Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing
people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Before we get started with
today's episode, I just had a bit of housekeeping to discuss. After today's
episode, I will be taking a break for around six weeks, so the
next episode will be on the second of July. Going to three monthly episodes
is obviously more labor intensive and I need to catch up before I burn out
with any of it. Many of the episodes I have chosen are going to
be longer as they have more information contained in them and I want to do
them justice. I am working with some families and doing some update episodes.
There's a lot of moving parts. I'm also going on holiday, having my
birthday in June, and will be starting a new job, so there's a
lot going on. Patreon episodes will still be coming out, so if you're
on Patreon, don't worry. You will still get the episodes as planned,
plus the bonus episodes. I hope this is okay with everyone, but sometimes
I just need to take a break to make sure the podcast is the quality
I always want it to be. On to today's episode, which explores the
murder of Michael Williams in Highgate in North London in nineteen eighty eight. The
manner in which Michael had been killed captured the nation's attention and led to many
questions. The sad thing is Michael left behind a wife, a young daughter
and a loving family, and his murder is still unsolved today. This episode
contains descriptions that some listeners may find distressing, so listener discretion is advised.
Highgate Woods is located in North London, sitting between the areas of East Finchley,
Highgate and Muswell Hill. The woodland is around seventy acres and is described
as ancient, its existence having been mentioned in the Doomsday Book. It's a
well used area with many activities taking place such as cricket, football and other
sports, as well as people using it for socializing at the cafe and for
walking their dogs. It's a calm and accessible place used by residents and visited
alike, given its proximity to Highgate Station tube stop, located on the Northern
Line. At around seven forty On the twenty seventh of August nineteen eighty eight,
a woman was walking her dog in the woods close to Lanchester Road when
she saw a shape lying by the side of the path. When she looked
closer at the shape, she realized that she was looking at the body of
a man. He was extremely still and it was clear that he had passed
away. This was a shocking and unexpected sight, and the woman immediately contacted
police to let them know what she had discovered. Police attended the scene and
tried to put together what had happened to this man. From the scene that
they found, it was initially unclear what had happened. Had this man been
attacked, and if so, had he been attacked where he now lay or
elsewhere. Police, however, were quite sure that they were dealing with a
murder investigation, and this suspicion would prove to be correct. When the man's
body was sent for a post mortem. The cause of death had been due
to one blow to the throat. This was certainly an unusual ruling, however,
gave police indication that some violence had to be involved in the attack.
But why who was this victim and why had he been murdered and left where
he had Despite there being no belongings on the victim to identify, police were
able to establish who he was. He was forty one year old Michael Williams,
who lived in Highgate. Michael had lived in Highgate all of his life
and looked to be a very unlikely victim. He had been married to his
wife for eighteen years and was the father of a two year old daughter.
By everyone's accounts, Michael was a devoted and dedicated father who doated on his
daughter. He wanted to spend as much time with her as he could,
and reportedly worked flexi hours at his job so that he could finish earlier and
go home to spend time with her. Michael worked for the Home Office and
commuted into Pimlico in central London to work at his office in horse Ferry House.
Michael had quite a high pressured job and had been helping to set up
the Police National Computer, which could help narrow down information about crimes. He
was good at his job and seemed to be well liked and respected by his
colleagues. He and his wife were avid churchgoers and seemed happy. How Michael
had become the victim of such a callous and unnecessary murder seemed incomprehensible. Police
began trying to track down Michael's movements before his murder and figure out how this
could have possibly happened. They were able to establish a timeline, particularly for
the night before Michael's body had been recovered from Highgate Woods. Friday, the
twenty sixth of August had been the start of a long bank holiday weekend in
nineteen eighty eight, and Michael had been at work in Pimlico that day as
usual. It reported that all that week he had been working late, as
he was working on a project that he wanted to get finished. That night,
around six pm, his wife had rang his office, asking Michael what
time he was going to get home that evening. Michael had told her that
he still had some bits to finish off, but that he was hoping to
get back just after eight pm. His wife said that she would see him
later and she would put their daughter to bed. Michael carried on working for
a little while when one of his colleagues invited him to come for some drinks
with them at the local pub, the Pavior's Arms in Pimlico. This was
somewhere that they often went for drinks, according to the later Crimewatch reconstruction.
