Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing
people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Today we're going to be
covering the nineteen seventy eight murder of Bill Simpson at his garage in the area
of Small Heath in Birmingham. His murder was unexpected, incredibly violent and had
some features of a gangland attack. But who would have wanted to kill this
well loved father and husband in this awful way? This episode contains descriptions that
some listeners may find distressing, so listener discretion is advised. The area of
Small Heath is located around two miles from the city center of Birmingham and quickly
grew in popularity during the Victorian era due to its green space outside of the
city and the number of terrace houses that were being built to accommodate the growing
population. During World War Two, Small Heath gained more importance as it was
the location of the Birmingham Small Arms Company, which was the only factory which
produced rifles in the UK. This meant that the factory and Small Heath became
very important to the war effort and began to produce rifles and Browning machine guns
an accelerated rate. The factory went from six hundred guns per week in nineteen
thirty nine to around sixteen thousand a month in nineteen forty two. The amount
of people involved in the production massively increased and Small Heath was put on the
map in terms of its relevance. The factory was bombed three times by the
Loftwaffer in nineteen forty and this caused huge problem, with many people being injured,
including residents workers, and resulted in the loss of life of fifty three
employees. The production of rifles was also halted for around three months, which
of course had a devastating effect on the war effort. As a result,
the production of rifles was spread out throughout the country so that they could not
be as much of a target for German bombing raids. Since World War Two,
Small Heath has continued to grow, with many more houses being built.
Today, it's a very multicultural area and due to the popularity of the TV
show Peaky Blinders, many people also know it as a location where the Peaky
Blinders street gang operated during the late Victorian era. During the nineteen seventies,
Small Heath was continuing to grow with many people moving into the area to live
and also to set up businesses. In nineteen seventy eight, this included William
Simpson, or Bill as he was known. Bill lived in the area of
Erdington, which is a suburb of Birmingham, located around five miles from the
city center. Bill lived with his wife Mary, and they had three children
together, who at that time were all in their twenties. Bill was a
mechanic who owned a garage in the area where he lived in Erdington before renting
out a new lock up garage in a back street on Whitton Street in Small
Heath in early nineteen seventy eight. Bill had qualified as a mechanical engineer in
the Army, and when he was demobbed in nineteen fifty six he'd settled in
the Birmingham area. He'd set up his company, Sampson Motor Repairs and Welding,
and now transferred it to this new garage in the new area. He
was known as a hard working man who put all of the hours he could
into his work at the garage, and he was a family man. Reports
from his family members stated that sometimes he would be out from seven o'clock in
the morning and didn't come home until ten or eleven o'clock at night. This
continued when he moved to the garage in Small Heath in nineteen seventy eight.
By all accounts, Bill Simpson was a hard working family man who owned his
own business and generally kept himself to himself. It seemed that he'd gained an
excellent reputation in the area in the short time that he was there, and
customers were happy with the work that he completed. Sampson Motor repairs therefore were
successful and continued this way during nineteen seventy eight. On Friday, the twelfth
of May of that year, however, Bill Simpson's garage was at the center
of a very strange and tragic series of events. That day, residents in
the area of Whitton Lane noticed something odd coming from the alleyway in which Bill
Simpson's garage was located. It looked as though there were flames coming out from
the bottom of the door, and as the door was shut, there must
have been concern about whether anyone was inside it or not. Firefighters arrived at
the scene, and when they first got there, they discovered that the garage
door was locked. They had to break down the door to gain access to
the garage and put out the fire. The scene was initially a very confusing
one, given that there was no indication why the fire had started or what
had happened. When the fire crew got inside and the fire was under control,
it became clear that something tragic had happened inside. There, lay face
down with his head and shoulders underneath a blue Viva van was a man,
and it was clear that he had been caught up in the flames, given
that his clothing had been mostly burnt away and what remained was still on fire.
When the fire crews arrived. On first glance, it looked as though
there may have been an accident when the man had been working under the car.
