UK UK - Penny Bell, 43, Ealing, London, 6 June 1991

Ruth Penelope Bell (28 February 1948 – 6 June 1991) was an English businesswoman who was murdered on 6 June 1991 in Perivale, Greenford, London. She was stabbed 50 times as she sat behind the wheel of her car in the car park of the Gurnell Leisure Centre. Her murder is unsolved.

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On the day she was murdered, Mrs Bell left home at 9.40am telling the builders, who were renovating her home, that she was late for a 9.50am appointment. No record of this appointment was found in her diary, and it has never been established who she was meeting.

Witnesses recalled the car driving along Greenford Road at about 10am very slowly with its hazard lights flashing. A witness came forward some time after the murder and claimed he saw her driving into the car park with a passenger, and silently mouthing an appeal for help, which he ignored.

She was found stabbed more than 50 times in the driver's seat of her car in the Gurnell Leisure Centre car park, close to the A40. Carpet display samples were laid out on the back seat. The hazard lights were still flashing when Penny Bell's body was discovered around noon.

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The above information is from Wikipedia. I wanted to add this case as it has recently been the subject of an hour documentary in the Donal MacIntyre Unsolved series. The aspect of the case which most staggers me is the time of day and place of the murder. This was a busy area and a busy time, surely this was not a plan? The Unsub must have been covered with blood after the attack, add to this that Penny supposedly tried to solicit help by turning on her hazard lights, windscreen wipers and driving very slowly and it seems hard to understand how more eyewitnesses were not tracked down.

The documentary made much of the fact she had withdrawn £8, 500 in cash a few days earlier and was carrying that amount with her when she was attacked. The money has never been found and the husband had no idea what it was for, the withdrawal was not covered up by Penny as it was taken from the couples joint account. The investigation spent a great deal of time focused on the husband but he had an alibi and the police could not find a motive for him. Although it was not said in the documentary the whiteboard in the background noted that police had a partial palm print from the car that they believe to be from the suspect.

I feel very much for the daughter robbed so violently of her mother when she was a young girl. So I throw it open in the hope that some sharp minds from here might have some ideas.

I've just watched this on YT. One poster suggested that perhaps she had adopted a child in her younger days and that now he was blackmailing her. It's really obvious it was someone she knew. The fact that the money is gone also lends credence to the suggestion that the person knew her and knew she would have the money to hand.

On a side note, I am very saddened that nobody tried to help her when she had her hazard lights on and appeared to be mouthing, "Help".

My name is Tash Kent and I am looking to make a documentary about the murder of Penny Bell. I've read a lot of publicly available articles, delved deep into the discussion forums on Websleuths and Reddit and listened to podcasts and YouTube videos that are readily avaailble. The key areas of interest for me are:

1. The use of the word "appointment" and the timing of the appointment that Penny left for (if of course she did have an appointment). I think there has been suggestions that this was a meeting but the timing and use of the word suggests that this could have been a doctor's appointment or a dentist appointment. Based on her direction of travel from her home in Denham to Fulmer Common Road and then to Gurnell Leisure Centre in Greenford, Penny may have been visiting a doctor's surgery in in Iver. Has anything ever been released about this?

2. Has anything ever been discovered about the man in the bronze car who an eye witness saw get into Penny's car in the layby on the Fulham Common Road. Was the description that of the man who was later seen by another eye witness?

Lastly, it would be good to hear about any theories that you may have on this case so that we can try and help solve it!

My name is Tash Kent and I am looking to make a documentary about the murder of Penny Bell in order to try and solve this case. I've read a lot of publicly available articles, delved deep into the discussion forums on Websleuths and Reddit and listened to podcasts and YouTube videos that are readily available. The key areas of interest for me are:

1. The use of the word "appointment" and the timing of the appointment that Penny left for (if of course she did have an appointment). I think there has been suggestions that this was a meeting but the timing and use of the word suggests that this could have been a doctor's appointment or a dentist appointment. Based on her direction of travel from her home in Denham to Fulmer Common Road and then to Gurnell Leisure Centre in Greenford, Penny may have been visiting a doctor's surgery in in Iver. Has anything ever been released about this?