Michael initially declined and said he had too much work to do, but then
agreed to go despite telling his wife that he would be home for around eight
pm. Michael stayed out with colleagues until about eleven fifteen PM, when he
realized the time and told them that he needed to leave. He left the
pub with another colleague and they both headed to the tube stop. Michael and
the colleague traveled together until Victoria station, when the colleague got off and Michael
stayed on. Michael's usual route home would be traveling until either Warren Street station
or Euston Station, where he would then change to the Northern Line. He
would then travel on the Northern Line until he got to Highgate, where he
would then make the short walk home. It's unknown if Michael did travel this
route on that Friday night, however, as nobody that knew Michael saw him
do so. There is a witness sighting at East Finchley station, one stop
after Highgate, that perhaps indicates that he might have got off there instead.
A security guard remembers seeing a man fitting Michael's description come up to his booth
around twelve thirty pm and ask him where the toilets. The security guard told
the man that the toilets were closed and the man apparently just walked off.
If this was Michael, then he hadn't got off at his usual stop,
and if not, why was he planning on walking home from there instead?
It would appear that this was the last possible sighting of him that night.
A lot of Michael's possible route was speculation, and there was little evidence to
point to where he had actually been. Police didn't know how he had ended
up in Highgate Woods, or actually when he had ended up there. There
were some very odd details about this murder which didn't seem to make sense to
investigators, and one of these elements was the witness statements that they had from
earlier on in the morning that Michael's body had been discovered. Aside from the
dog walker who had found his body, there were a few other people who
had been in the area even earlier than that. The strange thing was that
all of these people had walked past the area where Michael had been discovered,
but none of them had seen his body there. If he had been there,
these people would have also seen him. A man had also been walking
his dog in the same area around six am that morning, and he confirmed
that he didn't notice Michael's body there. But he was able to provide police
with some more information about something else strange that he spotted. He said that
just around the corner from where Michael's body was later found, his dog began
barking loudly and aggressively. As he came around the corner, he saw that
the dog was barking at a man who was stood still by the path.
The witness said that this man was stood staring forward and didn't react at all
to his dog barking at him. The witness said it was very strange,
as the man looked to be in a trance and pay any attention to his
surroundings. The witness said it was as though he was under the influence or
hypnotized. This man was described as around six feet tall, white, of
a slim build, with blondish brown hair and a beard of a similar color.
While the sighting was very strange, it didn't implicate this man in Michael's
murder in any way. However, the police were very interested, of course,
in speaking to the man or finding out who he was. Around fifty
minutes later, the gates of Highgate Woods were opened fully for the day and
a witness he walked past the area five minutes after this, also saw nothing
on the path where Michael's body had been found. Police came to the conclusion
that Michael's body had not been there earlier on the previous evening or even that
morning, and that it had been placed there between around seven and seven forty
when he was discovered. They also stated that they believed a car must have
been used to transport his body there in this time. The question was why
and where had Michael been during that time? Where had he actually been attacked
and killed. There were many unanswered questions, but police believed, based on
the witness statements that they had, and the fact that Michael had been found
in a public place, that he can't have been there for too long or
he would have been found earlier. On Theories on who had perpetrated this were
few and far between. Given the lack of concrete evidence, Michael's case was
featured on Crime Watch to try and drag people's memories of that time and hopefully
find someone who may have the crucial piece of information they needed to put it
all together. Reconstruction of the evening before Michael was murdered, as well as
all of the information the police had, was presented on the program, Detective
Superintendent Paul Wilton explained that none of Michael's belongings had been recovered from the scene
and it was important that they were found. Michael had been carrying a black
and white carrier bag with the letters ID on the front. Inside, he
had been carrying a radio pager called a VODA page, a computer manual his
home office passed to get into his office, and a signet ring with his
initials on it. He also had on a Rolex watch which had been made
for him around seventeen years earlier. The watch was reportedly distinctive as it had
clasps around the outside of the face, which was unusual. It was hoped
by showing these objects on the program, someone would come forward. None of
these belongings had been found with him. There was also another piece of important
information shown on the program, and this was something that happened the day after
Michael's body had been found. A man had walked into the new argent Tandoori
restaurant on Free and Barnet Road in Southgate, around four miles away from Highgate.
