London's Railway Rapists - 1986

 

After a public appeal in May and June in 1986 for information about missing TV company secretary Anne Lock, a man was then arrested and charged with her murder, and the rape-murders of Alison Day and Maartje Tamboezer and some 26 rapes that were committed around London since 1982.

 Short, spotty John Duffy was a railway carpenter. One of the first clues to uncovering this persistent rapist was the fact he always struck close to railway stations. Deduction? For some reason - probably connected within his work- he knew their layouts and the secluded lanes behind them where he trapped the victims. 

 He nearly always tied his victims' hands behind their backs- fingers straight, thumbs aligned, in a "praying" position. He also used a type of brown string manufactured from paper which was almost exclusively used by British Rail. 

 The rapist also was very good at cleaning his tracks, a clever man who would attempt to destroy telltale biological evidence that could lead to his conviction. In his murders, he similarly tried to destroy vital clues: for example, by throwing Alison Day's body in the River Lee and stuffing their bodies with tissues before which he would set the cadavers on fire. 

 Despite these extreme measures, his semen was identified on Maartje Tamboezer and fibres from his clothing were found on Alison's waterlogged sheepskin jacket. 

A rare type of string called "somyarn" was found in his apartment, which also linked him to the second murder victim. His experience with bow-saws linked him to an unusual method of strangulation using a self-fashioned tourniquet. 

 Owing to his close friendship with John Duffy, David Mulcahy was also questioned but was released without evidence.

 Following his conviction, Duffy then revealed to police that he had not acted alone, but did not implicate Mulcahy until 1997. This was a man of whom he had been very close to since school. At one time they were both expelled when they were found covered in blood laughing after bludgeoning a hedgehog to death.

Mulcahy, now married and a father of four, ended up convicted of four murders and seven rapes due to the new DNA evidence which was unavailable back when John Duffy was convicted. He received three life sentences.