James Waddington

David Elmore and James Waddington were killed in the Kaleli Restaurant in Station Road, Barking by people with samari swords.

Two people were charged but both were aquitted at at seperate trials.

Their bodies have never been found.

Details of the two men tried are::

1. A 41-year-old bar steward was acquitted at the Old Bailey in January 1985.
2. A 44-year-old man was acquitted at the Old Bailey in March 1986.

David Elmore and James Waddington vanished on 14 February 1984 and it was noted that the Kaleli Restaurant, a Greek restaurant, was refurbished on 20 February 1984.

Their murder investigation was opened on 2 March 1984.

David Elmore and James Waddington were last seen at the Hope Pub in Gascoigne Road on 14 February 1984.

David Elmore had been a pub bouncer.

James Waddington had been a stone mason.

It was claimed that they had been hacked to death whilst lying side by side and reciting the lords payer, after whcih they were beheaded and their bodies dumped at sea.

It was alleged that when David Elmore got to the part of the prayer with the line:

That his killer said:

It was said that David Elmore and James Waddington had just finished their meal when two men burst in to the restaurant and killed them. The murders were said to have been witnessed by the resatuarnt staff, but that they had soon after redecorated the premises, and replaced the bloodstained carpets.

A barman said that he heard the Bar Steward that was tried boast that his victims were buried 60-70 miles away, holding hands, where the tide comes in.

However, the Bar Steward said that he had gone home at midnight on 14 February 1984 after finishing work at Scrattons Sports and Social Club in Dagenham and didn't leave his house until the next morning.  

The court heard that the Bar Steward had had a long standing score to settle with David Elmore because he had hit his brother over the head with an axe in 1976.

However, the Bar Steward told the court:

At the trial the other man later tried, whom he was alleged to have carried out the murdes with, had been in Spain. It was heard that he also had a grudge against David Elmore because he had once attacked his children.

It was thought that James Waddington had been killed because he was with David Elmore. However, it was noted that both men had long criminal records.

It was said that the Kaleli Restaurant had been a favourite haunt of the Bar Steward's family and that the Bar Steward's sone had called him when David Elmore and James Waddington walked in. It was said that by the time the Bar Steward and the other man arrived, having brought a sword that had been on the wall of the Scrattons Sports and Social Club, that David Elmore and James Waddington had been the only customers there.

It was said then that the Bar Steward rushed over to David Elmore and pointed the sword at him and said:

It was said then that the other man tried in 1986 felled David Elmore with two or three blows from another sword.

However, the other suspects brother appeared at the first trial, accuse of having supplied a truck to carry the two bodies away in. It was also heard that he had helped to clean it and to have then allowed it to be burned.

Outside the court, the Bar Steward said:

It was noted that 5 November 1985, at about 1.30am, two human skulls were thrown at the front door of Harold Hill police station and the police said that they were 90% sure that they were those of David Elmore and James Waddington. Both skulls had been minus the lower jaw. It was thought that they had been hurled from a moving car. They ssaid that dental records indicatd that they were the skulls of the two dead men. However, it was soon after said that it was thought to have been a halloween stunt, and that the skulls had been stolen from a tomb in Thorndon Park, and that a third skull stolen had been placed on the steps of St Nicholas Church at Ingrave, near Brentwood, Essex, not far from the tomb at a descreated chapel. It was further stated that the skull, after forensic testing, were found to have been far too old to have been those of David Elmore and James Waddington.

A pentangle had been drawn around the third skull left at the church.

A man was later arrested over the skulls and sentenced to 18 months for removing the remains. It was stated that they had belonged to William Bernard, 12th Lord of Petre, Baron of Wriottle, who died in 1884, and his wife, Mary Teresa Lady Petre, who died 11 years later.