Janice Weston

[Graham]

I've asked on these boards before, but does anyone remember this case, in which Janice Weston, a solicitor, was found bludgeoned to death in a lay-by on the A1 in Huntingdonshire in September 1983? It was never solved, and I don't think the police were even able to name a suspect, but the name of serial murderer Peter Tobin has been linked with this case, but I believe with no real evidence.

Graham

[sdreid]

Hi Graham:

I haven't kept up on the Tobin connection. As I think I said before, the only account I have regarding Weston is the entry from the book Unsolved Murders by Russell Gould.

[Limehouse]

I've asked on these boards before, but does anyone remember this case, in which Janice Weston, a solicitor, was found bludgeoned to death in a lay-by on the A1 in Huntingdonshire in September 1983? It was never solved, and I don't think the police were even able to name a suspect, but the name of serial murderer Peter Tobin has been linked with this case, but I believe with no real evidence.

Graham

Hi Graham

I remember this case very well as at the time I was living and working in London (living in Crouch End and working in Islington) but travelling quite often up to Peterboroughat weekends.

That very weekend that she was found we passed the layby on our old Honda. I believe we even stopped for my then-boyfriend-now-husband to take a quick toilet break. In those days the A1 in that part of then Huntingdonshire-now Cambridshire was a much reduced version of its current self and the layby in questioon was quite secluded.

It is a case that has often puzzled me but I think I favour the husband or someone who knew Janice (such as a relative of her benefactor) rather than a random killer.

it would be good to get a regualr thread going on the topic as a breather from other threads.

[Graham]

Hi Julie,

Her husband Tony was actually in France at the time she was killed, but he was interviewed by the police as a suspect until he was able to definitively prove that he was in Paris at the time.

I've never read anything about Peter Tobin, so can't comment.

Fenton Bresler did a brief resume of the case, but not much in the way of pointers or suggestions, except that Janice was friendly with a wealthy and elderly businessman who left her a large part of his estate in his will.

The only thing I can add is that a couple of years ago a legal firm in Italy was asking if anyone had any information whatsoever about the case.

I think the lay-by's gone (same as in another well-known 'road case' - I appreciated the last paragraph of your post!) with the widening of the A1.

All the best,

Graham

[Graham]

Anyone with any interest in this strange case, please take a look at the following link:

http://www.newsoftheworldonline.eu/7-news/155-janice-weston-new-evidence-in-1983-unsolved-murder-case

It's not what I'd call new evidence, rather a new suggestion, but interesting all the same.

I've also often wondered why an Italian legal firm should maintain an interest in this case. Odd.

Graham

[Limehouse]

Hi Graham,

Thanks for keeping interest in this case going.

As the article states, (and newspaper reports of the time did too) Janice appears to have left her flat in a hurry.

Did she receive a phone call or message stating that there was something wrong at the manor house she was converting with her husband in Northamptonshire? She could certainly have taken the A1 en route to Clopton.

It is a difficult clase to discuss openly because people involved are still alive.

[Graham]

Hi Julie,

I just came across this on the Cambridgeshire Police website:

2. Murder of Janice Weston, 36 years. Discovered by a cyclist in a ditch adjacent to the A1 in September 1983. Cause of death blunt force trauma to the head. Nobody prosecuted, although her husband, Anthony Weston was arrested. Anthony Weston is now deceased. The case has been reviewed by the Major Crime Department. No active investigation.

Opens up the scope for speculation somewhat...

Graham

[Limehouse]

Hi Julie,

I just came across this on the Cambridgeshire Police website:



Opens up the scope for speculation somewhat...

Graham

Hi Graham,

Gas meter job....?

Julie

[Graham]

Could be, Julie, could be.....

Graham

[Graham]

There was some brief discussion of this case over on the A6 Thread, so I thought I might post an update, as nothing has been posted on this thread for nearly 5 years.

- following the discovery of Janice's body and that of her car (an Alfa Romeo), the owner of a car-spares shop in Royston contacted the police to advise that on the Sunday morning shortly after Janice's body was discovered, a man had come into his shop to buy a pair of number plates which were the same number as Janice's car. The man was never seen or heard from again. So who was this man?

