UK UK - Margaret Cook, 26, London, 10 Nov 1946

dotr

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"Almost 70 years after a sex worker was shot on London’s iconic Carnaby Street, a 91-year-old man walked into a police station across the world to confess to the 1946 murder.

He didn’t even know her name.

Officials in Ontario, Canada, where the man now lives in a senior care facility, alerted the British authorities.



As they sifted through all the unsolved murder cases from that era – which are kept on file for 100 years – Scotland Yard detectives flew out to meet with him and matched his statement to only one file, belonging to 26-year-old Margaret Cook, reported The Sun's exclusive."

http://news.yahoo.com/why-91-old-confessed-murder-nearly-70-years-205208117.html
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...der-of-soho-sex-worker--in-1946-10393936.html

"The unnamed man, who now lives in Canada, admitted to killing a woman with a Russian-made Second World War pistol outside the Blue Lagoon club in Carnaby Street in 1946 after she cheated him out of money.

He said he wanted to admit his crime to clear his conscience after being diagnosed with cancer, The Sun reported.

The pensioner, who lives in a care home, could not remember her name but detectives from Scotland Yard flew out to meet the man to show him photographs from unsolved murders at the time after being alerted by the Canadian authorities.

He picked out the picture of Margaret Cook, 26, who was originally from Bradford who was working at the Blue Lagoon as an “exotic dancer”.
 
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/07/1...fesses-to-murdering-english-prostitutein-1946

"In his 2004 book, An Underworld at War: Spivs, Deserters, Racketeers and Civilians in the Second World War, Donald Thomas gives a detailed account from the time:

"A former policeman was walking down Carnaby Street, near Regent Street, when he saw a couple in an alleyway leading to the Blue Lagoon Club. The woman shouted, "This man has got a gun!" The ex-policeman stopped and the man's voice said from the darkness, "Get on your way, chum, this has nothing to do with you." The witness walked on a little distance, then heard a shot and saw a man run to the further end of the street. He chased him but failed to catch him. Robert Higgins, investigating the case, thought it was the crime of a man with a hatred of prostitutes. Most others, including Daily Telegraph crime correspondent Stanley Firmin, believed it was the settling of a gangland score, 'murder for revenge.'"







Margaret Cook, 26.
1297725327025_ORIGINAL.jpg
 
Wow!! Thanks for this, dotr.

I wish we got more death bed confessions...
 
Wonder if there has been a mix-up on someone's part? Cook was reported to be blonde in most of the reports of the killing at the time, but really doesn't look it in that photo. Even if she dyed it, I wonder how a 91-year-old managed to pick out a photo of her with black hair?

Police reports might reveal that info or maybe more photos - but sadly the Brit authorities have overplayed their secrecy hand again; all the records are in the National Archive and sealed until 2024. :(

In 1947, the year after this crime, there was a very similar shooting of a woman named Rita Barrett in Rupert Street, also in Soho. She was dark-haired. In fact, she was known as Black Rita because of her hair. Would be interesting to know exactly when this man was recalled to Canada.

https://books.google.de/books?id=wz...AXY#v=onepage&q=blue lagoon club soho&f=false
 
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/w...ly-admits-to-1946-murder-of-london-prostitute

"‘Soho Jack’? Canadian man, 91, reportedly admits to 1946 murder of London prostitute"

"The U.K. has abolished capital punishment, but it would have applied at the time.

There is a police file on the unsolved murder at the U.K. National Archives, due to be released publicly in 2024, unless the British courts get to try the case first."
 
Wonder if there has been a mix-up on someone's part? Cook was reported to be blonde in most of the reports of the killing at the time, but really doesn't look it in that photo. Even if she dyed it, I wonder how a 91-year-old managed to pick out a photo of her with black hair?

Police reports might reveal that info or maybe more photos - but sadly the Brit authorities have overplayed their secrecy hand again; all the records are in the National Archive and sealed until 2024. :(

In 1947, the year after this crime, there was a very similar shooting of a woman named Rita Barrett in Rupert Street, also in Soho. She was dark-haired. In fact, she was known as Black Rita because of her hair. Would be interesting to know exactly when this man was recalled to Canada.

https://books.google.de/books?id=wz...AXY#v=onepage&q=blue lagoon club soho&f=false


With the dark hair, am reminded of E. Short, the "Black Dahlia", murdered in the U.S. in 1947.. imo, fwiw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dahlia

Black_Dahlia.jpg
 
Oh, Elizabeth Short. That case is burnt into my mind because when I looked it up, I unexpectedly came across the most graphic crime scene photos I had ever seen. I can't believe that crime was the only one her killer committed....

Getting back to Black Rita, she also had a new boyfriend who was 'known to carry a revolver'. Maybe it's more than a coincidence that the circumstances seem so similar to those surrounding Margaret Cook's death. But maybe it's just that there were so many ex-military with leftover WW2 weapons around that time.

Details on the murder of Black Rita, real name Rita Green:

https://books.google.de/books?id=Ch...9#v=onepage&q=duncan webb soho murder&f=false
 
Yeah, some guy also confessed to the 1898 Gatton Mystery Murders in the 1970s if I recall so these long distance confessions are not uncommon. There has to be a lot more than a confession with only details that are known to the public. There was a guy in 1950 who supposedly confessed to being Jack the Ripper too. And, I've lost count on how many have confessed to killing Hoffa.
 
Cook's killer was described as being 25 to 30 which would make him 94-99 now. Was this guy born in Canada?
 
Yeah, some guy also confessed to the 1898 Gatton Mystery Murders in the 1970s if I recall so these long distance confessions are not uncommon. There has to be a lot more than a confession with only details that are known to the public. There was a guy in 1950 who supposedly confessed to being Jack the Ripper too. And, I've lost count on how many have confessed to killing Hoffa.

But with Hoffa being killed by so many different people, you would think one could remember where his remains were disposed of??!!
 
Oh, Elizabeth Short. That case is burnt into my mind because when I looked it up, I unexpectedly came across the most graphic crime scene photos I had ever seen. I can't believe that crime was the only one her killer committed....

Getting back to Black Rita, she also had a new boyfriend who was 'known to carry a revolver'. Maybe it's more than a coincidence that the circumstances seem so similar to those surrounding Margaret Cook's death. But maybe it's just that there were so many ex-military with leftover WW2 weapons around that time.

Details on the murder of Black Rita, real name Rita Green:

https://books.google.de/books?id=Ch...9#v=onepage&q=duncan webb soho murder&f=false

In this account, Ms. Cook is described as having been stabbed.
Interestingly, in Rita Green case, the author says something to the effect that it was unusual to bring a pistol to a brothel.
Maybe the names were mixed up?
 

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