ON A SUMMER evening in 1969, tragic university student Joan Lesley McMurray kissed her boyfriend goodbye and set off for her halls.
The 21-year-old – who went mostly by her middle name Lesley – walked alone along a stretch of the now-disused Itchen Navigation Canal, but failed to make it home.
Murder victim Joan Lesley McMurray died in 1969[/caption]
A front page story on the case from 1970 in the Birmingham Daily Post[/caption]
Her body was found by a dogwalker nine months after her disappearance, but her killer has never faced justice.
It remains one of Britain’s most baffling unsolved murders nearly 56 years on.
A friend of Lesley’s – who did not want to be named – told The Sun: “We would be delighted if the person who carried out this atrocity were finally identified and prosecuted.”
Lesley – a third-year physiology and biochemistry undergraduate at Southampton University – had parted with boyfriend Charles “Charlie” Gore in Shawford on June 2.
She then headed for her halls at Montefiore House in the city’s Swaythling area, some seven miles away.
Lesley had reportedly told him she wanted to walk along the water’s edge.
Charles is not a suspect in the case. He has since died.
Her remains were eventually found on March 23 the following year in a shallow grave in a field off a railway embankment in Allington Lane, in the neighbouring village of Fair Oak, near Eastleigh.
Investigators had suggested the spot Lesley’s remains were found was just two-and-a-half miles from where she was last seen by Charles, according to a report in the Birmingham Daily Post the day after the discovery.
Cops also found her cardigan, bra and a stocking, the article added.
A “murder room” was set up at Eastleigh police station, where Chief Detective Superintendent Cyril Holdaway told the press: “We are looking for a sex maniac.”
He added the murder probe was likely to be “massive”.
Pathologist Dr Peter Pullar examined the remains at Winchester, but a cause of death could not be determined due to severe decomposition.
The investigation would then frustratingly stall for decades and it wasn’t until 1999 that Malcolm Fletcher was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Fletcher had already been convicted of the 1973 manslaughter of his six-year-old niece Tracy Watts and had been committed to Rampton Psychiatric Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
He would later be convicted of multiple other offences and is currently in prison.
The then-51-year-old had been due to stand trial for Lesley’s murder at Nottingham Crown Court.
But in November 2000, the Crown Prosecution Service announced there was insufficient evidence and the charges were dropped.
A statement said: “It is the duty of the CPS to ensure that the defendant gets a fair trial.
“We have concluded that difficulties faced by the prosecution cannot be overcome. The case should not be pursued.”
Lesley, as she was known, was walking home when she was attacked in Southampton[/caption]
Lesley had told her boyfriend she was going to walk along the Itchen Navigation Canal[/caption]
She was heading home to Montifore House halls in the Swathling area[/caption]
Hampshire Police Det Supt David Haverley, who led the reopened murder inquiry, said at the time: “We have exhausted all lines of inquiry and there is no longer an active investigation.”
A tree was planted in Ms McMurray’s memory in February 2001 outside the university’s student union in a ceremony organised by course friends, with attendees including her two younger sisters Fran and Elizabeth.
A university spokesperson confirmed to The Sun that the plaque and tree are still there.
But apart from that, the case – one of Hampshire Constabulary’s only unsolved murders – remains largely forgotten.
‘Terrible tragedy’
Lesley was one of three sisters from Wallington, now part of Sutton, South London.
Her dad, Robert McMurray, was a senior engineer for the Ministry of Public Building and Works.
While studying she would often return to her hometown, then situated in Surrey, to stay with an aunt when her parents moved to Bahrain in the Middle East.
Prior to dating Charles, she had been in a year-long relationship with Gerald Howarth, who would go on to become MP for Cannock and Burntwood, and then Aldershot, as well as Minister for International Security Strategy for the Ministry of Defence from 2010 to 2012.
He was knighted in 2012 and stood down as an MP prior to the 2017 General Election.
Sir Gerald, 77, also attended the tree planting in 2001.
Describing Lesley, he previously told The Daily Telegraph: “She was an absolutely smashing girl, quiet, unassuming, lovely to look at and tremendous fun.
“To have her life snatched away like that, just as she was about to launch herself in the world, was a terrible tragedy.”
They had met at university, where Gerald was studying English, at a student ball and remained friends after splitting up.
Lesley was also friends with the former politician’s now-wife Lizzie, who he met through the Young Conservatives.
After the Fletcher trial collapsed, Sir Gerald said at the time: “I am angry and disappointed. I am sure that all Lesley’s family and friends will be, too.”
Joan Lesley McMurray murder case timeline
June 2 1969
Southampton University student Joan Lesley McMurray left her boyfriend in Shawford to walk alone along a stretch of Itchen Navigation Canal.
She never made it to her student accommodation at Montefiore House in the city’s Swaythling area.
March 23 1970
Her remains would eventually be found in a shallow grave in a field off a railway embankment in Allington Lane, in the neighbouring village of Fair Oak, near Eastleigh.
Her remains were examined at Winchester but a cause of death could not be determined due to severe decomposition.
1999
The investigation would then frustratingly stall for decades and it wasn’t until 1999 that Malcolm Fletcher was arrested on suspicion of Ms McMurray’s murder.
Fletcher had already been convicted of the 1973 manslaughter of his six-year-old niece Tracy Watts and had been committed to Rampton Psychiatric Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
He would later be convicted of multiple other offences and is currently in prison.
The then-51-year-old had been due to stand trial for Ms McMurray’s murder at Nottingham Crown Court.
November 2000
In November 2000 the Crown Prosecution Service announced there was insufficient evidence against Fletcher and the charges were dropped.
February 2001
A tree was planted in Ms McMurray’s memory in February 2001 outside Southampton University’s student union in a ceremony organised by course friends, with attendees including her two younger sisters, Fran and Elizabeth, and ex-boyfriend and former MP Sir Gerald Howarth.
While committed at Rampton, Fletcher met and married Ann Barrett, who was serving a sentence for child murder.
Their liaison is understood to have resulted in a woman going to police with fresh information in 1996, reported The Telegraph.
Four specimen charges were brought against Fletcher of indecent assault on the informant when she was 11 during the 1970s, which he admitted at Nottingham Crown Court in November 2000 at the time Ms McMurray’s murder trial was also due to take place.
News of those allegations led to police receiving information about Lesley’s death and reopening her murder case in 1999.
It was hoped the advance in forensic medicine would help in the inquiry, with hairs found near Lesley’s remains analysed for possible DNA blueprint.
In October later that year, detectives executed search warrants at two addresses in Eastleigh and Nottinghamshire, the Southern Daily Echo reported.
Mr Justice Goldring placed Fletcher on the sex offenders’ register for life.
He told Fletcher: “It is plain to me that you continue to be a grave danger to women.”
Sir Gerald said: “The fact that the admissions of what he did to the 11-year-old had to be dragged out of him after so long shows his complete lack of remorse.
“Nobody can have sympathy for a man like that.”
A spokesperson for Hampshire Police told The Sun: “In respect of this case, I am able to inform you that this is a matter that remains unresolved.
“It is not currently under active investigation but is subject to periodic review by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary Serious Crime Review Team.
“As such, we would not seek to make any further comment upon the case at the moment.”
Do you know more? Email ryan.merrifield@thesun.co.uk
Lesley’s body was found off Allington Lane in Fair Oak months later[/caption]
She was a third-year student at the University of Southampton where a tree was planted in her memory[/caption]
