The killer of Shani Warren, Caught 35 Years Later

Shani Warren was born into a wealthy middle-class family to Joe and Eloise Warren, she had 2 brothers and was the youngest of the 3 children. Shani worked as a secretary at a company called Microscope, but it was a job that she did not like so much and wanted to leave. She lived with 2 housemates in Stoke Poges near Slough, in a house that her parents had bought for her.

On the Thursday before the 1987 Easter weekend, Shani went out for dinner with an ex-boyfriend called Roger Pell in Maidenhead. They both enjoyed the evening and agreed to meet again. The next morning on Good Friday, 17th April 1987, Shani drove to her parent's house in Gerrard Cross to borrow an extension lead to mow her lawn. Shani was due to spend Easter Sunday with her family in Bournemouth and discussed logistics with her father.

Later that day, Shani mowed her lawn and loaded the grass cuttings into her car at around 6 pm. One of her housemates saw her get into the car and drive off at about 6.05 pm. Shani told her housemates that she had no plans for the evening and was going to take the grass cuttings to her parent's house as they had a compost heap and only lived 10 minutes away. However, when she pulled away in her car, her housemates noted that she drove in the opposite direction to her parent’s house.

It is not clear if Shani’s housemates called her parents to report that she did not return home that evening. This was before mobile phones, so they perhaps thought that she had stayed at her parent's house for the evening, as that is where she told them she was going.

The next day, on Easter Saturday, Marjorie Arnold was out walking her German Shepherd at around 6.30 pm near Taplow Lake. The dog seemed intrigued by something in the lake. When Mrs Arnold went to take a look, she found a woman’s body lying face-down in the water.

When the police arrived at the lake, they found Shani’s black Vauxhall Cavalier parked in a lay-by near the lake. The police noted that one of the car doors was left slightly ajar, and the driver's seat of the car had been pushed back and reclined. In the car, they found Shani’s watch, a lighter, an Easter egg, a bottle of champagne and a greeting card. The empty bin liners that had been filled with the grass cuttings were also in the car, so Shani had already emptied the grass out somewhere. Outside the car, they found her credit card, tow-rope bag and a thank-you card to Roger scattered on the ground. Shani’s car keys were nowhere to be found.

Shani had been gagged, and her feet tied with her own tow-rope. One of her jump leads was around her hands and the other jump lead, which was later found in the lake, had been tied around her neck. Shani’s cause of death was from drowning. When the police tried to move Shani’s car, they found that there was an issue with the gearbox, and they could not move it.

A few days after Shani’s body was found, a police officer made a statement to the public stating that her death may have been a suicide. They came to this conclusion as they could only see one set of footprints on the ground from Shani’s high heels. The pathologist, Dr Ben Davies also ruled Shani’s death to be a suicide as he found no evidence of a struggle on her body. Even after police launched a murder investigation, this man maintained that Shani’s death was a suicide.

There were many critical details that the police missed when ruling Shani’s death as a suicide. In her car, there were gifts and cards for other people, and she had made future plans that included meeting with Roger Pell and her family. She also did not have any history of mental health concerns or depression.

When a second post-mortem was carried out by a different pathologist, bruises were found on her body as well as evidence of a sexual assault. Police were advised that the knots used to tie Shani’s hands behind her back could not have been tied by her and must have been done by someone else. Finally, 3 days after Shani was found, a murder investigation was launched. This was a significant error made by the police and Dr Ben Davies.

Police appealed to the public on the BBC series, Crimewatch. A witness came forwards, telling police that on the evening of Good Friday, they saw a black car that looked like it had broken down in the Taplow Lake lay-by.

The lay-by where Shani’s car was found was often used as an overnight truck stop for truckers and somewhere courting couples would meet. At some time in the early hours of Easter Saturday, a truck driver told police that he had pulled into the lay-by and parked behind Shani’s car. He said that he noticed that the door was not shut properly, but he did not think anything of it. He locked his trailer and went home. The next day, when he returned to his trailer, he noticed that the car was still there. He did think that it was a little strange that someone would leave a car in a lay-by unlocked, but he assumed that the car was broken down, and the owner had left it to wait to be towed.

Some horse riders remembered seeing the car parked there on Saturday afternoon, and many witnesses came forwards and said that they saw a black car with the bonnet open and a blond woman standing by it on Saturday evening. They also said there were three men standing looking under the bonnet. Police appealed to these men, but none of them ever came forwards.

Police were clueless and had no suspects. At Shani’s trial, the coroner left an open verdict as it was stated that there was not enough evidence to rule murder or suicide and Shani’s case went cold.

Suspects

Police did not have many solid leads at the time. A man called Clive Barwell, who was a serial rapist, was arrested in 1989 for armed robbery and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Due to good behaviour, he was downgraded and allowed 4 days' leave. He visited his sick father and whilst he was free, he attacked at least one more woman. In 1995, Barwell was released from Prison and attacked another woman. He left a fingerprint and some blood in her car, which led to his arrest. In 1998, he received 8 life sentences in prison for multiple rapes, assaults and kidnapping of multiple women. One of the detectives looking at the case noticed that at the time of Shani’s murder, Barwell was working as a truck driver and had been in the area where Shani was found. Barwell asserted that he had nothing to do with Shani’s murder. However, the police thought that there were too many similarities between Shani’s case and Barwell's other victims. Although there was no more evidence to link Barwell to Shanie's case, police believed that he was involved in her murder.

Conspiracy Theories

Shani’s death was linked to the GEC-Marconi deaths as the company that she worked for had been recently taken over by GEC-Marconi.

Solved

In June 2021, police re-opened Shani’s case thanks to breakthroughs in DNA technology. 66-year-old Donald Robertson from Slough was arrested and charged with the murder of Shani Warren.

Buckinghamshire Live reported that Robertson was questioned by police back in 1981 over the rape of a teenage girl in Slough. After he was released, he went on to rape a 14-year-old girl who had been riding her bicycle in Farnham Royal. The Guardian also reported that Robertson raped a 17-year-old girl who was walking home, having missed the last train in 1987. On top of these, he has a previous conviction for burglary with intent to commit rape and kidnap in 1990. Thanks to Advances in DNA technology, another monster is behind bars.

Joe and Eloise Warren both passed away in early 2021 without knowing that their daughters’ killer had been caught.

Sources and Further Reading

Aberdeen Evening Express - Monday 20 April 1987 - https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000445/19870420/011/0001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZpg2HJkYVc&t=1372s

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/17/man-guilty-of-killing-shani-warren-35-years-after