THE cliff-top killer of waitress Sandra Parkinson was probably the
same man who raped an elderly widow hundreds of miles away as she walked
home from a Christmas midnight mass 18 months ago, police revealed
yesterday.
Forensic tests had established a link between the murder of
22-year-old Miss Parkinson at Salcombe, Devon, on July 20 and the attack
on a businesswoman, Mrs Muriel Harvey, 67, in Ludlow, Shropshire, early
on Christmas Day 1992, detectives said.
Detectives from Shropshire, including Detective Superintendent Barry
Gutteridge, who led the rape inquiry, have travelled to Devon to link up
with the murder team.
Mr John Evans, chief constable of Devon and Cornwall, said: ''Both
incident rooms are now operating at full stretch and many lines of
inquiry are being explored.''
Miss Parkinson, of Stevenston, Ayrshire, also was raped before she was
strangled on a coastal path more than two weeks ago.
An information hotline has been set up at the Devon and Cornwall
force's Exeter headquarters and Mr Evans yesterday appealed to anyone
with information to ring 0392 451090. Calls would be treated in the
strictest confidence.
Police are particularly anxious to know about a man pictured on a
security video acting suspiciously in the shop of the Castle Street
garage in Ludlow late on Christmas Eve 1992.
He was described as white, in his mid-20s, 5ft 6in tall with dark hair
and wearing a shortish jacket with leather on it. He was also wearing a
woollen hat pulled down over the hairline, similar to one found near the
scene of the rape.
Mrs Harvey was raped at 1.30am on Christmas Day as she returned home
from St Lawrence's parish church in Ludlow by a man who warned: ''If you
don't stop screaming, I'll kill you.''
Mrs Harvey, a church warden and former magistrate, decided to waive
her right to anonymity hoping it would help catch her assailant before
he struck again.
She was quoted at the time as saying: ''Yes, I have been raped but it
is not the end of the world. Of course it is unpleasant but you must not
let it get in the way of a normal and happy life.''
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