MRS JANET CROCKETT, 67, FROM STOCKWELL, WAS THE NE
MRS JANET CROCKETT, 67, FROM STOCKWELL, WAS THE NEXT
PENSIONER TO BE ATTACKED.
MR CRESPI SAID: ‘MRS CROCKETT WAS A VERY LIVELY LADY.
SHE
LED AN ACTIVE LIFE.
SHE WAS CHAIRWOMAN OF THE LOCAL TENANTS
ASSOCIATION AND WAS EXTREMELY HOUSEPROUD.
SHE HAD A REGULAR
MANFRIEND.
‘
THE COURT HEARD SHE WAS FOUND DEAD BY A CARETAKER ON 9TH
JUNE.
SHE WAS LYING IN BED.
HER NIGHTDRESS HAD BEEN CUT OR TORN OFF
HER AND THEN NEATLY FOLDED.
MR CRESPI SAID MRS CROCKETT DIED OF MANUAL STRANGULATION
AND HAD INJURIES WHICH SUGGESTED THE KILLER KNELT ON HER CHEST WITH
HIS HANDS ROUND HER THROAT.
HE ADDED THAT FORENSIC EVIDENCE LINKED MRS CROCKETT’S DEATH
WITH ERSKINE.
A LOCK OF HAIR WAS FOUND IN HER BEDROOM WHICH, SAID
EXPERTS, COULD HAVE COME FROM THE DEFENDANT.
ERSKINE’S PALM MARK WAS
FOUND ON THE BATHROOM WINDOW AND HIS THUMB MARK ON A PLANT POT.
ON 27 JUNE FREDERICK PRENTICE WAS CONFRONTED BY THE
STRANGLER IN HIS BEDROOM AT BROADMEAD OLD PEOPLE’S HOME IN CLAPHAM,
THE COURT HEARD.
MR CRESPI SAID THE PENSIONER WOKE UP TO FIND A MAN BY HIS
BED AND TOLD HIM TO ‘GET OUT.
‘
THE INTRUDER KNELT ON MR PRENTICE’S CHEST AND PUT HIS
HANDS ROUND HIS THROAT.
THE CALLOUS STRANGLER HISSED THE WORD ‘KILL’ AS HE
REPEATEDLY SQUEEZED HIS VICTIM’S WINDPIPE, BUT FOR SOME REASON THE
INTRUDER FLED BEFORE KILLING HIM.
STAFF AT THE HOME FOUND MR PRENTICE FRIGHTENED AND SHAKING.
AT FIRST THEY THOUGHT HE MAY HAVE IMAGINED THE ATTACK.
BUT AN
ELDERLY LADY SPOTTED A MAN RUNNING AWAY FROM MR PRENTICE’S BEDROOM IN
THE EARLY HOURS.
LATER A HEEL MARK WAS FOUND ON A FLAT ROOF OF THE
BUILDING.
THE VERY NEXT NIGHT, IT WAS ALLEGED, ERSKINE BROKE INTO
ANOTHER OLD PEOPLES HOME, IN STOCKWELL PARK ROAD, AND MURDERED TWO
MALE RESIDENTS.
VALENTINE GLEIM, 84 AND ZBIGNIEW STRABRAVA, 94, WERE EACH
STRANGLED IN THEIR SEPERATE BEDROOMS IN QUICK SUCCESSION, THE COURT
HEARD.
TWO FEMALE NIGHT STAFF BECAME AWARE OF A MALE INTRUDER IN
THE HOME.
ONE OF THEM HEARD HIM SHAVING IN THE BATHROOM AT ABOUT
4AM.
THE TWO WOMEN ARMED THEMSELVES WITH STICKS AND CALLED THE
POLICE, BUT BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVED THE TWO MEN WERE DEAD.
MR
GLEIM HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED.
WILLIAM CARMAN, 82, WAS THE NEXT VICTIM.
HIS BODY WAS
FOUND BY HIS DAUGHTER AT HIS FLAT ON THE MARQUESS ESTATE, ISLINGTON.
HE TOO HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND HAD SUFFERED RIB
FRACUTURES.
PHOTOGRAPHS IN HIS BEDROOM HAD BEEN TURNED TO FACE THE
WALL.
MR CRESPI SAID MORE THAN #300 OF MR CARMAN’S SAVINGS WERE
STOLEN BY THE INTRUDER.
HE ADDED THAT ERSKINE’S BUILDING SOCIETY
BOOK SHOWED HE PAID IN #350 ON 8 JULY, THE DAY MR CARMAN WAS FOUND
DEAD.
THE NEXT DAY MR WILLIAM DOWNS, 74, WAS FOUND DEAD IN HIS
BEDSIT IN STOCKWELL.
HE HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND STRANGLED.
HE LAY NAKED IN BED WITH THE SHEETS PULLED UP TO HIS CHIN.
MR CRESPI SAID ERSKINE’S PALM PRINT WAS FOUND ON THE GARDEN
GATE AND ON A WALL AT THE BEDSIT, BUT HE ADDED THAT SEMEN STAINS ALSO
DISCOVERED COULD NOT HAVE COME FROM ERSKINE.
THE FINAL VICTIM WAS A DISABLED, 80-YEAR-OLD, MRS FLORENCE
TISDALL.
SHE WAS MURDERED, IT WAS SAID, AT HER HOME IN PUTNEY AFTER
WATCHING THE WEDDING OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF YORK ON TV.
THE COURT HEARD THAT MRS TISDALL WAS NEVER WITHOUT HER
WALKING FRAME.
BUT WHEN HER BODY WAS FOUND IN BED THE FRAME WAS IN
THE LIVING ROOM.
SHE TOO HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ABUSED, THE JURY HEARD.
A NEIGHBOUR SPOTTED A MAN NEAR HER HOUSE ON THE MORNING
HER BODY WAS FOUND.
A WOMAN SPOTTED A MAN LEANING ON A BRIDGE NEARBY SOON
AFTER.
MR CRESPI SAID THE MAN LOOKED UP AND SOMETHING ABOUT HIM
‘STRUCK HER.
‘
SHE WAS SO DISTURBED SHE IMMEDIATELY CALLED THE POLICE.
THAT WOMAN LATER IDENTIFIED THE MAN ON THE BRIDGE AS BEING ERSKINE.
THE TRIAL CONTINUES TODAY(WED).
ENDS.
