Which Crime Case Has Stuck In Your Mind?

There have been many crime cases that have really stood out in the minds of the British public and that are still remembered now. The Louise Woodward trial, the Meredith Kercher case, the disappearance of Maddie McGann, Rachel Nickell, Suzy Lamplugh. The list sadly goes on.

But the most shocking one for me was the murder of Jill Dando. How bizarre that someone who presented a show that helped to catch criminals should be a victim of a serious crime herself? The day she died, that would be all you'd hear when you switched on the TV. There was almost this feeling that the country was in mourning. Jill came across as such a nice lady and she had been on our screens for so long. It was strange to think that we wouldn't turn on our tellys and see her any more. I think this was the first high profile person in my life time that was killed in such a way so for me it was a huge shock, and really hit home that anything could happen to anyone at anytime.

I work in television and I know the camaraderie that goes on among the crew on a TV show or channel. We can be quite a close knit bunch and when you've worked together for so long, you almost become like a family. So for those who worked with Jill it must have been an horrendous shock when she died. It's just tragic that her killer or killers have never been brought to justice.

I was reading these posts with interest as there's a lot of crime cases that I don't know about because as far as I know, we never got to hear about them in America. Except for the death of John Lennon which I got to know about as I got older because I was only a year old when he died.

I know when case that was huge here was the murder of Meredith Kercher in Italy back in 2007. It was big news in America especially here in WA because that's where Amanda Knox who was accused of the murder is from. Back then you would not find a person in WA who thought that Amanda was guilty and there was a whole lot of rejoicing when she was acquitted and returned home. She's now some kind of media personality and is still in the news sometimes.

I don't really know what I think about what happened all those years ago but I do feel that people focused way too much on Amanda and not enough on Meredith or her family which is really sad and unfair.

The case that sticks out in my mind the most is the murder of Stephen Lawrence. I didn't know him personally but Stephen was from my neck of the woods, and while it was never known for being an angels' playground we were all shocked by the vicious nature of Stephen's murder, as well as the attack on his friend who thankfully survived. They were just two boys who were minding their own business and were attacked purely because of the colour of their skin and sadly Stephen didn't survive. This haunts me even now, especially as I'm the mother of two mixed-race boys and I know the world that we live in hasn't moved that much further along from the early nineties when Stephen was killed. So it does worry me.

The whole investigation and the trial were a bit of a mess and that's putting it very mildly. But through it all Stephen's family showed so much strength and dignity, determined to get justice for him. The case also highlighted flaws within the police system and society as a whole. Although I'm not sure if anything of that was much of a revelation as these were all things that we already knew. What's so tragic is that Stephen, from what we know of him, showed so much promise and was on the verge of doing great things with his life. Unlike the arsewipes who killed him.

Hi everyone! I will be joining in with this discussion very soon but for now I would just to thank everyone who has posted on this forum board for posting with a great deal of sensitivity. This is a very heavy subject matter and we want to be respectful to the victims and also to their family and friends.

So I would like to remind anyone who's about to post on this message board to please be mindful about what they post. With topics like this there can be a tendency to get carried away, play detective and throw around suppositions and 'facts' that they've come across from goodness knows where. So can we all please stick to what we know is definitely true out of respect for those who have been affected by these cases in the most tragic of ways. And where unsolved cases are concerned, if you have any groundbreaking new info, that's a matter for the authorities and not these boards!

Thanks guys. ❤️

As far as monumental crimes go, I suppose the John Lennon murder was a big one, in late-1980. Yet strangely enough, I have little or no recollection of it actually happening, even though I was nearly 20-years-old and liked The Beatles. People often say they remember where they were when they heard about something – the JFK assassination is often mentioned, which I don’t recall as I was only two-years-old, but with the Lennon murder I have no memory of any shock or where I was, etc. It’s very strange.

However, Steve McQueen died only a month earlier (I had to check the date) and I remember being on an almost empty bus sitting a couple of seats behind two women who were talking about Steve McQueen dying, which I hadn’t heard about up until then. That memory is crystal clear. Then again, Peter Sellers and Alfred Hitchcock also died in 1980 and I have no recall of those happening either. I’m sure, like John Lennon’s murder, I must have saw it on the TV news or in the paper, but whilst I know they happened, I just don’t recall them.

The human memory is a funny thing.

I remember some of the cases mentioned here, especially the murder of little James which at the time came as a huge shock, when it was discovered that James had been taken from shop he was in by two children. I think for me, this was the first time that I'd ever heard of a child murder that had been committed by other children. It just hit home the fact that no one's safe from anyone. I'm a mother of two young boys and I can't imagine the pain his parents must have suffered. I hope that James' family have managed to find some kind of peace over the years.

The case that I remember very well, even though I was only 8 or 9, was the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh. It was huge news as the search went on to find her. The sad thing is that as time went on, I think we all knew that she wasn't coming home. Even though her body has never been found even after more than 35 years, I think we can all guess what's happened to her. It's so sad that her parents passed away without ever knowing what happened to their daughter. And also they should be commended for the brilliant work they've done for women's safety. Even in all their grief, they still did something positive and selfless.

I do hope that one day this case can be solved with Suzy's murderer caught. Maybe then her siblings will have some much deserved peace.

Where do I start! There have been so many well publicized crime cases during the decades that I've been alive. I wish it wasn't true but it is. And now we tragically have the recent shooting in Texas to add to the list. So shockingly sad. 😥

The murder of Penny Bell was obviously heartbreaking for her family, my own children are around the ages that her children were at at the time. It's one that I remember quite well. Because of all the publicity, I really thought that her killer would be caught very quickly but more than thirty years on, he still hasn't been found. But seeing the conclusion to Shani Warren's case gives hope that maybe Penny Bell's family will also see justice for her death.

There were very few clues regarding Penny's whereabouts on the day she died as well as who she was meeting. I suppose that's one thing we have to be thankful for living in the age that we do now - it's that much harder to get away with crimes, even though yes, I know not every criminal today is caught. But things like CCTV, phone and satnav data as well as advancements in forensics mean that there's less places for criminals to hide, unlike back in the early nineties.

I think for me it would probably be the James Bulger case in 1993. I was only a child myself when James died but it made headline news and everyone was talking about it. And of course people were talking even more when they discovered that the two who abducted and killed James were only ten years old. It was a truly shocking case, and even today it's still talked about. As a mother of two small children, one of whom isn't that much older than James was, I can't imagine what his poor parents must have gone through. I think it's disgusting that James' killer were freed and have been given new identities. And the 'but they were only ten at the time' argument doesn't work with me. How many ten year olds do you know who have done what they did? Although I think that one of the killers is now back behind bars for downloading indecent images of children. I think that says it all.

RIP James 🕊️