2. Has anything ever been discovered about the man in the bronze car who an eye witness saw get into Penny's car in the layby on the Fulham Common Road. Was the description that of the man who was later seen by another eye witness?

Lastly, it would be good to hear about any theories that you may have on this case so that we can try and help solve it!

An e-fit of the passenger seen in Penny Bell's car.

Nov 15 2018
rbbm
The Inside Story of Britain's Most Notorious Cold Case Murder
"What is known about the day of Penny's murder is as follows. At 8.30AM, Alistair left for work as usual. The family were in the midst of house renovations, and builders were already at work. Penny left the house at 9.40AM, telling the builders she was running late for 9.50AM appointment. No record of any appointment was listed in her diary and it has never been established who Penny had arranged to meet. Three days prior, on the 3rd of June, Penny had withdrawn a sum of £8,500 from her and her husbands joint bank account. Again, it has never been established what this money was spent on.

It's believed that Penny was murdered around 10.30AM. She'd been seen motionless in the driver's seat of her car, parked in the leisure centre, at 11AM. Passersby had presumed she'd been sleeping. At 12.15AM, a member of the public alerted the police. They discovered Penny had been stabbed 50 times in the chest and arms, the latter presumably defensive wounds, with a three to four-inch blade. Forensics would later say the wounds indicated that Penny had initially been stabbed from the passenger's seat. Then from the driver's window.

At the time of the murder, the leisure centre car park would have been full, though Penny's car was parked in front of a high hedge that ran around the perimeter of the park, meaning the view from the front would have been obscured. The Jaguar was essentially soundproof. Nevertheless, the question as to how the killer – who would have been severely bloodstained by the attack – was able to leave the scene without being seen has perplexed anyone who has ever studied the case. Police quickly ruled out the motive of robbery due to Penny's handbag being left in the car with seemingly nothing removed. Police later reported that she hadn't been sexually assaulted."

"By 1992, 4,000 people had been questioned. Some witnesses recalled that they'd seen a Jaguar XJS at around 10AM, travelling at a speed of around 10mph, with hazard lights flashing. A woman was struggling with a man in the passenger's seat. She'd tried to pull the car off the road, but the man – around 40, dark hair, bearded, wearing a dark blazer and bracelet on his right wrist – kept her on it. Yet the most sombre detail might be that six months after the murder, a witness came forward to tell police that he'd seen Penny driving into the car park with a passenger. She was mouthing the words, "Help me." He'd done nothing."

"My dad always said that prior to the day she died, my mum was the most stressed he'd ever seen her. He said he tried to talk to her but she just brushed it off as being tired. There's just so many loose ends…"

One of the details of the case that has never been explained is why, when police came to examine the murder scene, there were wallpaper samples laid out in the back of the car."

Penny Bell's daughter Lauren has now become a parent herself | Daily Mail Online


"Suspicions: Lauren is convinced the killer was somebody Penny (pictured) knew, because she had not been sexually assaulted, nor had anything been stolen from her"

Aug 2015
"On Lauren’s tenth birthday, she was told by an employee of her family that her father was gay and had been in a long-term relationship with a man prior to marrying Penny. When she asked her father, he explained that it was true, but that he loved Penny very much.

‘Then the police asked Dad if they could release the information about his past. He agreed, hoping that it would help.

‘But sadly, the media coverage made it sound sordid, and it led to the investigation drying up. The day the police released that information, the incident room went from getting 250 calls a day to none.’"

"A year after the murder, a family friend named John Richmond came forward to admit he was with Penny the morning she died. He was arrested and questioned but released without charge"

Bumping, cannot locate any updates on this perplexing case.
It seems odd that Penny's car (assuming the killer directed it there) would pull into a crowded car park, although conveniently tucked near a hedge.
Why would the killer stab PB in an area where there would likely be a number of people entering or exiting their cars?
How did the killer escape notice when presumably he would be covered in blood?

Did the killer have a car parked near Penny's car which he could have jumped into right after the murder?
Did the killer continue to stab PB from the driver's side window because he wanted to make sure Penny was deceased, or because he was so angry/crazy he just could not stop the attack?
Did he bring along a little knife because he knew what he intended to do, or because he generally carried one? Odd thing for a 40 yo man wearing a blazer.
The e-fit sketch seems to show a youngish looking male with no facial hair, although one witness apparently described seeing a bearded man in the car with Penny.
Any chance there was someone else in the back seat of the car?
Hoping that some dna was retrieved from the scene, maybe now more information could be extracted from it.
Just some random speculation, imo.

