True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

(Anthony John Hardy pictured above. Below is where he disposed of some of his victims remains and the police pictured at Anthony's flat where they had cordoned off the crime scene) 

As with parts one and two, this post contains some graphic and distressing details.

As the officer opened the door, he was hit with a really strong odour and noticed that there was more yellow and red symbols on the walls. There was stacks of videotapes everywhere (which were later found to be pornographic) and some photography equipment had been set up as if someone was getting ready for a photo shoot. In the middle of the mess and foul stench was the naked body of a female lying on a bed with a devil mask covering her face. 

It was clear that the woman was deceased and her body had been posed in a disrespectful manner. On closer inspection the police were able to see that she had suffered head and neck injuries and there was a bite mark on her leg. 

The scene echoed one of Jack The Ripper's murder scenes. In 1888, he had laid out the body of Mary Kelly on a bed.

There was a bucket of warm soapy water next to the bed and it looked like the police had disturbed Anthony whilst he was in the middle of taking photographs or getting ready to clean up the scene.

Police believe that if they had gotten there later, the scene would have been a lot worse and they may have found dismembered remains. 

The deceased lady was identified as Sally Rose white. She was born in Southampton on the 23rd of September in 1963. She was born with brain damage and had been sent to a special school at the age of 16. As she got older she struggled to keep a job because employers did not know how to best support her with her learning difficulties. She began running away from home and would sleep rough. Her father and the police would often have to look for her and bring her back home but she would run away again.

In the mid 1980s she moved with her family to Dorset and for a short period of time things seemed to be going well. She'd managed to get a job as a shop assistant and her employers were really supportive and understanding to her needs. 

In 1991, she gave birth to a daughter who was given up for adoption. 

Later, for whatever reason, she decided that she wanted to move to London and live independently away from her family. At first she rented a small flat and tried to make a real go of things but she struggled and ended up homeless. She would often take shelter at The Salvation Army hostels. She seemed to spiral further downward when she turned to cocaine and would work as a prostitute to fund the habit. 

Being the naive and easily led person that she was and in a desperate situation, Anthony would have found an easy victim in Sally. With his charming and intelligent way with words, she may have felt that it was safe to go to his flat. She may have been there before or seen him talking to other girls that she knew? Neighbours had mentioned that various women would be seen with him going to his flat. It's a wonder what happened to all of these women? 

Her parents were living in Portugal and when they found out about what had happened to Sally they said her death had a profound affect on their family. Her mother said: ''Although Sally had chosen to live an independent life in London, she remained in contact with members of the family and was always aware of her importance to us.''

Once the police had Anthony in custody, they began a thorough search of his flat and an autopsy was carried out on Sally's body. Anthony told the police that he had psychological problems and was an alcoholic, he said that he had no idea how Sally had gotten into his flat. What happened next was even more bizarre, the forensic pathologist Dr Freddy Patel concluded that Sally had died of a heart attack and dismissed the other injuries on her body. 

In Anthony's flat all the police could find was a collection of pornographic videos and magazines. In a shocking turn of events, the charges against Anthony were dropped and Sally's death was ruled to be from natural causes. They did charge him for the damage that he caused to his neighbours' front door and yet again he manage to be referred to a psychiatric hospital instead of a prison cell where he remained till November 2002.

He told his friend Maureen that he was more intelligent than the psychiatrists but the mental health professionals could see through him and deemed him a risk to women. Dr Alan Stuart-Reid warned ''His behaviour is characterised by impulses, lack of forethought about the consequences of his actions, seriously irresponsible behaviour, inability to learn from experience and lack of concern for others feelings.'' Dr Stuart-Reid also said that there was a strong chance that if Anthony was reintegrated back into society he would likely re-offend and ''cause others serious physical or psychological harm.''

Despite all of these concerns and warnings, Anthony did his usual routine of being the model patient and was released just 11 months after Sally's body was found in his flat. 

He returned to his flat in Camden and carried on like nothing had happened. The story had been in the newspapers and word quickly spread around the neighbours but Anthony didn't seem to care and carried on regardless. He told the man next door that it was lies and he had nothing to do with Sally's death.

At this point, Anthony must have felt untouchable like his hero Jack The Ripper. He'd managed to get away with the attempted murder of his ex wife, the rape of a sex worker, petty crime and a dead woman had been found in his flat and here he was again, allowed to walk the streets. He used mental illness and his clever way with words to get around the authorities. 

The alarm bells were going off like crazy about this man and the attempted murder of his ex wife should have been enough to put him behind bars but he kept getting off lightly and it was almost like he was teasing the police to see how much more he could get away with. 

He continued to invite sex workers back to his flat with promises of drugs and money. He would write them love letters telling them that he had lots of money and would take care of them. 

A lot of the neighbours were scared of him and the only time they would see him during the day was when he was going to collect his medication. He was more active at night.

Everyone knew he was a ticking time bomb. The police were not happy with the ''natural causes'' conclusion into Sally's death. They believed there was more to it and that this woman must have had a heart attack due to the sheer terror of what was happening to her at the hands of Anthony John Hardy. 

It was only a matter of time before Anthony would take his obsession with Jack The Ripper even further and in the early hours of the 30th of December 2002 a homeless man who was searching the bins around Anthony's council block for some food, came across a horrific discovery. 

Continued in part four...