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Clifford Donald Herbert

Age: 64

Sex: male

Date: 23 Aug 1995

Place: School Close, Sharlston, Wakefield

Clifford Donald Herbert was murdered in his home.

He had been beaten to death. His murderer took £50 as well as Clifford Herbert's black purse and brown wallet that would have contained his two Metro Permit Concessionary Fare Bus and Train passes with his name CD Herbert and the expiry date 15 May 1997 on them.

It was thought that the person responsible was the same person that murdered Paul Hemingway in Normanton a year later, on the same bank holiday.

A man the police thought had been responsible for both murders was questioned by the police, but they said that the didn't have enough evidence to arrest him for the murders.

Clifford Herbert was disabled and lived alone. He had a lung disease, miners disease pneumoconiosis and emphysema, and had been battered to death with the oxygen cylinder he used.

His granddaughter used to visit him twice a day to help him out.

He had called his friend at about 8.15am to ask him to get him some beans and to arrange to meet him later at the Working Men’s Club which they did every day.

Later in the morning he left his flat in his mobility buggy and was seen by his niece who had just come back home from work in Wakefield to Sharlston at about 10.50am. She had just got off the bus and was walking along Weeland Road when she saw him in his mobility buggy accompanied by a man who she said he introduced, inferring that she remembered him as someone that she had met before, adding that he had stayed with him previously. However, she said that she didn't remember him. From her description, a photofit was made of him. She said that he was about 38 to 40-years-old, about 5ft 9in to 5ft 10in tall with darkish scraggly hair and a drawn-in face. The police said that they were interested in tracing the man that Clifford Herbert's niece said she had seen him with. The police later noted that the man that had been with Clifford Herbert had had a local accent.

Clifford Herbert later arrived at the villa, the Working Men’s Club, at about 1pm where he met his friends and had a drink.

He later left the Working Men’s Club at about 3.30pm and went home to his flat where he spent the rest of the day.

At about 4.40pm his granddaughter visited him again after getting him a bottle of whisky from the shops. She sat with him for a while, and then left at 5.20pm.

Shortly after someone delivered a box of wine to his house.

Later at about 6.40pm a neighbour saw a man walking in the close near to Clifford Herbert's flat. He was wearing dark/black clothes/track suit with a large red band and small white band to the calf of the left leg and a red woollen hat. It was noted that he didn't visit any of the houses and the police said that they were interested in finding out who he was.

His neighbour said that she had known Clifford Herbert for over 30-years and said that he used to call at her flat for a drink at about 8pm most evenings, five out of seven, but said that that evening he didn't.

The following morning his friend who he usually spoke to on the phone each morning to arrange to visit the Working Men’s Club said that he tried calling him but got no answer. He said that he tried a few times and became worried and decided to go over and see that he was alright. When the friend got to Clifford Herbert's flat and looked through the window, he saw Clifford Herbert lying dead on the floor.

The police noted that Clifford Herbert had a lot of visitors to his house in general, including people that would visit him for a drink and people that would go there to sell him things, noting that he often bought things that he didn't need. They also said that people would come to his flat to borrow money and noted that he would mostly get it back, but that sometimes he didn't.

He had worked at Sharlston Colliery which he started when he was 15-year old, and left when he was 54-years old.


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