Episode 107: The Murder of Penny Bell

On June 6, 1991, Penny Bell, a 43-year-old businesswoman and mother of two, was brutally stabbed over 50 times in her Jaguar in the busy Gurnell Leisure Center parking lot in Greenford, London, in a frenzied attack that left no witnesses despite the public setting. Penny, a happy and successful director at a recruitment agency, lived in an affluent Buckinghamshire neighborhood with her husband, Alistair, and their children, Matthew and Lauren. That morning, she left home for an unspecified 9:50 a.m. appointment, mentioning it to builders renovating her home, but no record of it was found. Three days prior, she withdrew £8,500 from a joint account, an unusual act possibly linked to her murder. Witnesses reported seeing a man enter a blue Jaguar, a slow-moving Jaguar with hazard lights, and Penny mouthing “Help me” with a passenger, but no one intervened. The investigation, which interviewed over 8,000 people, was hampered by compromised forensic evidence and no clear motive, though the attack’s savagery suggested Penny knew her killer. Suspects like Alistair, a former neighbor, John Richmond, and serial killer Robert Napper were cleared. In 2021, Penny’s daughter, Lauren, who was nine at the time and has no memories of her mother, renewed efforts with a £20,000 reward and media campaigns, believing the killer was motivated by personal rage. The case remains unsolved, leaving Lauren to honor her mother’s vibrant legacy by naming her daughter Penny.

 

Sources:

McMahon, J., & McMahon, J. (2024, August 9). The Inside Story of Britain’s Most Notorious Cold Case Murder. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-inside-story-of-britains-most-notorious-cold-case-murder/

 

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome to the Dark Oak

2:25 Penny Bell

53:09 The Brand of Hope - JED Foundation

 

 

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep