Leslie Patrick Bailey

Name

Leslie Patrick Bailey

Background

Leslie Patrick Bailey was a paedophile and murderer. He was involved, along with Sidney Cooke and others, in the murders and sexual abuse of at least three young boys in and around London in the 1980s. He had already been in prison for the 1985 killing of Jason Swift and was also jailed for Mark Tildesley’s murder in 1992. Bailey was known as “Catweazle”.

The offence

Mark Tildesley

On 1st June 1984, Mark Tildesley, a 7-year-old boy, was at a funfair and was lured away with the promise of a bag of sweets by Sidney Cooke. Mark’s bicycle was found chained to railings nearby. Mark was taken from the fair to a caravan. Bailey claimed that the boy was drugged by Cooke and Lennie Smith, before they strangled him during an orgy of sexual violence involving all three men. Mark’s body has never been found. Mark was believed to be the first victim killed by the gang.

Jason Swift

In November 1985, Jason Swift’s body was found dumped in a field in Essex. Jason had been drugged, sexually assaulted and asphyxiated. The police attention was drawn to Sidney Cooke’s gang, which operated out of a squalid council flat on Kingsmead Estate in Hackney. Investigations revealed that the flat had been the scene of Jason’s death, where it was thought members of the gang had sex with the teenager.

When the case came to trial in 1989, the members of Cooke’s gang all blamed each other for causing Jason’s death, and there was only enough evidence to convict four of them on the basis of manslaughter.

Investigation

Investigations revealed that Kingsmead Estate in Hackney included a squalid council flat that had been the scene of Jason Swift’s death.

Arrest

Bailey and other members of Cooke’s gang were brought before court in connection with the offences described.

Trial

Leslie Bailey was sent to trial, along with Sidney Cooke and one other person, for the 1984 murder of 7-year-old Mark Tildesley. The involvement of Cooke, Bailey and Smith in Mark Tildesley’s disappearance did not come to light until two of the three men were serving life sentences for killing Jason Swift. Bailey was the only one convicted of a crime in relation to Mark’s death, after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1992. The Crown Prosecution Service decided that prosecutions against Cooke and Smith, who had never admitted being involved in the boy’s death, would fail because they relied too heavily on Bailey’s testimony.

Sentencing

• Bailey received 15 years for manslaughter (with three accomplices) in 1989.
• A life term was imposed on a second count in 1991.
• A life term was imposed on a third count in 1992.

Appeals

No appeal information was included.

Outcome

Bailey was found dead in his prison cell “under suspicious circumstances” in October 1993, after being attacked by two other prisoners. He was killed in October 1983 in his prison cell in Cambridgeshire.

Aftermath

The Crown Prosecution Service decided that prosecutions against Cooke and Smith would fail because they relied too heavily on Bailey’s testimony.

Other details

• Mark Tildesley disappeared after being lured from the funfair with a promise of a bag of sweets.
• Bailey claimed that Mark was drugged by Cooke and Lennie Smith.
• Bailey claimed that Mark was strangled during an orgy of sexual violence involving Cooke, Bailey, and Lennie Smith.
• Mark’s body was never found.
• Police suggested there were 25 possible victims.
• The alleged accomplices in second and third murders were never charged.
• The case included these accomplices:
  • Stephen Barrell (?- ), 15 years in 1989.
  • Sidney Cooke (1928- ), 19 years in 1989.
  • Robert Oliver (1955- ), 15 years in 1989.