Guy Hadleigh - British Killers - Volume 4: Nine Horrific True Crime Stories From The UK...And How They Were Solved

BRITISH KILLERS

Nine horrific true crime stories from the UK

and how they were solved

Volume 4

by GUY HADLEIGH

CONTENTS

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NICHOLAS VERNAGE COP KILLER

As the door of Wandsworth Prison banged shut behind him, Nicholas Vernage gazed upon the outside world for the first time in five long years. It was 11 October 1991; his good behaviour in jail had earned him an early release from a seven-year sentence imposed for a series of violent robberies. Sent down at the Old Bailey at the age of 21, Vernage was still only 26. He was fit, good-looking, intelligent and had his whole life ahead of him.

But as Vernage strode out into the busy rush-hour streets, the idea of going straight was the last thing on his mind. He was full of hate. Hate for old friends, hate for strangers, but deepest of all was the hatred he had for the police, with whom he had battled since he was a teenager. There was one thing Vernage wanted to do more than anything else: he wanted to kill a policeman.

He had bragged about this to other prisoners time and time again, but this kind of talk was not unusual in a jail like Wandsworth. Britain's high-security prisons are almost inevitably populated by people with a deep loathing of the law. But Vernage wasn't bluffing. He was a criminal whose lifestyle would bring him back into direct confrontation with the police, and when it did they had better watch out.

Vernage wasted little time getting back to the life he knew best. Since the age of 13 he had earned his living from burglary, cheque fraud, stealing cars, and drugs. For him this was the only way - but this time he decided he would not be stopped. He obtained a knife and carried it with him at all times; if anyone got in his way he would use it.

Back to his old haunts

Vernage's priorities were to find somewhere to live, cash, transport and a woman. So he headed back to his old haunts in east London and moved into a council flat in a tower block in Leyton. To get about he stole a Ford Cortina. The money problem could now be solved easily through theft and burglary, and with cash he could buy drugs and do a little dealing.

On 28 October he drove to the middle-class suburb of Woodford Green to check out suitable homes to burgle. At a flat in St Alban's Crescent he got away with a cheque book and bank card. Using stolen cheques and credit cards Vernage bought a leather jacket, new jeans and an expensive pair of Italian leather boots.

Before going to jail in 1987 Vernage had had a girlfriend called Lorna Bogle. She was a bright and attractive girl he had known since his childhood. On 21 November he decided to pay her a surprise visit at her flat in West Avenue Road, Walthamstow.

Lorna, a financial consultant and the mother of a 12-year-old daughter, was shocked when she found Vernage standing on her doorstep. His violence had always terrified her, and when he was jailed for seven years she hoped it was the last she would ever hear from him. She tried to shut the door, but he grabbed her and dragged her into the hallway.

Pinned to the ground

A neighbour whose door opened on to the hall heard a woman's screams and a man shouting abuse. He was ranting about the woman not having written to him or visited him while he was in jail. The neighbour opened her door and gingerly looked out. She was confronted by a frightening sight: Lorna was on the floor, pinned to the ground by a man with a balaclava pulled over his face.

Despite her fear, the neighbour asked: Is everything all right? Vernage glared at her and calmly replied: Yeah, everything is all right. The woman closed the door and dialled 999.

The patrol car took only a few minutes to arrive at the scene. Officers found Lorna Bogle lying in a pool of blood, gasping for breath. Despite emergency first aid there was little the officers could do, and Lorna was already dead on arrival at the hospital. She had been stabbed 21 times; eight of the thrusts had punctured her heart. Detective Superintendent Terry Mansbridge from the murder squad looked at the statement of the witness with interest. The killer had been shouting about Lorna not writing to him in jail - so it was a good bet they were looking for a man who had been recently released.

A second murder

Officers made a rapid check on the files of anyone fitting the killer's description who had come out of prison in the previous few weeks and who had a reputation for violence. One of those was Nicholas Vernage. He looked a likely candidate but there were many others as well. The murder squad were working their way through the list of possible suspects when news came in of a second murder.

At breakfast time on Sunday 24 November police received a call about a body lying in the back garden of a house in Napier Road, Leytonstone. When they forced their way into the building officers found Javaid Iqbal lying outside the open back door of his home. He had been stabbed once through the heart and there were signs of a burglary and a struggle.

Thirty-seven-year-old Mr Iqbal was single and lived alone. He was a minicab driver who had been working on the Saturday evening and had finished his shift early Sunday morning. It looked as if the taxi driver had disturbed an intruder when he arrived home and was attacked as the burglar tried to flee through the rear of the house. Detectives discovered that Mr Iqbal was a martial arts enthusiast who held a black belt in judo. They concluded that the self-employed driver had attempted to tackle the intruder and had died from a single powerful thrust with a 15cm blade.

After forensic experts had carried out thorough checks at the Iqbal murder scene they compared notes with their colleagues investigating the Lorna Bogle case just three miles away. At first there seemed no obvious connection. From what they knew already it looked as if Lorna Bogle had been killed by someone she knew, probably a former boyfriend. Javaid Iqbal, however, had almost certainly been murdered by a burglar he had stumbled upon by chance and so was the victim of a total stranger.

On the face of it the two crimes were in completely different categories, but with two knife murders in such close proximity and over such a short period of time there was the possibility that there was just one killer. There was also one strong link. At the scene of Lorna Bogle's fatal attack the forensic specialists had found footprints in the blood. Similar prints, of exactly the same size and sole pattern, were found at the second murder scene. This was interesting, but not conclusive. Before the detectives had time to consider the cases in any more detail, however, they were faced with a third horrific killing.

Police officer stabbed

This time the victim was one of their own. Sergeant Alan King was one of the most popular and experienced officers assigned to the Metropolitan Police subdivision covering Walthamstow and Chingford in the Waltham Forest area of London. The 41-year-old officer, who had been in the police for 22 years, was born and brought up in the area. He knew his 'manor' and its people like the back of his hand, and enjoyed his role as a community officer. He was also a streetwise policeman who knew how to spot suspicious behaviour and he knew most of the local villains by sight.

He also knew about the two recent stabbings - one involving a night-time burglary - when he went on duty for the night shift on Thursday 27 November. It was a combination of this knowledge plus his instinct for spotting suspects that led him to pull up alongside a battered Cortina in Higham Hill Road, Walthamstow, at 1am on Friday 28 November.

Sergeant King was in uniform but driving an unmarked Vauxhall Astra when he spotted a man unloading objects from the boot of the car. It will be never be known if the policeman recognised the man as Nicholas Vernage, although it is believed the officer may have seen him in the police station at the time of one of his previous arrests. What is certain is that Vernage did not hesitate before pulling out a knife and launching a murderous attack on the unarmed policeman. Sergeant King was attempting to get back into his car to protect himself and trying to radio for help when Vernage thrust the knife into his chest, neck and head.