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
exploring the unsolved murder of Harry Howell in Blackpool in nineteen eighty eight. Harry's
murder was both unexpected and also mysterious, given that his neighbors hadn't noticed that
he'd been murdered for a while, and he seemed like an unlikely victim.
Harry's murder is still unsolved and the reasons behind it still a mystery. This
episode contains descriptions that some listeners may find distressing. Soul listener discretion is advised.
Blackpool is a seaside resort located in Lancashire and lies around twenty seven miles
away from Liverpool and around forty miles away from Manchester. It's a popular holiday
and day trip destination for many people who live in Lancashire, and as one
of these Lancashire residents, I can attest that many a weekend was spent there.
It's probably most famous for the Blackpool Tower, which when it was built
in eighteen ninety four, was the tallest building in the British Empire. As
it was then. The tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris,
and while they look very similar, Blackpool Tower isn't free standing and its base
is hidden by a building at the bottom of it. The tower Ballroom at
the top of the structure has long been famous for the dances that took place
there, as well as in the present day, where concerts, dance competitions
and the grand final of Strictly Come Dancing has taken place. Blackpool is also
famous for its Pleasure Beach, which is a large theme park on the seafront,
and also for the Blackpool Illumination. The Illuminations as a show that has
been running since eighteen seventy nine and occurs annually between September and January. In
the past, the Illuminations had only ran for around sixty six days. However,
since then the time has been extended. They run the whole distance of
six point two miles along the promenade and people come from all over to see
them. Throughout this period. Blackpool is a buzz with activity during this time,
as well as during the summer, when tourists flocked to the beach for
sunbathing and days out. Blackpool was the home of Harry Howell in nineteen eighty
eight. Harry was seventy four years old and he had just suffered a bereavement.
His long term partner, Elsie Flegg, had just passed away, and
he was facing living by himself for the first time in a long time,
and this was a worrying concept for his family. Harry and Elsie had been
living in shelter amidation called Imberson Court, located just a stone's throw away from
the Promenade in the center of Blackpool. Living in sheltered accommodation meant that Harry
and Elsie lived in their own flat. However, they were also looked in
on by a warden who helped the elderly residents who lived there. Harry's family
were worried about how Harry would cope since Elsie had passed away, and were
concerned about his day to day living arrangements. Harry had worked for the company
British Leyland for many years. British Leyland was a car manufacturer which made cars
such as the Mini Land Rover, Jaguar and Austin. In his later years,
however, Harry's health began to deteriorate and by nineteen eighty eight, he
had suffered a stroke which led to partial paralysis and meant he was blind in
one eye. Harry still got out and about though, and he enjoyed having
a bet and going to the pub for a pine. In early winter nineteen
eighty eight, after Elsie had died, Harry's family tried to make sure he
was looked after and helped him to establish a routine. Harry's nephew spoke to
the staff at the nearby lee Gate Cafe on Central Drive, close to Harry's
home at Ibuson Court, and told them that Harry would be coming in every
day and could they make sure that he had a substantial meal at least once
a day. This fact showed that while Harry was independent, he may well
forget to look after himself, and it also showed that his family wanted to
look out for him. He would regularly visit the cafe and other pubs around
the town, particularly the Gearge Pub where he would go in for a pine.
Harry was friendly and loved speaking to people and would often stop strangers to
talk. The other neighbors at Ibuson Court, however, knew him as a
relatively reserved person who kept to himself. When he was at home, it
appeared that Harry had his routine and enjoyed the social aspect of getting out of
the house. However, when he was at home, he enjoyed his home
comforts and his own company. By early November, Harry had established a routine
and was slowly moving on from Elsie's death. Conversations with the warden who oversaw
the sheltered accommodation showed that Harry was doing well in his home and was beginning
to feel more himself after Elsie had passed away. Saturday, the fifth of
November Bonfire night in the UK, and this was the last weekend that the
illuminations were going to be on. People were coming into the area to catch
them before they went for the year, and people would also believing the area
having come for holidays off for day trips to see them. The warden at
Ibuson Court was the first person to see Harry that day. She visited the
residence of Iberson Court every morning except Sundays, and this day was no exception.
She later explained that she visited him at his flat that morning and had
a conversation. She said she left it around half nine and that Harry seemed
happy and his usual self. Around an hour later, Harry was spotted again,
this time at the league Gate Cafe where he usually had his breakfast.
The waitress at the cafe knew Harry well and so didn't think anything of him
being there that morning. That day, however, she did notice something a
little bit different. A man who was described as well dressed came in and
bought a cup of tea. He then went and sat down with Harry and
started talking to him. It appeared that the two knew one another, and
the waitress went over to say that if she'd have known that he was with
Harry, he would have put the tea on the bill. Harry reportedly offered
to pay for the man's tea, and she replied that the man had already
paid for it himself. This was the only time that the staff at the
cafe had noticed Harry with this man, and so it stood out to them.
