‘I’ll never give up hunt to find man who killed my mother 22 years ago’, vows daughter

 
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2 January 2014
WEST END FINAL

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The daughter of a woman murdered in a frenzied knife attack 22 years ago fears the case may never be solved because it has become an “embarrassment” for police.

Lauren Bell also revealed that her commute takes her within half a mile of the spot where her mother Penny was stabbed and slashed 50 times.

Mrs Bell, 43, was found slumped over the steering wheel of her Jaguar XJS in the car park of Gurnell Leisure Centre in Greenford at midday on June 6, 1991. Her killer has never been caught.

“You don’t ever get over it,” said Miss Bell, who was aged nine at the time. “For my mum, it’s the most important thing to keep her face alive in the public eye and for her killer to know we won’t ever give up on this.

“I avoid Greenford at all costs — even hearing the word makes me shudder.”

There was no clear motive for her murder and she was not sexually assaulted or robbed.

Police interviewed more than 8,000 people, offered a £20,000 reward and brought detectives out of retirement to investigate, but no one was ever charged.

A family friend who claimed he was having an affair with Mrs Bell and met her on the morning that she died was arrested but released without charge.

Robert Napper, who killed Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common in 1992, was also interviewed because the cases shared similarities, notably the frenzied nature of the attack.

Miss Bell, 31, who is a head of client services, urged Scotland Yard to refocus on the case which had left her family “completely fragmented”, estranged from her father Alistair and close only to her brother, Matthew, 33.

She said: “I was told by a senior policeman, quite matter of factly, that I needed to draw a line under this and move on. I think it’s a bit of an embarrassment to the police.”

Murdered: Penny was killed in her Jaguar

The trauma of the murder erased all memories of her mother and Miss Bell underwent therapy to try to remember anything that might produce a fresh lead.

At the funeral at St Mary’s Parish Church in Denham, the vicar said Mrs Bell was “a dear and lovely lady [who] had a heart of gold”. As her coffin was lowered, the Standard reported: “Until that moment Lauren, wearing her royal blue school uniform, had been strong. Her father had taken her support as much as giving her his. But as he whispered his farewell, Lauren broke down in tears.”

Miss Bell said of the murder: “It completely fragmented us and it’s literally just my brother and I now — we have no contact with the family.

“In my opinion, the police know who did it, but if you don’t have enough physical evidence to make a conviction, there’s nothing you can do.

“I can only assume money was the motive, or jealousy. I was told by a senior policeman quite matter of factly that I needed to draw a line under this and move on.

“I think it’s a bit of an embarrassment to the police. They should always be looking at advances in DNA technology, fresh eyes, another team of retired detectives being put on it.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “As with all unsolved murders, this case remains open and subject to review. Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command will continue to investigate the case and fully explore any new lines of inquiry that may come to light.”

Anyone with information should call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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