It seemed as though the jack may have slipped and landed on the man
and caused something else in the garage to fall over and set the fire.
The fire crew lifted up the van and removed the jack, which enabled them
to get a closer look at the body. It was at this point that
they realized that this couldn't have been what happened. They discovered that the man
had a bullet wound to his face, and from that point on, the
theory of what happened in there changed dramatically. This was now a murder scene.
The remains were so charred that making an official identification was difficult. The
body and the underneath of the van had been burned, as well as two
of the rear tires. It's also reported that a cop mattress that was inside
the van was also burnt. Next to the van was a new exhaust pipe,
and it looked as though it was about to be fitted into the van
when the murder had occurred. As the garage was owned by Bill Simpson,
it was assumed that this body would be his, and a later identification was
made from his belongings that were inside the garage. The murdered man was Bill
Simpson. From the evidence in the garage, it was clear that whatever had
happened to him was brutal and the perpetrator's intention had been to kill him.
But why? What was the exact motive behind this? While the garage was
further assessed for any evidence, Bill's family were told of what had been found.
All of them were in complete shock about it and couldn't believe what they
were hearing. Bill's wife, Mary was in such severe shock at the news
that she had to be put under sedation. Bill's three children couldn't grasp what
had happened, let alone why. It was reported that their eldest son,
Bill, flew straight home from Germany and was given compassionate leave from his role
in the army with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers when the news reached him.
The couple's youngest son, Terry, spoke to the papers about his father's murder
soon after it occurred, and he told them that he couldn't understand it at
all. He said, my father didn't seem to have an enemy in the
world. His whole life was the motor trade, and he lived for the
cars. The police have asked us whether we know of anyone who might be
responsible for the shooting, but we've not been able to give them any lead
at all. We just cannot think of anyone or any reason for such a
terrible thing. This was echoed by Bill's neighbors, who all talked about his
kindly nature, with one of his neighbors, Stanley Watton, stating he was
well liked around here and was always helping people. He was very efficient and
a hard working man. If anyone had any trouble with a car. He
would be round straight away, not to make money, just to be helpful.
This was the picture that was emerging from the initial investigation into Bill Simpson's
murder. However, police had to try and figure out why someone wanted this
kindly, hard working man dead. From the post mortem, police were able
to ascertain that Bill had been shot and then the garage had been set on
fire, and therefore could establish that the shooting had taken place beforehand. This
was crucial information and suggested that the killer had been using the fire to cover
their tracks or to get rid of any other evidence that may have been left
behind. The circumstances behind why this had happened or when, however, was
unclear. Police began doing door to door inquiries in the local area around the
garage in the hope that someone had noticed something odd or heard something on that
Friday. They spoke to the nearest house to Bill's garage, a man named
James Moroney. He was asked if he'd heard a gunshot around the time that
Bill was murdered. He told police that he hadn't heard anything that sounded like
a gunshot. He told the newspapers later, although I was at home on
Friday. I cannot remember anything which I would describe as a gunshot. There's
always a lot of noise from the garages of cars being revved up or the
banging of metal. As well as interviewing people in the local area, the
police also deployed dogs in the area to try and find more evidence, as
well as using mine detectors. Despite these inquiries, information was not as forthcoming
as it could have been, and police had to appeal to the public.
They announced that they wanted to hear from people who were in the area of
the garage between twelve noon and two thirty on that Friday, or anyone who
was a customer of Bills. One person did come forward, and he was
the owner of the blue Viva van that Bill had been working on at the
time of his murder. Sam Rafailia Rashid had left his van with Bill on
that Friday morning, and he reported that he hadn't noticed anything strange or odd
about him that day. He had visited Bill's garage in the first place due
to a recommendation from his brother, who said that Bill's work on his vehicle
had been quick and efficient. Sam explained that when he dropped off his van
on that Friday, Bill had appeared relaxed and happy, and there didn't appear
to be anything wrong at all. Sam told the newspapers he was happy and
relaxed when I saw him. The van was due for its moot in July,
and he said he would check it over for me. I gave him
the keys and he told me to come back and pick it up on Sunday.
