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Ben Ward

Age: unknown

Sex: male

Date: 31 Dec 1962

Place: Wynford Road, Islington, London

Ben Ward was found battered to death in his shed on a building site in Wynford Road, Islington on the night of 31 December 1962.

It was thought that he might have been murdered 'for kicks' by a New Year reveller.

It was thought that he had been struck from behind as he sat in his swivel chair. The murder weapon had been a scarifier, a metal instrument used in the building trade which weighed at least 20lb.

Footprints were found in the snow circling the shed that were made by a man wearing square-toed shoes and photographs of them were taken by the police.

It was said that there was no sign of a struggle, and that nothing was missing and Ben Ward had not been robbed.

The last person to have seen him alive was a timekeeper on the site. He said, 'I saw Ben at 4.40pm on Monday. As I left the site he called 'cheerio, a happy New Year'.

The police carried out a reconstruction of the murder and said that they were certain that his killer had been a tall man of great strength, noting that it appeared that he had weilded the scarifier with one hand, striking Ben Ward with it several times.

Ben Ward had lived in Allison Road, Hornsey.


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

see discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk

see National Archives - MEPO 2/11530, MEPO 2/11531, MEPO 2/11532

see Daily Herald - Wednesday 02 January 1963

see Daily Herald - Thursday 03 January 1963