet

On 09 June 1986, the body of 67 yr old widow Mrs Janet Cockett was found in her flat on the Overton Estate, Stockwell, South London. Detectives were immediately aware that this was a murder they were dealing with. Mrs Cockett had been savagely sexually assaulted, and had two fractured ribs as a result of someone kneeling on her chest. Her nightdress had been ripped from her, then folded up neatly and placed on a bedside chair, and detectives noticed another bizarre feature; Family photographs on the bedroom mantelpiece had been placed face down, or turned away from the crime scene. Police did discover some prints, including a clear palm print, at the scene.

Pathologist Dr Iain West examined the victims and determined that they were all strangled by the killer using only one hand. In such elderly victims unconsciousness would have occurred within 30 seconds and death within two or three minutes. Detectives working both murders compared notes on both of the crimes, but could find little or nothing at that stage to link the both. That view was to change in little over a fortnight.

In the early hours of 27 June 1986, retired engineer Fred Prentice was asleep in his room in a council run old people’s home in Cedars Rd, Clapham, when he was awoken by a noise in the corridor outside his room. Mr Prentice saw a young man enter his room, and managed to switch on the bedside light as the intruder jumped on him. Mr Prentice tried to shout out, but the killer placed his finger to his lips in a threatening gesture to the old man to be quiet. He then squeezed his windpipe powerfully, then relaxed his grip-then squeezed again. As he kept squeezing he uttered just one word over and over. “Kill, Kill, Kill”. Mr Prentice managed to hit an alarm button on his bedside wall, and although no sound came from it, the attacker was off the bad and escaped in a flash.

Detectives were now optimistic that the crimes were linked, and any remaining doubts that they did have were dispelled the next night, as the killer struck again.

The bodies of 84 yr old Valentine Gliem and 94 yr old Polish born Zbigniew Stabrawa were found in their adjoining rooms on the 28 June 1986 at Somerville Hastings House, an old peoples home in Stockwell Park Crescent. Both men had been manually strangled and sexually assaulted. The intruder had been spotted by alert night duty staff, but had vanished before police arrived. The entrance was once again to be determined as an open window. What made this horrific crime even more chilling was the discovery of a used flannel and electric shaver; the killer had calmly washed and shaved after killing two people in a nearby room.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ken Thompson of Scotland Yard was now put in charge of the case, and was given a squad of over 200 detectives to try to find the man the newspapers had now dubbed, “The Stockwell Strangler”. Plainclothes officers watched dozens of old people’s homes throughout the night.

Two weeks after his horrific double murder, the Strangler struck again. This time, he wrong footed all detectives by murdering on the other side of the river Thames, in Islington, North London. 82 yr old widower William Carmen was found dead in his bed in his flat on the Marques estate. The bed sheet was neatly pulled up under his chin, and for the first time since the first murder, there were clear signs of theft. £400 to £500 of Mr Carmen’s savings was missing, and there were clear signs of ransacking. On 12 July 1986 75 yr old Trevor Thomas was found dead in the bath at his home in Barton Ct, Clapham. Little forensic evidence remained as Mr Thomas had been dead for some time, and it was due to this that he was not counted amongst the Strangler’s victims, although he almost certainly was one.

On 20 July 1986 the body of 74 yr old William Downes was found in his flat on the Overton estate in Stockwell. He had been strangled in the now familiar fashion, and police were able to pick up an excellent new lead from the murder scene. On the garden gate and off the kitchen wall, they were able to lift a clear set of the killers palm prints.

One would think that it would be a formality to match the prints with ones already on file at Scotland Yard, but in 1986, although fingerprints had already been transferred onto computer disc, the process of transferring palm prints had not even begun. Detectives had a staggering four million files to work through, but by concentrating on London based burglars and petty crooks, they were able to reduce this job to a more manageable size.

Three months of fruitless searching paid off after three months when detectives were able to match the prints found at the crime scenes to those of Kenneth Erskine, a small time crook who had a long record of arrests for burglary and minor offences. However, police did not know where to find Erskine, and it was whilst they were searching for him that he killed his final victim.

80 yr old Florence Tisdall was found in her upmarket apartment at Ranelagh Gardens, close to Putney Bridge, on the 24 July 1986. She had spent the previous day watching the televised wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York (Prins Andrew and Sarah Ferguson), and had even had her hair done specially for the event. She was found the next day manually strangled, sexually assaulted, with broken ribs where her killer had kneeled on her chest.

