14 November 2023 , 19:45
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Playboy Bunny Eve Stratford was found dead and horrifically mutilated in her own home on March 17, 1975. The 21-year-old model's throat had been slashed around 12 times, so savagely that her head was almost severed. There were no signs of a break-in, leading police to believe she knew her killer.
To this day, Eve's murder remains unsolved, though DNA evidence and inquiries over the years have linked her death to two other victims - schoolgirl Lynne Weedon and mum Lynda Farrow. Tonight, the second half of ITV's two-part docuseries, The Playboy Bunny Murder, reexamines their deaths and the connections between them.
Lynne Weedon
Lynne Weedon was killed six months after Eve in 1975 (PA)
Thirty years later, DNA linked both of their murders (PA)Schoolgirl Lynne Weedon, 16, was brutally attacked and raped in an alleyway near her home. She was found barely alive the next day and tragically died a week later in hospital on September 10, 1975. Her cause of death was a single blow to the head and the weapon was never recovered.
In 2004, Metropolitan Police officers reexamined Lynne's case and recovered DNA that linked her murder with Eve's. In 2015, Lynne's mother, Margeret Weedon, made an impassionate plea for information. She said: "It has been 40 years since our beautiful young daughter Lynne was violently taken from us. We are well aware that whoever murdered Lynne also murdered Eve Stratford. That young lady also had her life snubbed out. Her family has died now. Another true life sentence."
Lynda Farrow
Lynda Farrow was murdered in her own home in 1979
Lynda's throat was slit in the same grim way as Eve's (PA Archive/PA Images)Mum-of-two Lynda Farrow is believed to have been murdered by the same unknown killer. The 29-year-old croupier was four months pregnant when she was stabbed to death in her home in East London on January 19, 1979. She was found by her two daughters, aged eight and 11.
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Former detective chief inspector Colin Sutton carried out a review of the evidence in Lynda's case in 2002 and linked her murderer with Eve's. "I have no doubt the same man committed all three," he said. "I was quickly struck by the similarities with that of Eve Stratford. A woman killed in her own home by having her throat slit? That is rare enough today, in the 1970s it was almost unheard of. For this to have happened twice, with identical wounds, within a few miles of each other was just too much of a coincidence."
Who killed Eve Stratford?
Over the years, detectives have followed hundreds of lines of inquiries, ruling out many men, including Eve's boyfriend Tony Priest and Mayfair magazine's then-feature editor, David Brenner. Just before her death, Eve had a photoshoot for the British rival magazine, which angered her bosses at Playboy. Soon after the mag went on sale, Eve was found dead, leading police to question Mr Brenner. He was later cleared of involvement after providing a DNA sample.
Another man who was in the frame for the murder was Lebanese businessman, Abdul Khawaja, who would have lunch every day at the Playboy Club, where Eve was a waitress. Bunny Rosemary told The Times that Mr Khawaja could never shake off the suspicion. He was cleared after his death when police took a DNA sample from his son.
During a 2015 interview, DCI Sutton revealed that he believed the killer was likely alive and had not been arrested in the past 20 years. He said: "The fact that the Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon DNA profile remains unmatched tells us their killer has not been arrested in the past 20 years. I have no doubt the same man committed all three murders. Did he die, or move abroad? My gut feeling tells me he is still out there somewhere and still nervous about a knock on his door."
It is believed Eve's murderer has not been arrested in the past 20 years, or their DNA sample has not been recorded (Metropolitan Police)Ex-intelligence officer Chris Clark previously spoke out about his belief that Peter Sutcliffe, who died of Covid-19 in November 2020, is behind at least 30 more unsolved murders, including Eve and Lynne. He told the Mirror just after Sutcliffe's death: "I've been able to link the Ripper by method, motive and opportunity to cold cases that have remained dormant for decades. The key to tying these threads together was a timeline of Sutcliffe's life with his wife, Sonia, and his job as an HGV driver travelling across the length and breadth of the UK. The evidence is out there and the victims deserve better."
In his book The Yorkshire Ripper: The Secret Murders, Chris says Sutcliffe was in the area of Eve's home for the wedding of his sister-in-law, which was four days after she was murdered. He added that "tellingly Stratford's murder bore the same crimes signature as some of Sutcliffe's confirmed future killings". Sutcliffe slashed Irene Richardson's throat during her savage murder in 1977, in a similar way to how Eve was left. The murder of Lynne did bare the Ripper's notorious MO. Her skull was smashed from behind and the lower parts of his victim's clothing had been removed.
Sutcliffe was in London during the week of Lynne's killing too, stopping off at a home in North London before flying out of Heathrow - just four miles from the murder scene. Police only hold mouth swabs and hair in their national databases for Sutcliffe and were unable to take a full blood sample before his death. It has been noted by the former Home Secretary, Lawrence Byford, that Sutcliffe was "probably responsible for numerous attacks on other women between 1969 and 1980".
- The Playboy Bunny Murder airs on ITV at 9pm tonight.