Arthur Albert Jones

Case name

Arthur Albert Jones

Background

Arthur Albert Jones was a 44-year-old fitter-welder of Ely Road, Hounslow.

The offence

A 12-year-old girl, Brenda Nash, went missing while on her way home on 28 October 1960. She was last seen alive about a mile from her home in Heston, Middlesex, at 10pm. Her strangled body was found in a Hampshire wood on 11 December, and it was also described as being found on Yateley Common, Hampshire. An assault had taken place on another young girl in the same area in September, and the police had reason to believe the two incidents were linked.

Investigation

The police reasoned that the man they sought drove a black Vauxhall and had a liking for peppermints. All owners of black Vauxhalls registered between 1951 and 1954 who lived in Middlesex and Surrey were interviewed, and the police interviewed approximately 5,000 owners of black Vauxhalls. The day after Brenda's body had been discovered, a young woman hairdresser, who worked in London's West End, approached the police and told them that one of her workmates had told her that her uncle had asked her to provide an alibi for 28 October. The uncle turned out to be Jones. When information from prison led the case to be re-opened, the police combined it with new evidence uncovered.

Arrest

Jones was arrested on 28 December.

Jones was charged with the September assault.

Trial

At his trial for the September assault, Jones was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. It was while he was in prison that he confessed to a prison officer that he had killed the girl, and the connection was made. He was brought back to court and tried for murder. The jury took just seven minutes to find him guilty of murder. This time he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In the murder trial he received a further sentence of life imprisonment.

Jones initially told police that he had been at his sister-in-law's house at the time of the killing. When that alibi was proved to be untrue, he admitted that he had lied and said it was because he was with a prostitute at the time of Brenda's disappearance and was embarrassed to admit it.

Jones could not leave well alone and, while he was in prison, told a fellow inmate, Ian James Roberts, about the killing. Roberts passed on the information to the prison authorities, and when the police heard about this they re-opened the case and, coupled to new evidence uncovered, Jones was charged with murder. The jury took just seven minutes to find him guilty, and he received a further sentence of life imprisonment.

Sentencing

Jones was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for the September assault. After being tried for murder, the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1961. He also received a further sentence of life imprisonment during the murder proceedings.

Outcome

Brenda Nash was last seen alive on 28 October 1960 and her strangled body was found on 11 December in Hampshire, including on Yateley Common, Hampshire. Jones was found guilty of murder by a jury that took just seven minutes and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1961.

Other details

Jones drove a black Vauxhall and kept peppermints in his car. The police interviewed all owners of black Vauxhalls registered between 1951 and 1954 who lived in Middlesex and Surrey, over five thousand people.