Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast
Speaker 1: dedicated to missing people, on resolved cases and UK true crime.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to be exploring the murder of forty
Speaker 1: four year old Peter Rassini in nineteen ninety one in
Speaker 1: North London. Peter's murder was vicious and occurred on his
Speaker 1: own doorstep, but since then it's remained unsolved. This episode
Speaker 1: contains descriptions that some listeners may find distressing, so listener
Speaker 1: discretion is advised. Palmers Green is located in the London
Speaker 1: borough of Enfield in North London, and today it's known
Speaker 1: for the largest population of Greek Cypriot people outside of Cypress.
Speaker 1: This has earned it its name of Little Cypress. Palmer's
Speaker 1: Green is largely a residential area with a high street
Speaker 1: and has been known as a very family friendly place
Speaker 1: to live close to the capitol. On the evening of Sunday,
Speaker 1: the twenty fourth of March nineteen ninety one, the relative
Speaker 1: peace and quiet of the area was broken by screams.
Speaker 1: A young woman shouted, they've shot my daddy. Attention was
Speaker 1: focused upon the doorstep of a home where a forty
Speaker 1: four year old man lay after being shot several times
Speaker 1: in the chest. Neighbors were alarmed by the scene and
Speaker 1: reported seeing a young woman running across the road screaming.
Speaker 1: When police were called, they established that the man that
Speaker 1: had been shot was Peter Rossini and the young woman
Speaker 1: with him was his eighteen year old daughter, Lola. Peter
Speaker 1: lived in Palmer's Green and worked as an antique stealer.
Speaker 1: He had a huge interest in many things, and in
Speaker 1: particular enjoyed buying and selling jewelry and silver. He had
Speaker 1: worked on Church Street in maryler Bone, close to Paddington,
Speaker 1: at an antique shop called Alfie's for many years. Church
Speaker 1: Street Market is a large outdoor market which attracts many
Speaker 1: people to see its stalls. Alfie's antique shop was located
Speaker 1: on Church Street and inside it had many stalls which
Speaker 1: were ran by particular owners. One of these owners was
Speaker 1: Peter Rossini. Peter's daughter later told Crime Watch that Peter
Speaker 1: was interested in selling many things and he had lots
Speaker 1: of regular customers at his stall. Many people were interested
Speaker 1: in finding out what new items Peter had bought recently,
Speaker 1: and would specifically ask him for things that they wanted.
Speaker 1: Lola said that her father was a very caring person
Speaker 1: and enjoyed listening to people and having conversations. No doubt
Speaker 1: this was something that stood him in good stead while
Speaker 1: on his stall, and it was clear that he he
Speaker 1: had a passion for what he did. After his attack,
Speaker 1: Peter was rushed to North Middlesex Hospital. However, he soon
Speaker 1: died from the gunshot wound injuries. This was now a
Speaker 1: murder investigation and police were tasked with trying to establish
Speaker 1: why someone would want to kill Peter and what had
Speaker 1: happened on that evening. This appeared to be what police
Speaker 1: were later described as a well planned execution and one
Speaker 1: that seemed to have been targeted directly at Peter. On
Speaker 1: the evening of Sunday, the twenty fourth of March, it
Speaker 1: was discovered that he had been home with his daughter,
Speaker 1: Lola and his niece. A fellow antique dealer and friend
Speaker 1: of Peter's who'd known him for around twenty years, told
Speaker 1: police that he'd visited him around six thirty to six
Speaker 1: forty five pm. He had called round to show him
Speaker 1: some antiques that he might want to buy. He stated
Speaker 1: that they all had just had a meal together and
Speaker 1: that they seemed relaxed. Next this same friend would tell
Speaker 1: Crime Watch that while they all did seem relaxed, Peter
Speaker 1: could have had something on his mind. He said he
Speaker 1: didn't often share if something was bothering him, as he
Speaker 1: was a very private person. However, with hindsight, there could
Speaker 1: have been something on his mind. The friend mustn't have
Speaker 1: stayed for very long, as around seven thirty pm Peter
Speaker 1: left the house. He went to go and see a
Speaker 1: friend that lived in Kentish Town while his daughter and
Speaker 1: niece remained at home watching TV. They explained that Peter
Speaker 1: had been gone around an hour and a half and
Speaker 1: arrived back in the street at around nine pm. Peter
Speaker 1: always packed his car around the corner from his home
Speaker 1: and then walked around. He continued this usual routine on
Speaker 1: that Sunday evening. Witness statements were then able to fill
Speaker 1: in the next part of the journey back to his home.
Speaker 1: After Peter had been showed, witnesses saw a man running
Speaker 1: away from the scene. He ran down River Road and
Speaker 1: they described him as being around six feet tall and
Speaker 1: of a heavy build. He was wearing a bomber jacket
Speaker 1: and the noise that his shoes made was very noticeable
Speaker 1: to witnesses. They had hard heels and made a loud
Speaker 1: noise when they hit the floor. He was around forty
Speaker 1: to fifty years old and didn't look like he was
Speaker 1: used to running very far as he appeared to be
Speaker 1: panting as he was running away. He was seen running
Speaker 1: into Oak Tree Road and headed towards a blue van.