The police search for Erskine intensified, but as he was a drifter with no permanent address, they were reduced to searching through the hundreds of squats and hostels in South London. The fact that Erskine was on a killing spree and could kill again at any time made them move quickly. Their big break came when they discovered that Erskine was claiming unemployment benefit from a Department of Social Security office in Southwark, and was due to collect his next cheque on 28 July. A team of detectives kept watch on the building, and Erskine turned up right on time to collect his money. As he joined the queue, detectives clicked handcuffs onto his wrist. Erskine didn’t struggle, and the reign of the Stockwell Strangler was at an end.

It was when detectives began to question Erskine that they realised that they had an uphill struggle on their hands. Erskine spent the majority of his many hours of questioning giggling, staring out of the window into the sky, or masturbating. He was clearly a disturbed individual, but was not a complete fool. In his possession detectives found details of 10 bank and building society accounts that Erskine had opened to hide the proceeds of his burglaries. Detectives noted that he had paid in nearly £3000 during his killing spree, whilst still drawing unemployment benefit.

The palm prints were damning evidence, but they only placed Erskine at 2 of the murder scenes, and with Erskine refusing to talk, detectives searched for other evidence. Fred Prentice willingly attended an identity parade at Clapham police station, and picked Erskine out of the line up without a second’s hesitation. Scotland Yard also took the unusual step of issuing his picture to the media, in an attempt to find more witnesses. The response brought in several leads, including a woman who saw Erskine on Putney Bridge, 200 yards from the scene of the final murder, on the night in question.

Erskine’s trial started at the Old Bailey on 12 January 1988, where he was charged with 7 murders and the attempted murder of Mr Prentice. Erskine pleaded not guilty to all the charges, but looked around the courtroom vacantly as though he was unaware of where he was. The jury was visibly moved whilst listening to the evidence, particularly in the case of Mr Prentice’s testimony. They also heard that Erskine had confessed to burgling the victims, but claimed that someone else must have followed him and killed them. After a trial lasting 18 days, Erskine was convicted of all the charges, and was jailed for 7 life terms, with a minimum of 40 years to be served.

Police believe that Erskine may have killed before his first known victim, and police theorised that due to the frailty and age of the choice of Erskine’s victims, and the lack of obvious injuries, many may have been attributed to natural causes. It remains a frightening thought that Erskine may have killed more.

Born to an English mother (Margaret) and an Antiguan father (Charles), Erskine was brought up in Putney. Erskine was one of four sons, and was remembered by neighbours to be a chubby, Bible reading soul. Erskine soon became difficult to control, and received his education at a series of schools for maladjusted children. Several times he violently attacked teachers and pupils, and appeared to inhabit a fantasy world. Erskine clearly had already murderous impulses, attempting to drown several pupils on a swimming outing, and once stabbing a teacher in the hand with a pair of scissors. Several periods in jail followed as Erskine graduated to an unsuccessful burglar. His own family cut themselves off from him and he had had no contact with them for years. When police arrested Erskine for the stranglings, they discovered that he had been a Rastafarian but had been shunned by fellow Rastafarians due to his habit of stealing. Little is known of his early life due to the lack of a detailed study of him. His only possessions were the clothes he stood up in and several building society books. No one has been able to penetrate the mind of Erskine due to his disturbed state, which has now worsened to the extent that he is now housed in Broadmoor secure hospital, and has been informed that he will die in prison.

Erskine remains a mystery character, with psychiatrists failing to be able to penetrate his mind. He has a problem distinguishing fantasy from reality, and remains locked in his childlike world. His mental state has deteriorated to an alarming extent nowadays, although one incident suggests that he may still be able to determine right from wrong. On February 23 1996 he was the sole factor that prevented convicted killer Paul Wilson from murdering Peter "Yorkshire Ripper" Sutcliffe in Broadmoor. Erskine managed to restrain Wilson from inflicting further injury.

Many psychiatrists continue to probe the mind of Erskine in an attempt to reach the bottom of his psyche, however, as of yet, Erskine remains a mystery. Only as and when he is reached will the answers so many have searched for for years will become available, and the Stockwell Strangler may be able to answer for his crimes.