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Michael White

Age: 22

Sex: male

Date: 29 May 1993

Place: Grand Union Canal, Harlesden, NW London

Michael White was killed and put in a box and dumped in the Grand Union Canal.

Three people were tried for conspiracy to murder him but were all acquitted.

His murder was called the 'body in the box killing' by the press.

Michael White had been battered to death before his body was stuffed into the wooden box and thrown into the Grand Union Canal at Harlesden.

His body was later discovered after it floated to the surface on 29 May 1993. He was last seen on 1 February 1993.

It was heard that he had been having an affair with the mother of a woman with whom he had had a child and the people tried for conspiracy to murder were the woman, aged 42, her husband, aged 45 and the daughter aged 21. It was heard that Michael White had started his relationship with the girl’s mother when the she had their baby at which time she had been 15-years old. The woman had been a nursery nurse, her husband an electrician and the daughter had been unemployed at the time of the murder in 1993.

Whilst they were all acquitted, they were convicted of other offences such as perverting the course of justice by destroying evidence and giving misleading statements to the police.

The mother and daughter were tried separately to the husband.

It was heard that Michael White had treated the three people like animals and that he would beat both of the women as well as behave violently towards the husband. Michael White was described as a 15-stone weight trainer.

When the daughter was interviewed by the police, she said that her father was involved in Michael White's murder, saying that, 'Michael pushed him too far'. However, no evidence was offered against the father at the trial.

After the mother and daughter were acquitted, the prosecution said, 'Clearly there is evidence against the father on count one (the conspiracy to murder), bit it is less strong than that which the Crown presented towards the mother, and she was acquitted by the jury. After very anxious consideration we have taken the view that this is not a case where it can be said now there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction on count one.'

At the trial it was heard that the mother would shower Michael White with gifts even though he would beat her with anything he could lay his hands on. It was heard that she had even paid for his other girlfriend when they all went out together and would take part in three-in-a-bed sex sessions with Michael White and another one of his girlfriends.

At the trial it was claimed that the mother snapped after Michael White thrashed her with a belt after a threesome in a hotel room.

It was heard that Michael White was last seen when he went to the house of the women in Hunter Road, Thornton Heath, on 1 February 1993.

The prosecution said that Michael White was then 'bludgeoned to death in the hallway of the house shortly after his arrival, being hit about the head three or four times with a blunt object. Thereafter they agreed to destroy any evidence of the killing and gave misleading evidence to the police'. It was heard that a blood-stained carpet was taken up and destroyed and that the mother and daughter later made emotional appeals for him in the media, even though they had known that he was dead.

After the trial the police said that they were not looking for anyone else in the case.

Michael White's mother, who was said to have been furious with the trial result said, 'I am disgusted. I cannot believe it. I think it's hellish. I really think it is disgusting. I will not let it rest here. Something has got to be done'.

Michael White was from Brixton.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.courtnewsuk.co.uk

see Independent

see Newcastle Journal - Friday 12 November 1993, p7

see Newcastle Journal - Monday 02 August 1993, p7