The staff described the man as being tall, broadly built, and was
wearing a farm colored raincoat and a soft Trilby style hat. Due to Harry's
regularity and love of routine, many of the shopkeepers and shop assistants knew him
and knew what he regularly bought. One of the shops on Central Drive that
knew Harry well was Burton's Confectioners. Harry went to the shop every day at
lunchtime and always bought a pie. The staff knew Harry well and always noticed
when he came in. That day, however, something a little strange happened.
A younger man aged in his thirties visited the shop and told the shop
assistant a story. A man who was later described as having hair falling over
his thin, drawn face, said he was buying a sandwich for the old
man who usually came into the shop to buy a pie. The shop assistant
thought this was odd, but asked him what sandwich he was looking for.
He said that the old man had asked for a meat sandwich, and he
eventually settled on buying a beef and horse raddish one. He actually bought two
of these before leaving. The shop assistant remembered this as there were only two
beef and horsewaddish sandwiches that were sold at the shop that day. This in
itself was out of the ordinary for Harriet, and certainly was out of character.
However, by four pm, Harry was seen again out and about.
A family remembered speaking to him that day for almost twenty minutes. They didn't
know Harry, but had got speaking to him in the street. It appeared
that Harry was being his normal sociable self and was enjoying having a conversation with
this family before they set off to carry on with their day. It appeared
that by the evening of the fifth of November, Harry had headed back to
his flat at Ibison Court and spent the night there. The next day,
Sunday, the sixth of November, the warden always contacted the residence the same
way. She rang the internal intercom in the flat to contact the residence,
asked them if they needed anything and if they were okay. That day,
the warden rang through to Harry's flat and he answered. She reported that he
said he was fine, and she left him to his day. The milkman
also arrived that day and dropped off Harry's usual bottle of milk that he'd ordered.
On Monday, the seventh of November, the warden again started her rounds
to check on the residence, and when she passed Harry's flat this time,
she noticed something in the glass of the window pane. In the door,
a piece of white card had been placed there. This was a system that
the residents had to let the warden know that they'd gone out for a while
and that this might be why they don't answer. This was a system that
was well known to all of the residents, and therefore the warden didn't worry
about this as she passed by Harry's flat. Despite the fact that Harry had
a very well known routine, there didn't appear to be much concern about him
over these few days. There were many explanations for why Harry had not been
seen. The next day, on Tuesday, the eighth of November, the
milkman came to Harry's flat again. He left the milk on the step and
would later report that he did notice the white card in the inside of the
glass, as the warden had done the day before. About an hour later,
after the milkman had delivered the milk, the home help assistant, who
often came to visit the residents and check up on them, arrived at Harry's
flat. She would later report seeing something unusual pinned to the front door.
It was a note which read something to the effect of on holiday for two
weeks, no milk please. Once again, the home help read the note
and just thought that Harry must be away and went on with her day.
Around half an hour after the home help assistant had visited Harry's flat, the
deputy warden from the sheltered accommodation passed by the flat on her rounds. She
recalled that there was a note pin to the door. The odd thing was
that the milkman did not recall seeing a note struck on the door and only
noticed the white card placed inside the glass pane, and as a result,
he still dropped off milk that day. That same day, another witness came
by Harry's home. This time it was the window cleaner, John Johnston.
He later explained that he did not see a note pin to the door,
and he had a reason to be close to it as he was cleaning the
glass pane. He did, however, notice something else while he was cleaning
other windows in the area. He watched as a man approached Harry's door and
knocked on. Harry didn't answer, and the man eventually walked away. Another
two days passed and the milkman once again called at Harry's home, this time
when he approached the door, he noticed that Tuesday's milk was still outside and
that Harry hadn't taken it in. The milkman assumed that Harry must have gone
away without telling him and just took the milk away instead. It had been
around four days by this point since anyone had spoken to Harry, and five
days since anyone had seen him in person. This, however, was not
noticed, and due to many different people seeing different things at Harry's flat,
a big picture was never created and this fact didn't seem to have been fully
understood. It wasn't until twelve days later that John Johnston, the window cleaner,
began to become concerned. He had once again come to clean the windows
of Harry's flat and the other residences in Ibuson Court. This time, when
he approached Harry's door, he noticed that there was some damage to it.
