Unusually a Playboy bunny who lived the high life
in London is buried in a pretty churchyard east of Warrington. I'm not sure why
her body was brought north for burial. Eve was a vivacious, dazzling 21-year-old
model when she was murdered in her flat in 1975. Her murderer has not been
caught. In 2007 a DNA tracing showed the killer had also raped and murdered a
schoolgirl in the same year.
Eve was living with her boyfriend in Leyton and
working as a Playboy bunny and model. People who knew her were confounded by
her death as she was earthy, popular, harmless and naive - with no obvious enemies.
On her final day detectives deduced she'd arrived at Leytonstone Underground rail
station in East London at 3.45pm and walked nearly a mile to her apartment in a
light shower. Once home she'd taken off her wet clothes and put on a negligee
and underwear. That afternoon she let someone she knew into the flat and was raped
and murdered. Later her boyfriend arrived home to silence and a sickening bloodbath.
Eve was wearing a pink bra and knickers under a blue transparent negligee open
at the front. Her hands were tied behind her back. Her throat had been cut so
violently that her head was almost severed.
No forced entry at the door suggested she knew her killer and her neighbours
heard no screams. Her killer probably clamped his hand over her mouth while he
cut her throat. Police concluded she'd probably met her killer on the way home.
A neighbour remembered hearing Eve and a man talking and - later on - a thud.
Motives are still guessed at: she'd a appeared nude in Mayfair magazine and may
have inflamed jealousy. In the magazine she'd said "I like to be
dominated," she said. "Not whipped or tied up or things like that.
Just kept in my place." These fictional comments meant accompany the
photos may have encouraged a maniac. Perhaps one of the wealthy Arabs who
frequented the Playboy Club had become infatuated with her. Forensic evidence
showed she's had sex before her death. She may have been forced to have
intercourse at knife-point but the fact that she put her underwear back on
afterwards suggested a relaxed atmosphere with no hint of the violence that was
to follow.
Her partner Tony Priest lived with Eve for three
years and told police that in the days before her death Eve had received
telephone calls where the caller simply hung up. Also she'd noticed a man
following her.
One Sunday afternoon I soon
found the grave in a pretty churchyard. I'm not sure why she's buried in the
north west of England. Eve's mum was from Germany (Eve was born there) where
she’d met her dad who was serving in the British Army. The family had returned
to Britain four years before her murder so perhaps they lived locally. There's
no headstone as its been vandalised and either smashed up or removed. There
were red roses and a Valentine card on the grave.
What a sad tale. The pathologist said that even
though Eve had been suffered numerous deep wounds to her neck and jaw her death
probably came from shock before blood loss.
For more information please click here:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Eve_Stratford_and_Lynne_Weedon
The apartment where Eve was murdered...