"The Bible Pages Murder"

 

The Unsolved Murder of Ron Cousins 

April 16th 1994 Ron Cousins was found murdered in his own home

78-year-old pensioner Ron Cousins was found dead in his own home April 16th 1994, there were red ligature marks around his neck, chest and back. A knife had been layed on his chest, he was covered in white paint and his bible had been torn up with several pages stuffed into his mouth. 

The bath taps had been left running with the water overflowing, the curtains through the house had been closed and the house completely trashed. The police made a very creepy discovery in that the entire contents of Ron's cutlery drawer was in his bedroom with each and every fork and spoon bent in half.

Ron was born in 1917 and had spent pretty much his whole life in the same house except for his time away at war during World War Two. He was dedicated Christian and attended church regularly and had become a renowned member of the congregation of Christ Church URC on London Road Chelmsford, he also attended the Salvation Army and Elim Church. 

The pensioner was a very kind and generous man and helped many people, including opening his home to several homeless and vulnerable people that needed help. Maybe this was his downfall, it's difficult to say but, some homeless people are not as honest and caring as they first appear.

Early on the April morning neighbours Paul and Phyllis Nestor heard water gushing from an overflow pipe from Ron's home, as the house curtains were still closed they were not sure whether to disturb their neighbour, but as the water flow seemed pretty heavy they thought that it was important and that Ron would not mind.

The neighbours knocked but got no reply but, when they tried the back door it was unlocked and so they ventured in. The sight that met Phyllis and Paul was certainly not what they expected. The house had been literally trashed and Ron lay dead on the living room floor.

Ron, pictured here in happy times with his sister

Strangely, in this case, there was seven hundred pounds in cash hidden in the oven which had not been touched. There was no reasonable explanation as to why anyone should want to kill the devout Christian who welcomed all into his home, so what was the motive?

Ron often put a temporary roof over the heads of the less fortunate and according to his nephew David Ketley, the former milkman would often have strangers at his house. David told his mother that he didn't trust people in the same way that his uncle did and he feared that something bad would happen one day.

A local journalist, Amanda Stocks told the BBC that "Ron's murder rocked the whole town. Everyone was deeply shocked at the time, we put it on the front page of both the Weekly News and the Evening Gazette".

Amanda went on to say "Chelmsford was a very carefree, safe place - this has completely changed the way that we go about our daily lives. I've been a journalist for 28 years, this one sticks in my mind the most because it is just so bizarre and so shocking".

Interestingly the police will not budge on the bible pages, except to say that they felt a very strong relevance in the killing. Detective Inspector Truss said, "The bible pages in the victim's mouth played a significant part in the murder, we still have the pages but we cannot give details about the text that they contained due to operational reasons".

In quite a similar way to another case that I have written about twice within my blogs, the investigation was said by the police to have been made more difficult by the relatively lonely existence Ron had. I am of the opinion that there are some similarities to the 1976 Esther Soper murder in Plymouth, Devon, you can read about that here and the update Here.

Criminology professor Elizabeth Yardley of Birmingham City University said that she felt Ron's tendency to open his home to many strangers, vagrants and the homeless left "quite a large pool of potential suspects". She told the BBC that "Many people will talk about psychopaths in murders like this and looking at the murder in question there is definitely a lot more abuse and violence than was ever needed to end the victim's life. This was not just somebody who wanted to kill Ron, they wanted to completely destroy him".

The police eventually managed to track down every person whose fingerprints were found in the house and speak to them. A 16-year-old boy and a 32-year-old man were interviewed but not charged with the murder. The 16-year-old was charged with burgling Ron's home six weeks before his murder.

Later in 1994 BBC Crimewatch broadcast an appeal on the murder with a very detailed reconstruction of the day of the killing and as a result, some 40 calls were received offering potential leads but nothing came of them.

More arrests were made during 2005 but no one was ever charged with the murder and all suspects were released. 

Despite the passing of time and the ever-advancing progression in forensic science, Ron's family and friends do remain optimistic that they may eventually get a breakthrough in the investigation.

It is my personal opinion that there is almost definitely a link to Ron's religious beliefs and the fact that he attended more than one church. This was a good man who opened up his home to many yet remained in a somewhat lonely existence by choice. It seems that the biggest part of his life revolved around the church and his Christian beliefs and that is I am quite sure where the investigation needs to dig the deepest.

There is also an obvious link between Ron's murder and an attack on a vicar in Tolleshunt D'arcy just 5 days after the killing but police refuse to be drawn on this. the vicar was tied up, gagged and violently kicked during a robbery.

So why do I think this murder is definitely connected to the church and Ron's beliefs? I will close with the words of retired vicar Reverend Geoffrey Roper "The person who did it must have had a very disturbed relationship with God, with religion, with faith".

I will leave it there and let you think about that one. I will be back with another case for you very soon.

If you'd like to get in touch then I'd love to hear from you

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