Reflecting on when he'd heard about the news of Bill's death, he said,
I'm horrified. It all seemed perfectly normal when I saw him the previous
day. The news of his death was such a terrible shock. I couldn't
believe such a thing could happen. It's clear that Sam was in shock that
he had been there just that morning, and that something so terrible could have
happened not long after. This was unthinkable. The police knew that it was
Sam's fan that he was working on when he was murdered. The motive,
however, still eluded everyone, including his family. Bill's brother in law stated,
this whole business has got us completely baffled. He had no money troubles,
and he was certainly not involved in anything political. Police seemed to be
at just as much of a stand sill with Chief Superintendent Tom Mefferin from West
Midland CID, stating it was a murder without a motive, without a direction
to go in this was proving a difficult one to solve. Police had disclosed
some information about people who they were speaking to, and one of the avenues
they seemed to be heading towards was speaking to a man named Tony Walsh,
who had previously shared the garage with Bill. This appeared to be in an
effort to learn as much as they could about Bill and about his life.
Tony Walsh was later eliminated from inquiries. Police also made a statement which initially
seemed quite vague and brought up many more questions than answers. At a press
conference on the thirteenth of May, Detective Superintendent Mike Murphy stated that Bill Simpson
had been known to police, but not in any drastic This was an odd
statement given that the murder had been and continued to be described as motivelest Just
two days later, however, this statement seemed to be explained. The Birmingham
Mail reported that Bill had been at magistrate's court in January of nineteen seventy eight
as he had been found to be in receipt of three stolen MOT certificates.
It was later reported that during the investigation, police uncovered that there was an
illegal mot business running in Birmingham at the time, and that there was a
scam involving a batch of three hundred stolen MOT certificates. This meant that certificates
could be used to pass off cars as roadworthy when they weren't, or could
be sold on to other people at a profit. Four of these certificates had
been found at Bill's garage. Seven men were later arrested for their part in
this scam. This was of course of interest to police, However, whether
it had any bearing on Bill's murder wasn't clear. Neither was Bill's possible role
in this scam. There was no direct evidence that showed that Bill was involved
in it, and it couldn't be proven. This did provide an explanation for
why police had made the statement, explaining that Bill had been known to them,
but not in a drastic way. They stated they were doing more investigation
into the criminal underworld to see if this could in any way provide a motive
for the crime. On the same day, police announced that they did have
descriptions of some people who they wanted to speak to who had been spotted in
the area at the time during the two hour window between twelve and two when
police believed that Bill had been murdered. Descriptions of these three men were given.
The first man was described as being white, between the ages of thirty
to forty, around five feet eight inches tall, with ginger hair. He
was described as being well built. He'd been wearing a PVC hip length zip
jacket, black trousers with flared bottoms, and black high heeled shoes. Another
man was described as mixed race, aged between thirty to thirty five and about
five feet nine inches tall. He was well built with curly hair. He
also had a goaty beard. He was wearing a brown V neck jumper and
a T shirt. The third man was also described as mixed race, aged
between thirty eight and forty, about five feet seven inches tall and of medium
build. He had a long face and mustache and a light beard. He
had curly receding hair and was wearing an orange jumper with a double blue line
around the neck and was wearing dark blue trousers. Detective Superintendent Mike Murphy told
the press these people were seen in the vicinity of the murdered man's workshop between
noon and two pm on Friday. We would like them to contact us so
that we can eliminate them from our inquiries. A mobile police station was set
up at the scene for anyone that might know a vital piece of information.
