The Unsolved Murder of Deborah Linsley

On 23rd March 1988 at approximately 2 pm, Deborah’s brother Gordon dropped her off at Orpington station to catch the 2.16. Deborah was travelling back to her job as a hotel head receptionist in Edinburg via London Victoria. She had been in London for the weekend visiting her family and attending a hotel management course.

Deborah entered the station and purchased a ticket at 2.04 pm from the ticket office. She then waited for the train, which arrived at 2.18 pm. She boarded the train and went to sit in the closed smoking carriage. Whilst on the train, Deborah smoked at least 2 cigarettes and ate part of a sandwich that she had taken with her for the journey.

At 2.49 pm, the train arrived at London Victoria, British Rail staff boarded the train to check for left luggage and possessions. When they looked inside the smoking carriage, they found Deborah on the floor in a pool of blood, this was at around 2.50 pm.

Police determined that she had been stabbed 11 times in the chest and heart. There was no apparent motive for the attack, Deborah had no enemies, and she still had all her possessions when her body was found, so robbery was ruled out. The police believed that this was a random attack and the killer went onto that train with the intention of committing rape or murder.

The train journey took just 31 minutes and Deborah was killed in broad daylight on a somewhat busy train. The police were sure that someone must have seen or heard something. They appealed to anyone who was on that train to come forwards, even if they did not see anything.

In the 1980s, trains were different to how they are today. The carriages were not open plan, they were often small and enclosed and were known to be unsafe, especially at night. If you wanted to change carriage, you would have to exit the train at a station and enter another carriage from the outside, they were no walkways connecting the carriages from the inside as there are today.

Deborah's mother said that she was security conscious, and would carry a rape whistle. She knew the dangers of getting into closed compartments when alone on the train. However, for whatever reason, on this train, she felt safe enough to sit in the closed smoking carriage. Police think perhaps it was because there were other females sitting in the carriage when Deborah got on the train. However, they assumed that they alighted the carriage along the journey, leaving Deborah alone in the closed compartment. However, no witnesses have ever come forwards to say that they sat in the same smoking compartment with Deborah.

A witness came forwards and said that they saw a man quickly changing carriages at Penge East Station, 5 stops from Victoria. The man was described as being about 30 years of age, he was of a stocky build with dirty blonde hair and was scruffy looking. He was wearing a pale brown jacket. The man has never come forwards.

After the train left Brixton station (the last stop before London Victoria), a female witness that was sitting in the compartment next to where Deborah was sitting heard a woman screaming which lasted about 2 minutes. This witness told police that she wanted to pull the communication cord, but was too shocked to move. The same witness saw a red-headed man moving away from the compartment where Deborah was sitting. She said that she followed him off the train and into the station, but lost sight of him on the concourse. The girl described the man as being about 40–50, well-built, muscular, with red hair, a moustache, wearing grey trousers and he was limping. A composite of the man was drawn, but nobody was caught.

This female witness was heavily criticised for not pulling the emergency cord, with the coroner saying that she could have saved Deborah’s life if she had raised the alarm. This witness only came forwards to the police when she heard that someone had been murdered on her train, she did not alert anybody when she got off the train.

A man with a cut face was seen walking away from Platform 2 inside London Victoria about 10 minutes after the train arrived. The man was described as being in his late 20s, he was about 5 foot 5, he had scratches on his left cheek and had long ash-blonde hair.

In the gentlemen's toilets in the station, another witness saw a man cleaning a cut on his head. On that particular day, there was an international football match at Wembley Stadium between England and Holland, and there had been scuffles in the area, it is possible that some of these injured men had just been caught up in the football troubles.

The murder weapon was never found, but police said that it was a good-quality kitchen knife. According to My London News, Deborah had defensive wounds to her hands, meaning that she fought against her killer. When forensics searched the scene, they found two types of blood, meaning some of the blood that was found was that of the killer.

No witnesses came forwards to say that they saw Deborah alive after her brother dropped her off. Police were baffled by this as Deborah was young, attractive and was wearing a bright blue jumper, skirt and black leather jacket. Only 32 minutes passed between Deborah getting on the train to her body being found. The theory is that the killer probably got onto the train at one of the last stops along the journey.

The case was reopened in 2002, because of breakthroughs in DNA technology with police now holding a complete DNA profile of the killer. However, no match was found in the DNA database. In 2013, police again appealed to the public offering a £20,000 reward, again with no convictions.

As of 2022, Deborah's killer has never been found.

Sources and Further Reading

Crimewatch Episode — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hu5uMKeEDs&t=1117s

https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/london-trains-unsolved-1988-murder-21758475

https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/brutal-murder-woman-26-south-23659459