It looked as though someone had tried to pry it open, and some of
the paint and wood had come away from the hinge. The door seemed to
be still locked and secure, though. The window cleaner, however, wasn't
happy with what he'd seen, and he became concerned. He decided to go
around the back of the flat and look through the back windows. When he
looked closely, he noticed something that confirmed his worries. He saw Harry Howell's
body slumped in a chair in the living room, and he didn't appear to
be moving. The window cleaner reported what he'd seen, and emergency services came
out to ibuson hought to see what had happened. Unfortunately, seeing ambulances and
paramedics that sheltered accommodation was not uncommon, giving the age of the residence.
However, this time it was different. When they entered the home and assessed
Harry's body, it was clear that he had not just simply passed away while
sat in his living room. Harry had severe head wounds and it was clear
that they had been inflicted on him. Harry had been murdered. He was
covered in blood and police would later establish that he had been blodgeoned around the
head with a blunt instrument. A search of the house and the scene was
conducted for the murder weapon, but none could be found. The implication was
that the killer had taken the weapon with them. Police had a huge job
in this case trying to establish the circumstances surrounding Harry's murder was proving tricky,
given that his body had clearly been in the flat for many days before it
was discovered. Creating a timeline for Harry's last days and trying to figure out
when he had last been seen alive was a difficult thing to do. However,
it was finally established that he had last been seen alive on the fifth
of November, and that the warden had last spoken to him the next morning
on the sixth. Whatever had happened, the motive for the murder seemed to
be more transparent. Harry had been robbed, and it seemed that burglary had
been the motive for the murder. The crime scene indicated that several items had
been stolen from Harry's flat. Thousands of pounds had been taken, as well
as Harry's brown wallet. Other items, such as a gold watch that once
belonged to Elsie had been taken as well. The watch was relatively distinctive and
had an inscription on the back which read to Harry Flegg presented upon his retirement.
Harry's set of house keys, which had around twelve keys on the bunch,
were also missing. The police were sure that this had been a robbery.
However, there were still some odd things about the scene. They had
discovered that despite the flat being robbed, there were some valuables that the killer
or killers had missed. A stash of two thousand pounds was discovered in the
home, as well as money that was still on Harry's body that had either
been left or missed. Police would later discover that Harry kept most of his
money in his flat and that he didn't believe in putting his money into banks
or building societies. This meant that he always had a relatively large amount of
money in his home or on him at all times. He was also not
shy about discussing this with other people, and would often tell others that he
carried a lot of money with him or that he kept money at his home.
This was certainly a risk factor when discussing Harry as a victim and was
a potential motive for whoever had killed him. Had Harry got talking to the
wrong person about his life savings, had this person took the opportunity to attack
and rob him. The police were quite sure that robbery had been the main
motive. However, they also had to consider had this person been involved with
the strange note that appeared on Harry's door and the card that had been left
in the glass. Had this been a way to buy the killer or killer's
time to get far enough away from the scene. If this was the case,
then they had indeed bought themselves the time that they needed. The other
odd part of this puzzle was the consideration that the man that had been seen
in the cafe with Harriet on the morning of the fifth of November and the
man who had visited Burton's Confectioners were in any way involved with the murder,
or were even the same man. One piece of quite damning evidence that pointed
to the fact that the man at the Base Career who had ordered the beef
and horseradish sandwiches had been with Harry that day was the recovery of both of
the uneaten sandwiches in the paper bag from the bakery in Harry's flat when his
body was discovered. This was a clear indication that this man had indeed been
buying sandwiches for Harry, but the reason why they were never eaten was unclear.
It was obvious that Harry had been murdered shortly after the fifth of November
and so his movements and who he spoke to and saw that day were important
to the investigation. The investigation got started immediately, but the lack of concrete
evidence and the time that had elapsed between the murder and the discovery of the
body made it tricky to gain any traction. In January of nineteen eighty nine,
Harry's case got a boost when it was featured on BBC's Crimewatch program.
The program reconstructed Harry's day on the fifth of November and laid out all of
the evidence that the police had, including a description of the man that had
been seen with Harry at the caffe and the man that had been in the
bakery and bought the sandwiches. The arrival of the note on the door was
also reconstructed, and what each of the witnesses had seen that day. It
was hoped that the reconstruction would bring forward new witnesses and perhaps new information.
Superintendent Bill Hacking appeared on the program and later said about the crime, certainly
people knew about his nest egg. The two thousand pounds found confirms our belief
that robbery was the motive. The money was not easily noticeable and it may
well be that the killer or killers thought they had all his money and didn't
continue to look further. Mister Howell also carried a substantial amount of cash on
him in a brown fold over wallet, which we are trying to find.
The crimewatch reconstruction elicited a hundred call from the public, and police were hopeful
that these calls would result in some new information that could help boost the investigation.
The calls were checked on and lines of inquiry were followed up on.
However, non led to anyone being arrested for Harry's murder. This was,
of course disappointing for the police, and they had hoped that national coverage would
lead to at least the two men being identified by someone in the public.