Despite these appeals, however, weeks began to pass without any further movement on
the case. During this time, Bill's family had to try and figure out
life without him, and they were attempting to rebuild their lives in such tragic
circumstances. Mary Simpson, Bill's widow, spoke to the press at the beginning
of June nineteen seventy eight and described how she'd been affected. She stated,
he could never have done anything so wrong that he deserved to die like that.
I still cannot understand why the murderer did it, and that's the worst
thing of all. I lie awake at night trying to figure it out,
but it's still a complete mystery. This worries me more than anything. At
the moment, I feel like I'm about to snap. My husband was my
whole life. By July nineteen seventy eight, the family were continuing to struggle
as they had no closure to what happened, and personally their lives were being
torn apart. Reports from July nineteen seventy eight indicate that Bill and Mary's son,
who was also called Bill, had to quit his career in the army
to return home to look after his mother. She'd been unable to return to
her job as a factory worker as she had a major internal operation was not
entitled to widow's pension. They were also dealing with the issue surrounding Bill's funeral
and burial as his body was still in Birmingham City Marchery, as he couldn't
be buried as a second post mortem may have been needed to be carried out
if a suspect was arrested, this causing the family a lot more distress as
he couldn't be later to rest. Bill said, this is making my mother
even more upset. This thing just won't go away, and we're just as
baffled today as we were when we heard of the murder. Police addressed the
fact that the investigation seemed to be going nowhere, saying that they hadn't forgotten
about it, but they couldn't keep as many officers on the investigation as before
Detective Superintendent Mike Murphy said, we found the rest of the divisional work was
suffering with such a large scale murder operation, so we've been forced to cut
back to twelve officers on the inquiry. This was clearly a very upsetting idea
to Bill's family, who just wanted answers as to who did this to him
and why. It wasn't until October nineteen seventy eight that Bill's family were able
to finally bury him. He was buried in Whitton Cemetery with his friends and
family present, and they were able to finally gain some closure. After the
police instructed the coroner to release his body, Mary Simpson spoke to the press
and appealed for anyone with information to come forward. She said, I appealed
to anybody who knows anything to contact the police immediately. If I knew had
done it, then I might know why I sit for hours trying to figure
it out. I was trying to get over it, but the funeral has
brought it all back again. All I can hope for now is that the
murder can be solved and my mind put to rest. Detective Superintendent Mike Murphy
also commented on the investigation, saying we're still baffled as to the motive for
this murder. We're quite satisfied the death was in no way connected with stolen
mot certificates. This appeared to put to rest the previous rumors that this had
somehow contributed to his murder. Bill Simpson's family were finally able to lay him
to rest, but unfortunately Mary Simpson never got her wish for the case to
be solved. Many years in decades passed without any movement or progress being made,
and sadly Bill's murder is still unsolved today. Many of the facts that
were known immediately after Bill's murder are the only facts that we still know today,
and there doesn't appear to have been any new evidence or information found.
The only more recent information I can find comes from an article from the Birmingham
Male, which describes much of the information that appears in the contemporary news reports.
There is nothing new added to this. Sadly, forensic evidence was not
known about when Bill's murder took place and so was not something collected, and
also the killer had set fire to the scene before leaving. This means that
unfortunately, evidence that might have been recovered couldn't be. This has ultimately led
to just speculation. In this case, was this someone who knew Bill?
Was it something to do with his work? Why had someone been so angry
with Bill that they would commit such a horrendous crime. Many of these questions
don't have answers, and this remains a crime without motive given that there isn't
enough evidence to prove any potential theory. Bill Simpson's murder remains unsolved and his
family never got the answers they deserved. His murder seems to have just been
forgotten since nineteen seventy eight, and this is so sad what happened to him
and why. Another worrying thing is that this murderer has never been brought to
justice and has been free this whole time in society. Bill's murder should be
solved. If you know anything about Bill Simpson's murder in nineteen seventy eight,
then please contact West Midland's Police one oh one. Thank you for listening to
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you listen and in the show notes. As always, I'm Caprice and this
has been unseen