Unsolved : Malcolm Bolt Bristol 1982

One of the more modest houses in affluent Clifton in Bristol saw an horrific murder take place of businessman Malcolm Bolt in 1982. Bolt was a man who had fingers in many pies - nightclubs and unlicensed money lending were the least of them as it was claimed that he dealt in drugs and child pornography as part of his money making empire.

Despite this 1982 saw Bolt 200k in debt and in fear. His life was chaotic as he juggled shady underworld dealings with various affairs and had began to take extra precautions with security. He had many enemies and few real friends preferring the company of money and excitement. A business partner David Lovett may or may not have known that Bolt had been having an affair with his wife, but he was the first to be accused by police of the murder after Bolt was found with six hammer blows to the head breaking his skull from forehead to the nape of his neck.

Lovett was tried for the murder and found not guilty. He admitted to visiting Bolt on that day and an argument had ensued but convinced the jury that he was not Malcolm Bolts Killer. A picture was painted as Bolt as a lowlife, willing to do anything for money. The killer remains at large and the case is unsolved.

Unsolved :Lionel Webb Hackney 1993

Lionel Webb was an ambitious young man at 38 years old he had built up his business as an estate agent and property developer from his office in Evering Road trading as Greenvale Estate Agents. His plan was to buy up properties in the Evering Road to rent out or sell at a later date. He was a hard working and popular guy and was well respected in the area.

 Friends and associates noticed that he was not his usual self at the start of November 1993, seeming to be distracted and worried. His secretary said he had mentioned mounting debts quite recently, so was ambition driving him hard enough to resort to illegal activities?

On Sunday 12th November at around 5.30pm he was found by a passerby shot dead in the shop. At first no motive could be found but on a search of the premises and also his home it was discovered that he had a large amount of cannabis and amphetamine hidden away. It seemed that Lionel had taken a dangerous route into the world of drug dealing which cost him his life ultimately. Police had the theory that he had undercut local dealers or dealt on their patch which causing anger towards him. Or was he holding the drugs for someone else? Was he persuaded to store the drugs in return for a cut of the profits? Whatever the reason his murder has never been solved and the murderer(s) remain at large.
Interestingly down the road at 97 Evering Road is where Reg Kray stabbed Jack Macvitie on 28th October 1967 26 years before.

The shop where Lionel was murdered as it looks today

My brush with a serial killer

It was a dark afternoon in 1985 with rain lashing down in torrents. Here I was, 15 years old standing in the shop doorway of what used to be Plastic Wax Records in Old Market Street Bristol. The shop closed sometime after and moved to another location in the street and the old shop became The Sofa Project furniture warehouse as it is today. I pushed myself further back into the door way umbrella in hand, checking the time and looking out to see where my consistently late boyfriend was. He lived above one of the shops opposite and did not have a doorbell and this was long before mobile phones. He was already half an hour late.

There was a bus stop where I was standing and a woman in her twenties stopped to check the bus times then squeezed into the doorway beside me. Just then a car pulled up and to my surprise a woman opened the window and called me over.

"Do you need a lift,love?" She asked smiling as though she had known me for years. Someone else was driving but I could not see them at all. I refused at first thinking she was talking to the older woman but when I turned to look she was not taking any notice.

"No thanks, its ok Im waiting for someone,"I replied. She had a round plain looking face, short dark hair and huge glasses. I thought she could be a middle aged school teacher.

"Its ok come on where do you want to go?"

I shook my head. Perhaps the woman in the doorway needed a life? It seemed she was not being offered.

The car sped off to join the traffic. I stood there a bit puzzled and it was well into the 1990s that I saw that face again. This time it was the lunchtime news.

 I remembered the plain looking woman with big glasses and short brown hair from back then in '85 and realised I,d had a close shave with Rosemary and Fred West, probably out and about the streets of Bristol looking for a victim as I found out they were apt to do.

 I still get the shivers now, and think about those poor victims and how it could have been my bones being carried away from Cromwell Street Gloucester in a black box.