Speaker 1: The van then drove off at speed with no lights on,
Speaker 1: and headed towards Green Lanes, the main thoroughfare through Palmers Green.
Speaker 1: The fact that the killer had been seen escaping was
Speaker 1: of course a huge piece of information for the police,
Speaker 1: and the description of not necessarily the man but of
Speaker 1: the van matched other witness statements that had been taken
Speaker 1: from neighbours. In the two days leading up to the murder,
Speaker 1: vans had been spotted in the area of Peter Rassini's home.
Speaker 1: These vehicles had been spotted in the same road where
Speaker 1: Peter's home was located, and what's more, they were unknown
Speaker 1: to the other residents of the street. On Friday, the
Speaker 1: twenty second of March, a white van was spotted on
Speaker 1: Oak Tree Road, around two hundred yards from Peter's house.
Speaker 1: There were two men inside the van on the corner
Speaker 1: of Green's Lane. These men had not been identified but
Speaker 1: witnesses clearly thought their presence was unusual. The next evening,
Speaker 1: on Saturday, the twenty third of March, at around nine
Speaker 1: thirty pm, another van with two men in was spotted
Speaker 1: in the same location as the previous evening. This time,
Speaker 1: the van was blue. On that occasion, one of the
Speaker 1: men got out and walked towards Green Lanes. The van
Speaker 1: then set off, and it set off without its lights on.
Speaker 1: This sighting was of particular importance as the van was
Speaker 1: also blue and the detail that they set off without
Speaker 1: lights on, which was noted in the van that the
Speaker 1: killer ran to on the Sunday night. This gave rise
Speaker 1: to the theory that there may well have been two
Speaker 1: people that night who had been staking out Peter's home
Speaker 1: and waiting for the opportune moment to kill him. This
Speaker 1: implied that this was an execution, and a planned one
Speaker 1: at that Detective Superintendent Roland Harris stated on Crime Watch
Speaker 1: that the two vans were probably the same and were
Speaker 1: both Bedford Minis. He also gave some more detail about
Speaker 1: the weapon that had been used in the attack, as
Speaker 1: well as a few more details about the perpetrator. He
Speaker 1: stated that the gun was a forty five caliber, which
Speaker 1: was seen as quite an unusual choice, given that it
Speaker 1: was quite a heavy weapon and therefore wouldn't be the
Speaker 1: most common weapon chosen for this kind of attack. He
Speaker 1: confirmed that the killer was white and that he may
Speaker 1: have been wearing a balaclava. On the episode, he explained
Speaker 1: that he believed that the men in the van were
Speaker 1: something to do with the murder, but proving who these
Speaker 1: people were was difficult. He said they also couldn't find
Speaker 1: a motive for the crime and had looked into Peter's
Speaker 1: private and business life in the hope that this would
Speaker 1: help them to narrow it down. They had investigated several
Speaker 1: lines of inquiry but couldn't find any solid evidence to
Speaker 1: link them to the murder. Detective Harris did give some
Speaker 1: more details about Peter's life, stating on Crime Watch that
Speaker 1: he had a cocaine addiction and that this linked to
Speaker 1: drugs was also looked into. He explained that they had
Speaker 1: also looked into the fact that on some occasions Peter
Speaker 1: had bought stolen goods as part of his buying and
Speaker 1: selling of antiques. Both of these lines of inquiry were
Speaker 1: not further elaborated on on the show, and I haven't
Speaker 1: been able to find any more information about these claims.
Speaker 1: If these were accurate, then they may have put Peter
Speaker 1: in contact with people who were on the wrong side
Speaker 1: of the law, or who may have had a reason
Speaker 1: to silence anyone who knew about their dealings. He was
Speaker 1: also known that Peter was going through a divorce at
Speaker 1: the time that he was killed, However, this was not
Speaker 1: stated as a line of inquiry on the Crime Watch episode.
Speaker 1: At the time, Peter's father gave a five thousand pound
Speaker 1: reward for anyone who had information about the murder, in
Speaker 1: the hope that someone would come forward. Unfortunately, since nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety one, there has been very little progress discussed about
Speaker 1: this case, and very little even reported about it. Peter
Speaker 1: Rascini's murder seems to have been forgotten to history, despite
Speaker 1: taking place in a residential area at nine o'clock at
Speaker 1: night with a gun. This was an execution style murder
Speaker 1: which appeared to be targeted and planned. But who had
Speaker 1: motive to do this and what was the motive? It's
Speaker 1: believed two men had been waiting in the vans near
Speaker 1: Peter's home, so that could suggest that at least two
Speaker 1: people know about this murder and who committed it. It
Speaker 1: would only take one person's piece of information for this
Speaker 1: to be solved. As his family and in particular his daughter,
Speaker 1: has had to grow up without her father and without
Speaker 1: answers as to what happened to him, Peter's case deserves
Speaker 1: more attention, so if you know anything about his murder
Speaker 1: in Palmer's Green in nineteen ninety one, then please contact
Speaker 1: police on one oh one. Thank you for listening to
Speaker 1: today's episode. If you'd like to support the podcast further,
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Speaker 1: I'm Caprice and this has been unseen s