Harry's murder was featured on the program a second time and it was hoped that
this time would lead to further progress, but sadly, Harry's murder remained unsolved
despite the coverage. Harry's family had to come to terms with the fact that
he had been brutally murdered and the person or persons responsible were still out there
and had not been brought to justice. This must have been frustrating and heartbreaking.
For them. Police were left with many unanswered questions about Harry's murder.
Had Harry known his killer, was it one of the men who he was
seen with that day? What weapon had he been killed with? Had the
killer left the note on the front door? Was this note anything to do
with the man that the window cleaner had seen knocking on that day. None
of these questions could be answered with the evidence that they had, and this
will have been a huge sort of frustration. Another tragic case is often cited
in relation to Harry's, and that's the murder of Jack Shuttleworth. In August
of nineteen eighty nine. Eighty eight year old Jack lived alone in his home
in Ingleton in North Yorkshire. He was found inside his shed and he had
been battered to death and had suffered several blows to the head with what was
later discovered to be a piece of wood. There was no apparent motives side
from the fact that Jack's wallet had been stolen. Jack was somewhat of a
loner who didn't invite people into his home that often, and so who this
killer was or how they got into his home was unclear. If Jack had
invited this person in, it was out of character. Police in this case
were able to figure out who this perpetrator could be, and it would turn
out that Jack had done something out of character. That day. He had
met a young man named Brian Newcombe while working on his car and had struck
up a friendly conversation, most probably about vehicles. Newcomb knew a lot about
cars, as did Jack, and he invited him into his home for a
cup of tea. This would be a fateful decision and Brian Newcombe later murdered
him in cold blood and stole his wallet. Newcombe was a career criminal and
had convictions for a host of things like theft of money and jewelry. He
was not until Jack's murder wanted for any violent offenses, but he was wanted
for the theft of thirty five thousand pounds worth of stolen jewelry. Police were
able to trace what he did next. He traveled to Preston and bought a
bus ticket going to Inverness in Scotland. It was in Scotland that he met
Margaret mcconey, a fifty five year old widow. He traveled around the Orkney
Islands with Margaret on a six day trip and the relationship developed quickly, with
mcconey telling friends that Newcombe had proposed to her. It wasn't long after,
on the sixteenth of August that another tragic event took place. Brian Newcombe hit
Margaret mcconey over the head with a rock on a hillside, and Newcombe stole
her check book When her body was discovered on the twenty fourth of August,
a man hunt was launched for Brian Newcombe and he was found in Mansfield on
the thirtieth of August. He was arrested and it was reported that he confessed
to murdering both Jack Shuttleworth and Margaret mc coney while in custody. Brian Newcombe
hanged himself ten weeks later in his cell while awaiting trial. The reason that
Harry's case is brought up in connection with Jack's case in particular, are the
similarities between the two. Harry and Jack were both quite private people. While
Harry was sociable while out and about, he didn't often invite people round,
and neither did Jack. However, he did make an exception for Brian Newcombe.
Newcombe seemed to have got Jack talking about cars and being a mechanic,
and Harry also had a background in this Newcombe was motivated by money and theft,
and so if he had heard that Harry kept his savings at his flat,
then this could have been a motive. Both men had severe head wounds
and their wallets were stolen. Newcombe was also known to travel around the country
and spent a lot of time in the North, where both of these murders
took place. While these similarities are quite compelling, it's hard to know whether
they do indicate that Newcombe was Harry's killer, and of course this would be
all speculative. The interesting feature for me is this idea that someone could have
gained Harry's trust long enough for them to get inside his flat, and I
do believe that this is a plausible explanation for how someone got close enough to
Harriet to kill him and steal his money. Harry's case sadly remains unsolved,
with all of the same questions left without solid answers. A Lancashire Police spokesperson
in twenty eighteen spoke about Harry's case and unsolved cases in general, saying this
case, as with all undetected murders, remains open. No one solved murder
or serious sexual assault is ever closed, and we remain committed to delivering closure
and support for the victims and their families, as well as reassuring our communities.
Regardless of the passage of time. Undetected cases are regularly reviewed by a
senior investigating officer who investigates any new lines of inquiry should new opportunities, such
as advances in scientific techniques or new information become available. It's important that those
who have committed appalling crimes, however long ago, are brought to justice so
that we can bring comfort to those loved ones still waiting for answers. I
think it's important to remember that Harry was someone's loved one and his family deserved
to know what happened to him and why, and there is always hope that
we would discover who committed this awful murder. If you know anything about Harry
Howe's murder in Blackpool in nineteen eighty eight, then please contact at Lancashire Police
on one oh one. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you'd
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that wherever you listen and in the show notes. As always, I'm Caprice
and this has been unseen