| Towpath murders | |
|---|---|
 Christine Reed (left) and Barbara Songhurst, c. 1953 | |
| Location | Teddington Lock, Richmond upon Thames, London, England |
| Coordinates | 51°25′56″N 0°19′31″W / 51.43222°N 0.32528°W |
| Date | 31 May 1953 c. 11:25 p.m.[1] |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | Christine Rose Reed (18) Barbara Songhurst (16) |
| Perpetrator | Alfred Charles Whiteway (21) |
| Motive |
|
| Sentence | Death (2 November 1953) Executed (22 December 1953) |
The towpath murders (also known as the Thames Towpath Murders and the Teddington Towpath Murders[2]) are a double murder which occurred upon a section of towpath between Teddington Lock and Eel Pie Island in Richmond upon Thames, London, England, on 31 May 1953. The victims were two teenage girls named Christine Reed and Barbara Songhurst who were ambushed by a lone individual as they cycled to their respective homes in Hampton Hill and Teddington.[3] Both girls were overpowered, then violently raped and murdered before their bodies were discarded in the River Thames. The perpetrator, 21-year-old Alfred Charles Whiteway, was convicted of both murders in a trial held at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Hilbery that October; he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 22 December 1953.[4]
The murders of Christine Reed and Barbara Songhurst became known as the "towpath murders" due to a towpath being both the location the victims were last seen alive and the site of their murder. The forensic methods used to link the perpetrator to both the victims and the weapons used in the commission of the crime were described as "one of Scotland Yard's most notable triumphs in a century".[5]
- ^ Aspects of Murder ISBN 978-1-125-81566-3 p. 27
- ^ Law-and-Order News: An Analysis of Crime Reporting in the British Press ISBN 978-1-136-42249-2 p. 65
- ^ Murder Whereabouts ISBN 978-0-245-54258-9 p. 214
- ^ "The National Archives: Murders of Barbara Songhurst and Christine Reed at Teddington Lock". The National Archives (United Kingdom). Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ "The Towpath Murders: Death on the River Bank". crimeandinvestigation.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2024.