This man had paid for his food with a credit card, and this
credit card actually belonged to Michael Williams. This man had possession of Michael's bank
card and was walking around using it after his death. Who was this man
and why did he have the card? Had robbery been the motive, hence
the lack of Michael's belongings at the scene. Detective Superintendent Paul Wilton stated on
the Crime Watch program that they didn't know if this man had anything to do
with the murder or if he had simply found the card or even bought it
illegally. The use of the card was extremely suspicious, and of course police
were eager to find out what had happened and what this man knew. Detective
Superintendent Paul Wilton also brought up a new theory on the Crime Watch program.
He explained that at this point he had to take into consideration that this murder
could have a sexual motive. He discussed the fact that Michael was bisexual and
the location his body was found was known as a spot that gay men would
frequent during this time. He explained that they couldn't rule this out. That
Michael had met someone that evening on his way home. This was a new
piece of information at the time. However, like many of the other theories
which swirled around in this case, it was based on theory and speculation,
as without some concrete information, lots of the theories could not be proved.
Michael's case was extremely difficult to solve given all of the unknowns. The known
information was that Michael had been attacked at some point on his way home and
killed by one blow to the throat. Detective Superintendent Wilton confirmed on Crime Watch
that this would have had to have been from someone strong with martial arts experience.
He stated that he had consulted with karate experts who explained that this had
to be someone with experience in this field to carry out this sort of attack.
His belongings were then taken from him and his body was kept somewhere until
between seven and seven forty when it was transported to Highgate Woods by a car
and his body was left there. His bank card was taken and was then
used at a tandori restaurant by a man the following day. The situation was
so unusual and odd that police struggled to reconcile the information they had and narrowed
down who could be involved. Despite the appeal on crime Watch since nineteen eighty
eight. Michael's case has remained unsolved and there have been very few appeals for
information from police. Since I could find no articles in the archives related to
Michael's murder, and since then very few articles have been written about Michael's case
in the newspapers. This is extremely sad, as he did leave behind a
wife and a daughter who have had to live their lives without him without answers
to why he was killed and who had done it. All theories seemed to
point to a stranger murder, as Michael had never intended to be going home
at that time, and it would seem to indicate that he had simply come
across his killer while walking home. The motive, however, is much more
confusing. Was this a robbery which went wrong? Did this have a sexual
motive as suggested by police at the time. Was this an attack on a
person walking alone. Police appealed for anyone who may have been attacked in the
area during that time to also come forward, implying that perhaps police wanted to
check if this was a case of someone attacking people in that same area.
There is little information in this case, however, that does not mean that
Michael's case is any less deserving of attention than cases with more information. He
is a victim who deserves justice, and his family also deserves justice and answers.
If you know anything about Michael Williams's murder in August of nineteen eighty eight,
then please contact the Metropolitan Police on one oh one or Crimestoppers on eight
hundred five five one one one. Thank you for listening to today's episode.
If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and
contribute to exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month. You can also
get access to new episodes early and add free Thank you very much to our
newest patron this month, Oliver. You can use the link in the show
notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer. You can also support us
by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also just share
the episodes. You can subscribe on YouTube and follow us on social media.
You can also now subscribe and listen to my other podcast, ten Minute True
Crime, which tells infamous crimes in a short form, bite size ten minutes
for people on the go or who just like the facts. Find that wherever
you listen and in the show notes. As always, I'm Caprice and this
has been unseen