TATTINGSTONE: For the first time in 45 years, the youngest brother of the Tattingstone suitcase murder victim today broke his silence over Suffolk’s grimmest unsolved murder.
Tony Oliver, whose sibling Bernard was found dissected into eight pieces – and dumped in two suitcases – in January 1967, still believes there are people alive who are keeping the secret of what happened to the 17-year-old.
Tony, 57, said: “I think there was more than one person involved and there’s more than one person who still knows now.
“I’m hoping someone will come forward and at least provide us with some comfort as to how Bernard died.
“I don’t believe for one moment the murder was something that was off-the-cuff. I still, to this day, believe it was premeditated.
“Bernard’s nails were manicured and he had a ten Guinea haircut. Obviously he had been looked after by whoever he was with.
“The police didn’t find his trousers, shoes, or underwear. All they found was his sports jacket in two suitcases. There’s just so many things that seemed wrong. I always believed Bernard was set up (to be killed).
“It was such a shame. For this to have happened to a person who was known and liked, and who wouldn’t harm a fly, is just so unbelievable.
“I still can’t believe the police didn’t get the leads then that they were hoping for.
“There were more than 100,000 statements taken and it (the inquiry) went on for so long.
“It was unbelievable. At one time we were so hopeful that someone was going to be apprehended, but the inquiry just seemed to fade away.”
Bernard Oliver’s body was discovered in the two suitcases, which were found under a hedge in Tattingstone by farm worker Fred Burggy.
The macabre discovery sparked a nationwide media frenzy, with one paper offering a �50,000 reward to catch the killer or killers.
At one stage it was reported that detectives checked on several houses in the Ipswich area which were said to have been hired for weekends by homosexual groups from London.
‘Drag’ parties at which men dressed in girls’ clothes were alleged to have been held in two houses near the town centre.
Police also checked on butchers’ shops and slaughterhouses among other places where the body could have been stored or dismembered, but never found a crime scene.
Despite a massive inquiry by detectives from Suffolk and Scotland Yard no one was ever charged.
However, the two prime suspects were doctors who had been investigated for child sex offences.
Bernard Oliver went missing after leaving his home in Muswell Hill, north London, on January 6, 1967. His body was found on the morning of January 16.
Tony, who was aged 13 at the time and now lives in Majorca, said: “Suffolk seems like a million miles away in terms of distance, but it’s not. We just kept asking why? Could be, it might have been someone in Ipswich – I don’t know.”
During the investigation there was a link to where one of the doctors had a surgery in the Muswell Hill area, and another had a house.
Tony said: “Nowadays with these cadaver dogs, why can’t police now use them on that house (doctor’s surgery)?
“Even if they found the crime scene, that would be something. Those doctors are dead. They were never questioned by police, yet they were arrested at one time for child sex offences. It seems so strange to me.”
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