Victor Johnson

Victor Johnson and his wife Audrey Johnson died in a fire in their 17th floor flat in Stockwell, London on or about 13 January 1989.

Although a man was convicted of their manslaughter, it was noted that their deaths were suspicious in the light of the circumstances surrounding their association with the use of Lambeth Council facilities for child sex abuse which was alleged to have taken place during the 1980s.

It was also concluded in a 2015 dossier that was handed to the Metropolitan Police relating to the alleged abuse in Lambeth that their deaths, along with that of Bulic Forsythe were considered 'suspicious deaths', a file that was prepared long after the conviction of the neighbour and the two 'simple minded' youths who were convicted for starting the fire.

The man that was said to have killed them was another resident in the block of flats who had played his music loud resulting in Victor Johnson and his wife complaining which it was said led him to arrange for the two 'simple minded' youths to pour petrol into their flat and set it on fire.

Victor Johnson had been employed by Lambeth Council as a caretaker and it was thought that their deaths were associated with the child abuse scandals within the authority which Bulic Forsythe was said to have been about to uncover a few years later.

Bulic Forsythe had worked at Lambeth Council and had been about to 'spill the beans' on what was thought to have been serious organised paedophilia within the council in which council facilities were used for child sex orgies that were videoed, and it was claimed that amongst that activity, Victor Johnson had taken possession of some videos of 'extremely violent and depraved sex parties' that he was going to use in some way to expose the people involved and it was possible that his and his wife's deaths were in some way brought about by that matter rather than the loud music.

It was noted that Bulic Forsythe also died in 1993 when his flat was set on fire.

It was also noted that Carole Kasir, who was associated with earlier child sex scandals at the Elm House guest house, the tendrils of which were also connected to Lambeth Council as they used the child care homes of the authorities to access children for the child sex parties, and who died in 1990 under suspicious circumstances, had also complained previously that someone had entered her flat and tried to set it on fire whilst she was asleep.

As such, although the deaths of Victor Johnson and Audrey Johnson are technically solved, there is both the suspicion of a greater hand being involved, as well as the possibility that the people convicted in relation to their deaths were in some way not involved, possibly having been set up or otherwise manipulated, although that is purely speculation. However, the only apparent newspaper account of the fire and the conviction, published in the Liverpool Echo of 10 November 1989 does not state whether the defendants denied the arson attack or whether there was scope for fabricated evidence as appeared to be rife in the 1980s, bearing in mind the fact that the youths who apparently carried out the attack were described as 'simple minded', and so their cases are included, as unsolved, in the light of the distant possibility that there is a deeper or darker story behind them.

It is also worth noting that the newspaper article in the Sandwell Evening Mail on Friday 27 January 1989, which refers to the fire, also refers to the dangers of people, implying Victor Johnson and Audrey Johnson, turning their flats into 'fortresses' with bars on windows and steel doors, as they prevented the fire crews from getting in, which was the case in the fire of 26 January which the report is actually about in which the firemen were delayed by ten minutes as they broke through the steel door fortification. Whilst there could be many reasons for fortifying a flat in Stockwell, one reason could be that they had a greater fear of the apparently unassailable powers of certain parties within Lambeth Council whom Bulic Forsythe was also very afraid of and told people so, or that they had something very valuable that they wanted to protect for some reason or another, such as video evidence.

It is also worth noting that whatever videos of 'extremely violent and depraved sex parties' Victor Johnson might have had, that they might well have gone up in flames when their flat caught fire.