- on the day before her murder, Janice had collected a repaired spare-tyre for her Alfa. Apparently, Tony Weston had had a puncture in this car at Clopton Manor shortly before leaving for France and a workman at the Manor site had changed it for him. As I understand it, Tony then drove down to London and arranged for it to be repaired. The repaired tyre was then put into the Alfa's boot, with Tony's name and phone number chalked onto the inside. The tyre that had been the spare was still on the Alfa's rear nearside wheel.

- when the Alfa was found in London, the repaired tyre was back on the rear nearside wheel and there was no sign of the 'old' spare.

- it seemed that the police believed that Janice had stopped in the A1 lay-by to change a tyre. It also appears that six witnesses said that they had seen a man changing a tyre on a silver Alfa Romeo. So who was this man?

- for whatever reason, it seems that on the Saturday evening Janice left her London flat in Holland Park in a big hurry. There was a half-eaten meal and she had left her handbag behind.

- the house, Clopton Manor, that she and Tony were renovating as an investment project, was only about 15 miles from where her body was found. The police considered that she had been killed between about 9.00pm on the Saturday evening and about 2.00pm on the Sunday. It has never been established for certain if she was actually heading for Clopton Manor.

- there has been somewhat more recent speculation - that dreaded word - that the key to this mystery lies with the spare tyre, or more precisely, what might have been in it. However, tempting though it might be to mull over what a spare tyre could conceivably contain, in monetary value, why should Janice Weston, a wealthy and successful lawyer, get herself involved in the running of illicit substances? Personally, I haven't a clue how an inflated tyre would perform if its cavity was stuffed with small plastic bags....but this is one theory I have seen, see below.

- an Italian lawyer who, for reasons I have never quite understood, took an interest in this case, received from an anonymous source the following e-mail:

“For what it's worth, I have always thought that the key to the case was the car belonging to Janice Weston, and what it may have contained, with or without her knowledge, as the case may be, particularly the spare wheel.”

So - does this case hinge around drug dealing? I would be very, very surprised if Janice Weston herself was aware of, or involved in, any such doings, given her family background, her character, her profession, and also the plain fact that her wealth, in 2016 values, was around £1 million. What about her husband, Tony Weston (now deceased)? He was a 'property developer', a traditionally risky way of making money. Had he fallen on hard times? At the time of Janice's death he was in France showing a small chateau near Paris to prospective buyers. This in itself means nothing, but were the wolves at his door for other reasons?

- was Janice called on the Saturday evening to drive as soon as possible to the A1 lay-by, where she met not only the man who changed her tyre for her but also her killer? Did she recognise the man?

- finally, who was the man called Charles Fowler whose name has been associated with this case?

Graham

[Pcdunn]

Definition of term?

Hi Graham,

Gas meter job....?

Julie

Hello, pardon my unfamiliarity of the term you've used, but what is a "gas meter job"?

[Graham]

Basically an 'inside job', like someone stealing the money out of his own gas-meter.

Graham

[Pcdunn]

Thank you

Basically an 'inside job', like someone stealing the money out of his own gas-meter.

Graham

Thanks, Graham.

So what does that suggest?

Victim and killer were in on something together, but it fell apart in a quarrel with fatal results?

Husband set up his alibi and arranged for wife to be on the road, where a hired hit man waylaid and murdered her? Motive-- insurance or inheritance?

[Graham]

Husband set up his alibi and arranged for wife to be on the road, where a hired hit man waylaid and murdered her? Motive-- insurance or inheritance?

Pat, I don't know and I would doubt if we'll ever know. The fact that the police interviewed the husband for three days even after they accepted he was out of the country at the time of his wife's murder strongly suggests that something untoward was going on.

Graham

[Graham]

Thanks to a head-up from Julie Limehouse, I found out that Bedfordshire Police have re-opened this unsolved murder, which took place 35 years ago on 11 September 1983. Checking some recent media reports of the re-opening of the case, I found that:

- police forensics found oil on Janice's fingers, which tends to prove that she was changing a tyre on her car in the lay-by in which her body was found. (The new tyre which she had collected that morning was on the car, but the tyre that was removed was never found).

- Janice had been so badly assaulted that it took three days for the police to identify her.

- Janice was apparently a karate exponent, so must have put up a terrific fight for her life, and it is very evident that whoever attacked her meant to kill her.

Despite questioning several suspects, including her husband, no-one was ever charged with Janice's murder. See my Post No 10 on this thread for further details.

Unsolved murders are always (unfortunately) fascinating, and this one is particularly fascinating in my humble opinion.

Graham