John Michael David OShea

The body of John Michael David OShea was found in a gully on a roadside at Kemnal Crossing on the Sidcup Bypass.

He had been strangled. When he was found he was wearing a vest and wrapped up in sacking. The police said that they were looking for his clothes.

He had been missing for 9 weeks at the time that he was found.

His body was found by road sweepers.

John OShea's father, an Irish labourer, had been sent to prison for 9 months a fortnight before John OShea's discovery for neglecting him. He said that he had given John OShea to a man named George who he had met in a pub in Sydenham.

The vest was later identified by a neighbour of John OShea's parents who said that she had knitted it for him. At the inquest she explained to the Coroner in detail her method of knitting and said that she had no doubt that the one found on John OShea's body was one that she had made.

At his inquest on 20 March 1939 a verdict of murder against some person or persons unknown was returned. The Coroner said that there was no doubt that John OShea was murdered, but that there was no evidence as to who had inflicted his injuries.