Pinkizzy said:

Business woman stabbed to death: Murder near station similar to 1991

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Very interesting!
From link..

• 30 March 1993

''A London businesswoman was murdered in a quiet suburban street in a 'vicious and motiveless' stabbing, senior Scotland Yard detectives said last night.

Jean Bradley, 47, operations manager with a West End relocation company, was attacked getting into her BMW parked near Acton Town underground station in west London. She was stabbed several times by a man with an eight-inch knife.


Detectives sought last night to play down similarities with the unsolved murder of Penny Bell, aged 43, a businesswomen stabbed in her Jaguar car at Greenford, three miles from Acton, in June 1991; the women are of similar appearance and in neither case is there evidence of sexual assault or robbery as motive. Police said that although detectives were liaising it was 'too early to speculate' that the same person might be responsible.''

Someone has posted a comment about the identity of the killer at the end of an article about Penny's daughter, I can't find it.

Are these 4 unsolved murders all in the same general area, if so, could any of them be connected? speculation.
Who killed these women? - Bucks’ unsolved murders

There are several walks around London - Green Chain walk and the London loop. Robert Napper may have hunted along the Green chain walk and other killers may hunt near the London loop. The Leytenstone murder is odd with a deposition site near a North West London wood

The crimes in Taplow may be linked and the crimes in Woburn Green may be linked too.

5 minutes from gurnell leisure centre where the body was found is Greenford high street, in sure there used to be a carpet shop there, maybe the wallpaper samples were a ruse for the killer, maybe that’s why she trusted him?

JTR82 said:

5 minutes from gurnell leisure centre where the body was found is Greenford high street, in sure there used to be a carpet shop there, maybe the wallpaper samples were a ruse for the killer, maybe that’s why she trusted him?

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Welcome to Ws JTR82!
Unfamiliar with the area, but thinking there might be a number of home furnishing type stores.
Wondering now if it is possible Penny placed a large order of something or promised a renovating contract of some kind and then cancelled it? speculation.

Hi, I was thinking the same but £8,500 is a huge amount of cash in 1991, maybe a relationship begun with the salesman and a loan was given?

Wonder if the killer had a change of clothing tucked away in the bushes ahead of the murder?
If Penny was parked near a swimming pool, did the perp wear a swimsuit under his clothing, pull his clothing off, wrap a towel around himself and pass as swimmer? speculation, imo.
Unsolved Greenford murder of woman stabbed 50 times in her car
rbbm.14 AUG 2019
''However, the mystery of how Penny's killer, who would have been covered in blood, managed to leave the car park without noticed is one that confuses police to this day.

Although an immense sum of £8,500 that Penny withdrew from the family's joint account three days earlier, thought to be have been intended for the builders, has never been accounted for, police do not believe her death was a simple robbery gone wrong.

The police investigation
Police questioned thousands of people, including serial rapist and killer Robert Napper, although he was cleared of involvement.

Police investigate the scene of Penny Bell's horrific murder (Image: Daily Mirror)
Her husband, who inherited the bulk of her estate and her £200,000 life insurance payout, was accounted for at the time of her death and cleared of all suspicion.

A family friend John Richmond, whose fingerprints were found in the car and who claimed to have been having a secret relationship with Penny in a story he sold to The Sun, was investigated by police but later described as "completely in the clear".

Wow! This is very perplexing. Especially seeing the unsolved murders around the area.

I think it is someone Penny knew and I find it heartbreaking that the number of things she was doing for attention ( the hazard lights and slow driving.) I assume whoever was in the passenger seat gave her directions to the place she was murdered. Was murder the plan?

The father's long time partner could be a suspect? Was this ever investigated?

It's unbelievable sad that there's been no conclusion here. I hope some news comes through soon.

Find the comment in the online article about the killer's identity.

A new article with a video interview from her daughter as she heartbreakingly approaches 30 years without her mother.
Help me find monster who murdered mum 30yrs ago, pleads daughter

It mentions a new police forensic review in the article. Really hope she gets answers.