Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast
Speaker 1: dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime.
Speaker 1: I just want to do a bit of housekeeping before
Speaker 1: we start today's episode. I just wanted to apologize if
Speaker 1: episodes have seemed a little more sporadic recently, as well
Speaker 1: as social media posts. I'm really busy with work at
Speaker 1: the moment and have lots of other personal things happening.
Speaker 1: Nothing bad or anything, but just very hectic, and so
Speaker 1: I'm struggling a little to keep up with schedules and things.
Speaker 1: I'm hoping to be back on track with the episodes
Speaker 1: and posts from this month, but apologies if I seem
Speaker 1: a little all over the place. It also explains some
Speaker 1: of the shorter episodes I've been posting recently, just like
Speaker 1: today's for example. I do have some longer episodes in
Speaker 1: the works and have lots of research done, so we
Speaker 1: should be back to normal soon. So please stay with me.
Speaker 1: I'm not going anywhere today. We're going to be covering
Speaker 1: the murder of thirty two year old Philip Nixon in Stoke,
Speaker 1: Newington in London in nineteen eighty five. I came across
Speaker 1: this case while reviewing Crime Watch cases that remained unsolved,
Speaker 1: and I was completely perplexed by it. There is very
Speaker 1: little information about this case, however, it appears to have
Speaker 1: been completely forgotten by time, and as many of you
Speaker 1: regular listeners know, those are the cases that I'm always
Speaker 1: interested in covering and hope to bring them back into
Speaker 1: the light. This episode contains some descriptions of violence, so
Speaker 1: listener discretion is always advised. Stone Newington is an area
Speaker 1: in the London borough of Hackney, located around five miles
Speaker 1: from central London. It's a residential and diverse area, with
Speaker 1: many people commuting into central London for work due to
Speaker 1: the proximity. Thirty two year old Philip Nixon lived on
Speaker 1: Petherton Road in Stoke Newington and worked as a civil servant.
Speaker 1: There has been very little reported about Philip's life and
Speaker 1: what he did in his job. However, it was known
Speaker 1: that on November sixth, nineteen eighty five, he had taken
Speaker 1: the day off from work. He had attended a fireworks
Speaker 1: party the evening before and had decided to take the
Speaker 1: day off following it. At around five pm, he left
Speaker 1: his home to go and do some shopping. The route
Speaker 1: that Philip took that day was established. After leaving his home,
Speaker 1: he walked down Ferntower Road and visited his local grocer,
Speaker 1: where he proceeded to do his shopping. There was nothing
Speaker 1: unusual about this, and it was something that he was
Speaker 1: known to do on a regular basis, and it was
Speaker 1: a place he always went to. After leaving the grocer,
Speaker 1: Philip decided not to go straight home and instead went
Speaker 1: down Newington Green Road, heading in the direction of the
Speaker 1: railway bridge. It was known that he reached the railway bridge. However,
Speaker 1: this was as far as Philip got on his journey.
Speaker 1: A passing motorist who was traveling along this route along
Speaker 1: the railway bridge would later encounter Philip Nixon. He was
Speaker 1: lying prone on the pavement on his back, with his
Speaker 1: bag of shopping strewn next to him. He was clear
Speaker 1: to the motorists that he was injured, and they acted
Speaker 1: quickly by placing Philip into their car and taking him
Speaker 1: to Whittington Hospital. Despite this person's quick thinking and good
Speaker 1: Samaritan behavior, Philip was pronounced dead on arrival. What had
Speaker 1: possibly happened to him after he bought his shopping and
Speaker 1: began walking down the road. Nothing prior to this indicated
Speaker 1: there was anything amiss, and he was only thirty two
Speaker 1: years old. The case became extremely strange when it was
Speaker 1: discovered that Philip had died from a violent blow to
Speaker 1: his head. This violent blow had caused his death. How
Speaker 1: this had happened, though, seemed somewhat incomprehensible, given that prior
Speaker 1: to around five twenty five pm, he had been simply
Speaker 1: out to do his shopping, and there was also another
Speaker 1: fact he had died on a busy main road where
Speaker 1: many people passed through on their way to London. If
Speaker 1: he had been attacked while walking, surely someone had seen it.
Speaker 1: This seemed to be a complete mystery, and they could
Speaker 1: find no evidence as to what had happened to Philip
Speaker 1: that evening or why. If this had been a random attack,
Speaker 1: where had the perpetrator disappeared to after that? Where they
Speaker 1: still a danger to people in the community. A crime
Speaker 1: watch reconstruction was made in the hope that someone would
Speaker 1: come forward with information. In particular, they were interested in
Speaker 1: the many people who would have passed Philip as they
Speaker 1: drove or walked on New into Green Road. Who was
Speaker 1: speculated that hundreds of people may have passed by him
Speaker 1: that evening while he was lying on the ground that
Speaker 1: these passers by may have just assumed that perhaps he
Speaker 1: was drunk and simply ignored him. This is, of course,
Speaker 1: in hindsight, a tragic idea, given that we know he'd
Speaker 1: suffered a brutal injury. The sharp crime watch segment seems
Speaker 1: to be the only piece of information that exists about
Speaker 1: Philip's case, and I can find no updates as to
Speaker 1: if anything was found out after this. I have scoured
Speaker 1: newspaper archives and found no reference to his death at all,
Speaker 1: and no references to an investigation having been conducted by
Speaker 1: the police. This seems very odd given that the cause
Speaker 1: of death has been described as a violent blow to
Speaker 1: the head. This somewhat indicates that he was attacked in
Speaker 1: the street by someone. It seems there are no witnesses, evidence,
Speaker 1: or any suspects that have ever been found, and so
Speaker 1: the case from the outside anyway, seems to have gone cold.
Speaker 1: According to a link on the Unsolved Murder's website, which
Speaker 1: has provided some information as well as the crime Watch segment,
Speaker 1: Philip's mother did send a memorial notice into the newspaper
Speaker 1: for him. It reads, in loving memory of my dear
Speaker 1: son killed by one as yet unknown on the streets
Speaker 1: of London, sixth of November nineteen eighty five. Only one
Speaker 1: to all the world, but all the world to me.
Speaker 1: He lives forever in my heart, loving mother and family.
Speaker 1: This absolutely breaks my heart as it appears that little
Speaker 1: was done in the case to locate who committed this,
Speaker 1: and there was certainly little evidence to go on. Police
Speaker 1: may of course have been involved in this case, it
Speaker 1: just might not have been published or be easy to find,
Speaker 1: but from my research very little exists. I would love
Speaker 1: to know more about this case and more about Philip,
Speaker 1: so if anyone does know any more about it, please
Speaker 1: do get in touch. If you do have vital information,
Speaker 1: please pass this on to police at one oh one
Speaker 1: or at crime Stoppers on eight hundred five five five
Speaker 1: one one one. As I said, this is a sharp
Speaker 1: bonus episode this week, but I will be back with
Speaker 1: normal episodes very soon when my life is a little
Speaker 1: less hectic. There will be one up next week as usual.
Speaker 1: Thanks for sticking with me. If you'd like to support
Speaker 1: the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute
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Speaker 1: notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer. You
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Speaker 1: I'm Caprice and this has been unseen s