Age: 60
Sex: male
Date: 9 Dec 1995
Place: Asda, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
John Killick was stabbed to death outside an Asda store in Sscunthorpe where he had been a security officer on the night of 9 December 1995.
He was stabbed by a man in a mask who jumped out of the bushes at about 10pm just as the store was closing and he was escorting two women from the petrol station to their cars, which was routine.
John Killick had been carrying a bag at the time of the attack, but it had only contained receipts and paperwork that he had just collected, and the attacker left empty-handed. The police said that they thought that the attacker probably thought that it had contained cash.
The attacker hit him over the head first with an iron bar and when John Killick fought back, he stabbed him in the chest with a knife.
After being stabbed twice, John Killick finished escorting the two women to their cars in the car park.
The police said that they thought that John Killick had realised that the two women were also in danger and that that had been why he had put up the struggle that he had. The police detective superintendent leading the investigation said, It may be he was not defending anything to do with the store, but was protecting his female colleagues'.
John Killick was then taken to the hospital but died soon after.
The attacker, who had been wearing a balaclava ran off and the murder weapon was never found.
John Killick had twice been employee of the month at the supermarket and in 1992 he had been named top regional employee. He had worked there for ten years.
He had two children and five grandchildren.
see a Staff Reporter. "Knifed guard died to protect women." Times [London, England] 11 Dec. 1995: 2. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 14 June 2015.
see The Herald
see Hansard
see Daily Mirror Mon 11 Dec 1995 Page 13